Broke my stock!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I was doing some 200 yard shooting on a steel target this morning and I all of the sudden had some splinters in my right thumb!

Seems like the laminated stock on my Ruger Hawkeye broke at the wrist under recoil.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I suspect poor fitting at the factory. Glass bedding would likely have prevented this.

[EdinCT]

Scott, that just doesn't seem like it should of happened to a properly bedded Laminate stock rifle. I think you should send Ruger a email with pictures attached. I know if Mr William Ruger were alive it would be fixed on them unless its a truck gun left in the Texas heat.
I have had a Ruger 77 MKII 338 Win Mag laminated 20 years with no issues so far and that is a harsh load.

[JimT]

Wow. Sorry to see that my friend.

[AJMD429]

.
I'm guessing it wasn't one of them they chambered in 257 Roberts, but also assuming it wasn't in 460 Ruger either...?

Of course regardless, a stock should never break unless maybe you put it against a brick wall and fire a severe-recoil cartridge in it.

I'm guessing Ruger will fix it without charge, but the hassle of sending a gun and the frustration of waiting for its return are both annoying (...I can hear my kids saying "First World Problems got you down again, Dad...???" ).

[GunnyMack]

I'd say that was caused by poor inletting( metal touching wood. We were taught to relieve the wood where a tang meets wood. But not to leave a gap, we would under cut the relief while doing our best to keep the visible as tight as possible.

Bedding may have prevented that but laminated stocks are darn strong/tough! I might suspect some kind of defect in the stock.
Or you butt stroked someone

[JimT]

Bedding may have prevented that but laminated stocks are darn strong/tough! I might suspect some kind of defect in the stock.
Or you butt stroked someone

In March 1966 I was going through Basic Training at Ft. Bliss, Texas. We were issued the M14 and during one exercise on the bayonet course, we had to buttstroke the dummy and stick it with the bayonet. The guy in front of me whacks the dummy with his rifle butt and broke the stock clean off. It was hanging by the sling. He ran the rest of the course, buttstroking with the busted stock and sticking the bayonet as best he could. NEVER GIVE UP!! NEVER SURRENDER!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Scott, that just doesn't seem like it should of happened to a properly bedded Laminate stock rifle. I think you should send Ruger a email with pictures attached. I know if Mr William Ruger were alive it would be fixed on them unless its a truck gun left in the Texas heat.
I have had a Ruger 77 MKII 338 Win Mag laminated 20 years with no issues so far and that is a harsh load.

I’ve already reported it to Ruger. I’m sure they will make it right. It’s a .308 and I have less than 50 rounds down the barrel. I haven’t turned a screw except to mount a scope. It was a good shooter.

[High Desert Hunter]

Had the same thing happen on my 375 Ruger, they shipped me a new one, ultimately I put it in a Hogue with a better bedding block

Dave

[Ysabel Kid]

Scott, that just doesn't seem like it should of happened to a properly bedded Laminate stock rifle. I think you should send Ruger a email with pictures attached. I know if Mr William Ruger were alive it would be fixed on them unless its a truck gun left in the Texas heat.
I have had a Ruger 77 MKII 338 Win Mag laminated 20 years with no issues so far and that is a harsh load.

I’ve already reported it to Ruger. I’m sure they will make it right. It’s a .308 and I have less than 50 rounds down the barrel. I haven’t turned a screw except to mount a scope. It was a good shooter.

Hi Scott - keep us posted. If you look at the totality of posts on the site, it seems that problems with reputable brands are on the rise. Annoying, but most of the good companies stand behind there products. My worry is when they stop doing so and it becomes a stuff-shoot on whether you get a gun made on a Tuesday morning... or one made Friday afternoon!

[jeepnik]

Well, it is a plywood stock.

[44shooter]

Could be a defect in the lamination. I have a late tang safety M77 in 30-06 with a factory laminated stock, never had any issues. Ruger will make it right. I’ve used their customer service twice. Once for a medallion getting kicked out of a Vaquero stock within a few shots and another to have a bulged barrel replaced on my dime. They installed the barrel and reblued the entire rifle for FREE, even gave me a choice of a couple of calibers. New grips came back in a few days, I did not send the gun

[44shooter]

Well, it is a plywood stock.

