The new Ruger seems to check all the boxes for me

[WildRose]

I was a big ruger fan and have owned several M77 and Hawkeye rifles. Now as i get more into precision long range shooting.... well I am becoming less of a fan.

Last year i bought the Hawkeye FTW Hunter edition rifle as it is only one of few that are stainless and left handed guns in 6.5cm. After sending the gun back to ruger (which did nothing at all) I finally cut my losses and sold that gun. I bought a Tikka and i have never been happier.

The action was loose and janky, yet would constantly bind and have heavy bolt lift. They bead blasted the bolt and the inside of the action, the two rubbing on each other was terribly rough. Bolt lift was extremely hard, just really was a poor operating action. It really ****ed me off when a $1200 gun functions worse then a $300 ruger american.....

The triggers aren't bad, no creep and you can simply cut down the spring to lighten them up easy. I doubt i will ever buy a ruger again after that. It really didn't shoot that well either at 1.25 MOA.

Now i have the tikka t3x, and it is becoming my favorite gun. the action is smooth as butter, the factory trigger is great, and I easily adjusted it down to 2lbs with out even removing the stock. If it was me I would get a Tikka, and simply put it in a stock or chassis of your choosing and be money ahead! Plus Tikkas come with 1 MOA guarantee, and are becoming popular enough that you can find a lot of after market parts. The ruger it is very difficult to find any parts.

That's really odd and it's the first complaint I've seen or heard of with respect to the Hawkeye's other than them needing a better trigger.

I also have the .375 Alaskan Hawkeye in and both it and the FTW have been flawless.

Both have been sub MOA with factory ammo and the FTW in .260 shooting Prime Ammunition's factory stuff shoots consistently in the .3's.

Sorry you found the lemon in the pile.

 

[GPR23]

I'm curious, on your FTW, is the bolt bead blasted? seemed like a rough bead blasted surface rubbing against another bead blasted surface is never going to work well. I tried polishing all services but it never worked that great. Even the gun smith from Ruger admitted to this.

I have a couple of the older M77 MKII actions and i really like them. One in 30-06 is my go to rifle, but this one was terrible and Ruger wouldn't do anything about it. After running my Tikka I finally see what the hype is all about.

 

[WildRose]

I'm curious, on your FTW, is the bolt bead blasted? seemed like a rough bead blasted surface rubbing against another bead blasted surface is never going to work well. I tried polishing all services but it never worked that great. Even the gun smith from Ruger admitted to this.

I have a couple of the older M77 MKII actions and i really like them. One in 30-06 is my go to rifle, but this one was terrible and Ruger wouldn't do anything about it. After running my Tikka I finally see what the hype is all about.

I Think so but I'll have to check later this afternoon. Actually the very fine bead blasting greatly reduces the surface contact and makes any lube work even better. Unless I'm mistaken the inside of the reciever is smooth, not blasted on both the Alaskan and FTW. Honestly I thought both were quite an improvement over the previous Ruger's I'd had particularly the tank safety models which always had way too much slop and free play when you cycled the bolt at least for me.

 

[adamjp]

This Ruger is a development of their long running Ruger 77 Varmit Target series - the VT.

The trigger is completely different to the normal Ruger 77 or Hawkeye, bring a designed in two stage trigger which is very good if you like two stage triggers. The action is slightly different for the different mounting of the two stage trigger.

The VT barrels have a great reputation for accuracy out of the box, regularly turning in sub-MOA performance when fed quality ammunition.

The magazine box is a limitation of the AICS pattern. Not much can be done there on any of the many 300 WM chassis based rifles already available. If the Ruger will be too short in magazine length, then so too will the Beraga.

 

[jstamper]

Comparing the Ruger to the Bergara premier isn't really a fair comparison, as reflected in the prices.

I have owned a lot of Rugers, including several No. 1's, a 77VT, a Hawkeye, some Americans, and a RPR, on which I eventually put an aftermarket cut-rifled barrel. I've seen the new Ruger in my LGS, but not shot or owned one.

I now own a Bergara Premier HMR, and it is a much better rifle, in every way I can think of, than any of the bolt-action Rugers I've had. It's far more accurate (even better than the RPR with custom barrel), far smoother action, far better trigger, far better fit/finish, and I personally really like the stock. It came with a 0.25 MOA factory test target, which is no problem to duplicate.

Other than the price (which is a perfectly valid reason), I can't imagine why one would choose the Ruger out of the two rifles you mentioned.

A more fair comparison would be the Ruger to the Bergara B14 HMR. If it were me I'd still take the Bergara; but to each his own. Just shoot and enjoy whichever you get.

 

[olympicmotors]

After a lot of thought, I still believe I'm going to buy the bergara, for several different reasons. 1, it is stainless steel with cerakote, Ruger is just chrome moly Steel. 2, it is about 1 lb lighter than the Ruger. 3, it has several reviews already, and they are all good, the Ruger is so new it just has no reviews yet that I can find. 4, this bergara does have a 1 MOA guarantee, the Ruger does not. 5, the bergara will undoubtedly have a better fit and finish because it will have had more hand fitting work done to it.
I am going to continue to watch the Ruger with interest though, who knows I might pick one of those up also. It's great to live in America where we can have as many rifles as we want, or at least can afford.

 

[jstamper]

I don't think that you'll be disappointed. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Korhil78]

You won't be disappointed for sure.