Hawkeye questions

[mrgaf]

Picked up my Hawkeye Laminate stainless left hand in 300 WM. Pretty nice. Cleaned it up good but action is stiff but that will work itself out with time & shooting. My only real complaint was the stock had what felt like "over spray" but I was able to knock it down rubbing lightly using 0000 steel wool. Will be getting an SVT Limbsaver recoil pad installed by SVT. Going to send the stock in.... Scope wise I was going to pull my ZEISS conquests off my Tikka 7mm-08 but decided to get a new scope that has generous eye relief. Giving the Redfield 4-12 x 40 a serious look. Anyway
my first question is what are the torque specs for the action screws? Called Ruger and they said "nice and tight". Are there any specs? The second question is the barrel; is it free floating (does not appear to be). Any advantage to free floating it? Any break in advice?

Thanks!

 

[308longdistance]

Front, farmer tight. Rear, tight. Middle, just snug......Works for me.

Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40, constant 4" of eye relief 3 through 9. Great low light scope as well. Lot of scope for the money.

JMHO

 

[mrgaf]

Front, farmer tight. Rear, tight. Middle, just snug......Works for me.

Zeiss Conquest 3-9X40, constant 4" of eye relief 3 through 9. Great low light scope as well. Lot of scope for the money.

JMHO

Hmmm good point on the scope. Think the ZEISS will be a better fit on the Hawkeye with the 4" of eye relief and I'll get the Redfield 3-9x40 for the Tikka. 10-4 on the actions screws.....
Thanks Ed.

 

[308longdistance]

mrgaf, I tighten them in that order also. Front, rear, then middle.

 

[mattsbox99]

I'd see how it shoots before I did any work to the gun. If your Hawkeye shoots like mine, you'll be very pleased.

 

[mrgaf]

I'd see how it shoots before I did any work to the gun. If your Hawkeye shoots like mine, you'll be very pleased.

Agree but I still have to get the recoil pad put on. Shot my friends 300 WM Ruger a couple of years ago and while accurate, recoil was very stout and due to motorcycle injuries abut 5 years ago I have to take precautions. As for free floating the barrel that will not be done unless all else fails. Thanks for the tip.

 

[RJ556]

I fully agree with Longdistance308 about the Ziess Conquests. I have 3 of them and they are superb.

 

[mrgaf]

I love 3.5-10x44 I have on my Tikka. Ordered a Redfield 4-12x40 and will probably put that on the Tikka and love the Zeiss to my Ruger. The 3.5-10 has 3.5" eye relief but I'm not gonna quibble bout .5". WIll post picts once I get it mounted....

 

[Silent Sam]

These numbers were on the Ruger website at one time. I don't know if it still is. They are what I use.

The sequence and torques are:
1. The diagonal screw, torque to 50-90 inch-pounds.
2. The aft trigger guard screw, 30-50 inch pounds.
3. The forward trigger guard screw, also to 30-50 inch pounds.
The torque values will have an effect on barrel harmonics. Ruger uses the upper limits when assembling. But some experimenting may be helpful if you want to tweek the lst little bit of accuracy out of the rifle

**Sometimes just adjusting the torque on the diagonal screw will make all the difference as far as group size. I usually do it in 5 in-lb increments. Just remember it's 35 in-lbs minimum and 90 in-lbs maximum on the diagonal screw; 30-50 on the trigger guard screws.

 

[hadjii]

I have 3 of the Hawkeyes. A 257 Roberts, a 264 Win Mag, and a 300 RCM. I pillar bedded the stocks, and so now I don't worry about torque values a whole lot, but I do use a torque wrench and get them to about 70 inches, and that's pretty tight. I floated the barrels on all 3, along with replacing the triggers, re-crowning the muzzles and then glass bedding the actions as well. 2 of them have the ruger fiberglass stocks, and so I filled the hollow areas of the forearm in with pro-bed 2000, and all 3 will shoot sub-moa very easily and consistently. They are awesome rifles as far as I'm concerned. Wouldn't trade any of them for anything else.