Yup, this is thinking towards my big bore Ruger project. This weekend, I'm going to bed my wife's new 7mm (that will become a 338wm) into a new stock for her to use this winter, and I was thinking more and more about the .458wm that I'll be building to go along with it. Sarah's rifle will probably be getting a .416Ruger barrel as well, as I really like the round so far, so that's a new addition - a 5th cartridge, and one that doesn't share a common case (Ruger says it shares a common follower and mag box, and of course, the same mag bolt face).

I'm not concerned about the angular lug, actually very confident in that design, but a little concerned that it'll be able to crush the wood around it. Every big bore I've owned had 2 lugs, but even then, if they weren't properly bedded, they'd break the stock. If they WERE properly bedded, I had nary an issue.

To Oldtimr's point about pulling a stock on an existing model, well, that's pretty simple - there's no such thing as a 458win mag Ruger M77 Hawkeye. The most powerful cartridge for which the Hawkeyes can be had is the .416 Ruger - which is about equal for ENGERY, but about 10-15% behind the 458wm in recoil momentum. I had a Ruger RSM in the past that DID have the "new version" of the forward recoil lug, but it cracked its stock behind the tang anyway. I bedded it into a replacement stock from Ruger, and it survived as long as I owned it after that without breaking, but that wasn't many shots (.458 Lott).

I've talked to a handful of big bore smiths that have agreed - if you bed the Ruger action properly, it action won't need a 2nd recoil lug. But I really don't care to crush a $1500 piece of wood either.

My discontent is coming from rumors - I bought a Ruger Hawkeye Guide Gun in .416Rug to act as a bench mark for these custom rifles, mine is from the early production, and does not have any recoil lug on the barrel, just the one on the action. I'm told, however, that "some people think" Ruger started putting them on the newer production models of the .416R African and Guide Gun, and that the Alaskan was discontinued because it was crushing the synthetic stocks (I don't buy that). However, I have yet to confirm anyone that owns a .416Ruger Guide Gun that HAS a 2nd lug, and Ruger customer service confirms that they do not (but they're not always aware of most recent product changes, especially on low volume models).

So I figure, why not test it out myself? If I can bed the rifle into a weaker stock, fire XX number of rounds without failure, then do the same bedding into a tougher/denser wood stock, pretty fair to assume it won't fail.

But what's that number? I'm thinking over 100rnds, not sure if I think a stock would crack after 300rnds if it didn't before (and if I ever fire 500rnds out of it, I'll be the one that's cracked!)