Yeah just like Micarta is plypaper or G10 is plyplastic. Those plywood stocks made properly are way stronger than solid wood stocks

[jeepnik]

Well, it is a plywood stock.

Yeah just like Micarta is plypaper or G10 is plyplastic. Those plywood stocks made properly are way stronger than solid wood stocks

Folks keep saying that.

[LeverGunner]

I never would have thought it. When I first read the title I was expecting you to have been bucked of the side of a mountain or something, not target shooting. Glad it didn't give you a wicked splinter in the face.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I never would have thought it. When I first read the title I was expecting you to have been bucked of the side of a mountain or something, not target shooting. Glad it didn't give you a wicked splinter in the face.

It sort of surprised me. I was trying to shoot around 20 carefully aimed shots a month at 200 yards just to familiarize myself with the rifle. I was only intending to shoot 10 rounds yesterday. On the 10th round, I was bleeding from the inside of my right thumb and I pulled some splinters out.

I have to think that if the front recoil lugs were bedded properly this could not have happened. These laminated stocks are pretty tough.

[Lastmohecken]

Being only a .308, the recoil should never have broken that stock, unless it was defective from the factory, I would think. I read about poor bedding of the tang on some rifles to result in cracked stocks, but usually not catastrophic like that.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Dang! This thing broke all the way through the wrist!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Ruger emailed me a shipping label and a form to fill out. I’ll send it in tomorrow. Can’t ask for more than that.

[marlinman93]

Piller blocks made from heavy wall tubing would help avoid this from happening. I've done them on some high recoil rifles with wood stocks. Just buy some tubing the right ID for the through bolts and drill the mounting holes out to fit the OD of the tubing. Cut the tubing to length, and epoxy it into the enlarged holes. This way the bolts can be tightened down well and not compress the wood. And the larger diameter of the tube gives more area to avoid cracking.

[Scott Tschirhart]

The stock is so broken that I don’t think it makes sense to try to repair it. The Ruger is a little different from a Remington or Winchester action. The front action screw is installed at an angle and not 90 degrees to the stock. So metal tubing isn’t really going to work. What is needed is a firm place for the front recoil lug to rest.

[GunnyMack]

And to relieve the end of the tang! Even if bedded tight at the recoil lug and the rear of the tang is too tight it is going to cause the shock of recoil to hit the stock and could result in damage.
I suspect that the cutter Ruger was using had been sharpened a few times, now being smaller and the actual foot print was smaller causing the recoil to bang into the stock.
Another thing to look at is the tang profile, is it square or does it have some 'draft', meaning is it angled back towards the muzzle on the underside of the tang. If square then it has to be relieved which leads to the unsightly inletting gap everyone abhores. If it has draft then it can have tighter inletting.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Let’s see what Ruger does. It’s a shame because this is such a fine rifle and it’s a shooter.

But I’m planning on taking the action out of the stock when it comes back and fix whatever needs fixing.

[marlinman93]

The stock is so broken that I don’t think it makes sense to try to repair it. The Ruger is a little different from a Remington or Winchester action. The front action screw is installed at an angle and not 90 degrees to the stock. So metal tubing isn’t really going to work. What is needed is a firm place for the front recoil lug to rest.

I also wouldn't try to repair the current stock, especially if Ruger wants it back. But I'd consider doing the modification to a new stock. The rear screw is the one that's usually going to cause a break like your stock has, so even if you only did the rear hole it would greatly strengthen the stock. Bedding the barrel lug, or opening up the area behind the lug and epoxying an aluminum or steel plate there would also strengthen the stock, and help accuracy.

[Griff]

Let’s see what Ruger does. It’s a shame because this is such a fine rifle and it’s a shooter.
But I’m planning on taking the action out of the stock when it comes back and fix whatever needs fixing.

I would hope that Ruger would fix whatever needed fixing before sending it back. Good luck.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Ruger sent me an email telling me that they have my rifle and they should get back to me in 2-4 weeks.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I heard back from Ruger.

