Found one of these in perfect condition and thought about grabbing it.

Wanted to ask if any other owners have opened up the bbl channel to free float the tube on one of these stocks. It looks to be tight as Dick's hat band.

Wanted to see if there was anything I should be aware of before I have someone start whittling on that stock.

Thanks

Try shooting it before you mess with it, have three and no complaints on any of them as far as accuracy is concerned.

I have one of the ugly bastards with a [bleep] .270 chamber and it shoots great with only some trigger work.

Hi Cal,

I planned on it. Bro in law has one that shoots quite well.

Just wanted to see if there were any snags if I needed to open up the bbl channel.

Thanks

This is a .270!

Will be my first ever. Poohbah will dis-own me, but I'll have millions of new redneck friends to soften the blow. Lol.

I like the rifle, but it's no lightweight. Does anyone know how much they weigh?

Put a hone to the trigger, and go kill stuff. I have a boat paddle 223, uncle has a 280. Barrel channels have not been touched. They both shoot way, way better than they should. The boat paddle Ruger is the 90s version of a Tikka. Ugly, but shoots.

If I remember right, as I'm not at home, it is high 7's with a scope.
Seems alot lighter than M77 wood, but probably a pound or so.

The last time I looked at one, the channel of that boat paddle is a little opened up already - underneath. Like the others have said, get to the range first. Maybe a little trigger work first.
There just a no nonsense, all weather rifle that is hard to beat.

It's ugly, but I like it.

Intended on rebarreling in 25-06 at some point. The trigger felt like it could definitely use some work, but most do so that's no biggie.

Planned on replacing those hangers with screw in swivels as well.

8 lbs 12 ozs with 4 carts, 3-9x40 FFII, and quake claw sling..

Thanks Rancho.

I could tell it wasn't a lightweight. Most of mine run around 8.5 lbs scooped and ready to hunt.

All mine are floated and they all shot better after floating.

Here's a few weights on a couple of mine


1st 7mm Mag, Leupold 4.5-14x40, Vero Venelli sling



2nd 338 Win Mag, Leupold 3-9x40



I'm guessing the .270 is a 22" barrel, so that shaves a few ounces off of mine.


They're ugly, but they do grow on you. I also have a .22 mag with a Leupold 3-9x40 on it.

I don't know if those stocks are stiff enough for free floating to work unless you really took a lot of material out.

I have three of them and have owned a fourth. One is a .280 that shot 1.5-2 MOA with most loads. I wanted to improve the accuracy so I bought a B&C stock and bedded it. Groups shrank down to 1" with most loads.

Then I decided I wanted to mess with the boat paddle and see if I could get it work just because I think they are cooler looking. So I used carbon arrow shafts and epoxy to stiffen the barrel channel and then glass bedded the action. Still shot the 1.5-2" groups...go figure.

The .243 I bought from highridge shoots great though. And so does my 7 mag.

Its just luck of the draw.

JM, they do look good in wood....

Yup.

That one does. How does it shoot?

Yup, I have a 260 I put in factory wood and like the look very much. I just screwed it in and added a set of ruger mounts with a m8 6x on it and it shoots factory 7/8 in. as is. What's not to love?

most awesomely.. I floated it.

Have heard of dropping aluminum arrow shafts in to make the forearm more rigid.

Seems like carbon arrows would bend too easily as they are more flexible than the forearm they are supposed to reinforce????

Thought about the free float because I use a sling when I shoot.

Having a stock that contacts the bbl can produce some wacky results when the pressure from a sling is applied.

And having a forearm that flexes can also be a problem if the action isn't properly bedded.

That's a big reason I always liked Brownings, very little POI shift between bench and being in the sling.

Just my experience, YMMV.

They stiffen up pretty good when you cut them into short lengths.

Mostly though, the carbon shafts just take up space so you don't end up with 2 lbs of fiberglass resin in the channel. I put the arrow shafts both lengthwise and crossways.

Thanks BD.

Appreciate the tip.

Jm

I wouldn't open the barrel channel. I'd see how it shot first. Get a trigger job done. If needed relieve the mag box so it floats in the action, tighten the front screw to 60-65 inlb, the rear screw to 50 inlb, and the center bottomed but not torqued. I used a machine screw base front and wood screw type rear swivel stud.

I just bought one in .30/06 and it shoots very accurately with no modifications.

Same here. Only mine is a stainless Hawkeye that a fellow forum member mounted in the boatpaddle stock for me.

