New M77 Hawkeye 243 Single Round feed problem

[Jeff_G]

Hello, my Dad and I picked up a new Hawkeye M77 compact in .243 caliber for my oldest son.

We were sizing up some new brass and immediately had a problem feeding a single round into the chamber. We tried with some store bought ammo and had the same results.

What is happening is the bolt would not fully engage / close most of the time. We found that it would feed and close just fine out of the magazine but a single round would not pop into the extractor.

We took it back to the store, where the salesman tried to tell us you could not single top feed the newer CRF bolts any more. Of course we don't believe that.

Later that night with a few spent casings I discovered that if I slightly push down on the back of the round, keeping the round to the rear of the action, the round will slip under the bolt extractors and feed just fine.

So it looks like I cannot just drop a round into the chamber and push the bolt forward.

So the question is does this sound normal for the controlled round feed or should I contact Ruger to see about getting it repaired?

My dad has other older M77s that do not do this, and he spoke with a friend who said his Hawkeye is not doing that either...

 

[WAYNO]

A single round must still be fed from the magazine in a true controlled feed. Some controlled feeds can be persuaded to act as a push feed, but eventually the extractor will be damaged.

This may help you understand a little better...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZZphk6JWfQ

WAYNO.

 

[Jeff_G]

So if you must feed from the magazine how is the gun a 3+1?

 

[WAYNO]

So if you must feed from the magazine how is the gun a 3+1?

If it is marketed as a 3+1, then it sounds like a semi-controlled feed, which can be used as a push feed also.

I've been researching the Hawkeyes, and the manual does in-fact say that it can be loaded directly into the chamber. At the same time, there's been other discussion concerning which Ruger bolt-actions are truly controlled, or semi-controlled feed.

So now it's time for some other input, as my curiosity is growing also.

I have experience with other M77's, which by design are controlled feed, but can also be loaded as a push feed. Push feeding enough did cause one of my extractors to fail. I replaced the extractor with a new one, which required a bit of fitting. As I received it, it would not chamber a cartridge without some stoning, a little at a time. Finally got it working correctly, but I no longer use any M77 as a push feed.

WAYNO.

 

[WAYNO]

To further complicate things, some owners of Hawkeyes insist they are true controlled round feeders, where other folks disdain the fact that theirs will work as a push feed.

Some interesting reading here...

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=142748&highlight=hawkeye+push+feed


So, assuming yours is a semi controlled round feed, which the owners manual would indicate, and the bolt wont close over a chambered round, then I would see if a good polish job of the extractor, and a little lube, would make a difference. It is helpful to remove the bolt from the gun and physically position an empty case against the extractor just to see what geometry and gyrations are required to push the extractor aside enough to jump over the rim. If not, then a gunsmith, or Ruger themselves should make whatever adjustment is necessary to make the extractor jump over a cartridge rim.


WAYNO.

 

[mattsbox99]

It will close over a cartridge, but its tough. I'm not sure that you will wear anything out though.

To load it as 3+1 you can chamber a cartridge from the magazine, then flip the rifle over and open the magazine floorplate and add another cartridge, or you can fill the magazine and drop a cartridge on top and with your thumb depress the cartridges in the magazine while slightly closing the bolt, then release the cartridges and finish closing the bolt.

I'm up to 4 Hawkeyes now and they all work as true CRF.

 

[257Bob]

I have two Hawkeyes and one of them does what you have described...the claw extractor won't slip over the cartridge head when single loaded into the chamber. The other does it about 50 percent of the time. So the bloke at Ruger might be right. Anyhow, four in the magazine is plenty for me. If I can't get some animal on the ground with four shots, then I doubt a fifth shot will help me much.

 

[Skalkaho Slim]

I was not able to do this on a Hawkeye compact mag either.

With my GSR, if I simply lay a round loose in the open action, the round will slip it under the extractor and chamber just fine. But if I try to place a round in the chamber and close the bolt, the extractor will not slip over the case rim no matter how hard I finagle it.

A gentleman tried to do so with his GSR and the extractor actually sprung free from the bolt.

Seems some folks are able to do it just fine and others are not. Sounds fairly intermittent.

Try placing the round loose in the action and see if that works.

 

[Jeff_G]

FYI, I called Ruger to see what their take on this was. The lady on the phone said they have received a lot of calls on this issue. She said you can just drop the round into the chamber but it will be really hard to close the bolt. For me its just way too much pressure to close the bolt. I do not feel comfortable with that.

We took it out to the range this weekend and found that slipping the round underneath the extractor and you push the bolt forward works just fine.

This is probably something Ruger should describe a little better in the book. Again my dad has several other Rugers that do not do this the M77 .270 we can just drop in round and close the bolt.

Four in the mag will be plenty, it was just a brand new gun with a brand new die, resizing new brass and not being able to close the bolt on our first test shell made us stop and wonder if there was an issue with the gun.


Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[pisgah]

People clamor for contolled round feed -- but don't know what it is!

CRF rifles are designed to feed from the mag. Some may close on a round just dropped in the chamber, but they weren't designed that way.