I've never owned a Hawkeye, so I'll have to defer to those with experience. Many years ago, I had a Ruger 77 w/tang safety and liked it, though I also like the 3-position safety on my current Ruger MK II. As others have stated, the 3-position safety is, well, safer. Though the tang safety is faster to manipulate, the newer 3-position safety has not yet cost me a game animal. I bought my MK II in Spring of 2005 and for awhile releasing the floorplate was an exercise in futility with or without gloves. However, over time and with repeated use, this has ceased to be a problem. Regarding stocks, the first thing I did, when I got my MK II, was replace the factory stock with a Hogue. It's not that I necessarily disliked the factory stock but that I really like the Hogue synthetic stocks, which fit me perfectly (especially the wide forearm). YMMV.
