Ruger Hawkeye: Sell it or make it a project gun?

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wombat13

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I had a frustrating experience yesterday. I helped a friend sight in a new Browning AB3 that he bought for $600 with the Nikon Buckmaster scope already mounted. He brought boxes of the two cheapest 150gr ammo he could buy and that rifle shot more accurately than either of my Ruger Hawkeyes. I've been working on loads for one of my Hawkeyes for years (busy job and kids don't allow for as much hobby time as I'd like)!

So, there's no sense being bummed. I'm going to do something about it. So here are the options I'm considering. What do you all think?

1. Ruger Hawkeye Stainless/Synthetic in .25-06: Bought it last year and have only tried a few factory ammos and one handload. I could sell it and spend that money on a Tikka or AB3. Probably the simplest option, if I can sell the rifle. The LGS isn't interested in buying - he says no one is buying rifles right now. I've never sold a rifle and it seems like a hassle.

2. Turn the .25-06 into a project gun. I could put a better stock on it and take it to Hart Barrels (only about 1.5 hour drive from me) for a rebarrel. The cost would be about $1,000 for a Hogue stock with the full bedding and a rebarrel from Hart (more if I go with a McMillan stock). This raises a number of questions. Change the stock first and see what happens? Is a McMillan really worth extra money or just go with the Hogue? What to rebarrel it to? I bought the .25-06 because it uses the same powders for reloading as my .300WM. So I would probably rebarrel it in .25-06. Or is it possible to rebarrel it to .223/5.56 so I could shoot cheap factory ammo?

3. Sell the .25-06 and spend that money to accurize my Ruger Hawkeye Stainless/Laminate in .300WM. This rifle was a Christmas gift and I will never sell it. After several years of testing handloads, I've found one that will reliably shoot 1" or better at 100 yards. Everything else is about 1.5" - 2.0". Change the stock first or take it to Hart to rebarrel?

Thanks for comments.
 
1. How accurate (consistent) is your 25-06?
2. What accuracy are you wanting?
3. What weight bullets and in what ammo have you tried?
4. Selling a rifle isn’t difficult at all. I’ve purchased several off Armslist.
5. There’s no guarantee that the rifle you do buy will be more accurate. Although it’s a safe bet that a Tikka will be accurate.
 
Here's a plug for Boyd's laminated stocks. I really like mine, the glass bedding was easy, and I don't think you get much more for 3-5x the money in a McMillan.

Given the disappointing quality of the Hogue-produced tupperware factory stocks I've seen, I won't be buying any of their rifle stocks.
 
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Another thought, if I’m going to spend the money on a rebarrel, maybe I should go with something I can’t easily buy off the shelf. Maybe a 6.5-06 or .338-06 or .35 Whelen.
 
1. Customizing a factory rifle, aka rebarreling and restocking, is a money losing proposition. Especially so for a Ruger M77/M77MkII/Hawkeye. It's not without value, and I've done over 20 custom Ruger's myself, but recognize, that rifle won't gain value compared to its street price today if you put on a Hart Barrel and Hogue stock. Probably not even with the Mac stock.

2. If you go for a boutique cartridge, of your list, the 6.5-06 means you'll need a new barrel much sooner than the others, but it typically makes more sense for most hunters than either of the other two. As much as I love the Whelen, the 338-06 makes FAR more sense these days, as much better bullet selection is available in 33cal vs. 35. I REALLY enjoy the 6.5 A-square, love the 35 Whelen and .338-06, but if I were building one today, the 338-06 would be the only one I'd consider - IF AND ONLY IF - I needed another bear rifle.

