Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Hawkeye

Trying to learn more about the Ruger Hawkeye… are they good rifles? Worth the price? Cheapest I can find these days are about $1k.

How is the accuracy and the trigger?

Seems like every Ruger I’ve ever bought has had issues, so I’m hesitant to buy another, but there’s something appealing to me about the nicer Ruger bolt actions.

Some have an LC6 trigger, and it's as nice a factory trigger as I have ever used. The past two Hawkeyes I had gouged the hell out of brass and one had a burr on the bolt face. They were both reasonably accurate. They have a reputation for being robust.

Sounds like you don't have much experience with them, so if you find one that has been gone through by someone in the know, it might be a great rifle for you. Out of the box, they are generally rough. I'll just leave it at that.

I have had good luck with Ruger Hawkeyes and MKIIs with regard to accuracy. I have had a few that were prone to extraction problems and many that were not as smooth as my Winchester 70s or Tikkas. That said, the Ruger M77 is favorite factory bolt action rifle when it comes to a hunting rifle

I have 1 Hawkeye in 9.3x62mm. A Lipsey's version that I bought from someone here on the 'fire and was essentially NIB.

I've been culling Cape Buffalo cows with it over the last few trips. When the handloads produce 1 MOB (minute of buffalo) then I figure I'm GTG.

Happy camper with the trigger at just about 4 lbs pull. I have to really focus on the trigger to detect any creep and there's no overtravel, so I've left it untouched.

This is the first CRF action that I just couldn't get to fail to feed or extract from working the action slow, fast, or extra fast. Working the action at weird angles, or from using all brands of brass new or reloaded - the action handles it all. The only thing I've done to the rifle is swap the recoil pad to accommodate my mutant length arms.

If I ever get around to using it on plains game (the bailiwick of my .30-06) then I'll work up a 250 grain load and see how the barrel performs.

I have a Hawkeye in 223. Trigger was pretty good, but I swapped it out with a Timney. Action was good, though not Tikka smooth. As for accuracy, it was excellent, but I wanted more (just because), so had a Benchmark barrel put on it. It really shoots good now. Truth is though, I didn’t need to do anything to it. But, now it may be the most accurate rifle I have, shooting 40 gr Nosler BTs.

I've got a couple of Hawkeye's and both are great rifles. Both are very accurate and operate flawless. My Hunter version in 6.5 Creedmoor is one of my favorite rifles that I own.

Thanks for the info everyone. In the town where I used to live, the local gun shop had a really nice wood stocked 270 for the longest time, but I didn't get it because I was looking for a 6.5 creedmoor (what can I say - I'm a millennial). I regret not getting it. Even the bare bones stainless with the simple synthetic stock model looks pretty good to me.

The Hawkeye Predators have a dandy two-stage trigger just like the VT's....

They are dandy. I gave my .308 to my son, and while it was pretty dang heavy for hunting, I miss it. Overall, it’s probably the best of many .308s I’ve had. Folks that say they’re not smooth-running would change their tune if they tried that one.

No questions asked, love for any Ruger M77 regardless of caliber. I'm willing to set aside my petty disdain for 6.5 for the right rifle and these 77's are definitely that rifle.

Picked up a new left hand std Hawkeye in 30-06 back in 2014 or last year of production. Paid $665 otd.

No complaints other than trying to reach recommended torque on front action screw.

Did have trim the mag box bit to eliminate binding stress on the action.

Shoots better than me.

I had actually bought one new in 30-06. Nothing rough about it. Nothing needed "gone over"

I have one 358 Winchester stainless. I’m not a fan of the black plastic stock but other than that, it’s a good rifle. It’s strong and shoots good.

At one time I had a Hawkeye Predator and a standard Hawkeye with an LC6. I preferred the LC6. It was just the right weight and broke glass crisp. I didn't like the travel of the 2 stage, but it was still a good trigger. Everyone has their own preferences.

Some of them shoot VERY well. This is three shots of factory ammo @ 100 from a limited run .450 Bushmaster.

Adjust the travel out.

I’m a fan of the 77. I have a Clark’s custom 77/22, Hawkeye.204, MkIIs in .243 and 7mm WSM and love them all.

I have a 77 Hawkeye Standard chambered in .223. Out of the box the trigger was good and the pull weight was a smidge over four pounds as I recall. I gave the sear a light polishing and replaced the spring with the lighter of two ball point pen springs I tried. Now it is a great trigger the breaks at 2-3/4 pounds and still passes all of the usual safety checks.

Accuracy was fine but kind of inconsistent. I decided to epoxy bed the action and float the barrel. Since this work 55 grain Hornady soft points average 7/8" for five shot groups shot from prone with a bipod. Last weekend I tried a new load with Varget and 69 grain Sierra MatchKings and two different seating depths. The rounds loaded longer are a half MOA load.

Other than that the walnut on mine is nice, not gorgeous, but definitely pleasing. The action has smoothed out nicely just from normal use. While it is certainly a Mauser like action, mine at least, isn't really controlled round feed but since it feeds, fires, extracts and ejects with one hundred percent reliability I don't actually care. Overall it's a great rifle. In fact I like it enough that I'd like to find another just like it but in .243 or 6.5 Creedmoor for my daughter to start hunting with this year.

At a startup price of $1000.....

A couple of questions:

Do you have to have controlled round feed?.......compare with a win m70.

If not, check out the tikka......

I had to tweak my Hawkeye at first to get it to group.....was a tad frustrating....

That wasn't the case with my mod 70 or my tikka.

For $1000, i dont want to have to tweak nuttin.