Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles All weather consistent shooter

OK, I have it narrowed down to three for an out-of-the-box shooter i can take into any hunting weather and expect dead-nuts reliability and performance:
Savage Weather Warrior,
Steyr Pro Hunter, or
Ruger Synthetic Hawkeye.

Expectation is I have nothing to do to this rifle except scope it with a Leupold 6x36 and load it up with factory partitions...

Cartridge choices are 25-05, 30-06, or 270. I am leaning towards the 25-06...

Of those three, hand me the Ruger in '06 for a do all rifle. The others don't interest me at all. The Ruger may not be the most accurate of the three, but it will do everything and kill anything with enough accuracy for hunting anything that walks this continent.

I guess the ruger is out of the running then... I always have to glass bed the Rugers to get them to shoot decent. They are also rougher than a corn cob and the trigger always needs to be fine tuned.... . If you didn't have that little caveat in your thread, that's the rifle I'd choose...

Get the Ruger

BSA's experience not withstanding, I've had numerous Rugers in both Mark II and Hawkeye that will shoot without doing a darn thing to them. My All Weather Hawkeye 308s both were pulled from the box, disambled, cleaned, put back together and shot without any other work done to them. No trigger work, no bedding, nothing other than sighting them in. Both are easily MOA rifles. Have had similar experencies with Rugers in '06, 270 Win, 243, 223, 280 and 7mm-08. Maybe the trigers aren't the best, and maybe the action is rougher than some, but I can set that aside for a rifle that works as it should right out of the box.

Ruger, though I have no experience with Steyr.

Ruger

Ruger.

i have a steyr prohunter and plenty of rugers. the steyr is weird, for lack of a better word. i dont know about the current crop, but the one i got has a pretty amazing level of fit and finish for a factory rifle. great trigger and accurate as all get-out straight out of the box. i was also able to get a better fit by removing a spacer on the stock. anyhoo, i like it a lot.

Yep, from your list Id also buy the Ruger....Good luck .....Hb

Ruger.

The Hawkeye has a much better trigger than the Mk II. They are accurate and good to go out of the box. For a rugged, no nonsense hunting rifle a SS Hawkeye in .30-06 is perfection. The only drawback is it makes a poor multi day backpack hunting rifle due to weight. If you are not doing that get the Ruger.

I had a Steyr prohunter in .280 and it was a fine shooter. 1/2 moa with Hornady ammo. I think it had a 23 1/2 inch barrel. I would not hesitate to buy another.

I also vote for the Ruger. I've had good luck with M77s of all eras. I have a stainless Hawkeye in 7mm-08 that shoots well and is very well put-together. I have no complaints.

At its price point, I think the Hawkeye is about the best thing going. Rugged, dependable, accurate enough for anything I need to shoot.

SR

Ruger American in .308 would be a good choice.

Another vote for the Hawkeye in 30-06. My Mk II is a solid 1 MOA rifle.


Okie John

Ruger Hawkeye in 30-06, or 270 if you prefer.

Hawkeye triggers are hit or miss out of the box. Some are usable if you aren't picky. Some are absolutely awful. Heavy, creepy, inconsitent. None are really great. They arent't adjustable so some stone work and a spring change or modification is neccesary to improve. They can be made excellent with some work. The mag boxes are also generally pinched between the action and bottom metal and need some work. Bottom line, If you were to take ten random rifles out of the box, mount a scope and shoot without any tweaking or modification, my money would be on Savage to produce better accuracy on average than Ruger.

Ruger

I have 3 Rugers and two are M77 Hawkeye's; one all weather 358 Win and the other in stainless with laminate stock (6.5 Creedmoor heavy barrel 2-stage trigger V/T). All three are shooters and I have found that their actions become smoother with age and the triggers are good (great in the case of my Creed) right out of the box. Although I have friends that have Savages, I can't comment on them or Steyr's.

Good luck.




Clark