338 Federal Ruger Hawkeye Range Report

[Canazes9]

Brought the Ruger to the range today to recheck after completing the stock work. Good range day not much wind at 1st, but a localized thunderstorm forced me to call the day a little early. I shot 4 groups at 100 yards w/ my 338 Federal Hawkeye using Federal 180grn Accubond ammunition. Good performance today, but didn't get groups as small as the 1st test in the new stock prior to being refinished. Maybe the fit has changed slightly or (more likely) the real tiny group from the 1st outing was more luck than the norm....

This rifle is factory except for swapping the factory synthetic stock for a factory ultralight walnut stock.

Here's the worst group:

Here's the best group:

I'm very satisfied w/ that performance for now. I plan on buying a set of dies soon and hope to work on a couple of handloads to see if I can improve on that - just for fun, not much to improve upon for a deer load. The Barnes 160 grn TTSX bullets look particularly interesting.

As per my usual, I brought my Savage 17hmr along to keep me occupied while I waited for the barrel to cool on my centerfire between groups. This cheapo savage is factory except for an aftermarket laminate stock:

Shot this 5-shot bragging group from 100 yards w/ the 17hmr today:

Regards,

David

 

[BangFlop]

I have been seriously looking at the Hawkeye stainless in 338 Fed ... do you still like yours? 8)

 

[poncaguy]

I shot my Hawkeye 338 Federal yesterday,stainless steel synthetic stock. My group at 50 yards looked like your .741 group. Just traded for it recently, no chance to shoot 100 yards yet I'm very pleased with it so far, shoots better than my 338 Federal Encore rifle.......Was shooting off the hood of my Honda CRV so I know I could do better from a bench rest......

 

[Canazes9]

Sorry, I've been out of pocket for a week or so.

Bangflop,

Yes, I like it very much - the rifle is accurate, relatively light weight and hits very hard! Recoil is relatively moderate. I'm looking forward to taking deer and hogs w/ it this year and w/ a little luck a caribou next year.

Poncaguy,

I wasn't all that pleased w/ my synthetic stock - First and foremost, I just don't like synthetic, I find real wood more pleasing. Beyond that though my synthetic stock was touching the barrel at multiple points in the barrel channel. These were not designed pressure points but sloppy inletting the result of mass production in a reasonably priced rifle. I hogged the inletting out on my synthetic stock and the groups shrunk to about the same size as I'm getting w/ the wood stock now.

David

 

[poncaguy]

I like synthetic stocks because of the lighter weight and my rifles are used for hunting and get banged around in my vehicles.........and I think the black stocks and stainless steel look good together. I really love my wood stocked tang saftey Ruger 22-250 though........

 

[wunbe]

Your results closley aproximate my rebored/rechambered Ruger #1B in the same caliber. Oddly enough, imine does it with a variety of commercial fodder.

I think I heard that the .338 Hawkeyes now are only being made in the .338 RCM!. I wonder how many of the .338 Federals actualy made it to the market?

wunbe

 

[JimHnSTL]

i bought a new synthetic factory take off stock from a hawk eye last fall to replace my boatpaddle stock on my .280 all weather. it shoots very well even though i too thought the barrel channel looked close/tight to the barrel (got lucky i guess) but i don't like that hollow sound so i filled the rear of the stock with expandable foam and now it's the best of both worlds. i am a big fan of wood and have walnut on my other all weather M77 but thought i should have one "crappy weather" set up.

 

[muledeer]

Wunbe,

The Ruger website shows the Hawkeye being made in .338 Federal, in the blue/wood and stainless/synthetic models. So unless you heard that rumor from a Ruger official, I'll be pretty sure it's wrong.

The .338 RCM is made on a couple of special models, with 20" barrels. They work really well, by the way, as I took one pig hunting in Texas this winter and really liked how it worked. The pigs did not, however .

Dennis