Ruger mkII, 280 rem, blued/wood

[Coyboy]

My cousin dropped off a new rifle and scope for me to work on. He had not fired the gun and was interested in me getting it shooting well with a handload for an upcomming elk hunt.

I started with a little trigger work, getting it down to a very crisp 3.5 lbs. I then freefloated the barrel and glassbedded the action recoil lug area and tang. I lapped the scope rings and mounted the 3-9 leupold.

I tried a combination of loads, and found a very good one with Rel 19 and 140 AB. This load shot ok with new brass but after neck sizing it NEVER shot a 3 shot group over 1/2 inch at 100 yards. I fired a total of 4 three shot groups and all were under a half. Velocities ran at 2900fps out of the 22" tube. The 160 gr AB were in the 1 inch range.

I was quite suprised with the barrel on this ruger, it didn't overlly copper foul and cleaned up fairlly quick.

After about 35 rounds this morning, my shoulder is a little tender. Ruger deffinatly needs to improve there recoil pads on these light rifles. Mostly I'm glad my rifles wear heavier barrels. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Ruger sends out a keeper every now and then.

[Desert Fox]

My friend own one of these Ruger MK in 308, cute little rifle, that will outshoot most of his custom rig. That little rifle kick so bad that he installed a brake on it. The 280 is my alltime favorite cartridge. My first bolt gun, an Argentine Mauser 1909 was chambered for it after thorough research on my part. My favorite load is comprised of 55.5 grain of IMR 4831, 150 grain Nosler BT on either Winchester or Federal brass. Velocity, a tad below 2900. Extremely Accurate load.