Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger MK 2 Compact 260 report

If you just want the summary, I�m happy with my new Ruger MK 2 compact in 260.
If you want details, here goes. Brace yourselves, I feel like writing tonight!

I needed/wanted a rifle for my third grade son and hopefully, my mom. (Very petite.) I like Ruger stainless rifles. I like their rings a lot. I like how durable the finish is. And, I think the green laminate stock with the stainless finish is very easy on the eyes. So, I asked about them on this thread:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...&topic=0&Search=true#Post2846075

Then I ordered one. After a long wait, I canceled my order and found one while on a trip to Portland. The clerk was rude and I would have walked out, but in was the ninth shop I had called and the first one I found. So I got it. Then I sent the rings back to Ruger to switch for a pair of lows.

My initial impression was good. I knew the gun would be muzzle light, and it was, but the fit seemed good and everything looked tight. The gun, on my digital fishing scale, weighed six pounds, one ounce. The stock by itself weighed 30 ounces. (This was lighter than I thought it would be.) The trigger was over six and rough, but I liked how small the gun was and hoped it would work well for its purpose.

While I was waiting for the rings, I took my rifle to the gunsmith. I asked him to drill out the butt stock to help with the muzzle light feel and lighten it up. He said not to, the weight savings was minimal and it made the stock more prone to breakage. I trust him so I nixed that idea. He did the trigger, bedded the lug, and floated the barrel. He also added a big Kick-eez pad, cutting the stock to keep the LOP at 12.5 inches. He also sealed the areas of the stock (fore-end pressure pad and butt) he had cut. I know I should have shot the rifle with the pressure point before taking it out, but the gunsmith would be gone for awhile and I thought I could just add one back in if needed.

When it came back, the stock weighed one ounce more. The trigger was much better, but still heavier than I liked at three pounds 12 ounces. (Last year he did another Ruger trigger for me and it came in at three even.)

I have a really hard time, on all of my guns, getting a really solid check weld. I�ve used foam in the past, put it slips under the neoprene while hunting. When I�ve taped it, I feel too much like Red Green. So I put on a Karsten kydex check rest. I struggled with this decision. The rest weighs eight ounces and would make an already muzzle light gun a lot worse. But I thought the gun is supposed to be for my son and mom to shoot, and it might help all of us, so I did it. All up, with sling, scope, et cetera, I�m at seven 12. Too heavy, but it was time to shot it.
(The scope is a Leupold 2.5-8 with mil-dots. It has held zero for years on many guns.)

Off to the range. I found out fast that I don�t like the grip. I have medium size hands but when I grip the gun my index finger goes in WAY too far. My wrist is cocked a iittle funny. For comparison, my Tikka T3 grip fits me great. The little palm swell is nice, the size is perfect for me, and the �openness� of the wrist just fits me. The Ruger forearm seems too thin. The Tikka has some weird grooves that are very comfortable. The 12.5 stock feels way too short for me. I get proper eye-relief on my scope, but it just feels weird to me. Maybe I�m just not used to it. In my original post asking about the gun, some big guys said it fit them fine. That wasn�t my experience. On the other hand, the 14 inch LOP on the Tikka feels perfect. Anyway�.

Four rounds on a 25 yard target to get it close. Then two shots to get in two inches high at a hundred. (I need to backtrack, after I sighted in at 100, I took it on a big hike for spring bear, then I went to the range.) I had the last of my H4831sc and some Ramshot Hunter loaded up behind Hornady 129 grain SP. New Rem cases. Sorted into three weight groups, CCI LR primers. I had to seat the bullets at 2.8 inches to keep them off the lands, even though the mag box gives me about 2.9.

First trip, different charges of both powders, all went 2.9-4 inches at 200 yards. I was dealing with the normal fierce wind we have here, but tried to watch the flags. The best 4831 load, 47.5, averaged 2590 and was three inches even. The best Hunter load was 45.5 for 2771 and 3.3 inches. (All at 200.)

I let my boy shoot it at balloons taped to the 100 yard board. It didn�t hurt him at all. My complaints about the gun feeling a little small for me were forgotten. It fits him very well. Then I stood him up to shot over the tripod. He got those balloons, too. Then I had my mom shoot it. The same thing, At 100 yards neither of them missed a balloon. My mom has trifocals and needed some practice finding the target in the scope, but she got if quickly figured out.)

Oh, I forgot to add I didn�t break in the bore as I usually do. (Not enough time/ getting more lazy.) So I just did about 50 strokes with the JB bore paste before I shot it.

The next two trip s to the range where about the same. I moved in to 100 to fight the constant wind lately. Everything, whether neck sized or full-length, seated deeper or out, the barrel floating or with a cardboard pressure pad, all went between 1.5 and two inches. I know this is fine for deer, but I wanted to try for under an inch. I kept getting good groups, then a flier. Some of it may be my plastic rest and the wind, but I wanted a little better.

