What is the difference 77 and 77 hawkeye
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rugerjunkie
Buckeye
They are the same rifle. The only difference is purely cosmetic. Different finishes with the matte on the Hawkeye. They have gone back to a decent blueing but still insist on that horrible bead blast on the stainless. The Hawkeye stock is a.bit slimmer in the forearm otherwise they will interchange between the two.
3DTESTIFY
Single-Sixer
In additon to what Rugerjunkie has posted, the Hawkeye has a wrap around checkering pattern on the forend, a steel floorplate with lazer etched logo and a red (eagle) recoil pad which is slightly more supple vs the older black MKII pads.
ndcowboy
Blackhawk
I disagree that they are the same rifle. Trigger is different.
rugerjunkie
Buckeye
ndcowboy said:
Yes , that one slipped my mind! A new LC-6 trigger is a big improvement over the previous. I'm glad a few of my late MkII's came with them. I'm a fan of stainless rifles but still refuse to buy a stainless Hawkeye with that deep sand blasted finish that looks like any monkey could apply...
MZ5
Bearcat
Stock profile is a bit different, too, but either receiver will drop into the other's stock.
22/45 Fan
Hunter
The LC-6 trigger can be made even better at very low cost. Ernie The Gunsmith (erniethegunsmith.com) sells a replacement trigger spring that reduced the trigger pull on my GS Scout (same action and trigger as the Hawkeye) from about 4-1/2 to 2-1/2 pounds and took less than five minutes to install at a cost of about $7. Highly recommended.rugerjunkie said:
http://erniethegunsmith.com/catalog/i29.html
Also, that mat, bead blasted finish is intentionally rough to prevent reflections that would give the gun away to game. A shiny stainless finish is like carrying around a mirror.
rugerjunkie
Buckeye
Thanks for the insight on the trigger upgrade! I'll look into it.
And I realize the theory behind a bead blasted matte stainless. It only really matters to people in my opinion. Spooking game is horse puckey in my book. If my shiney stainless MkII's are game spookers someone forgot to tell the two whitetails on two different occasions that actually left nose prints on said shiney barrels with their noses!
My real gripe with Rugers finish is that it is etched in waayyy deeper than what is needed to get a matte finish. No reason for that and it's done that way in my opinion as a way to save a nickel by blasting out any imperfections vs actually finishing a rifle with a satin or tastefully done bead blast finish...
And I realize the theory behind a bead blasted matte stainless. It only really matters to people in my opinion. Spooking game is horse puckey in my book. If my shiney stainless MkII's are game spookers someone forgot to tell the two whitetails on two different occasions that actually left nose prints on said shiney barrels with their noses!
My real gripe with Rugers finish is that it is etched in waayyy deeper than what is needed to get a matte finish. No reason for that and it's done that way in my opinion as a way to save a nickel by blasting out any imperfections vs actually finishing a rifle with a satin or tastefully done bead blast finish...
3DTESTIFY
Single-Sixer
Agree with Rugerjunkie absolutely! The "rifle bling" subject is blown way out of proportion.
I once hunted with a cousin out west who had a high-gloss stock on his Browning. I saw the reflection off his stock from over a mile away. That simply doesn't happen with the older stainless finish Ruger used to use. They were "brighter" than the new matte finish, no doubt, but they're far from reflective. Not unless you polish them up to a chrome look anyway. The new matte finish stainless looks awful. It makes a quality rifle look cheap. Of course that's just my opinion.
mohavesam
Hawkeye
I'll add the differences are mostly engineering/assembly cost-out improvements. Ruger marketing decided they did not want a "Mark III" m77, so they re-used the Hawkeye moniker.
Coyote Hunter
Single-Sixer
rugerjunkie said:
There are multiple differences. The M77 had an adjustable trigger. The MKII did not, and replaced the tang safety with a 3-position safety next to the bolt cutout in the stock. The Hawkeye got a slimmer stock and the LC6 trigger, along with a a different floorplate. Probably other differences as well, but these are the ones that are most noticeable to me.
rugerjunkie
Buckeye
Coyote Hunter said:
Yes , but the question was between the MkII and Hawkeye not the 77...
huntsman22
Blackhawk
not if all you read was the thread title......
woods-walker
Single-Sixer
Good information. I'd needed a memory refresher.
