NEW HAWKEYE PREDATOR

[tonyb]

Hi Guys , havent been on for ages, probably cause i have been having too much fun shooting my .204 .
I think i have finally worn it out , about 3000 rounds , so , i went and ordered a new Hawkeye Predator in .204 , havnt got it yet but should be here this week sometime , anyone got one ??
Was nearly gunna go for the standard timber blue hawkeye cause they look nice but thort i would try something different , " they " reckon they shoot better but i think just about anything in ..204 would shoot good , i just cant get over how good of a round they are
Anyhow i will put some pics up when i get it and mount me Redfield illuminator on it .

[Song Dog]

Can't wait for pics!

[tonyb]

On a different subject , i just got one of those Burris eliminator scopes and mounted it on my .260 rem., went on ok and did the initial setup, they are a bit ugly but i guess ya would get used to it , if it works as they say it should be a winner, havnt sighted it in yet , anyone used one ?

[kenbrofox]

tonyb,
Did you not consider having your shot out rifle fitted with a new custom barrel? Ken.

[tonyb]

Hi Ken , to be honest in regad to your question , no i did not think of rebarrelling , but now you mentioned it i would not have gone that way anyway , my old ruger m77 mk2 was a stainless / synthetic job and i absolutely hated the stock , the barrell probably had another 1000 rounds left in it , it really was not that bad, still shot half inch groups at a 100yds. Any excuse to buy a new rifle will do i guess , so really i needed a new stock more than a barrell , had a look at some stocks from the US of A but its all a big kerfuffle to get them to Tasmania , so a newbie it was , i hope the new one will be as good as the old one , it should be actually better with a heavier barrell and laminated stock and duel stage trigger , i will get the trigger done by my smith if i cannot adjust it down to a nice pound and a half at least.
Only half hour ago i took the old m77 mk2 to the gunshop, i traded it in on the new one , still has not arrived from mainland Australia, probably be a couple more days, cant wait, want it now , .

[kenbrofox]

Explanation excepted. Enjoy your new rifle.
Cheers,Ken.

[tonyb]

how do i post pics ?

Dont worry , i figured it out , sorta .

[tonyb]

Hi all , here is my new 204 predator , been to the smiths and had it floated , glass bedded and the trigger done , its at a pound and quarter , scope is a redfeild illuminator 6-20 . need to go and sight it in now , should be good ..

[Glen]

Sweet rig tony!!

[Redfox]

Very nice rilfe, Nice stock too
Have fun

[venison_burger]

Beautiful! Your grass is a lot greener than mine is right now! Do you mostly use that rifle for rabbits and rodents? or do you have predators there as well?

[tonyb]

Thanks for the nice comments guys,i only hope it is as good as my old one was,as for the grass being green, we are 3 weeks into summer here but had a lot of late spring rain so its a bit greener this year.

I mainly shoot roos but also rabbits and other stuff that wandering around the wilderness of Tasmania, apparently there are foxes here in tassy well so the local gov. says anyway, they allot quite a bit of money every year to arradicate these pests and employ a dozen or so "experts" to run around with blaser rifles and S & B scopes in new 4WD s . .you can read between the lines on that one.

Love the 204 round , its amazing how far in can reach out , longest kill was 481 yards on a big roo , actually there was two there at the same time , got em both , I would not have believed it if anyone else told me they had done it , you often hear these storys but i took em with a grain of salt. anyway i stand to be corrected .

Will keep you informed on how the new one preformes .

cheers Tony......

[Valar]

Very Nice looking gun, enjoy. I sympathise, where I live we have lots of guys that run fence lines etc. and sit in trucks. They kill lots of coyotes and screw up allot of hunting for those of us that go out and call and hunt! Harassing game from vehicles is illegle here but nothing gets done! I dont know what to think it is a touchy subject. I do know at the end of the day there is allot of satisfaction in walking out, sitting down and calling a coyote to you. Those that do it know what Im talking about!

[tonyb]

Well, i been out my hunting property for the last 4 days and nights, took my new 204 and a couple other rifles , all i can say is the new Ruger predator is absolutely awsome , well for me it is anyway, not that there was really anything wrong with my ol m77 but the duel stage trigger is sweet and the laminated stock that doesnt twist and put pressure on the barrell whilst on the bi-pod is great.The whole rifle with scope and bi-pod,sling and 4 rounds in the mag weighs in at ten and three quarter pounds, its ok, recoil is less , not that there is much anyway, and i dont notice much difference carring it around , so all in all , ime happy with it , zeroed it in when i got there and went hunting, put about 120 rounds through it ,cleaning every 10 rounds or so , it definately got better towards 80 rounds into its life, less fouling and tack driving . took a heap of pics of dead animals e.c.t. but didnt know weather i should post em on here or not , does everyone like pics of animals with no heads and blood and stuff ?? let me know and ill stick em on .
cheers Tony.

Oh yeah , took the chrono out and the 32grn. vmax projectiles ard doing 4040 fps with 28.5 grains of ADI 2206H powder...... the old 204 did 3920 fps with exactly the same loads ..

[Qtiphky]

toyb

By all means post pictures, we're all hunters here. By the way, how big are your roos that you shoot? I load 34 grain Midway Dogtown bullets but haven't had the chance to shoot anything bigger than a crow or squirrel yet and was wondering if they would work on coyotes. If you are shooting roos (depending on the size) with 32 grain Vmaxes, then I would think these 34 grainers would work on 35-50 pound 'yotes.

Thanks.