A buddy of mine recently bought a Ruger 77 Hawkeye stainless synthetic in 30-'06. I have been working up a load for him. Initially is showed great promise with the Nosler 165 Accubond (with the bullet 0.025 to 0.035" off the lands I was getting sub MOA at 100 and 250 yards). But then my results were inconsisten with some wild fliers. I wondered though if the firm barrel contact with the stock was the culprit. I generally do not bother shooting a gun unless the barrel is free floated but as this was my buddy's I decided to leave it alone initially.
With my friend's approval I ended up free floating the stock and the groups started being more consistent without the fliers. I am using Ramshot Hunter with the Nosler 165 Accubond and with a max charge am getting good velocity and accuracy. I tried various seating depths but so far it is looking like 0.030" off the lands is best. Over the weekend I fired 5 groups of 3 shots each at 250 yards. All 15 shots formed a 4.15" group with 13 of them in 2.63". These were all fired prone with my Harris bipod and Brownells Latigo sling from the bed of my truck. Looks to be a great load.
I am quite impressed with this rifle. The barrel is quite skinny but it is giving really good groups once I got the barrel channel cleared out and the load dialed in.