Then the Speer 120s I ordered showed up.

I really like Hornady bullets and have had good luck with them in a number of rifles. But this gun liked the 120s a lot better. It shot 46 grains of Hunter under them about like my other loads, and 48 the same. But 47 was great. Four groups (three shot) under an inch, the fifth just over. Average speed was about 2720. (If my chronograph is right.)

For more background, I cleaned the gun between groups at the start, then, after I didn�t see a difference, just at the end of shooting. The gun cleans easily, and I�m seeing very little copper fouling.

I had been timing three minutes between shots, five minutes between groups, but found I do a lot better just machine gunning them, then letting it cool all the way back down between groups. I don�t think this is just the wind, I watch the flags.

Monday I took the gun out again, to a canyon instead of the range. I shot prone, over my rest and with a rear sand bag. I checked my two hundred yard zero. Perfect, two .5 apart, the third opening it to 2.1 inches.

Then I moved to three hundred. I wasn�t shooting for bulls eyes anymore, I wanted to check drop. The wind died for a second, and I fired three fast. I then walked up to measure it and tape the holes. You don�t have to believe me, and I know it is luck and will never happen again, but all three were in a perfect triangle that measured .45. In twenty-five years that is my best three hundred yard group ever. The computer said the drop would be eight inches low. They were exactly five. I was shooting uphill a little bit, so that might be some of it. As I moved back, the angle lessened, until at 600, I was level with the target.

Then I moved back to four. Two about 3.5 inches apart, the third opening the group to almost six. I�m blaming this one on the wind, though. My flier was right, the way it would blow. My actual drop is 20 inches, the chart said it would be 23.

(By the way, the entire time I�m walking around with a huge, happy grin on. I�m really happy how it is shooting and don�t care about the grip or muzzle light feel anymore.)

At five hundred yards, with this little rifle, my first two go into about four inches, the third opens it to just under 6 inches.

At six hundred the wind is picking up. I put my third dot on the upper left corner of the board and fire three. Two at 5.4, the third way out right and low, opening it to almost ten inches.

I�m typed out. Again, I�m happy with the gun. In five weeks it goes to South Africa. (Kudu, black wildebeest, impala, steinbuk, blesbuk, and warthog.) Hopefully, it will get well�used. And, more importantly, hopefully it will be used by my oldest child, and my mother, to harvest their first animals ever.

Milton.............Glad you like your Ruger compact, or should I say your son`s and mom`s Ruger compact?

Do you have a new Hawkeye or the Mk2? For `09, Ruger changed the name on the compacts from Mk2 to Hawkeye. If it says Mk2, then I think you may have a new `08. Yours at 6 lbs 1 oz I believe, may have a little thinner barrel, because my blued Frontier weighed 6 lbs 12 oz before scope, which included the scout mount on the barrel. With the scout mount attached, I have no felt muzzle lightness (steadies well), even though I use a conventionally mounted scope over the receiver.

I`m 6'3" @ 240 lbs with fairly large hands and the pistol grip on my 300 WSM Frontier could use a little more extra beef. But it`s really not a problem to deal with. I have the same green laminated stock with some darker shades mixed in. Kinda looks like the surface of Jupiter in some areas. Trust me! With use, you`ll adjust fine to its smaller OAL size.

If you want to increase the factory`s 12.5" LOP up to 13.5" so it will feel more comfortable when you use it, buy a black Limbsaver slip on recoil pad, which will add an extra inch and will give you that longer LOP feel. That`s what I did and I generally keep it on all the time. However if I`m in the cold and wearing thick stuff I can also remove it, adjusting to the clothing`s thickness for shouldering speed. Yep! A flexible LOP; about 3 seconds to put on and about 2 to remove. That is something to also think about as your son grows larger where a longer LOP will feel better. I really like the on or off, longer or shorter LOP versatility with the slip on Limbsaver.

Although I had the trigger assmbly changed and down to a 3# pull, I never had mine free-floated because I wanted to see what my reloads would do first. By the looks of things so far, I won`t need to free-float. I went from using Hornady SSTs primarily for hogs to the Berger (hunting) VLDs. I seat out to the maximum COAL that the magazine will allow in order to get the bullet as close to the lands as possible while still enabling cycling of the bolt for hunting purposes. So far using the 168s and 210s,,,,sub-moaaaas!!! Better accuracy than other bullets I`ve used. I think Berger has them for the 6.5s. They will also fly a little better with the higher BCs. Absolutely, a devastating (DRT) effect on big hogs and no doubt the same on other smaller and larger big game too! I will use either the 190 @ about 2800+ fps or the already chrony`d 210 gr (hunting) VLD @ 2700+ fps on my next big elk hunt. I mention the Bergers because they have worked extremely well, better than was expected and bettered the accuracy in my compact Ruger. Along with the added accuracy, another VLD benefit is very little to no hog tracking after the shot. The elk won`t go far either.

