Ruger M77 Hawkeye 270

[H2oPumper]

I'm having a tough time getting my Hawkeye to group. Ruger does not float their barrels from the factory and from my research, I get mixed opinions about doing so. I did send the gun into Ruger and they were able to get it to group at their 50 yard test. I have two Marlin X guns, 270 & 30-06 with both floated, the 270 will do MOA at 100 yards and the 30-06 just a little over. All the guns were shot off a lead sled. The groups I get with the Ruger seem to string vertically. I suspect that I may be torquing the rifle somehow, and with the stock in contact with the barrel, it's throwing the bullet off. I really like the features of the gun, but it's too inconsistent for me to shoot. I'm sure it has something to do with my hold.

Ruger obviously doesn't want it floated, some people say to do it some say absolutely not, especially on a Ruger. What are the pros and cons to floating this particular rifle? If it is my hold, will floating reduce that factor?

 

[rule303]

I would try a shim under the barrel, up near the tip of the forearm. I have seen a little upward pressure work wonders on Ruger 77's. I don't think you would decrease your accuracy by free floating, but I doubt you would gain any either.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Give us some more information.

What optic?

Have you tried more than one load

What kind of groups are you seeing?


I've owned a plethora of skeleton stocked ruger 77's and never have I been tempted to free float any of em.

 

[H2oPumper]

That's much easier to try than sanding it out and second guessing. I should also point out that it is a stainless/composite gun. If the screw for the recoil lug didn't go in at an angle, I'd just shim the whole action off the stock to try that. Any good suggestions as to what to use to shim it?

 

[H2oPumper]

The first optic, Luepold VX-1, seemed as though it wasn't holding zero. I would get what seemed to be about a 3" group at 100, then set it down and move to a different rifle. When I'd come back to it, the first shot would be low-right about 8", then move back towards that 3" group and run in that vicinity of the target.

The replacement scope I have on now is a Burris Fulfield. I don't seem to get the odd first shot after bringing the rifle back to the shooting position.

Will a controlled feed gun give up any accuracy over a push feed?

 

[jmr40]

Rugers seem more sensitive to how the action screws are tightened than most.

First loosen all 3 screws. Then tighten the angled screw as tight as you can get it. I mean gorilla tight. This pulls the action down and back into the stock. If you don't loosen the other 2 screws first the action cannot freely move.

Then tighten the back screw almost as tight. The middle screw should be only snug enough so it dosen't come loose with recoil and use.

Most folks report getting the best accuracy with Rugers this way. Ruger advises against free floating. I might be tempted to try it with a wood stock, but not with the factory synthetic.

CRF has nothing to do with accuracy. My CRF Winchesters outshoot anything I own. My Ruger is not the most accurate gun I own, but will still shoot under 1" with selected loads. Won't do it with everything.

 

[PedalBiker]

I floated my Ruger 77. It didn't make much difference off the bench, but when using a sling or bipod it helped keep the impact the same.

The Ruger barrels are pretty thin, I don't shoot more than 3 or 4 shot groups.

 

[H2oPumper]

I did get some ideas for some things to try.
1. Shim the tip of the forearm and fit it tighter.
2. Since shimming is completely reversable, the next thing after that is that I'm going to attemt to trade it in at a resonable price on an identical one, but in a 280. It might be a mistake to do that, but the rifle has some nice features that I'm not ready to part with.
3. If I can't work a trade, then install pillars and have it bedded.
4. Completely float the barrel.
5. Put it out to pasture.

 

[H2oPumper]

My fix ended at step 2 and I brought home a new 280 Hawkeye all-weather today. Not a standard caliber, but it has good ballistic numbers and not many hunting buddies will be bumming cartridges. I have yet to shoot it, and I hope it groups better out of the box than the 270 did, or I'll have to keep moving down my list of "to-do's". The theory of pillars, glass bedding and floating seem like the right thing to do, but I've got to shoot it first.

 

[Abel]

How much ammo did you try with the 270?

 

[H2oPumper]

I primarily experimented with the basic Federal, Remington, and Winchester in the 130, which I wanted to shoot, but the gun shot awful, and the 150 grain, which did get groups tighter. I tried some Hornaday, which shot the best, but still 2".

I traded to the 280 for $90, it was just time to cut-bait and start over. I would have had that money stuck into a gunsmith and the 270 to install pillars and bed it for a hope that it would get better.

I still don't know if the 280 is the answer, but it has some nice ballistics and it's a caliber I didn't have

 

[BluegrassDan]

I bought my dad a Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .270 last spring and topped it with a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-9x40. It would group around 1.5"-2" so I glass bedded the action and free floated the barrel. It helped the groups shrink down to about 1.25"-1.75" with the occasional sub-MOA group.

This was with factory ammo. It liked Remington Core Lokts the best. The gun would probably shoot a bit better with handloads.

 

[Still Shooting]

Ruger .270 Accuracy

I have 3 Ruger 77's in the gun rack; a .243, my go-to .257 Roberts, and a .270 - all are in wood stocks.

The .270 was about 1.5moa until I started loading up to max. With a 150gr. Nosler Partition, pushed by 53 gr. of IMR 4350, it will reliably overlap 3 out of 5 rounds @ 100yds. Ususally as the barrel heats, the last 2 will fill out a sub-1" 5 shot group. Others have commented that .270's often "like" hot loads.

My .257 bob was a wild shooter (first one dead-on, next one 3-4" high and left or right, 3rd round 3-5" high and either left or right, etc. I eventually found that the wood forend was slightly warped, and contacted the barrel about 4" back on the forend, at about 8 o'clock. Relieved some wood, and it came on with 3/4" groups using H380 and 100 gr. Partitions.

The .243 will deliver 1 moa consistently, using factory ammo. It's a tad better with 100gr. Nosler ballistic tips, pushed by 42.5gr. of IMR4831.

The point? - I think Rugers are capable of very good accuracy, but they often need a little "fussing" to get it.

 

[H2oPumper]

This was the last group, rounds 12-13-14, in about 20 minutes to dial in the scope. 140 Fusions off a lead sled solo and a wobbly spool at 100 yards. So far it looks like it’s a gun that will shoot better than me and not the other way around. Recoil seems less violent as well, it didn’t shift the rest as much as the 270 or 30-06. I don't reload at this time, maybe in the future, so I'm at the mercy of factory loads.

I certainly could have worked more with the 270 by floating/shimming and bedding, but all that costs money in ammo, material and labor if I'd hire it out. The other concern is that if I did do all that and it still wasn't consistent. The trade-in price was in line with what I was willing to do, so I went the 280 route.