new used ruger

[Lloyd Smale]

Went to visit my buddy the other day. He used to own a gunshop and still has guys come over and sell him guns. he just picked up a wood blued markII in 06 that has some real nice wood. He told me he paid the guy 350 for it and would sell it to me for that. I just couldnt pass it. It had a cheap bushnell scope on it that quickly went in the junk scope drawer and i put a 3x9 4200 bushnell i had for a spare scope on it. I took it to the range yesterday. I kind of wanted to shoot 165s out of this one because ive got 3 other 06 bolt guns and all of them are set up for various 150s. Typical ruger it was. I spend the day shooting 8 differnt 165s with various powders and all the groups were in the 1.5 to 2 inch range for 5 at a 100 yards. Nothing to get a guy excited. I had all but given up on it shooting like it was and figured floating and bedding and even lapping were going to be nessisary. The very last load i shot was a 165 partition with a cci std primer and 59 grains of h4350. It put those five into 3/4 of an inch! Still have to go out today and verify it as ive just shot to many lucky groups in the past but id sure like to use that load. It would make that 06 capable of taking about anything. It just goes to show a guy that if you try enough differnt combos somethings bound to work.

[218bee]

Sounds like ya got a good one.
I have experienced the same while developing loads. I guess thats why I enjoy reloading so much...finding out the right combo of what a particular gun likes. Some guns can definately be frustrating in this area though...and others like a Tikka I have in 6.5Swede shoot most everything so well its ALMOST boring to load for. Good luck with your new one, cant beat an '06.

[rexherring]

Almost all Rugers seem to shoot flat base better than boat tails. 4350 also seems to be a powder of choice for 06 to 300 win. Mags.

[Lloyd Smale]

well back to the drawing board. I went back to the range with 20 of the partitions loaded and the groups were more like 2 inch. Didnt suprise me much as ive just seen to many times where a gun got lucky with a group. I dropped it off at my buddys to be floated and bedded. the groups seemed to string verticaly and that usually means bedding. Its got a terrible trigger too. About 7 lbs and lots of creap. thing is the mark twos dont have adjustments so i guess its time to buck up for a timney trigger for it too. Still think it has potential though as 4 of the 5 groups had 3 shots about touching and the other two opened up to about 2 inch.

[RugerFan]

I got a similar deal a couple years ago. Got a Ruger M77 Standard 25-06 from an old guy that was getting rid of some safe queens. Said he had only shot 6 or 7 rounds out of it. (I don't think he shot it at all). Rifle was pristine. I bought for my son as a Christmas present for $350. It's a real tack driver and loves Nosler Partions.

[Three44s]

My tang safety .270 went away on a trade for a Browning A-bolt Boss in .25-06. The tang .270 just would not break out of the 1.5" range and I fiddled with it since it was new in '77

Now, everything I ever put the Ruger on whether it be coyotes or elk or in between "went away" to their just reward but it simply bugged me!!

That Browning? Well, it's the opposite extreme ..... no challenge!

My other tang safety, a 77V Liberty in .243 ........ it's knocking on 1/4 moa.

I have grown fond of the Savages for their barrel change ease. Get a less desirable barrel ..... get a different one!! Have not found any poor ones though ...... just good and better ones!

Best regards

Three 44s

[snowwolfe]

Nice catch!
The one thing I have learned about Rugers over the years is they all need to be bedded. Until then they are usually very inconsistent with their grouping ability. I will not even shoot a new one until I bedded and free floated the barrel first.