In theory, shorter barrels are more accurate than longer ones. Less length to resonate, vibrate or as some say "writhe." I believe that once you figure out what powder/bullet combos and what seating depths that Ruger really likes, you should be at moa or better @ 100 yards with little wind.

If possible, you really need to go shoot that rifle with little or no wind, to see how she really groups. Looks like you`re getting some real good groupings at the longer distances.

Good luck with the Ruger and let us know how it does in Africa.

Glad to hear that you like your little ruger. I am thinking that you have just what the doctor ordered there for your son.
congratulations.
CT

My only suggestion is to hit the enter key a couple of times between paragraphs.

Mathman, Grammar Nazi, you wear many hats.

A little white space makes for a much easier read, a practical rather than authoritarian issue.

Oh, I wasn't picking on you, I agree. I enjoyed the information from the original poster, but it could have been easier to read.
You did fine, mathman.

He's obviously never actually done it and weighed the difference. It is easy enough to get 6 ounces out, and a bit more if you want to really try. It changes the whole feel of a gun. As to breakage, ask him if he's ever seen a hollowed stock break because it was hollowed. I highly doubt it.

There is still room to make your rifle even nicer without affecting its accuracy.

Thanks for the responses.

Dakota Deer, that's what I thought about the stock. I should have stayed with it. now the Kick-eez is installed, I can still do it, it just would have been easier to do before it was put on.

Mathman, I typed this in Word at first, then copied and pasted. I had double-spaced it, but it didn't paste that way. I should have used the edit function to add spacing, but after I hit submit I went to bed. I'll try it now. However, when I saw how long I'd droned on, double-spacing a post that large may intimidate some readers away!

Double spacing the lines never was a thought. The white space between the paragraphs is plenty.

I am no rifle expert, but for me a balanced or muzzle heavy gun points so much better offhand. YMMV.

stumpy

I have a Ruger compact in .223 Rem. Stainless, laminated stock. It has proven to be fairly accurate and very stable. (Never seems to shift it's zero.)

The compacts do handle a bit oddly because of that short barrel. I believe the Frontier rifle has a heavier barrel in addition to the quarter rib.

My compact has been glass bedded (by me) at the recoil lug and rear tang and the barrel free floated. I also installed a Dayton-Traister trigger that is adjustable for pull weight. I worked the sear engagement on this, resulting in a 2.25 lb. pull with no creep and just a bit of over travel, which I can live with.

My biggest gripe with this rifle was the stock shape. I just couldn't put up with all the extra wood and the flat areas that Ruger put on the 77Mk II stocks. As this stock has no checkering, which I cannot do, I tore into the stock one day with various tools and slimmed it down quite a bit. Rounded off all the flat areas and slimmed the sides of the stock at the receiver/barrel area. Except for the surface of the finish I applied, I'm tickled with the improvement this bit of stock work made.

This little gun shoots 40 gr. V-max bullets pretty well. The latest load tried was with some AA2200 powder bought years ago in bulk. Ten shots at 100 yds. resulted in a group with 8 shots easily cutting one big hole around .75" and 2 fliers opening things up a bit. Velocity, IIRC about 3,350 fps.

These little Compacts are shootin' little machines in my experience. My sister uses a rifle identical to mine for her deer rifle. A neck problem precludes the use of anything with more recoil.While it's not my first choice for whitetails, she has had good luck with lung shots using a 55 gr. sierra gameking HPBT.

Glad to read of another shooter having good luck with the Ruger Compact rifle. I may have to pick up another one in a larger caliber than the one I have for when my young'uns get a little older.

....Bruin!......I took to the handling of my Frontier, like a duck to the water. My only gripe with the rifle, was no checkering on the stock. But since I wanted `06AI performance from a compact rifle, I had to act fast because Ruger had already discontinued the 300 WSM chambering in the compact Frontier in late `06. Not many left when I got mine in March `07.

I also put the Dayton trigger assembly in mine which has a 3 lb pull. Much better than the older Ruger factory (lawyer) triggers with a 5 lb + pull. The new LC6s are supposed to be better.

If your looking for a compact powerhouse with 22" to 24" tubed `06 performance, then the 300 RCM Ruger compact is your baby! My friend got his recently and loves it. He won`t switch stocks with me though! ...Don`t know if his stock would work because my Frontier`s barrel is thicker..........His is a VERY accurate little boomer.