Here is my Long awaited ( and Long Winded) Review of the Ruger Hawkeye Guide Rifle in .30/06 Sprg. First, my Mission Criteria, I demand a lightning fast handling and shooting bolt action in the hard hitting calibers, and I want certain high end features as well as FACTORY irons. Think Scout Rifle, only in a much more powerful caliber but without the stupid and impractical scout scope, of which there are very few options! Lastly, I demand a rifle with exceptional accuracy in all field conditions, from blue bird sunny days, to Dark and Snowing, bitter cold, and nasty out! Last, It absolutely MUST be a Controlled Round Feeding rifle, think Mauser 98! That's a lot to demand, but Ruger nailed it, and this review will showcase all the goodness. First, my impressions of what I got when it showed up, on a scale of 1 through 10, with 10 being perfection! 1) Packaging, Ruger could do a little better here, but it arrived in perfect condition still sealed in its box, and included all the goodies they list as standard, and was properly lubed, so 8 out of 10 2) Fit and Finish, As expected of Ruger, and ESPECIALLY their high end Working lineup, this one didn't disappoint. The laminate stock is evenly finished, the checkering is sharp and deep, and looks as good as any Hand Checkered I have seen, looks to be around 15 LPI or there about, It is also pillar bedded and cross bolted for real, not fake like some Winchester and Remingtons, and the inletting and bedding is Perfection, another nice bit is Ruger actually sanded the barrel channel to the same finish as the outside of the stock and sealed it, for sure weather proofing, for a foul weather rifle, it don't get much better then this. The No Glare Stainless Mat finish is evenly done and flawless, and all the metal parts match perfectly, as if it were ONE single part, THATS something rare these days, and everything is TIGHT with out being over tight! 10 out of 10 3) Bolt, Ruger does a great job with the Mauser 98 design, making their own well proven mods to the basic design, with out trying to reinvent the wheel here, bolt run and lock up is crisp and sure, the full length extractor claw is nice and tight, but doesn't fight the shell case as it pushes a round up out of the stack, a hard to tune function that Ruger has perfected, the bolt is concentric and the firing pin aligned precisely on the bores centerline. Bolt runs nice and smooth, but needs a proper break in for that Buttery smooth action these are famous for. 10 out of 10 4) Trigger. Ruger knows what they are doing here, the factory trigger was adjusted a little high, I measured around 7 pounds, but was crisp and even, and after adjusting it down, I got it to a very light but safe 2 pounds, it is very crisp and even with ZERO slop or over travel or creep, and it brakes precisely at 2 pounds every single time, and while I actually can go even lower, I find 2 pounds is as light as I would ever need, and prefer the safety of it at the slightly heavier setting! 10 out of 10 5) Barrel, here is Ruger's Black Magic extra special hammer forging prowess on full display. the chamber measured out almost half way between Mil Spec and Match/bench rest, it is very clean and finish reamed to very tight tolerances, and I measured Length to the lands and it is a little generous, which translated to an exceptional shooting rifle meant to run the heavies and push them HARD, with a 180 Grain Swift Scriocco loaded to max COL, I measured 8 thousandths off the lands, nearly perfect, and with a 200 grain Nosler Accubond, right at 4 thousandths, and with a Woodleigh Bronze solid 220 grain, right at 1 thousandths off the lands! I don't have any 240's to try, but from what i'm seeing, they should sit right on or just behind if seated a few thou deep in the case, exactly how one would normally feed such brutes! 10 out of 10! 5) Shooting, Again, as expected from Ruger, this one leaves a great big smile on your face, recoil is very mild ( Thanks to the included muzzle brake) and the stock shape is perfectly tuned for an Iron Sighted rifle, so it dosn't jump, it come strait back into the shoulder and the included recoil pad, while firm, does a great job taming the heavies! Yes, it is LOUD as hell with the brake, but shoots to point of aim, and the non adjustable sights are dead on at all ranges I tried, out to 600 meters, once you figure out the Kentucky Windage of it, it's lightning fast on target, and accuracy is more akin to precision, with the right loads and practice, this thing will shoot better then a lot of others, again, Ruger really did their homework here, and it clearly shows! 11 out of 10 6) Load accuracy, as expected, this really wants the heavies and responds well to the upper end of power. I tried my fav go to 150 grain Winchester "White Tail" ballistic tip Super X load and it shot them all into a 1 1/2 circle and ran right at 3120 FPS two 10 shot groups off the bench back to back. I then stepped up the my fav 165 grain load, the Swift Scriocco, and it really liked them a bunch, velocities were also a very consistent 2980, and accuracy improved to just an inch at 100 off the bench! Next up was the rare and hard to find Nosler Partition168 Grain Ballistic Tips running at a very respectable 2960 and accuracy improved a little more, just under an inch, and I'm thinking they need a little more Oomph to reach their potential. from there it was on to the sledge hammer 180's which are the real meat and potatos working loads, and they all ran well, BUT, As expected, the Swift Scrioccos ran flawlessly right at 2900 FPS ( Which is SMOKIN for a 180) and accuracy changed to Precision, turning in less then 1/2 an inch, two 10 shot groups back to back with a 20 min cool down between strings, Yea, she runs! The Outlier was a special Norma Load I have been running for a lot of years, the Oryx bullets, it's never been the most accurate, But it's consistent and accurate enough when it counts, but here, it