Ruger Hawkeye 338 Win Mag

[NitroSteel]

I'm looking at buying one of these and was wanting to probably shoot 200 Grain Federal Premium Nosler Accubonds out of it.  What are the chances of buying a factory gun and getting 1" groups out of it with good ammo?  What would be some simple things to do to to make it better right out of the box?  What ammo will it most likely favor?

I plan on moving my Swarovski Professional Hunter 2.5-10x42 to it (from my M77 30-06).

Thank you,

Nitrosteel

[wackmaster]

Nitro

I always aligne and lap scope rings. I would through away the trigger and install a timmny or a rifle basicks. I always bed action and float barrell. In my 338 I shoot eather 225 or 250gr. My thinking is if I shoot a 338 I wont the horse power that goes with it. You rifle should shoot real well.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  nitro, I would feel if you buy a Ruger rifle and box of Fed. ammo and get 1" groups with the ammo of your choice, you would be very lucky. Over the years, I have shot quite a bit of factory ammo though various rifles, I can think of only 3 that gave me 1" groups with factory ammo. I have 20 boxes of fac. ammo that did not even come close. I am talking about rifles bigger that .270's.
But it may all come together for you. Hope so.

[poncaguy]

I bought a used one in 338 Federal, MOA rifle, very pleased (and surprised)

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree. To buy any factory gun and just pick up a box of ammo your going to be darned lucky to get one inch groups. Not that the gun isnt capable its just that you will need to experiment with differnt ammo or loads to get it there.

nitro, I would feel if you buy a Ruger rifle and box of Fed. ammo and get 1" groups with the ammo of your choice, you would be very lucky. Over the years, I have shot quite a bit of factory ammo though various rifles, I can think of only 3 that gave me 1" groups with factory ammo. I have 20 boxes of fac. ammo that did not even come close. I am talking about rifles bigger that .270's.
But it may all come together for you. Hope so.

[efremtags]

I agree the gun is likely capable of MOA, but you would be lucky to get that with the first ammo you tried.

If you are like the average hunter, you will not want to go through the trouble of bedding and custom trigger. You really don't need that for a hunting rifle. The new Rugers have a much improved trigger over the lawyered up models of mid 90's. I have 2 pre-90's M77 (25-06 and 300WM). The 25-06 is the most accurate gun I own (have shot .5 - .75" 5 groups conistantly) using standard 120GR win SP. Factory stock, with leupold 3x9.

[Darrell Davis]

Recently read about testing rifles with factory ammo, and you should expect as has already been said, that you may need to test a number of brands/styles.  Might not happen IF you are lucky??..

Kind of like with a .22 rimfire where you are at the mercy of the ammo manufacture and must test your rifle with "their" ammo until you find the one which shoots best.

The biggest potential I see for problems is #1 cost for testing a bunch of factory ammo, #2 you end up with a bunch of odd ball brass should you wish to reload, and #3 you are at the mercy of the factory as per changes to their components and loads.

Box may look the same, but ??.

The best thing you have going for you is, ammo companies are more concerned about the quality of their better products then they were years back, and for that, you can thank reloaders.

Keep em coming!

CDOC