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New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:14 pm
by cshooter
Hi fellas, My sweet little wife ran across a Ruger Hawkeye Predator rifle in 204 a little before Christmas and bought it ! She bought it for herself because it was so pretty and felt good. I wasn't too upset, and it is a nice feeling pretty gun, but have always had Savages , and don't know much about them. Besides, she has wanted a 204 of her own for quite a while, not that she shot my 204 Savage much, but still, she wanted one of her own. OK- No problem- as long as I got to shoot it too. Well anyways, I was wondering if anybody has one of these rifles and has any good ideas for starting points on what kind of loads this gun would like. The only bullets I have are Hornady 45's, a few Nosler 32's and some 39 BK's. We have a small cattle farm and coyotes are all we shoot. I've always used Berger 35's & 40's, and Hornady 45's with RE-10x or H4895, but you can't get any Bergers these days. These are tough bullets that drill those yotes hard. All my brass is Winchester fired in my Savage, so I guess I'll have to full length size some for her rifle to start. First thing I noticed is the barrel is not free floated or action bedded. But the trigger is a good two stage - light n crisp. Any ideas or things I should know about this Ruger ? :shock: :?

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:17 pm
by Bill K
I would think that after you resize 20-30 of your Winchester case's. Take two or three of the best loads, your rifle shoots, and starting a couple grains or so less, try them in the wife's new rifle. You may find that Predator shoots as well or better than your Savage. Bill K :)

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:28 pm
by Sidewinderwa
My Savages like 26 grains of H4895 with the Sierra Blitzkings. This is about 1 1/2 grains under max load. Mine just likes this load for accuracy. Let us know how your testing goes. I have not heard any feedback on your rifle.

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:28 pm
by Trpshtr
cshooter wrote:Hi fellas, My sweet little wife ran across a Ruger Hawkeye Predator rifle in 204 a little before Christmas and bought it
If there's no photo, it really didn't happen :lol:

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:27 am
by dshumaker
For the Hornady 45g. My rifle likes 23.8-24g of H-4895 for accuracy. (around 3400)

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:07 am
by cshooter
Hey thanks for the tip on that load, I'll take a look at that. Does your rifle do a little sideways stringing after the 3rd shot ? Mine does. Not bad, but it is noticeable. I attribute that to the barrel stock contact. I wonder why Ruger didn't free float the barrel ? That seems to be a given accuracy booster on most production rifles these days. Hmmmm. Any more ideas ?

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:11 am
by Roverhound
cshooter wrote:Hey thanks for the tip on that load, I'll take a look at that. Does your rifle do a little sideways stringing after the 3rd shot ? Mine does. Not bad, but it is noticeable. I attribute that to the barrel stock contact. I wonder why Ruger didn't free float the barrel ? That seems to be a given accuracy booster on most production rifles these days. Hmmmm. Any more ideas ?
I have a Ruger M77 in the V/T model and the barrel is free floated. Both of my 77/17's, one in Hornet and one in HMR have the end of stock pressure point. I've heard of mixed reviews from removing it. The Hornet is plenty accurate so i won't mess with it.

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:00 pm
by cshooter
The weather has been so poor for sighting in anything this winter that I haven't had a chance to get out and try anything. But I did get about an 1/2 hour day before last to do some. I had a few Hornady 45 gr. SP's loaded up to test, but I can't get any other kind of bullet right now so that's the only bullet I can test. The best I could get was with 27.5 gr of AA# 2520 and Rem brass. It was marginally accurate at 3/4" groups @ 100yrd. That was the best load with that bullet out of about 10 different ones. But it was a consistant load, it stayed right at 3/4" for 5 different groups. When I get some 35 & 40 gr Berger's I'll retest and see. The 45 Hornady's aren't very accurate in any of my other 204's either so I'm not too worried. But they will work for now. I do need to see how this load groups at 200 yrd, but the wind has to drop down below 20 mph for that. :eek:

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:10 pm
by cshooter
I had just a few Remington brass (35) I found in a bag among my stuff, they were new so I used them. And I can't find those Nosler's. The Sierra BK's I mentioned earlier got loaded up last spring - I forgot. I may resize some of those Winchester brass, but it looks like we may have Rem brass available before Win. Besides I haven't found much difference between the two other than the position of the groups when the all other components are the same. I sure am getting tired of this shortage of reloading stuff................. :(

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:25 pm
by MZ5
Darkker and I both have Ruger Predators in 204R. I generally run 748 in mine, and darkker runs 748 or CFE 223 in his. We both run MidSouth's Varmint Nightmares. They're great rifles!
The 2-stage triggers are the best factory triggers I have ever operated, and as good as or better than most aftermarket ones I've run, too.

P.S. I have a Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor now, too. I really like this platform.

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:49 am
by cshooter
What grains are you guys using of 748 and how do those midsouth bullets hold up ? I like shooting a tougher bullet because I've had several splashes at the closer ranges with the prairie dog type bullets. And I finally got out to try that AA#2520, I'm getting fairly consistant 1" groups @ 100 yrds. I may do alittle tweeking, but for shooting coyote size n bigger game out to 200 yrd, they'll do the job. The load is 45 gr Hornady SP, 27.5 gr AA#2520, Rem brass, CCI Br4 primers, seated at a C.O.L of 2.945 measured at the ogive of the bullet. I wish Winchester n Remington would start putting out brass again other than their loaded ammo. That Hornady stuff just isn't consistant. The same load with Hornady brass is all over the place. :huh: :wall: Also the trigger on my gun has three adjustment screws on the front of it, do you guys know which one would take out the creep ? I haven't messed with it any as it is a very good trigger with the right pull for me, but mine has a little too much creep at the second stage. They look like they are factory set with locktite and I didn't want to start messing around with it. I can't find anything on how exactly to adjust it.

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:06 pm
by MZ5
I'll look for some info/data for you when I get home. Until then-- The Predator uses the same 2-stage trigger as the Varmint/Target model. The 'creep' you're feeling may be that take-up stage, which is there by design. Or, it could be a touch of creep in the second stage. If so, take heart: I've never owned nor even fired one of Ruger's 2-stage triggers where that couldn't be easily adjusted out. Stand by while I get home...

Re: New Hawkeye Predator, sweet !

Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:46 pm
by MZ5
This is pretty much what I do to adjust Ruger's outstanding 2-stage triggers:
http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/rugervt.html

For load data, I load by volume, but the VMD of my particular lot is such that I was loading in the high 28s in terms of grains (weight). Make sure you work up according to your manual's instructions; this load is at or near some data sources' listed max.

I'm not really a coyote hunter at this point, and other than big game I rarely do quasi-autopsies. Maybe message Darkker for his thoughts on the bullet on coyotes. He's always seemed very happy with it for 'yotes when I've talked to him about it.