showed better then expected, and ran a pretty good 2730 FPS, this bullet is made to drive deep and break big things, and it has always been a good choice for the larger game, so it's good to see the Ruger likes it. Next up was the 200 Grain Cor-Lok, a gold standard for the heavies, and even in a factory loading, it flat out works, and here again, the Ruger likes them, groups ran to around 1 1/2 inch for 2 5 shot strings with a proper cool down between the groups, and velocities were pretty good at 2680, I saw pretty much the same results with the Federal Red Box 200's, which makes for a good interchange between the Remington and Fed. loads if forced to make a choice on what's on the shelves. Next up was the Burger 220 grain TTX, a bonze solid that has proven to be a real sledge hammer, and here things got fun, my loads with this bullet tend to run on the lower side, and the Ruger shot them well enough, But I could tell there is a lot more potential when I get around to working up a load for it! That's it so far with load testing, I have several more loads to try, and a few ideas for existing loads to work up and see how they run. Over all, this Ruger does EXACLLY what I wanted, and it does it very well, in fact I would say, it does it better then a lot of others, both New and Old, and it's damn good looking too! For the mission, I would say Ruger really nailed it with this one, and I don't think there is any real improvement anywhere to be found! Cant wait for the first season to open up so I can see how she runs for real! Over all, I give this rifle a solid 10 out of 10 pretty much across the board, Ruger really knows what they are doing, especially with the Hawkeye line of rifles, and this one is a pretty special rifle! Would I change anything, Other then a muzzle brake, NO, and for that, I already found a first gen Fat Bastard Brake to install and test, but others I have installed that brake on have all done well, so I expect the same here! So, that's my review of this rifle, and I feel great recommending a Hawkeye to anyone looking for a real workhorse of a rifle, in a lot of ways every bit as good as the old legendary Winchester Mod-70 pre 64, or the FN/Browning's of the same era, and in some ways I think the Rugers are actually better!
Refreshing! Always nice to read a review from someone that knows what they are talking about instead of those dandy reviewers who are just looking for a paycheck. And, it definitely was not too long, just thorough... We hope to see more gun reviews in the future.
Are you going to scope it, and if so will you be using a mount that makes the open sights usable? Totally awesome all around workin' man's rifle. 30-06 on a well designed Mauser is still the king over a hundred years later.
No plans for an optic, however, if I were to do it (It came with rings, Nice touch Ruger) I would do something in a low power/fixed power with wide field of view, something like a Nikon fixed 4 power, or Zeiss Conquest ( other then they are a bit heavy and chunky) and I see Vortex has a slick little fixed power that could be a good choice! I tossed the idea around of installing a ACOG on it, the U.S.M.C spec.7.62X51 reticle, as for this rifles practical ranges, it's almost a dead match, just hold a little higher then you normally would! No, if I do change anything, it's to a custom rear sight that "Shoots Through" the factory Barrel mounted rear sight, something like the old Redfield sights that use the Ruger dove tail mount for a quick detach if needed. I also talked to Tim to see about a custom front sight blade with a tritium globe, the factory front sight is awesome, BUT, a trit insert would be even more awesome, especially for low light shooting, something i'm going to do one way or another, and Tim can make any sight arrangement and make it match the rifle, so that's likely what i'm goin to do here! As to caliber, I keep coming back to .30/06, no matter the game, the distance, the shot difficulty, I keep finding ( Or rather remembering) that the mighty old .30 U.S. Springfield of 1906 does all I could ask of it, no muss no fuss, it just flat out works! Show me a chambering with as much load data and range of bullet weights and designs and I will buy it, otherwise, I keep coming back to this caliber. I do wish Ruger would do this rifle in 6.5X55 Swede, and .270 Winchester, two near perfect medium game calibers, but over all, I think the Guide is better suited for the hard hitters! And that Ruger .375 sure looks impressive, might have to think about that one a little!
Well Boys and Girls, today was the big day, the Hawkeye Guides first Blood, and she did FLAWLESSLY, conditions were nearly perfect, the snows we had had mostly melted off, and tracks were super easy to spot, so when this big feller stepped out of his hiding spot, BLAM, the 180 Gr. Swift Scriocco was there to meet him with a perfect heart lung combo from a quartering front shoulder shot, right through the boiler room, not even two steps and he went down hard and stayed down! Range was about 80 yards give or take, and after several min to catch my breath and a good cautious approach, this is what I found! Not a monster, and certainly not the Swamp Donkeys i'm used to, but this guy should dress out around 500 pounds worth, more then enough to keep us in the meat for the winter! The hardest part is getting him loaded on the trailer behind the Trackster and getting him back to the Ranch for Quartering and Butchering, Wife is super happy, and cannot wait to get started breaking this all down proper, and Dad is keeping all the blades razor sharp and helping vac seal for the freezer after we age some of it! All in all, the Ruger did exactly as intended, and was a pure joy to carry for the 4 hours or so it took to get lined up on an animal and take the shot! Haven't found the bullet yet, but I suspect it will be somewhere in the lower right hock, the purtiest mushroom ya ever did see!
