Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Good post, and nice rifles.
New - Ruger Hawkeye vs Model 70
- Thread starter blakeyboy
- Start date
Good post, and nice rifles.
Great pictures. I lament my LH lot in life frequently.
prairie lover
CGN Regular
- Location
- southern MB
How do the rugers compare in put of the box action smoothness? The 2 I've played with were both not overly smooth. All 3 model 70s I've had, all recent manufacture(last 10 years) have all been super smooth. Adictingly smooth. And the current triggers go down to 3 pounds perfectly crisp and creep free. A spring change is needed to get lower. Very similar trigger to a x bolt in design and feel.
Folks keep talking about smoothness... the M70 is definitely smoother, with tighter tolerance... "when cycling it while sitting in your basement in front of the TV." The Ruger, per Bill, was designed to FUNCTION in frost, grit, beach sand and with Joe Schmoe's monkey lube gumming it up.
I have corrected it to Daniel's remorse. I have had numerous dealings with him in regards to the 9.3x62 over the years, he is a very good to deal with and a nice guy!
Continuing the nit picking…
The new Rugers could take the Ruger logo off the floorplate and blue the bolt handle.
Winchesters walnut and their special grades are prettier.
Even the Ruger special editions mostly had plain wood.
Ruger has a thinner trigger shoe which is better imo.
Both Ruger and Winchester often need a stronger striker spring due to light strikes.
The new Rugers could take the Ruger logo off the floorplate and blue the bolt handle.
Winchesters walnut and their special grades are prettier.
Even the Ruger special editions mostly had plain wood.
Ruger has a thinner trigger shoe which is better imo.
Both Ruger and Winchester often need a stronger striker spring due to light strikes.
The FN Winchester 70s are best in my view because they took the slop out of the floorplate and trigger setups and replaced them with consistent and reliable hardware. The factory bedding isn't hot glue anymore either, and has been good since 2008. Build quality is much better all around.
Googling for Model 70 trigger failures, the only arctic one that popped up happened to be a Classic open style trigger. Tikkas have an enclosed design and are very reliable in cold weather TMK. If the 2008 FN designed trigger were junk, we would have many failures by now. I think they are fine, and the world's pre-eminent manufacturer of military firearms doesn't design crap.
I like the Ruger Mark IIs a lot, but have settled into the FN Model 70 as I like the floorplate, safety and factory trigger better. A big factor was also to standardize on Weaver/Picatinny bases so I could mount an Aimpoint Micro instead of irons as a backup if the scope fails, or as my version of a light and handy woods rifle in Featherweight format. The bolt handle is slightly longer which is better, but I still hit my thumb on a wide objective bell if using the pinch technique. Also, McMillan doesn't make Ruger fitted stocks anymore, and I didn't like the smaller area hockey puck pads on the Ruger Safaris (which were spectacular rifles). Also, Featherweight and McMillan Hunter stocks seem to fit me perfectly. YMMV. Those Ruger Mark IIs are legendary for a reason, and I still have a great .338 WM boat paddle with irons and a McMillan stock.
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