Ruger Hawkeye .338 Federal w/Bushnell 3200 scope

Ruger Hawkeye .338 Federal First Impressions

Power without pain, Provides the energy of a 7mm Magnum in a necked up .308 case, A rare moment of sanity cartridge wise, and Short Action Superlative are a few of the phrases coined to describe the new .338 Federal Cartridge. After my first bench session with the New Ruger matte stainless, synthetic stocked Hawkeye, I have to agree with all of the above.

This rifle could easily become one of my favorites, as it is a handsome piece, light in weight, short with great ergonomics, can be maneuvered through brush with one hand, points naturally, decent trigger out of the box and recoil is negligible.

The new Ruger Hawkeye has the improved LC6 trigger and mine out of the box was around 4.5 pounds and very smooth with no creep or grittiness to it. I think the average guy out there will love this trigger just as it is.

I mounted a Bushnell Elite 3200 3X9X40 with rainguard and firefly into the Ruger integral rings set up. I believe the integral rings on the Ruger to be one of the most rugged set ups in the business and one less thing to concern yourself with on an out of state hunt. As mentioned in my “Bigger Critter Rifle” article, I wanted a rifle in synthetic and stainless and liked the integral rings on the Ruger. The Hawkeye in my opinion is a better handling rifle that the Mdl77MKII which I also own in .270 Win. It just plain feels good in the hands and looks good leaning against the corner of the room too.

The .338 Federal is not very complicated and in essence is a .308 Win case necked up to accept a .338 bullet. As other writers have pointed out; it is short, but not fat. It is not a magnum and on the other hand doesn’t recoil like a magnum. Current factory loads are available from Federal:

· 180 grain Nosler Accubond
· 180 Grain Barnes Triple Shock X
· 200 Grain Fusion
· 210 Grain Nosler Partition

Velocity runs from around 2630 to 2830 depending on bullet weight. By virtue of availability, I purchased four boxes of the 200 Grain Fusion load. These are available and in stock at the time of this article from several mail order companies including Midsouth Shooter Supply for around $20 a box. I did notice the other loads are running almost twice that. Federal prints the velocity and energy figures right on the box, so I will share them here. At the muzzle, this load has 2660 FPS and 3140 ME. At the 100 yard mark, it is still traveling 2450 FPS and hits with 2665 ft lbs of energy. At 200 yards it is traveling 2250 and still hits with 2245 ft lbs. With a 100 yard zero, it is only –4.3 at 200 yards. It carries 1875 ft lbs of energy to the 300 yard mark where it drops –15.6 with a hundred yard zero. I dare say that most guys will sight this load in at between 1.5 and 3 inches high at 100 yards which should make it easy for a dead on hold on big game to around the 250 mark.

My first shot out of the Hawkeye was exactly 1.5 inches right and 1.5 inches high at exactly 25 yards. A slight adjustment and two more shots put me right on at 25. I then placed the target at a lasered 100 yards and shot two separate two shot groups both exactly 1 inch center to center.

I did run into one little glitch with the Ruger. I had a feeding problem occasionally when chambering a round and at first I thought the case neck was hanging up on the feeding ramp. I then discovered it was the bolt itself that was hanging up at the midway point. Not every time but often enough that it needed attention. It appeared that the base of the cartridge was not fully seating into the bolt face and this was preventing the bolt from closing smoothly.

UPDATE: 2013 - I did eventually send the rifle back to Ruger to look into the problem. They fixed it and paid shipping both ways. They stand behind their guns.


As mentioned on my web site, I am no longer into handloading. I have a full time business, in addition to this website. I simply do not have the time to load anymore, however I love to shoot. I am saving my brass for the .338 Federal and have someone locally who will handload these for me. It looks to me that the Federal Fusion factory load will become a favorite in this caliber based on price and performance.

The Federal fusion line of bullets came on the scene in the fall of 2005. These bullets feature a bonded core with a “molecular-fused” jacket. “The jacket is actually applied to the core one molecule at a time to totally eliminate separation and assure mass integrity”, per Federal literature. The box indicates that the skived tip provides long range expansion and short range toughness. The pressure formed core, achieves a combination of expansion and strength never before available in a deer rifle bullet. The bullet is also a boat-tail design to enhance long range accuracy. To sum it up, it is one heck of a bullet for $20 a box. The fusion line is optimized for CXP2 Game (a great deer bullet as the box indicates), however I recently read an article where a sizable black bear was shot through the shoulders with this bullet and it worked very well. On heavier game, the 210 Nosler Partition may be warranted.

Concerning the Ruger Hawkeye .338 rifle itself:

Handsome synthetic stock with matte stainless 22 inch bbl
NEW recoil pad
NEW LC6 trigger
Patented steel floorplate with Ruger Logo
3 position safety
Mauser controlled feed with claw extractor
Integral scope rings included at no extra charge
Available in wood stocked blue bbl or my choice in stainless/synthetic
Suggested retail is $749 – Gander Mtn has these for $615 at the time of this article

I will be adding additional photos to this website of a future range test after getting the gun back from the gunsmith.

For the money, I think the Ruger is the best looking rifle in its class and there are no flies on one inch center to center groups right out of the box. This rifle with the Fusion 200 grain bullet could make a terrific rifle for everything from whitetails to moose and in the synthetic, matte stainless version with a Bushnell RainGuard 3200 Elite scope on board, is set for any weather conditions you might encounter. I love this gun.

Dan 7/17/07
http://www.deer-hunting-information.com/

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