A few years back I read that Ruger was going to discontinue the original matte black finish on the "blued" models and go to a more durable satin "blue" metal finish. Anyone know if and when that happened and if it did is it a better finish? Thanks.

It happened a few years ago. Couldn't say whether it's more durable, as I only have one with the matte finish. I wish it was satin, or even polished, though. Sorry I can't help further.

Yes, it is by far more durable.
It is exactly like the blued finish on the MK11's
Nice and glossy, the term "satin" is misleading.

What about the stainless ones? Are they still matte or polished/brushed finish?

Stainless are still the matte, highly scratchable finish.

I have a Ruger Hawkeye Predator. Love the way it shoots, hate that stupid finish. You can almost look at it and scratch it.

Yeah, the matte finish on the stainless guns is absolutely horrible.

They don't make the stainless Hawkeyes anymore, just the blued version. I'm not sure how long they will continue that.

The Hawkeye finish was the absolute WORST finish Ruger ever put on a rifle!

Ruger should have kept the original stainless and gloss blue they used on their MK/II rifles!!!

I wish they would've made the All Weather Hawkeyes in their Target Grey finish. That said, I really like my Hawkeye All Weather. I've considered having it bead blasted but it really doesn't bother me nearly enough to do anything about it when I could spend that money and time shooting it.

The Target Grey of the current Hawkeye Predator & V/T guns is a different color, but IME it's actually _more_ easily scratched than the matte Hawkeye bluing. It also shreds patches if you try to do something 'silly' like clean or lightly oil the exterior of the rifle.
I love my Hawkeye Predators, except for the awful metal finish. I also love my blue Hawkeye, except for the metal finish.

The "scratches" on the stainless Hawkeyes are not really scratches, but more like finish marks.

Regardless, they buff out quite easily with a Magic Eraser pad.

No one wants to have to use a magic eraser on their rifles.

I actually love the old "subdued" stainless used on some of the MK/II rifles.

Yep, the old stainless finish was bombproof!

The Hawkeye matte stainless may scratch easily (my Predator still looks pristine) but it also doesn't shine in the woods. Combined with the Veggie-Pizza lammy stock, you'd best be careful where you set it down or you'll lose it. I use a piece of heavy cotton twill for oiling. The matte finish holds onto the oil well; imagine paste wax would also work well. Can't imagine a tougher field rifle than a SS Hawkeye.

It definitely was and I NEVER spooked game with it. I laugh when I hear someone complain about it.

I certainly agree with that!

I liked the finish on my ~20-years-old-now MkII Varmint Target. It was around the same gray as today, with a sort of titanium-esque quality to it, but it was smooth and excellent.

Re: spooking game with reflections-- That has always struck me similar to breaking in barrels: It's a reasonably clever way to cheapen the finishing process (or sell barrels) without people realizing what you've done. The rocks here are genuinely sparkly, so that kind of thing spooking game is rather silly. Perhaps it's an issue on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, IDK.