3. This is probably the most important point I would make. You should have no trouble getting your Hawkeye, with the factory barrel, to shoot sub-moa groups. The plastic stocks suck, and benefit greatly from a bedding and free float job. Not all smith's will take this work, as it's not as simple as bedding tube actions, but it's really not difficult. I made a bit of a living taking referrals from a couple local smiths years ago because I was the only guy in town who would readily take on Ruger bedding jobs. A cheap Boyd's laminate stock, blocked, bedded, and free floated is a cheap option to improve the Ruger stock fit as well. The front action screw torque is another spec which greatly affects Ruger precision - it really does need ~90in.lb.. Remember, it's at an angle, so 90inlb at 45degrees is only 63inlb, which is still high since there's so much more normal area on the square bottom action than in a tube, but it's much closer to the typical tube action ~40inlb spec. Free floating the magazine box is another common boost for the Ruger action. A new trigger certainly never hurts, Timney, Jard, Spectech, and Rifle Basix all have done very nice triggers for Ruger rifles. Free floating the barrel doesn't mean "not touching," it means floating with at 60 thousandths - the "dollar bill trick" doesn't work, as it's not nearly thick enough, it should be a "twenty $1 bills trick"!!! Ruger M77 series rifles aren't precision rifles, but Ruger does make some of the better factory barrels on the market, it's just a matter of making sure they deliver upon their potential.

Personally, I'd go through option 3, adding a boyd's stock, free floated, blocked, and bedded, and a Timney trigger. If that doesn't deliver, and I didn't have some sentimental attachment to the rifle, then I'd sell it off rather than putting $1,000 into it.
 
A year ago, I was tinkering with a pair of stainless Ruger Hawkeyes, one in .280 and one in 7x57. No matter what I did, I could not get either of them to shoot with my cheapest Savage using the cheapest factory ammo available. I tried everything and yes, I hand loaded for them both. I must have burned through 10# of powder and I don't even want to know how much $ worth of bullets.

Best decision I ever made was to sell BOTH of those rifles and replace them. I replaced one with a .308 Savage and the other with a 30-06 Tikka T3x Lite and I am very glad that I did.

Look,I've been a Ruger Hawkeye fan my whole life. I love,love,love those actions. But I got tired of throwing good money after bad, and finally admitted defeat. There are just so many better options out there now, including Ruger's own American, that will outshoot just about any 77 in existence.

If you decide to keep pouring money into your 77's, you won't be doing anything I didn't do myself. But don't say I didn't warn you if you still aren't happy with how they shoot.
 
Newtosavage said:
A year ago, I was tinkering with a pair of stainless Ruger Hawkeyes, one in .280 and one in 7x57. No matter what I did, I could not get either of them to shoot with my cheapest Savage using the cheapest factory ammo available. I tried everything and yes, I hand loaded for them both. I must have burned through 10# of powder and I don't even want to know how much $ worth of bullets.

Best decision I ever made was to sell BOTH of those rifles and replace them. I replaced one with a .308 Savage and the other with a 30-06 Tikka T3x Lite and I am very glad that I did.

Look,I've been a Ruger Hawkeye fan my whole life. I love,love,love those actions. But I got tired of throwing good money after bad, and finally admitted defeat. There are just so many better options out there now, including Ruger's own American, that will outshoot just about any 77 in existence.

If you decide to keep pouring money into your 77's, you won't be doing anything I didn't do myself. But don't say I didn't warn you if you still aren't happy with how they shoot.
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I hear you and agree, but the .300WM was a gift from my wife. I’ll never forgot how happy she was to give it to me and how happy my daughter was helping Mama carry that big Christmas present to me. I can’t sell it.
 
I'm not sure why a person would put $300 into a rifle that may not shoot any better after the money is spent. I went that route with a M77 and nothing improved. I basically gave the stock and trigger away when I sold the rifle.

If it really is the trigger and stock why doesn't Ruger just put a better trigger and stock on their rifles? My theory is it would raise the cost of the rifle and it really wouldn't improve much of anything because their barrels just aren't that great.

A rifle needs a good trigger, a good barrel and a free floated stock. Some companies understand this and build to that end. My Ruger 77 wasn't any of that.

