Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bought another Hawkeye

This one is a stainless/synthetic stocked model in .358 Winchester. It was "10% Off Day" at Capital Sports & Western, and with the discount the price was right at $500.

This is NOT the same stock as on the African model, and appears to be a nicely stiff injection-molded model of about the same dimensions as the walnut model. With a 2.5x Leupold in the Ruger mounts, it weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces.

The nice thing is the trigger. I was somewhat disapointed in the trigger on the first Hawkeye I bought, the African .375 Ruger model, which was heavy and rough (but easily fixed). This one, however, breaks pretty cleanly at 3 pounds 11 ounces, according to my Timney trigger machine. I don't plan on changing it at all.

Now we'll see how it shoots!

Mr. B, My favorite 358 Win. bullet. It ain't no TSX, but then IMHO it doesn't have to be.

Your thoughts ??

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=447710&t=11082005

He's gone Ruger on us, boys! Fortunately, ol' JB is loonier than most. Have only talked to one person (so far) with a Hawkeye, and he loves it. Have yet to handle one myself. Keep us posted, John. And Happy New Year to you and Eileen.
Mike

Ruger has also done another very good thing in the new Hawkeye line.........the 223's are now twisted at 1-9" which is way more useful & flexible than 1-12".

I'm gonna buy one.

MM

I noticed that as well about the .223.........seems like it is way more flexible that way.

Trey

What velocity do you load it to? I have been thinking the RNCL would be just the thing at maybe 2200-2300 fps, for range plinking, whitetail, and maybe black bear. Affordable bullets, good terminal performance, low recoil, what's not to like?

Heck, I'd like to see MD mess around with a 250 grain Woodleigh RN. I guess at roughly 2200 fps, though I'm wondering if a shorter RN design would allow more powder space in a length-limited cartridge like the .358, and thus a bit more MV than the usual spitzers. I looked at RN versus SPT data for several cartridges and didn't see a clear trend, but it might make for an interesting article. For a light "walking around rifle" for bear country, I'd sure as hell rather have 250 grain Woodies at 2200 fps than a 260 grain JSP at 1200 fps out of a .44 Mag.

Maybe they've changed the stocks since I purchased my .358 stainless H'eye, but mine is the exact same one they put on the last generation of the M77 MkII SS/syn "all weather" models. (Not even close to the walnut H'eye stock) Only change is the softer recoil pad. Yours come w/ a steel floor plate? I was disappointed to find mine was aluminum. I figure when I get around to it, Ruger will swap me a steel one for mine, as well as give me low rings for the supplied mediums.

Good call John...Those .358's aren't going to last long and will be in high demand once they're gone. It's really a bummer that the .358 is a cartridge that's completely worthless beyond 100 yards, and only marginally adequate for Elk sized critters. Why, if that cartridge could just be used for long shots on deer and medium shots on larger game, they could be on to something.

Mule Deer
Is there a practical way that you can think of to trim those Rugers down a pound or so?
Royce

Loaded right, it's a 250-275 yard rifle for both deer and elk. You just have to pick your shot and shoot like you should. No, it won't penetrate to the vitals on a tail shot.

I only hope the 358 sells enough that Ruger keeps in the first-string lineup. It is isn't sexy and does not get many write-ups, but it is effective.

That's pretty easily solved. If you run towards your target and shoot, your speed is added to the muzzle velocity. So for the .358, run at about 300 fps for deer and 600 fps for elk. There's some debate whether eland require a mere 600 or the full 800 fps launch speed. Guides and PHs always complain about arriving hunters being out of shape, because it factors so heavily into exterior ballistics.

284LUVR,

The 200 Core-Lokt RN is a GREAT bullet--and in fact I killed my last deer of 2007 with one, though from a .35 Remington (factory loads in a Marlin 336), which is the cartridge I believe it was designed for.

I haven't cranked it up to full .358 velocity of, say, 2700 fps, but suspect it would work fine even then. I am going to section one and see if it has the thick sidewalls of the original Core-Lokts. If so, it would probably do fine at about any velocity from 2000 fps on up.

Couchtater,

The 250 Woodleigh is an excellent suggestion, and would probably work perfectly at .358 velocities. I have loaded the 250 Hornady RN for years in the .358, and it expands more reliably than most 250 spitzers at .358 velocities.

By the way, I measured the twist on the Ruger barrel and it is 1-12. So it could handle even heavier bullets, like the 280 Swidft A-Frame--IF they'll expand at such low velocities.

Royce,

I haven't weighed the stock yet, so don't know if Mark Bansner's High Tech stock would drop a pound off. Actually, I kind of like the weight where it is for a .358.

Couchtater,

I believe the more accepted technique is to have somebody else drive the Land Cruiser or F250 (the choice depends on the continent you're hunting) while you whang away. This always seems to add something to the ballistics of any round. I know it is quite popular among Texas nilgai hunters....

Now your really going to want to push nosler to bring back the big BT's

At 2400fps+ it's a real thumper on whitetails.

Just call the 358 Winchester a 35 Remington IMPROVED

Hey, I know I'm slow guys, but...

I've never had any problem with the 358 (it and the 220 Swift are my 2 favorite cartridges). It works and I've used it for 50 years from Idaho to Virginia.

Or maybe, I'm just so slow that I just haven't caught up with it yet.

Mule Deer,
Bansner doesn't list a stock for a Short Action MKII/Hawkeye. Maybe you can convince them to make one. If they do I will order one tomorrow( and probably 3-4 more over the next year)

John

Used a .358 for a while in a Savage 99. Nice rig. I really liked the Speer 220 gr. Shot well with 4064 and was deadly on whitetails. Have yet to find a bad Speer bullet.

LC