Ruger M77 Hawkeye Compact in .308

7.62mm

7.62mm

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Some BBQ Joint, far....far...away!!!
Anyone have one of these? What are your impressions? Thinking about popping a speed bead or Dr. Optic on one of these and using it for a bush gun, would be used close in mostly, but might get shots out to 250-300 yards or so. Or barring a speed bead,I would rather do a peep sight, how much would it cost to install a front sight?

Will be used for Deer, Moose and Black Bears!

Anyone know of a dealer that has these in stock?
 
why buy the Compact if you intend to mount a red dot?
look for an M77 mkII Frontier - it comes with a picatinny rail you can mount over the scout rail. i dont believe you will find nearly as solid a solution for the Compact.
...and if you dont want it you can just remove the scout rail entirely and 'downgrade' it to a Compact.
i have been mulling over buying an Eotech type sight for one of my Frontiers.
rugerfrontier.jpg


btw i love these guns. accuracy is excellent, and aside from being more compact there is no significant increase in muzzle flash/report/recoil over their full-sized brethren regardless of what non-owners speculate on - at least with the .308s, with the factory ammo ive tried. very handy, fun bolt guns.
 
When ruger first introduced the hawkeye, I bought one in 308. I've owned lots of rugers in the past and they all shot well. I just didn't like the shiny stainless, the ugly synthetic stock, THE TRIGGER, and the hard recoil pad. The new Hawkeye dealt with everything I didn't like about the old rugers. This new gun was a real disapointment. fit and finish was great, but it wouldn't shoot tighter than 2.5-3" groups at 100yds. The reason I bought 308 was accuracy.I tried everything, scope, action screws, cleaning, different bullets, I went through a pound of rl 15 and a pound of varget. Took it back to backcountry, They took it,shot it, and gave me a brand new one after switching the registation. (great customer service). The new one was better, but not by much. 2" goups with 168 hpbt match. I sold that gun the next week and haven't bought a ruger since. I still own some older ruger mk 2's and a model 96 that shoot great. But I doubt I'll ever buy another new one.
 
Ruger Frontier

manbearpig said:
why buy the Compact if you intend to mount a red dot?
look for an M77 mkII Frontier - it comes with a picatinny rail you can mount over the scout rail. i dont believe you will find nearly as solid a solution for the Compact.
...and if you dont want it you can just remove the scout rail entirely and 'downgrade' it to a Compact.
i have been mulling over buying an Eotech type sight for one of my Frontiers.
rugerfrontier.jpg


btw i love these guns. accuracy is excellent, and aside from being more compact there is no significant increase in muzzle flash/report/recoil over their full-sized brethren regardless of what non-owners speculate on - at least with the .308s, with the factory ammo ive tried. very handy, fun bolt guns.
Click to expand...

The Ruger Frontier in unfortunately no longer available, the closest rifle to it is the Laminated Compact which does not have a scout scope mounting rib. I have a Frontier which I really like, however in the instructions that come with the Frontier, Ruger warns against mounting a regular scope on the receiver, because of the compact stock, which is kind of stupid, since the compact models have the same stock and the only option is to mount a regular scope on the receiver!
 
rhino62 said:
The Ruger Frontier in unfortunately no longer available, the closest rifle to it is the Laminated Compact which does not have a scout scope mounting rib. I have a Frontier which I really like, however in the instructions that come with the Frontier, Ruger warns against mounting a regular scope on the receiver, because of the compact stock, which is kind of stupid, since the compact models have the same stock and the only option is to mount a regular scope on the receiver!
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I read that warning after I bought my 358 Frontier and it seemed sort of strange. However I still mounted a 1.5x5 Leupold on mine and it works very well in spite of the short stock.
Ruger may have been concerned that a taller person with long arms would have their face close enough to the scope to get hurt.
The butt on mine is a wee bit short so I put a slip-on pad over the recoil pad and in doing so it is the perfect length...at least for me.
 
there are still Ruger Frontiers around - some places still have them in inventory and there is always used and the EE.