I floated my UL and it helped the groups enough that I was glad that I did it. That combined with reloads have produced 1 1/2" groups out of a 20" UL. Works for me!

I free floated the barrel on my 260 boat paddle. About all I got for the effort was a pile of plastic dust/shavings - still a 1 to 1 1/2" rifle. No gains in accuracy. This with a very light Timney trigger.
I have two other boat paddles, a 270 and a 280. Both shot well from the get go. The 270 shoots ridiculously well with Federal's cheap BlueBox 130s (that rifle is on permanent loan to my sister- that way she's not borrowing any of my other guns and I don't have to reload for it). The 280 shoots 140gr Bergers and 120gr TTSX sub-MOA. Neither rifle has had any work done on them.

Kaiser Norton

I just picked up a stainless boat paddle Ruger M77 Mark II in 223 from 1994 that appears unfired.

Hope to get it scoped up soon and see what it'll do. It'll get a trigger job with an overtravel screw installed too.

Ruger currently lists the Hawkeye 223 with a 9" twist....I have to check this one....anyone know if this one will be 9" twist?

Just picked up a Mk-II 30-06 skeleton stock rifle. Going to be adding a prefit pachmayr pad and some sling studs but hoping the rifle shoots well enough without additional stock work.

just drop the fugly ukker in walnut, and be done with it....

ya mean,...like this?..:-)

1:12 twist on the mkII's. it's the only thing stopping me from picking one up. I'll be picking up a hawkeye 223 soon enough. I just need to locate another SA skeleton to go on it.

Did someone mention walnut? How bout this?

Just shoot the dang thing before you go about "fixing" it. I've yet to shoot an M77 mkII that wasn't accurate, whether a boat paddle or woody.

My first boat paddle stock, home to a blued .300WM, looked like that. Right away I called Ruger and ordered the Zytel inserts and the proper (different) screws for them. Much better!

Here are my two stainless boat paddle rifles, a .338 WM on the left and a .30-06 on the right.



Haven't found a need to float the barrels.

You wouldn't happen to stil have them would you?

My eyes hurt....

I like it. If you could get those grip panels checkered I'd grab a set.

I have found that you can "Tune" the rifle using the forearms insert screws. By tightning or loosening them. It has made a big difference on several of the rifles I have. It changes the pressure on the barrel in the channel.

Nope. Gave them away for free and paid the shipping, too. (Felt like they deserved a good home...)

The panels are fairly thin and I was concerned they would eventually crack and be irreplaceable. No such worries with the Zytel.

Here's the .300WM, on top. The bottom rifle is the stainless .30-06 shown in a previous post.


The .30-06 came in a nice nutmeg laminate stock as shown below. The other two rifles in the picture are my Ruger MKII and Remington M700 .30-06s. The boat paddle stock and the Ruger MKII action became the .338 WM shown previously.


The boat paddle stocks may not be works of beauty but they are very functional - fairly light, impervious to weather, nearly indestructible, scratches and dings don't cause me angst, and every rifle I have in one shoots great.

I have purchased two in 260. The first printed 2.5 in or larger groups. The barrel channel was fairly open, but there is a pressure pad near the front of the stock.

I floated the barrel and glassed in the action....no change.

I sent the rifle in to Ruger and had the stock replaced with a factory laminate. It also had a pressure pad near the front of the stock. The rifle still grouped as badly as before the stock replacement.

I sanded out the pressure pad and glassed in the action.....no change, unless you count the fact that the groups moved down more than six inches on the target.

The second rifle, identical to the first, shot slightly better. I installed the glassed and floated stock onto the second rifle. It did not help it any either.

sounds like you just had a bad barrel,...shoulda asked Ruger to rebarrel it. I've heard that 260's, or anythhing in 6.5 is a one holer just cuz of the great .264" bullets..:-)

Ruger said the barrel "met their standards".

One of these days, when the coin is available, it will go to Pac-nor. I just have to decide which flavor it will come home as, I am not as enamored of the 260 as I expected to be.

good plan,....consider a 7mm-08

I still miss the old stainless boat paddle Ruger 270 WIN.
I had years ago.The best beat the he!! out of it deer gun
I EVER owned.
I would like to find a factory boat paddle stock that would fit my Ruger RSI 77 Stainless 7mm-08.The Mannlicher stock is nice to look at but not very practical for hunting here in WET Alabama.
AMRA

I did the same thing with mine, shoots under MOA.
Is one of my favorite rifles now.