Market & Fair price .458wm Ruger M77 Hawkeye?

[IronCowboy]

Is there a market for converted 458wm Hawkeyes? I'm thinking about doing another one, just for the sake of doing it, but my wife says she'll only "approve" if I agree to sell it after, since we don't need another paperweight holding down our safes - we're set for DG rifles. Not looking to make a dime, not even expecting to break even - not delusional about that in the least - just wondering what a guy might expect to pay for a custom .458win mag Ruger M77 Hawkeye?

I saw what I believe to be a rebore of a Ruger M77 Hawkeye Alaskan or Guide Gun on Gunbroker, sitting with one bid at $700, left handed though. Other than reboring and getting dropped into an ugly - albeit expensive - McMillan hunter stock, I don't see anything done to it. The Mark II RSM's seem to bring $1200-1500US, around $2,000 new in box, the Guide Guns and Africans seem to sell around $800-1000.

What would be reasonable for a Ruger M77 Hawkeye stainless with a floating Shilen #5 458win mag tube, blocked & bedded into a Grade A-AAA English Walnut stick w/ ebony tip, island rear and banded front sight, tuned trigger, and a few extra embellishments to make it stand out?

 

[CAustin]

Cowboy I think the issue is the 458 win mag! Now your talking about making it a hell of a nice looking rifle for sure! But people bought Lotts for a reason! Don't think I could part with such a project if I put all that work into it! Just saying!
Doing what your talking about in 458 Lott would easily go fir $2500

 

[enysse]

I wouldn't invest in it either, it would be hard to make anything on it.

 

[bassasdaindia]

make it a 450 Rigby rather , you will have more interest in either the Lott or 450 Rigby .

 

[IronCowboy]

I don't expect to make anything on it, or even break even. Consider the losses "entertainment value," of a kinda eccentric tinkerer. I know I'm going to lose $ doing it, a lot of $ - and that's ok. It's not an investment, only stop-loss.

The Lott or a .416Rigby would be my first choices, but alas, the Hawkeye is only a 3.4" action, so I'm stuck with the .458wm, or the Ruger Safari Mags - which are readily bought in the African and Guide Guns.

For the time and energy invested - entertainment value - I'm thinking right now, if I can get $1,200-1,500 out of it, I'd count myself ahead, even though I'd be a lot of money behind. But with the African and Guide going for $800-1000, and used RSM's in the $1,200-1,400 used ballpark, $2,000 New Old stock, I'm curious where folks think a custom .458wm would fall. Getting half of my cost back is different than getting 25%. Just trying to gauge where it might land.

 

[bassasdaindia]

I think you are correct and the rifles action length may limit you with regards to Lott or Rigby.

 

[IronCowboy]

I think you are correct and the rifles action length may limit you with regards to Lott or Rigby.

It does. The M77 Hawkeye action will only tolerate about 3.45-3.50" max COAL to feed and eject loaded rounds without modifying the mag box and ejection port. I've already been down this road. I've been tempted to open the ejection port and box just enough to feed 3.60" .458 Lott's, but haven't committed mentally to doing so...

Am I basically hearing it's worth $0 as a .458win mag, and $2,500 as a .458Lott?

 

[enysse]

I like the .458 Win but it's not the new and sexy .458 Lott

 

[IronCowboy]

Did a little more measuring last night - if I fab a couple custom parts, I can get a .458 Lott shoehorned into a Hawkeye.

So given the extra firepower of a full 3.60" Lott is thrown into consideration, how does the market demand change? Sure seems like a well appointed, trued Hawekeye could fetch a deal more than a factory Guide Gun.

 

[ikeda]

It’s interesting….how come the .404 and .425 are fully accepted as excellent dangerous game cartridges sporting 4000/5000fp of energy, but the .458 Win Mag. is not, even though it produces ~5000fp of energy?

Don’t try to “shoehorn” a 458 Lott into a Hawkeye, you will likely end up with a mess. I converted a .300 Win Mag, Hawkeye to .458 and it was easy and works great. The “need” for the Lott disappeared over 20 years ago when the problems with the .458 Win. Loads were fixed. You can only kill something dead….Today, the only thing a Lott will do “better” than the standard .458 Win, is KICK!

 

[IronCowboy]

Don’t try to “shoehorn” a 458 Lott into a Hawkeye, you will likely end up with a mess.

As surprising as it sounds, it appears to be much, much easier to wedge the longer Lott into the standard length action than one might expect. The action itself won't even need to be modified other than for reliable feeding. Replacing a few low cost factory parts, then replacing a barrel, the conversion could be undone rather quickly to take it back to a standard long action magnum cartridge.

 

[CAustin]

Where do you think your going to land with this cowboy? If I remember you have two guide guns that are 375 HH and a 416 Ruger both built on the M77 action.

 

[IronCowboy]

Close my friend! I converted a pair of Hawkeyes to 338wm with a 7mm switch barrel as well as 416ruger and a 458wm with a spare 300wm barrel. I did buy a Ruger Guide Gun 416rug too, just to try out, won't keep it long term I don't think. The 458wm is done, still working on the other barrels. No stocks in hand yet for either rifle, still looking for the right blanks (and the bank roll).

I'm really hoping just to land on a little fun. Convert another Hawkeye Stainless to .458Lott, even considering the wife says I have to sell it after. On the other hand, maybe I could find a bolt and convert one of my M77 Mark II's to .458Lott, then it's just a barrel and some parts - so the missus would let me keep it! Won't be fast getting another barrel, and I gotta finish up a couple customer gun projects first.

 

[southernidahohunter]

I Have seen a few .458 WMs on MKII and Hawkeye actions and they do make very nice rifles. I believe they were in the $1200-$1500 range but it would depend on the final fit and finish as well as stock grade.

 

[Just Passing Through]

Did you ever decide about adding a second recoil lug?

 

[IronCowboy]

I'm in "testing mode" with a single recoil lug. If this .458WM crushes the bedding and breaks the temporary American Walnut stock, it'll get a second lug in the new stock. I talked to a handful of stock makers and a number of gun builders, all of them expressed the same notion - if it's well bedded in a well designed stock, it won't need 2 lugs. But we'll find out.