I love the "M77s have bad triggers" theads...
I think the M77 Hawkeye trigger is one of the best out there. It has a very simple design and is easy to get a light, repeatable trigger pull. If you replace the trigger spring and spend about 10-15 minutes polishing the mating surfaces of the trigger and sear, you should be good to go.
I'm no machinist but I've done this several times with good results. I have a stainless 7mm-08 that has a repeatable trigger pull of 2.5 pounds. All it cost me was about $6 for a spring and 30 minutes at the workbench. I greatly prefer this trigger to the bladed type used on many Savages and the Ruger American, and also prefer it to enclosed triggers like with Winchester/Browning MOA.
My dad and I have owned about 10 M77 rifles of different vintages and finishes in calibers ranging from .22-250 to .338WM. They have proven to be sufficiently accurate for all hunting purposes and are at home bouncing around in a truck or slung over a shoulder somewhere in the mountains.
I think that if you want a rifle designed for shooting tiny groups at far-away paper targets, perhaps the Ruger M77 Hawkeyes aren't for you. But if you want a rifle that you can actually drive/carry around, get rained on, get dirty, and still kill game, the M77s (of any vintage) are hard to beat.
SR