blacksheep: that Frontier, and the other Frontier i own - are both sub-MOA guns. and thats with cheap factory ammo, not handloads, no load development, and i am not the greatest shot. i was very pleased with their accuracy, it far exceeded my expectations. someone who handloads, has the patience for load development and is a better shot than me could probably get more impressive groups.

i cannot speak for the standard Hawkeyes since i dont own one. regardless if you are getting 3" groups with your Hawkeye i would suspect there is something wrong with your barrel/bedding/scope/ammunition, since this seems out of line with other reviews of the gun - most of which report an average of 1.5" groups with factory ammo and sub-MOA with handloads. i would consider 1.5 MOA acceptable, 3 MOA definitely not (from a bolt gun).
 
I have two Frontiers 7-08 and .358 both shoot under an inch. They are both equiped with VX II 2-7 scopes over the reciever. The .358 shoots 2" groups at 200 meters with 250 grain Hornady spire points. The 7-08 will shoot 1.5 inch at the same range with Hornady 175 round noses, and I can easily hit clay targets at 300 meters. I was originally thinking of loading 140's or 154's but this gun loves those round nose 175's and I am not about to complain!!
 
bunny said:
I have two Frontiers 7-08 and .358 both shoot under an inch. They are both equiped with VX II 2-7 scopes over the reciever. The .358 shoots 2" groups at 200 meters with 250 grain Hornady spire points. The 7-08 will shoot 1.5 inch at the same range with Hornady 175 round noses, and I can easily hit clay targets at 300 meters. I was originally thinking of loading 140's or 154's but this gun loves those round nose 175's and I am not about to complain!!
Click to expand...

pics! (of the guns) :D

btw when mounting a scope the traditional way, did you remove the scout rib or leave it on?
 
I had a Leupold Scout scope on my Frontier when I went hunting last year which was mounted with Ruger rings. I now have mounted the Weaver type rail, since I decided I wanted to use Leupold quick attach rings which I already had, so that it is easy to remove the Scout scope. I have found with the rifle in this configuration it appears only possible to mount a conventional scope like the Leupold VXII 1.4X4 20mm or the Leupold VX3 1.5X5 20mm due to the clearances. which I am intending to do, but still wantt the option of being able to quickly re-attach the Scout scope. I have also found that it is near impossible to mount the Weaver type rail as suggested in the instructions, since the existing Torx screws are in so tight.
 
you know that you can quick detach the factory Ruger rings too, right?
all it takes is a penny and about 10 seconds per ring and the scope tips off. it returns to zero better than most rail-mount quick-release rings.
i consider my Ruger rings at least as 'quick release' as my Leupold QRWs - just without little levers to snag on clothing.
 
manbearpig said:
you know that you can quick detach the factory Ruger rings too, right?
all it takes is a penny and about 10 seconds per ring and the scope tips off. it returns to zero better than most rail-mount quick-release rings.
i consider my Ruger rings at least as 'quick release' as my Leupold QRWs - just without little levers to snag on clothing.
Click to expand...

I have rails on other guns, so it gives me more choices about utilizing a scope, where as when you use the Ruger rings the scope is more dedicated to that particular rifle.
 
I've got a speed bead on a Rem 870 turkey gun and it has noticeably improved my shotgunning. It should be short range deadly on a bush country rifle too. But given how coarse the "bead" is I wouldn't want to be taking 250-300yd shots with it.
 
manbearpig said:
why buy the Compact if you intend to mount a red dot?
look for an M77 mkII Frontier - it comes with a picatinny rail you can mount over the scout rail. i dont believe you will find nearly as solid a solution for the Compact.
...and if you dont want it you can just remove the scout rail entirely and 'downgrade' it to a Compact.
i have been mulling over buying an Eotech type sight for one of my Frontiers.
rugerfrontier.jpg


btw i love these guns. accuracy is excellent, and aside from being more compact there is no significant increase in muzzle flash/report/recoil over their full-sized brethren regardless of what non-owners speculate on - at least with the .308s, with the factory ammo ive tried. very handy, fun bolt guns.
Click to expand...

one for sale on EE
 
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