Rifles are not hard to sell, especially M77's. Believe it or not there is a hard core group of Ruger fans out there. I think it took me about a month to sell mine.
 
wombat13 said:
I hear you and agree, but the .300WM was a gift from my wife. I’ll never forgot how happy she was to give it to me and how happy my daughter was helping Mama carry that big Christmas present to me. I can’t sell it.
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Understood. In that case, you have some good advice above.

77 triggers are pretty easy to work on if you you're handy at all. I managed to get both of mine down to a smooth 2.5# and liked them very well. I bedded the actions and floated the barrels on mine, and it did help take them from 3" guns to 1.5" guns.
 
Selling a rifle is easy. Slap a reasonable price on it on Armslist or Gunbroker, meetup in person for sale or ship to FFL dealer. Cant be much easier really.
 
Jackal said:
Selling a rifle is easy. Slap a reasonable price on it on Armslist or Gunbroker, meetup in person for sale or ship to FFL dealer. Cant be much easier really.
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Or do what I did and just walk into your local Cablea's gun library. Advantage there is you can walk another 40 feet and buy one that shoots.
 
CoalTrain49 said:
it really is the trigger and stock why doesn't Ruger just put a better trigger and stock on their rifles? My theory is it would raise the cost of the rifle and it really wouldn't improve much of anything because their barrels just aren't that great.
Click to expand...

Do the m77s get different barrels than the Americans? Because they shoot even with cheap stocks and triggers.
 
Make a checklist before you change things. Is everything tight especially scope base. Is there adequate barrel gap? I've had rifles shoot better in field position than on a bench because the stock touched when on shooting bags. Try other ammo or do a meticulous load work-up with different bullets.
 
I’ve had the .300wm for about 10 years and have tried 5 different bullets and at least hat many powders. Only one combo has consistently done better than 1.5”: 165gr TSX with IMR 4831. I’ve changed the trigger spring (much better) and properly torqued all of the action screws. I have not free floated the barrel or bedded it.

Maybe I’ll try free floating and bedding the .25-06. Never done that before, so I’d rather practice on that one before attempting my main hunting rifle.

How does one free float a Ruger synthetic stock? Dowel with sandpaper just like wood?
 
If I sell it, what is a fair price for a Ruger Hawkeye Stainless/Synthetic in .25-06 with about 40 rounds down the pipe?
 
wombat13 said:
I’ve had the .300wm for about 10 years and have tried 5 different bullets and at least hat many powders. Only one combo has consistently done better than 1.5”: 165gr TSX with IMR 4831. I’ve changed the trigger spring (much better) and properly torqued all of the action screws. I have not free floated the barrel or bedded it.

Maybe I’ll try free floating and bedding the .25-06. Never done that before, so I’d rather practice on that one before attempting my main hunting rifle.

How does one free float a Ruger synthetic stock? Dowel with sandpaper just like wood?
Click to expand...
I free floated mine with a dremel tool and a cutting bit. Pretty easy to do actually.
 
wombat13 said:
If I sell it, what is a fair price for a Ruger Hawkeye Stainless/Synthetic in .25-06 with about 40 rounds down the pipe?
Click to expand...

My stainless Hawkeye in .280 brought $450 at the Cabelas gun library. As was suggested, they have a following so they still bring a fair price. I turned around and bought a stainless Tikka T3x lite in '06 for a few hundred more and it was one of the best rifle decisions I've ever made. No buyers remorse even a year later.
 
Yep I would sell it. I have a Tikka and all I can say is I was blown away at how accurate it was the first time I shot it. It is a shame those Hawkeye's don't shoot any better than they do for the money one sell's for brand new. There is just too many rifles being made out there that shoot really well that Ruger has not now fixed the Hawkeye's accuracy issues.
 
Thanks for all the replies. There’s only one Cabelas close to me. I’ll see if they have a gun library and sell the rifle if they’ll buy it. Otherwise, I guess I’ve got a project gun. I just don’t want to deal with selling it online.
 
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