Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 77 Hawkeye Accuracy Fixes???

What are the accuracy fixes you guys do to new 77 Hawkeye's?

Bed action(excellent tutorial available in stickies), free float the barrel, make sure magazine box is not binding, tune or replace trigger. Pay attention to how much which screw is tightened. Some basic load work.

That's about all I do.

The last one I bought was a 308 after all the "Fixes" I gave up and bought a new 700, that fixed it.

Ditto. I lapped the lugs on mine as well. I find that the action screws are particularly picky. My experience is tighten the front (angled) tighter than a Remmy or Winchester. Check me, but I think Ruger recommends as much as 95 inch lbs. I've had good luck with tuning Ruger factory triggers, but one of mine has a Timney.

Bed, work up a load and shoot... Recipe for good shooting Hawkeye..

I free floated, bedded, replaced trigger (though it didn't need it), filed mag box down. Check screws were torqued correctly.

Of all the Hawkeyes I have owned/still own, only one (a .308 win) wouldn't shoot MOA or less right out of the box. I fixed it by selling it.
All other Hawkeyes/ MK11's have been tack drivers.

Fully cycle and dry fire the action about 1000x before doing anything else. Smooths it up nicely.

+1

Sold the Ruger 77 and got a lightly used 700 / .30-06

How does it shoot now, before fixes?

The Ruger Hawkeye I purchased last year was hands-down the most accurate rifle I've ever owned. I transferred it to a wood stock I already had, relieved the magazine box, and tightened the screws with the aid of a torque wrench. My first attempt with whatever-was-there ammo was less than MOA at 100 yards.

My Hawkeyes are treated just like my Remingtons. They are floated, bedded, torqued properly and triggers lightened. I lapped the lugs on a couple that seemed to help some but honestly mine have all been accurate after float/bed.

Either I'm really lucky choosing my Hawkeyes, or everyone else is unlucky.
Out of the box amazing rifles.

I just had one, free up the magazine box in my hawkeye 30-06. Once I did that I managed to get real consistency and some of the tightest groups I've ever gotten out of a 30 cal. bolt gun. I'm very happy with the gun.

Now, having said that, up to the point where I read about the mag fix on a Ruger forum - the experience was a tad frustrating. Why in the world do they leave the factory without this getting checked and fixed if needed? How many of the other "fixes" could be avoided if the factory fixed that one? How could this one "factory check/fix" affect the M77's reputation?

I think the trigger is great. I'm not keen on bedding rifles myself or the idea of paying someone to bed a new one for me, so I'm glad I didn't have to go that route. Ruger M77s have a strong following, but a lot of the criticism gets typed as well. I don't think a great factory rifle should have a lengthy rap sheet of fixes, I've owned a locker full of bolt actions that didn't need any.