Yeah, Remington has been using hammer-forged barrels on their mass-production centerfires for years. The barrels on Rugers have been more consistent since they started making their own, but a lot of the barrels before then shot quite well too.
One thing I have noticed in the past few years is Ruger's barrels look like they've been lapped--not as much as a hand-lapped custom barrel, but enough to take remove some of the rougher spots. Or at least that's what they look like through my bore-scope. Some look absolutely perfect.
The triggers on the Mark II 77's and the slightly improved version on the Hawkeye may not be perfect out of the box, but they're really easy to fix. Even I can convert them to a safe, crisp 2-3 pound pull in about half an hour.
Usually any of the Ruger centerfire bolt-actions shoots better if the barrel's free-floated. I don't know why they don't just do that at the factory with all their models, but for some they don't.
I've been fiddling with a acquaintance's new Ruger rifle in 308 Winchester. Before any shooting, I pushed a couple of patches wet with Butch's through the bore. After a dry patch, I gave it a dozen strokes with a bronze brush loaded with Ballistol. After a couple of dry patches it was off to the range.
Twenty rounds of Remington match ammo were fired in the course of showing J the ropes about scope mounting, bore sighting, dialing for zero, dialing for distance, and helping a newbie to centerfires have a blast banging the 300 yard gong his first time out.
Last night I used Montana X-treme to patch/soak the bore. There was not a single hint of blue on any of the patches, including after an overnight soak.
I realize that's after only twenty shots, but I believe it to be an nice result from a brand new mass produced barrel. I don't have a bore scope to look inside, but as old Forrest might say in this situation: Smooth is as smooth does.