They say the stock broke because the rear action screw was not torqued properly.

They wanted me to pay $320 for a new stock.

I pointed out that I have never taken a screwdriver to the screw and I have only fired it as I received the gun from the dealer. They say there’s a yellow card in my paperwork informing me about properly torquing the screw.

I told the nice lady that I had only had the rifle for a month and I never took it apart. She said that she would get back to me.

I just got a voicemail that they will take $225 to put the new stock on the rifle.

Boyd’s shows their classic stock for this rifle to start at $189 on their website.

I don’t believe that this is going to work.

Strong communication to follow.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Sure enough there is a yellow card in the paperwork.

[Griff]

I'm surprised... yet, not very much so that they took this stance. To me, I would interpret "warning" as strongly suggesting they knew they were selling a product prone to breakage. Willing to bet that their liability lawyers would weasel their way from under their moral commitments, if anyone were to challenge this stance... After receiving word that they would only fix my early Blackhawk by putting a transfer bar in it, I have refused to buy any of their products, new, used, and especially rebuilt. (Tho' I might be sorely tempted if they made a downsized .36 caliber Ruger Old Arm(Nav)y. Especially if it didn't have a transfer bar!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I bought the rifle on December 19, 2025.
Killed a deer with it on January 17, 2026.
Stock broke on February 8, 2026.

If the screws were improperly torqued, they were torqued that way at the factory.

I’ll play along. However I note that the link on their website to “tell the CEO” doesn’t work anymore.

[Sarge]

It is small consolation but significant numbers of the much vaunted Tikka (T3) Canadian Ranger Rifles cracked/delaminated early in their service life.

https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/r ... ctic-cold/

I want synthetic stocks on my hard-use, any weather rifles & shotguns.

[Scott Tschirhart]

The laminated stock on my Ruger Scout Rifle has not given me a bit of trouble and it appears to be the same laminate. But I did glass bed it.

[samsi]

I'm calling shenanigans, there's no way they can tell what the torque of the screw was pre-break.

I'm a long time Ruger fan but this just adds to the disappointment from current news about the company's quality and overall direction.

Don't know if it's still available but Brownells carries/carried a pillar bedding set machined for the 77.

[Walt]

One day a couple of years ago my shooting partner and I were enjoying a casual shooting morning when he turned to me and said that his front sight had moved for some unknown reason. He was shooting a NM SBH that he had bought from a friend a short time before. I encouraged him to take it to a gunsmith but when the smith called him back he was told the barrel was split from the frame to the end of the ejector rod housing. We hadn't seen it because the split was directly under the housing. I told him not to worry, that Ruger's service department had a wonderful reputation and would repair it promptly and likely send it back at N/C. A week or two later my friend called to tell me that he'd gotten a message from Ruger saying that because there were "unauthorized changes to the internal parts" of the gun, the repairs were not covered under warranty. I know my friend had not taken it apart and he was convinced that the friend from whom he bought it had not done so either. Ruger sent him a bill for $450 to repair the gun. I was shocked but my friend went ahead, paid the bill and received an essentially new gun. I don't know what I would hve done in his place but he figured that $450 was a decent price for a new gun. That kinda soured me on Ruger's warranty policies. I suspect that if I'd called one of the single action custom gunsmiths I could have gotten a factory original take-off barrel for a heck of a lot less.

[LeverGunner]

Wow, that is stuff no matter how you smell it. Sorry to hear about this for you Scott.

[Scott Tschirhart]

No worries. They came down $110 from me just pushing back on the phone.

We aren’t done haggling yet.

[jeepnik]

You all realize that Ruger isn't Ruger anymore. They are in the late second/early third stage of the life span of a business.

1st stage - Started by a visionary

2nd stage - gets too complicate/big or the visionary retires/dies so business people take over. When they do the intend to make the company even larger and more profitable.

3rd stage - the company begins to flounder so the business people hire accountants to find ways to improve the bottom like by lowering the cost of production while increasing profits by raising prices. Among their techniques is firing long time skilled workers and hiring unskilled labor, and lowering the quality of materials. Sales continue to drop as the companies nears bankruptcy.

