Ruger Hawkeye Compact
 

Does anyone have any experience with the Ruger M77 Hawkeye Compact? Particularly the. 243 version? Any input woulkhd be greatly appreciated.

My cousins hunts with one. I believe his is a 7mm-08. He's killed a truck load of deer with it the last few years. Not sure how it is off the bench but I know it'll shoot Minute of Deer out to 300 yards. And it looks like it's a pleasure to carry. Short, light, and a nice looking rifle. Hard to beat for a whitetail gun. This is what he has.
http://www.ruger.com/products/m77Haw...ct/models.html
-Jake

in .308win it would be the most efficient.

Such a short barrel would do better in say a .308 than a .243win which really should have a 22-24" barrel IMO.

how about the savage lightweight?

if you just want a 6lb rifle... there are some options... even a tikka? and you'd get a normal length barrel.

16.5" is pretty short for me, 20" is about as low as I'd consider, or even 22"

My wife has two. One is a .308 and the other is a 7mm-08. She loves them. Zero issues.

I have a Remington 700 SPS in a 243, it came with a 24" barrel which to me is rediculous for a 243. It was a tack driver with the 24" barrel but just to long for my tastes, I have no use for ANY standard cartridge with a barrel longer than 22". I took the 243 down to a gunsmith and had the barrel cut back and recrowned to 18.5", It is now very handy to carry, and actually I think it shoots tighter groups with the 18.5" vs. the 24" barrel. When you shorten a sporter weight barrel you increase the stiffness of the barrel, it was cut about were it started tapering down so it now has a short but kinda heavy barrel on it. To be honest I dont think it has hurt it at all having a shorter barrel, it is still a 300 yard deer gun, but is so much nicer to carry. JMO.

Thanks for the input. I was a little concerned about losing too much velocity with a barrel this short. But since the absolute furthest shot where I hunt is 300yards, I doubt it will be a problem. I currently have this rifle on layaway. I shouldered it once and had to have it. Should carry very nicely in brush and maneuver easily in the confines of a tree stand.

I've got one in 7.62x39. Great deer gun plus can shoot the piss out of it and not break the bank.

Usable barrel length
 

Perhaps someone can lend some info regarding this and the ultra short 16" barrels on the Compact Hawkeye's.

Of the following calibers, which would be the least adversely affected by the short barrel length of the Hawkeye Compact ...

.243
7mm/08
7.62 X 39
.308

Thanks in advance for any input regarding these calibers and the short barrel length.

I've got the 7.62x39 nice to have cheap ammo. Good accuracy out to 150 yards so far. Going to stretch it out but most of my shots are 100 yards and under.

A friend has it in 7mm-08. He has taken deer out to 200 yards with good results.

It's great how light and short these guns are.