Pete,
Chief Dave has great advice on making your 77/22 shoot better. (and is much more qualified to speak to this than I am since I've only picked up a 77/22 once and have never fired one, to add to this my 17V is still on back order, although I have done similar modifications on centerfire rifles)
But it sounds to me like the problem is more convincing your dad that you should be able to do the work on it. As a father of 2 boys I can tell you that your dad is most likely concerned about you stuffing up his gun. He is probably very happy with whatever performance it is giving him. Since you shoot it more often than he does, and you have found this forum which speaks of much better performance than you are getting, you are not happy with it's performance.
So here's my 2 cents worth:
If the gun was really given to you as a birthday present your dad shouldn't care what you do with it, as long as it's safe.
When I was a young lad of about 12 My dad had a single shot .22, I loved shooting it, but wanted a semi auto. I saved my paper route and lawn mowing money and had him buy a Marlin model 60 for me. A short while later I decided that a full auto would be a lot more fun than a semi auto, so I tried to modify the sear. My dad walked by as I was filing away and asked what I was doing. When I told him he just shook his head and walked away. I ended up stuffing it up and we had to send the gun back to Marlin and have some new parts put in it. (at my cost)
My point is that my dad didn't care that I was dorking with the gun because it was mine. I had paid for it, and I paid to have it fixed right when I screwed it up. Same thing happened when I bought a car. My dad didn't care if I was modifying it (as long as It was still relatively safe on the road) because it was my money and my car I had paid for.
My suggestion is that you buy a new stock for it. Modify the stock you bought to show your dad how accuracy can be improved. By following CD's suggestion of replacing the sear with one from Brownells you are not making any modifications to the gun that can't be put back into it's original condition.
Many of the guys on this forum have replaced the stocks on their guns with aftermarket stocks, check around and see if you can find one cheap. That way you can play around with your stock not your dads. (just don't glue the action into your stock when you try to glass bed it) Or try Gunparts corp, they have walnut stocks for $195 (dang that's more then my 17V cost!) and synthetic for $92.70 Or, Brownells has Volquartsen pillar bedded stocks for $235 and the sear kits are $37.
Finally stop treating your dad like an idiot. While he may not be a gun smith, he has a lot more experience at life than you do. He also knows you better than you think he does. Big words won't impress him. Show him that you can be responsible and make some simple modifications to your gun and still have the ability to put it back the the way he thinks is best if your ideas don't work.
Chief Dave has great advice on making your 77/22 shoot better. (and is much more qualified to speak to this than I am since I've only picked up a 77/22 once and have never fired one, to add to this my 17V is still on back order, although I have done similar modifications on centerfire rifles)
But it sounds to me like the problem is more convincing your dad that you should be able to do the work on it. As a father of 2 boys I can tell you that your dad is most likely concerned about you stuffing up his gun. He is probably very happy with whatever performance it is giving him. Since you shoot it more often than he does, and you have found this forum which speaks of much better performance than you are getting, you are not happy with it's performance.
So here's my 2 cents worth:
If the gun was really given to you as a birthday present your dad shouldn't care what you do with it, as long as it's safe.
When I was a young lad of about 12 My dad had a single shot .22, I loved shooting it, but wanted a semi auto. I saved my paper route and lawn mowing money and had him buy a Marlin model 60 for me. A short while later I decided that a full auto would be a lot more fun than a semi auto, so I tried to modify the sear. My dad walked by as I was filing away and asked what I was doing. When I told him he just shook his head and walked away. I ended up stuffing it up and we had to send the gun back to Marlin and have some new parts put in it. (at my cost)
My point is that my dad didn't care that I was dorking with the gun because it was mine. I had paid for it, and I paid to have it fixed right when I screwed it up. Same thing happened when I bought a car. My dad didn't care if I was modifying it (as long as It was still relatively safe on the road) because it was my money and my car I had paid for.
My suggestion is that you buy a new stock for it. Modify the stock you bought to show your dad how accuracy can be improved. By following CD's suggestion of replacing the sear with one from Brownells you are not making any modifications to the gun that can't be put back into it's original condition.
Many of the guys on this forum have replaced the stocks on their guns with aftermarket stocks, check around and see if you can find one cheap. That way you can play around with your stock not your dads. (just don't glue the action into your stock when you try to glass bed it) Or try Gunparts corp, they have walnut stocks for $195 (dang that's more then my 17V cost!) and synthetic for $92.70 Or, Brownells has Volquartsen pillar bedded stocks for $235 and the sear kits are $37.
Finally stop treating your dad like an idiot. While he may not be a gun smith, he has a lot more experience at life than you do. He also knows you better than you think he does. Big words won't impress him. Show him that you can be responsible and make some simple modifications to your gun and still have the ability to put it back the the way he thinks is best if your ideas don't work.
