I ran a couple of different factory loads through the action without firing the gun before going to the range. The load that was giving me the most trouble getting hung up and not chambering etc. was the Federal 210 grain Nosler Partition load.
In any event, I took the rifle to the range yesterday and the wind was so bad that when I originally set up at 100 yards, the wind knocked my target stand and target over twice. I then moved the target to 50 yards and fired only six shots total. Three were with the 210 grain Nosler Partitions and the other 3 were with another Federal practice load in 200 grain weight. (The 210 grain Partitions are on the left target and the other load on the right is also from Federal in the 200 grain uni-cor soft point Power Shok.
The Nosler Partition is good for anything that you would want to hunt with a .338 Federal and would be my choice for larger black bear, elk, moose etc. The 200 grain Power Shock Uni-Cor is listed on the box as a medium game load with a picture of a whitetail on the front.
I was not so much looking for group size as I was functioning of the rifle and checking any improvement in the feeding process. I was not disappointed in either arena as without trying to shoot tight groups, and putting three rounds of each load through the gun fairly rapidly, the results were great. There were no hangups and the hinged floor plate style magazine seemed tighter and the rounds snapped into place much better than they had before the repair.
In any event, I am a happy camper and hopefully might get out in the next year or two for another baited bear hunt up in Maine.
Dan
Here is a photo of the 50 yards target.
Here is an excerpt from my 11/28/2012 Post concerning the repair:
Contact:
Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc
411 Sunapee St.
Newport, NH 03773
603-865-2442
(Have your model and serial number available when you call as they will assign an RMA number to your order and they will email you a shipping label as they pick up the charge both ways for UPS.)
I did a couple of range sessions after purchasing the rifle mostly with the Federal 200 grain fusion load. I didn't have any recurring problems till I started running the 210 grain Nosler Partitions through it. In any event based on reading the gun forums and realizing that there were some real issues with the Hawkeye series rifles in .338 Federal, I decided to ship the gun to Ruger to take a look at it.
I was very impressed with the whole process. They had the gun approximately two weeks. They sent me by email a shipping label and an RMA number to identify the gun while it was in their possession. they paid the shipping both there and back so it ended up costing me zero.
Notes included in the box with the rifle which arrived yesterday indicated they had replaced the existing trigger with a NEW LC6 trigger, NEW sear, NEW spring, NEW stock screws, repaired feed ramp, rails, bolt and trigger pull is at 3.5-4 LBS.
They then test fired the rifle at their range with NO mention of the distance involved. The photo copy of the range target indicated that Federal 185 grain factory load was used and it shows a nice tight 3 shot clover leaf group.
There was also a note which solves the mystery on at least the front stock screw. The note indicates "THE FRONT MOUNTING SCREW SHOULD BE TORQUED TO 95 INCH POUNDS".
This for me solves the dilemma of endless opinions on line concerning the tightness of the front screw. As mentioned previously my Wheeler Fat Wrench only goes to a MAX of 65 inch pounds and I was getting 3/4 inch groups with the Factory fusion load at 75 yards at last testing. I have never tried the Federal 185 grain load, however may make the switch based on their attached target.
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