4th stage - lawyers are hired to handle the bankruptcy/reorganization. This fails as if by the numbers. The company either is sold (sound familiar) or goes out of business entirely.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Let’s give Ruger a chance. I gave them the timeline and argued that I should not be responsible for replacing a stock on a gun that was purchased less than two months before it broke.

Negotiations continue.

[4t5]

That card makes me think they know about a fitment problem , and the screws don’t stay tight .
I don’t check lug nuts on a new car either , should be torqued at the factory .
Nor do I check them every outing.

[4t5]

I saw 2 Wheeler F.A.T. wrenches that go to 95 in.lb or more , they are not inexpensive .
I can’t believe ruger expects every hunter to own one .

[Scott Tschirhart]

That’s my next argument. Do you expect every hunter who buys one of your rifles to have access to a torque wrench and that they know how to use it?

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

Well, this interesting and it's obviously not the first one that cracked like this. About fifteen years ago I was at a pawn shop and noticed a Ruger 77 in 270 with a laminated stock that was split at the wrist and also near the front action lug screw. The price was great, I thought, and the action, barrel and all other parts looked fine. I bought it and repaired it and gave it to my daughter in law. I still think it was a bargain and it's been a great rifle for her. It does have a lot of devcon and stock pins in it now. I surmised that it was moving under recoil and split due to that.

I have repaired several stocks due to horses and also friends driving off with their rifle sitting somewhere on the truck. Ruger's are not as easy to repair as a Savage 110, Mauser 98 or Remington 700 due to the way the action lug screws are , but the one I did for my DIL was not as bad as some that had been previously attempted by the owner and failed. The first fix is the easiest.

So, I'm betting Ruger has had more of these than just the two I know of and the two talked about in this thread. The other one I know of was a guy shooting one out of lead sled that was very well weighted with lead shot bags, but I've also heard of other manufacturers stocks splitting in lead sleds so I didn't think of that as an exclusive Ruger issue.

[Sarge]

That’s my next argument. Do you expect every hunter who buys one of your rifles to have access to a torque wrench and that they know how to use it?

I bought a camo synthetic Mossberg Patriot 30-06, a couple of years ago, for a wet weather hunting rifle and learned right quick I needed one of these-

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wheeler-F-A- ... a464535dc6

Mossberg's manual didn't give inch pounds for the action screws. After breaking the magazine guide, I called them and learned it was 25-30 inch pounds. They were kind enough to replace the one I broke.

[samsi]

I broke 2 stocks on a tang safety 35 Whelen. After the second one I figured out that the front lug was slightly angled left to right like a sideways ramp. Under recoil it would drive hard into the side of the stock, eventually splitting it from front to back. The third stock features a lot of Devcon. I also don't step on it like I did when younger. I used Finn Aagaard's load data - Finn may have been a mild sort of fellow but his loads weren't.

[Scott Tschirhart]

No response from Ruger to yesterday’s message. So I sent another one on their email system.

I argued that I own a number of Ruger rifles and I’ve never had to torque them to specs before shooting them. In fact, I don’t own a torque wrench.

Must these rifles be torqued each time they are taken from the safe? …

Maybe I’ll hear back tomorrow.

[jeepnik]

Let’s give Ruger a chance. I gave them the timeline and argued that I should not be responsible for replacing a stock on a gun that was purchased less than two months before it broke.

Negotiations continue.

But remember, there was a time Ruger wouldn't have even blinked. They'd have just fixed it. Again, the accountants are now making the business decisions. And their decisions are always to make it as cheaply as possible, sell it for the most profit, and never spend money on warranty issues.

[.45colt]

What a Load of stuff....If it is essential that the stock be torqued Ruger should include a timeline for the number of shots between the use of the tool. Every 25..50..100? Why don't they include a torque wrench with each rifle? Why don't they offer one on their accessories page? What if it's a 95* day or near zero in Alaska? On a rifle that is a few months old this is ridiculous . I'd be nuts if they don't replace that stock.