hawkeye compact accuracy

[bearden]

I purchased a Hawkeye compact this summer in 7.62x39 and am having difficulty in finding an accurate load for it...this week I tried PMC Target ammo and the best I could get was 2 inches at 100 yards,cold barrel (note rifle was zeroed and using quality scope) also when fired with hot barrel the best was 4 inches, with a tendency to drop towards 6 oclock position . I am not expecting MOA accuracy but close to an inch at 100 would be nice. I reload and any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[mattsbox99]

What other ammo have you tried? I don't load for the 7.62x39 but there are many good powders available along with quality bullets from Sierra, Nosler, Hornady, and Speer. The 125 grain Ballistic Tip with Reloder 7 would be my choice to start with.

 

[bigbore45colt]

bearden,

I have one of those Compact Hawkeyes in 7.62x39 and I've had pretty good success, accuracy wise, with both American Eagle and Winchester white box. Have you tried either of those?

BB45C

 

[EVR]

Ruger bedding is so commonly poor I epoxy rebed every new Ruger I buy BEFORE I shoot them.

Get your book out and use 4198 powder and a good 123-125 grain bullet and I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[bearden]

thanks for the replies, the ammo I have tried has been the wolf line and privi line, havn't tried winchester yet............it may be a rifle that needs the work of reloading to be accurate.............time to crack the books.

 

[EVR]

With our old CZ527 we got 2.5 inch 5 shot groups at 200 yards with Wolf HP ammo {123 gr}. My daughter killed a monster whitetail with that load, too and I used the same load on many "chore" critters; butcher sheep, coyotes, ground squirrels and a stock chasing dog.

 

[IrvJr]

bearden,

Before you try and rebed your rifle action, I would recommend that you try different brands of ammo. i have a ruger hawkeye in 308 that shot terribly with some Pvri partizan ammo that I bought from a local gunshop. it got 4 to 6 inch groups at 100 yards. i then switched over to some remington and winchester 150gr ammo and i got really nice groups (about 1" or smaller) at 100 yards. I was surprised at the dramatic improvement in accuracy with the change of ammo. The Prvi Partizan stuff was 147gr, so I thought it would be similar in performance to the Remington and Winchester stuff (that I bought from Walmart), but it wasn't.

Good luck.

 

[EVR]

bearden,

Before you try and rebed your rifle action, I would recommend that you try different brands of ammo. Good luck.

I can't fault this one bit. This approach sure can't hurt.

You might find a different brand/load does well.

I was just kicking around with my AK and found a bunch of handloads from my ex-CZ527 using my 4198 load mentioned above. I had never shot them from the AK.

Anyway, from sitting on the ground, elbows rested on knees, that piece of crap rattletrap AK did 4 inches for 5 shots at 114 yards. That is better than bench groups from all other ammo's.

Give it a whirl and see.

Still, I rebed every Ruger I buy. They all seem to have uneven pressure issues and frankly, rebedding has just plain worked for me.

But see what you think.

Shooting is fun, even for experiments. Maybe especially for experiments.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

My 762x39 is an older mark II not a hawkeye but what it really likes is the hornady vmax pushed by 1680

 

[Stumps13]

I have just purchased a Hawkeye Compact in 260 Rem and it drives nails @ 100yds with handloaded 140 gr Nosler Part. The only problem I have is that the bolt is hard to open. I do hope with time this problem will go away.

 

[IrvJr]

Stumps13 - I had a Ruger International M77 that had a bolt that was very hard to open. I disassembled the bolt to inspect it and found a metal shaving in it. After I removed the shaving, I relubed the parts and reassembled the bolt and it worked fine after that. Check the Ruger website for detailed instructions on disassembling and reassembling the bolt. They have a video section with step by step instructions on doing this.

 

[HIP SHOT]

I have a Hawkeye that the bolt "locks" back when you try to cycle a new round into the chamber. It looks like there is too much "slop" in the reciever when the bolt is in its most rearward position. I compared it to some other brand rifles that I have and they dont move a quarter of what the Ruger does. I deburred and polished everything I could and it still wont cycle smooth.

Hip Shot

 

[varoadking]

Not the least bit happy with my .308Win International Hawkeye...beyond it's looks...

 

[mjr_350]

Not the least bit happy with my .308Win International Hawkeye...beyond it's looks...

Why, whats your experiences with the Hawkeye?

 

[sargents1]

I purchased a Hawkeye compact this summer in 7.62x39 and am having difficulty in finding an accurate load for it...this week I tried PMC Target ammo and the best I could get was 2 inches at 100 yards,cold barrel (note rifle was zeroed and using quality scope) also when fired with hot barrel the best was 4 inches, with a tendency to drop towards 6 oclock position . I am not expecting MOA accuracy but close to an inch at 100 would be nice. I reload and any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

I have heard that 7.62x39 ammo is a bit different depending on where it was made. Ammo imported from Russia is 0.311in in diameter whereas American ammo is .308in in diameter. This comes up from time to time when people have accuracy issues with Mini 30's and AK's.

I would suspect that a Ruger Hawkeye is probably made with a .308in Barrel and therefore would work better with American made ammo.

You mentioned that you were using Prvi Partisan and Wolf Ammo. I know that the Wolf is made in Russia, and the Prvi stuff is made in...Serbia?...maybe? I'm not 100% sure about that. But if it is made in Serbia, then it was probably made to Russian specs seeing as how Serbia was part of Yugoslavia and thus a part of the USSR.

I would be interested to see what the difference in Diameter is between Wolf ammo and Winchester or Remington ammo.

BTW, I wouldnt consider a 2in group at 100yds all that bad for a thin barreled hunting rifle. Maybe not great, but not all that bad either.

Cheers,

 

[Ditmo]

I've got two Hawkeye compacts now. 7.62x39 and .308 win.

In 7.62x39 I've had good luck with the golden tiger brand for cheap ammo. It groups around 1.5MOA. My handloads do a lot better, but if I haven't had a chance to reload I'll grab the golden tiger and go. I'm using the Hornady .310 123gr bullets and 1680 powder.

With Wolf I get 3 to 4 MOA. I save the wolf for the AK and SKS for blasting.