quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
OK VERY FIRST, Sorry for no pics. I got screwed over by off site pic upload sites and I can't upload direct so sorry for no pics.


ANYWAY, I was at a local gunstore and saw a brand new Ruger Hawkeye Target 300 Win Mag. Having just paid off his credit card to zero this dumbass of course walked out of the store with it. ;-)

I liked the 2 stage trigger, this gun has a PIPE for a barrel! Definitely muzzle heavy. Has the same brake as my 308 RPR, maybe not the sexiest looking but functions well. The cheekpiece adjusts quickly and easily.

So far I've had it to the range twice. First trip I loaded 175gr SMK's which are probably not optimal but I had a big box of them ready to go. Decent but not at all great groups at 100 off a bipod. Under MOA 5 shot groups but not much under, I want a bughole shooter. 2 trip was sub-MOA out to 200 with 200gr ELD-X's which in my mind are closer to optimal for what I want for this rifle. Some groups with RL-22 looked to have some bughole potential.

In the borescope the barrel looks like a nice, smooth quality barrel. It fouls just a tad 3/4 the way to the muzzle hoping that will work itself out.

Then the downsides to work on.....

First of all the stock looks like Composite but it is actually painted plywood laminate. There are advantages and disadvantages to that. It will feel warmer on cold days than composite. Not too hard to grind and work on. But I would have preferred a composite stock with an Aluminum bedding block for stability and more solid bedding. After my second range session I tore the rifle down for a more serious look. The barrel was bearing on the right side and rear bottom of the stock. It took a bit of work with a barrel channel rasp to free float the barrel. Not a big deal for me but for those looking for an OTB shooter it would be a problem.

The Cheekpiece has a tendency to drift forwards under recoil. This can be a problem if it's high enough to interfere with bolt operation. My solution is to tighten the flip down latch to where it's a PITA to loosen back up and move for cleaning. A tighter more reliable lockdown would be preferable.

The BIGGEST PROBLEM with this rifle is the 3 piece floor plate. It's just a bad design. The trigger guard is a separate piece and can drift rearwards under recoil far enough to allow the magazine to fall out! Until I have time to bed the floorplate with zero room for movement I had to tap in little wedges behind the trigger guard to keep it from drifting rearwards and allowing the magazine to not have enough latch engagement. No way to sugarcoat it here, bad design with loose tolerances equals feeding issues Out Of The Box. Without my shims after a couple shots the magazine would drop down after each shot and not feed the next round without holding the magazine up.

The extra Buttstock spacers are nice. Having Magpul AICS Mags easily Available is nice (got 2 more at my local Cabela's).

I've floated the barrel and hope that this will settle the rifle in to the better groups it seemed to want to shoot. I'll also bed the floor plate and action which will solve the floor plate sliding around issue.

I see this as a rifle with real potential but one that inexperienced shooters might avoid out of the box. I may be a little spoiled by chassis rifles that shoot awesome out of the box. This rifle is more like older rifles that really need some TLC to reach their potential. I'm going to keep working with it because I think it might have serious potential.



I hope everyone finds my review here fair, honest and helpful...........dj

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:


I was thinking of getting one of these, then the krg bravo chassis came out in a configuration that will fit rifles I already have.