Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Hawkeye, Rem M7, or Browning X-Bolt

I probably already know the answer to this but here it is.

I'm looking for anoter .243. I found a few I liked, they are the above mentioned. Here is what I think.

I liked the X bolt, light weight, seemed to function well, liked the clip. Not sure about it though as it is unproven. price $600

The Hawkeye was nice and I know have one already so I'm familiar with how they carry and opperate. Wood stock, blued. - $659

Rem. M7 CDL I liked a lot but found it to be priced pretty high. It was very light, had nice wood and an R3 recoil pad that I don't need but my kids might later. price- $800

They all felt good and seemed to carry well. The Ruger was the heaviest of the bunch but not overly so. It will be used from a stand probably 75% of the time anyway.

What do you guys think?

Ruger all the way, without question ro further thought, no close second place here.

tikka

The Ruger or the Rem 7, I have them both..

Why do you choose Ruger all the way?

I don't think Tikka was on the list.

CRF vs Push feed... no contest.

Shroud mounted 3 positions safety, fixed ejector vs plunger etc. Pretty easy IMHO, being as all three choices are nice looking and nice handling rifles.

OK thanks,

I do like the Ruger out of all the choices the best but didn't want to put that in my first post. The Rem was almost too light.

The Browning looks like a great rifle, but is still unproven being new this year. It handled the best out of the three, at least in the store.

I save some money on rings and bases with the ruger too.

M7.

I don't think the CRF thing really matters much on a non-dangerous-game .243! Besides... I dunno... I tried yesterday just for grins, and I can can cycle rounds in my M7 UPSIDE DOWN, so... I just don't see the "problem" that requires a CRF "fix".

Anyway I think your chances of getting a "good 'un" are best with the M7, and there's a ton of aftermarket support for them should you want to mess around with it.

Get the M7, but I'd go for the Camo predator model instead of the CDL.

CRF's are better? In a .243?

Please!

I'd go with the Ruger. I've seen far less problems with the actions on Rugers and Winchesters getting gummy from dust and lint. I've never seen a bolt release stick or a ejector get plugged up to the point where it wouldn't work on a Ruger.
I don't know how the triggers are housed and put together on the latest Rugers, but the ones I have are very easy to keep clean and functioning. Remingtons aren't as easy to maintain. More prone to getting gummed up.
I like the idea of a one piece bolt.
Brownings latest is an unknown. Their A-Bolt has a rep for having problems - JJHack commented once that he had seen more A-Bolts fail in the field than all other makes combined. After having seen how they are made and their design features, no thanks.
I would rate the Remington in second place, but a possibility.
Any of them should shoot plenty well enough. E

I'm going to vote Ruger as well. I used to be one of those guys who did not really think there were any advantages to CRF. The more I use them however I am beginning to change my mind. I've lost count of how many push feed rifles I've owned and traded off or sold and every single one of them would feed upside down, side ways or any way I could hold it. It is not the feeding where CRF is an advantage, but much more reliable extraction and ejection. Especially under harsh conditions.

The fact that the Ruger is CRF is actually a small part of my reasoning. I just feel that it is a better value for the money. To be honest a few years ago I would have recommended the Remington. While not on your list, for a highly accurate rifle in that price range I really like the Tikka.

Nothing against Browning or Tikka both great rifles, but I'm a Ruger fan and always will be. Rugers may not be the prettiest of the three or have all the new bells and whistles, but they do last and last. The customer service is the best not to mention it's built in the USA. Oh yes, Ruger makes some of the best scope rings out their if not the best and they come with the rifle.

Where available, CRF's are always better. Not always critically neccesary, but better by a wide margin. A couple of my Varmint rifles are not CRF, but everything from 25 cal and up definately is.

MARK

Either the Ruger or Remington would make me happy but I tend to favor Ruger rifles.

Push-feed, as with my two Remingtons and three of my Rugers has never caused me a problem. That said, I prefer CRF, which I have on two Rugers, because I can partially extract a case and pluck it out one-handed.

Beyond that, both brands have treated me very well.

1. Ruger
2. Remington
3. Toyota ( oh excuse me Browning)
With Ruger and Remington made in USA this should be a two gun race. I prefer the Rugers, especially in M77 MKII instead of the new Hawkeye. If you look around you can still find new ones out there. I still can't get the Hawkeye to grow on me. I saw Tikka mentioned above which made me think to suggest Savage!! They are made in USA too and they shoot great at a great price too!

Ruger then Remington. As much as I want to like the Browning, it's a bit to whiz-bang for me, unloading buttons, euro-stock.
Speaking of Ruger, it seems the difference between the Hawkeye and the M-77 is a matter of reworked trigger, stock and floorplate. Am I missing anything? I see in my catalog that the M-77 can be had in a stainless sporter configuration with a laminated wood stock, the Hawkeye in stainless has a injection plastic stock. This would seem to favor the M-77 in terms of glassbedding.

wow, lots of input. Well I went with the Hawkeye. I misquoted the price on the browning. I said 600 and it was 700. That took that out of the equation real quick. I just didn't want to spend $800 for the M7. I got the ruger for 650 and it comes with rings so that will save me about 40bucks too.

I did run a box of core locs through it this afternoon and it was an 1 1/2" at 100. Not too bad for the first box. I'm going to try the Fusions and Tripple Shock too. I love shooting this round, I could do it all day and not flinch once.

A brand new X bolt 7mm rem mag 26" will be in my collection as soon as browning digs its head out of their ass and finally make them available in Canada. All this waiting makes me open minded about others, but we'll see