Teal,
Yep, that particular Ruger was a Hawkeye blued/walnut model with a 26" barrel. It was actually the very first 6.5 Creedmoor rifle I'd ever seen, and was on the rack at Capital Sports & Western Wear. The head of the gun department (who I trust) told me they shot like crazy, and they'd just had to order more.(By the way, I copied and pasted your post.)
From the store, I phoned the editor of my primary gun magazine and asked if he'd be interested in an article, saying I had a pretty good deal going. They hadn't published anything on the 6.5 Creedmoor yet, and he said yeah, so I bought the rifle and 3-4 boxes of factory ammo. Kinda wish I'd kept it, because it shot so well--but had to try other 6.5 Creedmoors to make sure the accuracy wasn't an aberration. Am not on my 5th, a Bergara B-14 Ridge, which four days ago averaged .35 for 3-shot groups at 100 yards with the first load tried with 135-grain Hornady A-Maxes and Vihtavuori's new N555 powder. A little tweaking and it might shoot....
