Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger hawkeye .358 win

I have a .358 win Hawkeye that I have been playing with and have a few fits with at present. I had a .358 BLR but never really took to the feel of the rifle and sold it for the Hawkeye last summer. The Hawkeye is a very accurate gun but I think the headspace is long compared to the BLR as i get a light primer strike with not igition every other round. I'm not sure I want to take the time to iron it out as I have other guns that fit the bill but if there is a quick fix I most certainly would try to fix the issues as I really like the gun and caliber. Otherwise Its best offer! With 4 kids I probabaly should be looking at smaller calibers anyway.

Sorry, double post.

-Z

Try neck sizing a few and see if that helps.

We're you shooting factory or hand loaded ammo?

-Z

We're on the same page.

I'd remove the firing pin, and give the bolt body, and pin a look (and cleaning).

I have the same model rifle and have never had a misfire, light primer strikes or any other problem with mine. Mine is accurate as well. I reload and primarily use Winchester cases, Winchester WLR primers and 225 grain Nosler Partitions. I have also used Hornady factory ammo as well and have never had a problem. I'd take the rifle to a gunsmith if it were mine.

I think you might be setting the shoulder back just a tick too far. Every gun is different, and the BLR might have had a shorter chamber and the Hawkeye might be longer.

My Hawkeye Stainless 358 shoots really well and I've never had a light hit. I use IMR4198 under 200gr Hornady RN and get 2500fps and .75" groups.

I was playing with the bolt last night and it looks like it is gunked up a little with factory grease. I had sent it to ruger for repair (light primer strikes it had a casting wart that slowed the firing pin) and got it back in early November in time for the last weekends hunt. It misfired the first time I tested it but then I didn't have any trouble. I went to the range the other weekend and it was terrible. I'm hoping these two incidences were caused by excessive grease and cold temps. Both times it failed to fire it had been pretty cold and it was at its worse when it was about 10 degrees out.
I was playing with my sizer die and I have less than a qtr turn after the neck is sized so I don't think I'm bumping it much if any at all. Using a piece of 44 mag brass my sized and fired cases measure within .003 of each other. I think I'll degrease the bolt and load up a few more to try. I emailed ruger again but the industry seems to be hopelessly behind at the moment.

you know, you can jam primed shells in there and work it out in your backyard or basement, you don't need powder and bullet to figure it out. Just saying

True but the force of the primer is enough to shove the shell forwad driving the shoulder back a bit creating potential headspace problems. I run into that with cast bullet loads unless the bullet is a bit into the rifling. It doesn't take much. The rather small shoulder of the .358 would contribute to problem.
Paul B.

I stuck primers in two of my resized .358 hulls and headed for the garage. Both shots fired without hesitation. I think the bolt just needs to be cleaned and lubricated with a low temp lube. I hope I can make it reliable as I really like this gun. I have a bushnell 4200 3x9 scope on it an I was hoping it could be my really bad weather I don't care gun.

Grease in the bolt was shozt I was going to suggest but see you're already considreing that option.

Bought NIB AR-15s for two of my daughters for Christmas and we took them to th erange the next day, shooting in about 10 degree weather. One had the same problem, light primer strikes and FTFs intermixed with normal strikes and bangs.

Brought the rifle home and test fired 10 rounds of primed brass in the basement after the rifle warmed up. 10 in a row went bang with deep primer strikes.

I went out today and the darn think wouldn't shoot. It will shoot an empty with primer no problem but when it has powder and bullet it gets a light primer strike and not ignition. I had emailed ruger and they said I needed to call and get a rma # and a ups return tag. Before I do that does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks,

Bigbuck

I briefly had a Stainless Hawkeye in 358 Win several years ago. I had the same problem. I adjusted my FL die just to resize the neck and not do anything to the shoulder.........solved my problem !!!

I was just measuring the case body just before the start of the shoulder. My .358 is .007 larger after firing. My 300 wsm and 7mm08 were each only .002 larger after firing. Do you suppose the chamber was cut to large? My dies are rcbs if that means anything.

Well after lots of measuring and a call to Ruger I'm convinced that my problem lies in my dies. When I first got the gun I was still using some new brass so it wasn't a problem. When I resized it took the shoulder from .455 to .447.

My previous .358 was a BLR and when I measure some old brass that was fired in it I get .452. I think this is why the resized brass fired in it but not in the Ruger (light primer strikes). I sent an email to the manufacture so we'll see what they say. Has anyone else had troubles with their dies re-sizing brass to small?

Thanks,

Bigbuck

Typically if the FL die is sizing too much, its because the die isn't properly adjusted. Rather than setting the die so that it contacts the shell holder set the die so that it just bumps the shoulder back a very small amount (.001 or .002).

Size a piece of fired brass like this and see if it chambers. If it will chamber then you are sizing enough, but not to much. If it won't chanber, turn the the die in a fraction of a turn and try again.

JB did an article that explains this about 10x better than I can. Maybe someone will come by and post a link to it. I have heard the process call partial full length sizing.

The problem is that the shoulder is sized down even with I am an 1/8 of an inch from contacting it. The hole in my die is just too small.

OK, let's keep this simple. Try the following. The somewhat small shoulder on the .358 culd be part of the problem and it does't take too much pushing back to create a problem. For the record I feed 4 rifles in .358, two Ruger M77s (Not hawkeyes) an early Browning BLR and a Savage M99. Anyway, by steeing up my die in the instructions I post should take care of your problem. If not somethong else is radically wrong like an improper die or chamber but I have my doubts on that.

This is how I set up my sizing die for bottleneck cartridges.

1. Take a once fired factory round and blacken the neck and shoulders with a Magic Marker or Sharpee pen. Some people like to smoke the neck and shoulder, but I find the Magic Marker/Sharpee pen a bit better.

2. Carefully lubricate the case.

3. Loosen the lock ring on the sizing die and back off about two turns from when the die is set to touch the shell holder.

4. Size the case. Note where the marks are on the case and turn the die down about a half a turn and size again. Turn down some more, and resize again. What you are looking for is the marks on the blackening just touching the shoulder.

5. Clean the lube from the case and try it in the rifle. It may chamber just a bit on the snug side. If so, turn the die down ever so slightly, lube and size again. Wipe off the lube and try in the rifle. If it slides in as easily as a factory round, you should be good to go. If not, usually one more very slight adjustment should fix the problem.

6. Tighten the locking ring for the die and you're done. You have just set your sizing die up for a custom fit to your specific rifle, rather than a generic one size fits all guns.

Paul B.

Hi Paul,

I've done somme of this before with other cartriges but what I now realize is my particular rifle has a second shoulder where it comes off of the inital angle that meets the neck. I was removing this with full length sizing which was creating the headspace problem. MY BLR didn't seem to have this but my Ruger does. It also doesn't help that I think the die is resizing the body much more than necessary. I'll still need to do some more testing to veify that I have it right but I think I have it now. Do you have any particular loads that you would want to share. I'm primarily hunting whitetails in the woods and a big part of that area includes regenearating aspen which makes the .358 even more appealing.