Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Stupid Ruger Hawkeye question ?

I know this is a dumb question but....

I want to free float the barrel on an all weather Ruger Hawkeye. Is it just pressure beded at the end of the stock? If so, could I use a dremel tool to grind out the pressure bedding hump and be good to go or am I looking at something more complicated.

Second, what type head does the screw that holds the recoil pad on have, is it a philips, strait or something else?

Thanks for any info.

I have yet to see the new Hawkeye so I can't tell you if it is pressure bedded or not, but generally speaking, you can use whatever tool is necessary to remove material in order to float the barrel. When removing material, pick a tool that will allow you to do the most efficient job without destroying the surrounding areas. If you have good control with a Dremel tool, then use that. If you feel more comfortable and more in control with sandpaper, then use that.

The screw in the recoil pad will be a phillips.

I tend to get myself into trouble with Dremel's... I use coarse emory cloth and a wooden dowel rod for such work.

You know, if more people realized their limitations and thought like you, I wouldn't have near the business I have today of correcting peoples screw ups. Therefore I must ask you to "Please" refrain from making sensible posts. My family, my creditors and uncle sam would appreciate it!

I go through my socket set and find the one that fits the barrel channel after it has been wrapped in sand paper. Go slow.

Don't forget to seal the wool when done.

.

Keez, be very careful as you may do more harm than good. Don't automatically assume the rifle will shoot better without forend pressure. There are some time proven tricks I go through on a Ruger if accuracy is an issue. Often, the cause is not the forend.

A current Ruger Hawkeye will be torqued super tight into the stock. Flip it over, open the drop plate and inspect the mag box. If the mag box is locked up tight, there is a good chance it may be acting as a fulcrum binding the action. This will play hell on groups. Normally just ensuring that the action screws are torqued correctly w/ the center screw being just snug will relieve the binding. In worst case scenerios, bedding the stock and/or removing a tiny amount of material from the mag box will free it up giving proper play.

Once you clear this hurdle, look at your loads. Some Rugers tend to be finiky due to their factory twist. They may be overly sensitive to the bullet overall length. Some bullets may be a one holer where other bullets are all over the barn door.

A simple old timer trick to test your Ruger for free-floating is to use very thin platic shim stock that can be cut w/ scissors. Trim a piece of stock to slightly raise the front of the receiver out of the recoil-mortise. This will slightly float the barrel and you can test if it responds well. Many Rugers shoot better w/ 2-3 pounds forend pressure at the tip.

I've seen too many Rugers shoot well w/ nothing more than proper torque to prevent action binding in combination with a good load for me to look at the barrel channel first.

GVA

It is nothing bedded. I looked one over today.

Thanks for all the good advice guys. I purchased two of these Hawkeye , All Weather, rifles a couple of weeks ago, a 270 and a 30-06. The 270 is the one that I was thinking of free floating the barrel on. I hadn�t even shot it yet when I made the post.
I had just always heard that Rugers� needed to have the barrel floated to achieve any kind of accuracy. After reading everybody�s posts I decided to shoot it before starting on grinding and sanding away at the stock. Good thing too. I took it out to the range yesterday and put a box of Federal Fusion 130 grainers through it and was really blown away by the results. This thing can shoot. My average 3 shot group was about 5/8ths of an inch across. I guess I will forget the free float for now along with all the crap I have heard that Rugers need to have the barrel free floated to shoot decent.

I bought the 30-06 to make a 338-06 out of it but a great deal on a Weatherby 338-06 came my way so I guess I will sell it, so I can�t tell you how it shoots but the 270 is a real keeper.

Always shoot them before working on them. The old timers called that fixing something that's not broke. This goes for all of them, not just Rugers. I don't know how many rifles I've bought for donor actions that were beat all to hell, when I shot them they were so good I couldn't bring myself to change a thing.

This is the first handload I put through my Ruger M-77 mk II 350 rem mag. I didn't measure the distance off the lands, and guesstimated and appropriate starting charge of Varget. It shot like this out of the box. I've subsequently started to work on the trigger, but won't mess with the bedding or pressure point or lack thereof.



Don't fix a gun until you're sure it doesn't shoot.

+1
I totally agree that rifles should be broke in and then have several groups using several different bullets fired befor a decision to bed or float the barrel is made.

Accurizing a rifle by floating the barrel or bedding the action will likely make it a 1.5" shooter, when it was a .5" shooter to begin with. Becareful what you are fixing.

If it's Bubba doing the bedding.