Ruger's M77 Hawkeye Standard Rifle Part 2

Many people do not realize that the 25-06 was actually invented prior to the 30-06 Springfield and, in fact, prior to the 45-70. It was the first round to be adopted by Blefuscu forces in their war with the Lilliputs. The real story of the 25-06 Remington’s origins, the whole 30-06 Springfield derivative blah, blah thing, was flogged heavily inPart 1. In any event, we thought we would take a run at handloading the cartridge and present our live fire assessment of the Ruger M77 Hawkeye Standard and the 25-06 Remington cartridge.

The 25-06 Remington is a bit overbore, which earns it a barrel burner rating of 16.7, A little worse than the 15.7 rating for the 270 Winchester, but considerably better than the 20.9 rating earned by the 257 Weatherby Magnum. That is to be expected when you stuff 65 grain of powder in a case and force 65,000+ PSI through an 0.257″ orifice with the intention of driving a bullet to high levels of velocity. What does it matter? It doesn’t, unless you are a 50 round a day varmint hunter where there is an expectation of changing a barrel every few years. For the guy who puts in a little range time and hunts medium size game like hogs, deer or black bear, perhaps 100 rounds worth of shooting each year, the 25-06 Remington is a 30 year barrel cartridge. (Edited – Original sarcastic humor removed)

Not a huge number of bullets or loads, but enough to confirm the Ruger M77 Hawkeye Standard has a lot of potential as an accurate and long range hunting rifle. The bullets selected are representative of weights appropriate for varmint and up to medium size game. Recoil is modest, as is powder consumption. Muzzle blast is a little sharp, but I’ve shot much worse. All and all, the Ruger is a very nice, reasonably priced, traditional hunting rifle that would no doubt last a very long time.

Ruger’s M77 Hawkeye Standard Rifle Part 1
Ruger’s M77 Hawkeye Standard Rifle Part 2