New to the site

[Elkeater]

Hey all. New to posting been lurking for awhile. Mostly looking for info to make me a better shooter and Hunter. I hunt anything that I can but Elk hunting has become a particular obsession. My current elk hunting rig is a ruger M77 Hawkeye .300WM with a very recently purchased vortex viper hs lr 4-16x shooting 180gr Accubonds over 79gr. Of H1000 which usually gets me .75 MOA at 200 yards.

Up to this point I've been shooting with a 3-9x Nikon prostaff and a BDC. I've been comfortable on 10" plate steel out to 500 yards but I'm looking to stretch my capability on elk out to 700 or maybe 800 yards. Not sure why since I've killed a least one elk(some years two) around home every year since I moved to CO. And to date my longest shot has been 404 yards.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone on here had any experience getting the ruger M77 Hawkeye to shoot really well. I've already upgraded the stock to a Hogue overmold with an aluminum bedding block the scope to the vortex viper hs lr and plan to upgrade the trigger to a timney soon.

If anyone has anymore ideas I'd appreciate it. Cost is a big consideration. I'm a working guy with a family so a whole new rifle is not an option.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Welcome aboard!

I have a Ruger M77 with tang safety. It has been upgraded but they will shoot.
A trigger is a good place to start. I replaced my sear and it helped reduce it significantly. The other problem I have is the mag well is very short. I cannot load the bullets long without single feeding them. That is not preferred so I load mag length and go from there.

The 210 or 215 Berger would be worth a look. The higher BC will help get you to your goal. Mine aren't as fast as if loaded long but look at the 215 at about 2700 fps and it will get you there.

Good luck.
Shane
Looks about right...

 

[pburton]

I have very little experience with Ruger's, but I have also seen very few rifles that did not benefit from a good trigger and glass bedding the action. As far as shooting elk at 7-800 yards, I would highly recommend going to a heavier high BC bullet. I agree with the 215 Berger. They are far less picky with seating depth and should work with your short mag length.

 

[Elkeater]

Any thoughts on 190 accubond long range or eld x 200's. Just thinking these shorter bullets might be better for seating depth in the short magazine. Currently my 180 accubonds are loaded to 3.460 and I can only put one in the chamber and one in the magazine.

How would terminal performance of the bergers be at 200 yards. I just know my brother shot a cow elk at 300 yards a few years ago with bergers and she took 4 hits all in the boiler room to go down. Just makes me Leary of the bergers terminal performance. Most of my shots tend to be in the 200-300 yard range but once in a while a shot at 7-800 presents itself.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I couldn't get the ABLR to shoot out of my Ruger. After reading some of the reports on here, I steered away from them in that rifle. Not tried the ELDX.

I had the 210 Berger shooting pretty well in mine at mag length.

Never killed an elk, but would think a big bullet put in the vitals= dead animal. Not necesarrily when we think they should, but not much can make it with blown heart/lungs.

Do a search on here about Berger performance. I think you may find everyone has their favorites. For me favorite is what shoots best in a given rifle for the game I'm hunting.
Not all do well, I've had to let the rifle tell me what to shoot. Was dead set on shooting the Berger 215 in the Ruger and it just wasn't good enough to give me confidence in it. This one shoots 180 Partitions really well and it's not a long range bullet. In fact, this 1-10 twist Hart barrel doesn't shoot the long heavies as well as the 180 class bullets. Each rifle has its own appetite.

 

[Adikted]

I've had to let the rifle tell me what to shoot

THIS!

I've spent a small fortune and God knows how many hours trying to get rifles to shoot what I wanted them to at the speeds that I want, never succeeding.

Usually I find a velocity that it likes (happy place) for a particular bullet weight and look for the bullets it likes best.

Now, if I'm not happy with what the rifle likes I sell the rifle and move on.

 

[jlreff]

Try the Barnes 175 or 200gr l r x. Also ramshot magnum powder. Also 180ttsx. Use any of this in multiple 300winmags. Works great at mag length.