Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only New 2011 Ruger African 9.3x62

Have you guys looked at the new 2011 African 9.3x62?

http://www.ruger.com/products/m77HawkeyeAfrican/models.html

I was glad to see it officially released, but unless my eyes deceive me, where did the barrel band swivel mount go?? I double checked all the new 2011 African and Alaskan models against the 2010 models, sure enough, looks like Ruger dumped the band and it kinda appears the African stocks are a tad more plain. Just when they get going good, Ruger cheapens the product, Dagnabit!! I really liked it when they added the barrel band on those models. Ruger, shame on you

This is just a guess, but I'm betting that's just an old pic. It even notes that the pic is not the actual firearm. My 375 African has the swivel in the stock, wish it had the bbl band.

Look at the 2010 Catalog still available on the Ruger Web site. The catalog pictures are all 2010 models w/ the band swivel. The pictures that were shown for the Alaskan and African on the site throughout the past year showed pics w/ band swivels same as the catalog. These pics were just changed over to the "new" 2011 models w/out band swivels. The pics may be the same old ones from a couple years back before they added band swivels, but why would they show those old pictures unless this added feature was now deleted.

It was a great idea to add this feature, I think it piss poor on Ruger's part if they dumped that feature.

Later

Ain't that the truth !

GaryVA,

i dont think the price is more than 60$ so you can still do it.

this is what ill soon do for my "old" alaskan LH.

WiFowler (Dean) - wonder if Ruger has solved their "African" stock cracking problem? Hope their 2011 catalog pix's are wrong because I really think that barrel band swivel is good and functional...still hoping for a .416 Ruger "African". I know, I know...don't bet the farm on it. Regards, Homesteader.

The 9.3x62 doesn't kick as hard as you'd think, it's more of a push.

Not saying there won't be problems with a stock, espeically if you push the 9.3x62 wish can be done pretty easily.

Well, I sure hope they didn't dump the bbl band swivel. I would like to retro-fit my 375 w/ one, and I'm sure Ruger would sell me one, but I wonder about R & R'ing the front sight? would it ruin the finish? I've gotta say Ruger customer service was excellent. When I called to exchange my medium rings for lows, I also inquired about purchasing an additional crossbolt, as I wanted to add 1 between the trigger and mag box, and the lady said no prob, actually sent it at no charge

I have a write up saved somewhere on the factory process when they install the front banded sight. It is PITA to remove and replace correctly. I have purchased the entire sight package for a mkII 338wm to install on one that was without. At the time I was ordering the parts, Ruger said they offered the service to make the entire installation at the factory for $75 labor. This may have been around six years ago. I didn't want to ship the rifle to Ruger so I installed everything myself. It turned out well, but if I did it again, I'd send the rifle back to Ruger.

Don't know yet if the barrel band is dumped or if it is a mix-up with the website pics. The barrel mounted swivel is still listed when you pull down the "features" box. If it is dumped, I'm not sure if they would have the option to send the rifle in for an install. I sure hope it was not dumped, it is an outstanding feature that is useful on those rifles.

Later

Well, if the African 223 is new for 2011, I just watched a new Ruger video on that rifle and it does not have the barrel mounted swivel. So that makes me think it was dumped

Barrel band sling swivel......in place...

I submitted a written request to Ruger on the band swivel mount. I further asked about any factory options to have one installed if it had been dumped from production.

Clarify, are you posting that the rifle in the pic is a 2011 African 223 with the barrel band factory installed??

Exactamundo....

Great! Then I reckon igwe has resolved that issue, that the 2011 African does have the barrel band swivel mount Excellent!!

Which distributor or dealer did you get the 2011, and what do you think of the rifle?

Got mine direct from Ruger..but have seen them on hand at Acusport,Big Rock Sports...and a couple others..

Havent shot it yet...its cool..but its a heavy bish, and not practical to lug around for my usual .223 shooting...so its in mothballs.Maybe some day it'll be worth something NIB, maybe someday I'll just decide to go shoot the hell out of it...

I'm fickle, and my rationale for buying guns is fleeting....

Ingwe - be honest here. You've Ruger .223 African and just can't wait until an enraged prarie dog or bunny wabitt decides to charge! Now, isn't that closer to the truth? Homesteader.

Just to play it safe, I called the Ruger NH office and placed an inquiry about the band mount. They were unsure if it was dumped or not, but will call me back with a definitive answer.

As an added note; they dumped the service they had to install sights, and they do not offer any service to install the band mount on rifles without. This was done to cut costs. They did say the band was a well received feature for 2010, so hopefully they'll call back with good news for the 2011.

Later

I could not see the Ruger Magnum bolt action. Search (on their site) for rifles in 375 H&H brought up the #1 and no photo of Ruger Magnum but clickable labels like specs, but they open a page where Ruger say ...no more...

I'll ask when they call me back. I'd imagine that they are in the process of updating the website for 2011 as you'd think something like the dumping of the mkII Magnums would have made the press. Then again, I've often heard that Ruger actually loses money to keep the Magnum rifles in production.