Well,the new Hawkeye 280 arrived this evening. I got to give it a quick hands on inspection before putting it to bed for the night.

Overall the wood is OK. Good serviceable straight grained walnut.A bit of tool chatter down the sides,but nothing terrible.There was some light scuffing on the floor plate. It must have been sliding back and forth in the box a bit.

One thing that really surprised me was the barrel was floated quite nicely to the front of the shank. I figured there woud at least be forend pressure. Nice!

The front action screw wasn't torqued to 95 in/lbs. That too was nice. Now I can easily get it out of the stock for some trigger work.

The trigger was surprisingly light. Lots of creep though.

Now for another interesting discovery. For this being a new Lawyer Era rifle,the throat is VERY short. I will never need the whole magazine that's for sure. 139gr Hornady Spire Points seated to a COAL of 3.330 won't allow the bolt to close. 3.300 and it will close,but with distinct land marks. Not sure I like it this way. Gonna be hard to get all the juice from the round.

Over the weekend I hope to get a couple pics posted,and maybe fire a couple. The weather doesn't sound too promising,but we will see.

More to follow.

The free floating barrel is kind of a surprise. When you take the stock off see if there is still a pressure pad at the forend tip. My .243 Hawkeye purchased in January was free floated to the barrel shank as well so it was interesting to see they left the pad in the stock. Looks like they changed the action inletting to raise the barrel but didn't change the stock making program to remove the speed bump.

Will do Jim. I really like the feel of the Hawkeye stock. Nice slim grip. Lighter than I expected too.

Extremely rare that it would be freeloating. Trigger is "surprisingly" light too???? Hmmm...

My trigger was the same way - 4 pounds out of the box, not really light by itself but compared to the usual 6 pound pull of my other Hawkeyes it was a pleasant surprise. No creep but typical over travel, even that wasn't horrendous. Had a lighter spring installed when it was at the smith's getting bedded and that brought the pull down to just under 3 pounds, very nice indeed. The gunsmith remarked that he didn't have to polish the nose of the sear at all, that it was well polished from the factory.

From my samples of those bullets collected over time it seems Hornady fattened the ogives a few years ago.

More recently the same thing seems to have happened to the 150 grain .308" flat base. To my annoyance I might add, my rifles not liking them as much.

Can't wait to see pics, wanna see the walnut.

I was laying in bed thinking about that last night. I would be willing to bet upon further inspection that it is sitting on the mag box. Dollars to doughnuts once the mag box is freed up it won't be floated anymore. Just a hunch.

Congrats on your new Rifle. I picked up a new All-Weather 280 last October, followedby a .308 Scout and, within the last month, a lefty .308 Hawkeye for Daughter #1. All of the triggers were better than those of days past (M77, MKII) but they are very easy to clean up and all three are now very good.

The .308 Hawkeye was not floated but I fixed that. The All-Weather isn't floated either but shoots so nice I'm going to leave it as-is for now.

My thoughts exactly. My last Hawkeye needed trigger work for sure and had pressure pads at the fore-end.

Otter,

Congrats! Post pics and let us know how it shoots.

If yours is free, it may well be the first. None of mine have been free (all three I still own and probably four that I have sold).

If you calculate the amount of powder that .03 inches of neck would allow you to add and apply JB's 1-4 formula, I doubt you'll lose too much.

Pointy bullets seated way out there do look pretty wicked, though! I'm pretty sure the AI crowd will be after you to ream it out and you could have the leade lengthened when you succumb to the pressure.

The shorter the better. Count the short lead as a big win.

A gunsmith buddy of mine has the reamer. He will likely be the first to bring that up,lol.

I'll do my best. Photo bucket won't open for me anymore. I don't know where I'll end up for hosting now.

OK here we go. I fiddled with the Hawkeye a little after work. Took her out of the stock. Relieved the mag box. Studied up the trigger a bit. I may order a spring for it. Honestly,the more I mess with it,the more I think I'll try it "as is" for now. Not really terrible. There is in fact a speed bump in the tip of the barrel channel. Oddly enough it's still floated. Don't understand it,but I aint gonna bitch. A bedding job will likely evolve anyway. Just seems like the thing to do. I forgot how well the classic style Ruger stock feels. I am quite taken with the Hawkeye grip dimensions. What with my squat,thick hands.

Here a few pics. The weather is pretty much crap. I hope to at least fire her a time or two this weekend. We'll see I guess. A real range session would be great.





Here are a few bullets seated to be .005" to .010" off the lands.The 160 A-Bond eats up a bunch of case capacity. The 150 BT not nearly so much.

Nothing frilly, just a handsome rifle. Probably all a boy would ever need.

How did you relieve the mag box? Is the idea that it not touch the action or the bottom metal, or just not be wedged between them?

I filed the notches that the trigger guard and front action screw/ floor plate hinge fit in. A little at a time checking the fit a couple times until the box will wiggle a little with all the screws tightened. It's not rattling around in there mind you,but it's not bound up either.

Otter, Does your bluing have a gloss finish? I always thought Hawkeyes had a matte or satin finish. Nice looking rifle!

The barrel and receiver are gloss,and the bolt and handle are matte.

Very nice rifle. It looks like a MKII... Must be the new "satin" finish???

I have an early Hawkeye and it is matte finished. They changed to the glossy finish several years ago.

Ernie

Must be the new "satin" finish???

Is kinda odd. Being it was bought from CDNN as a liquidation of sorts,I have to wonder. The gloss finish with the matte bolt,in a floated stock with a trigger no way near the usual 3 to 5 pounds. Could it be a store model? Leftover,over run sort of thing? A transition offering using one barrel and action with a matte bolt? This is the first "non-tanger" Ruger I've owned. Haven't followed them all that closely. Hopefully it will put them all in the same place.

Thanks Ernie. We were typing at the same time. How do you like yours?