Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Hawkeye Predator Stock

Can Ruger's 2-stage trigger be fitted to a standard Hawkeye?

Is the 2-stage available for purchase?

it can be, and no they won't sell separate.

LOL. Nailed it. Perfect description.

Finally had a chance to swing by the shop to pickup the gun. All I can say is wow. This is by far the best Ruger I've ever owned. I was expecting the gun to be heavier than it is. It is well balanced in the hand and feels lighter than it is. The trigger on this gun is without a doubt the best factory trigger I've ever experienced. Even though it pains me to say it the stock is much better looking in person vs. interweb pics. Overall, build quality and first impressions are very high.

Only one "issue" though. The gun won't chamber 5.56 ammo. I can't get the bolt to close on my cheap "223" Armscor 62gn ball or the 62gn Barnaul. However, it chambers and closes commercial Winchester 55gn with ease. Should I get the chamber reamed to 223 Wylde or leave it as is?

Told you so.

Put a little moly lube on the contact surfaces of the bolt and it will get pretty slick pretty quick.

IF I had to make do with one rifle, this one would do.

I think I would shoot it before dinking around with the chamber, unless it's very important that you be able to shoot the 5.56 stuff.

Do you have an idea of what that work would cost?

BTW, if you are going to mount a smallish scope, you may want to exchange the standard medium rings for low ones. Actually, all you need to do is swap the 5 for a 3 and move the 4 you have to the rear. Ruger will swap them for free if they are new and unused. Amazon also carries the rings if you want a spare set and they ship very quickly. The rings are sold singly.

Not sure but I've heard of hand reamers that can be rented or purchased for not too much.

I've determined the non-feeding issue is due to the Ruger chamber. There are two small burrs on the face of the chamber that are the culprit. After about 3-4 cycles of ammo the two burrs build up scraped off brass and cause the next cases to bind badly. I've cycled four brands: true Lake City 5.56 NATO, Winchester commercial, Perfecta (Italy 223) & the Armscor USA stuff. Of the four the Lake City and Winchester commercial cycle the best longest. The Armscor USA stuff is ever so slightly wider at the base and gets hung up on the two burr marks straight away on a freshly brushed bore. I'm a little miffed I have to deal with this on a new rifle but I doubt it is representative of the rifle overall. I've ordered a carbide deburr ball to chamfer the chamber face to clean up those two burr marks. At $20 I think it is an easier proposition compared to dealing with Ruger CS and not having the rifle all summer while they fix it.......

Anyone else have Ruger show up with a banged up chamber face like this?

I Like it! I need to pick up a Ruger someday soon. It's been too long since I've homed one.

I thought I'd give an update on the Predator. The gun shoots great.....now. The gun came with a very large burr on the front of the barrel chamber. It would scrap brass off the casings and build up until the next round would jamb in the chamber requiring a tap of a rubber mallet on the bolt handle. Obviously this got past Ruger QC. I called Ruger and they told me to take it to the nearest gunshop. However, the gunshop wanted to charge me to ship the gun because I didn't buy it from them. Ruger seemed complacent. I did not get a good feeling over the phone that Ruger was going to accommodate quickly or cared. The girl I spoke with was awful so I just fixed the gun myself. I solved the problem by grinding a light bevel in the barrel chamber face (it was flat from the factory) with a 1/2" metal burr ball and used a small file on the remaining burr. The burr/dent was actually quite large. The tools cost me ~$40, money well spent compared to rolling the dice on Ruger customer service. As far as the gun features are concerned, the stainless bead-blast finish is far too fragile. The metal finish mars easily so take care not to scratch it if you get this gun. The magazine binds on the action BADLY. I had to dremel out and file a sizable amount to clear it of binding on the action. Also, why hasn't Ruger moved up to a one-piece floor plate? I knew going in that it was still a two-piece design but it still surprises me Ruger hasn't upgraded the bottom metal design on their "flagship" design bolt gun. The barrel has a traditional hunter crown and mine is only fair-good in quality. I'm sure I'll cut in a new crown at some point down the road. My final grievance is that the stock is a pressure point/pressure fit design. This makes zero sense to me considering the gun has a slightly heavier contour barrel and a strong laminate stock. I ended up opening the barrel channel to free-float the barrel and bedded the action. The two-stage trigger takes getting used to but it is actually a very good trigger. The trigger came well adjusted and breaks ~2.5lbs. I'll leave it alone for now. I really liked the concept of this model but I think Ruger failed in a few areas of execution and quality control. Now that I've got all the bugs worked out I expect this to be a great gun moving forward. Considering how fragile the finish is I may get the gun finished by Robar at some point down the road.

picky bastid, aintcha?......grin

I don't understand why they tried to send you to a gunshop for shipping. It's perfectly legal to ship a gun back to the maker for repair and to receive it back again; no FFL required. UPS requires you to go to a Customer Service Center, not an UPS store. Ruger emailed me a pre-paidshipping label for my Bearcat and reimbursed me by check for the previous shipping I paid out of pocket.

The Ruger bottom metal is just fine as is, certainly better than the pot metal or plastic that most makers use these days. The barrel bedding is pretty much standard and easily altered to free floating if so desired.

Considering how many things Ruger did wrong, I surprised you bought it, what with all the perfect Tikkas out there.

I think it is a good gun overall it just doesn't come "finished" in my opinion, most brands don't. It seems every gun needs some level of work. For the price paid and feature set it is a good deal. The burr made it past my cursory review on pickup. Obviously, one-piece bottom metal is a preference but most agree it is an upgrade compared to two-piece. It will be of little consequence once I've bedded the bottom metal. I'm quite certain I have no idea why Ruger didn't send me a label. The girl wanted me off the phone and couldn't have sounded like she cared less.

Sounds like the CS girl you got needs to ponder a career change to maybe the exciting world of Fast Food.

I would have asked for someone else. There's no way a customer should have to pay for shipping to correct a potential safety-related defect. Although everyone I've ever dealt with at Ruger has been very nice, sometimes it helps to start off with a little polite, but firm attitude to "set the mood".