Thread: Big up’s for the Ruger American

Thought i would chuck up a quick (and honestly surprising) review of my Ruger American predator in 233. Brought this 6 months ago for shooting wallabies for pest control, after owning a howa mini in 223 which was accurate but was not a fan of the magazine and pencil barrel that heated up quick, that got sold awhile ago so needed a new 223, seeing reviews of the Ruger from the US they seem to love them so brought the predator, left on the vortex crossfire just replaced the shitty rings and cut the barrel to 16” and chucked a waitaki can on it, i have now fired just shy of 500 rounds through it, have not had 1 feeding issue from the 10 shot magazine, which also clips in nice and firm and has a great release button unlike the howa. Finding it very accurate head shooting roo’s. Sometimes firing upto 50 rounds a night barrel never gets too hot. Action is not the smoothest but the more i use it the better it gets. Has a very solid half cock. The stock is a bit shit, not sure i would want to load a bipod of it too often but that’s not a issue for me i as shooting if bike 99% of the time. Anyway for a cheap rifle i have to say very happy with it and i will be buying another one when needed. Hope this helps anyone looking for a cheap knock around rifle that does the bizzo. Cheers.

Had a Ranch version in 300blk. Bloody good wee guns. Shot sun moa. value for money. Check out the video on YouTube using a little bit of JB bore paste to smooth up the action works wonders! I put some of that gorilla expanding foam in butt of the stock to make it sound less hollow too

Played around with a couple of the bog standard americans that belonged to others and found them accurate.
When my son claimed my 6.5x45 I needed a truck gun for work and and picked a 223 one up for a song and it works well too.
Trigger is easy to lighten up, stock is what it is but they function well for a budget.

No ones going to claim a silky trigger pull or slick bolt but hey that $500+ you save from not buying the Kiwi darling T3 pays for plenty of ammo and it won't be the rifles fault if you miss.

I replaced my Howa Mini with a .223 Ruger Ranch for the same reasons.
I use it mainly for service rifle shooting and I found the Howa mags problematic as well.
Howas are very nice rifles and if I had the money I would have another as a light weight hunting rifle but for higher rates of fire rhe rugers ssem to be better suited.

I'll add my HIGH rating for the Ruger American Ranch in 5.56 (.223 Rem).
I have put just on a 1000rds through mine, and even with cheap as steel case stuff, it is very accurate.
My bolt has smoothed up nicely and the trigger has self-improved with use.
Bought mine new for $850 a few years ago, but even at current $1000+ pricing are still excellent value for money, and much better IMHO than the Howas.

Such a pitty Howa buggered the mini with a single stack magazine and badly designed magazine catch, those 2 things kind of cancel out its smooth action and great trigger.
I own both, 223 Ruger and 7.62x39 Howa and have no real favourite.
My only real gripe with the Ruger is the bolt, I smoothed it with 2000 wet and dry and after a few thousand rounds it's slick enough but the need to forceably close the bolt for the extractor to ride over the rim annoys me whereas the Howa just slips quietly closed.

Ruger American 270 standard bought for son. Embarrassingly accurate. Lighter trigger spring resulted in very acceptable pull. Action smoothed with Autosol and very fine paper to reduce ‘zipping’ noise. Not aesthetically elegant but very functional effective tool. Pretty light too.

shame no-one makes an aftermarket carbon stock for them

Supposedly there is a machined cooking piece avaliable for them in the US to replace the investment cast factory one. One of its claimed benefits is significantly reduced cocking effort, if the cocking effort was reduced to Weatherby MK 5 levels they would be very nice when smoothed up . . .

the Ruger American shoots awesome mine shot .3 and .4" easily but fuck me they are absolute rubbish in every other way.
finish quality is piss poor to be frank

Borescoping shows a very tidy hammer forged barrel with well finished chambering/reaming. Quality where it’s not readily visible, not a safe queen..

Originally Posted by HandH

Borescoping shows a very tidy hammer forged barrel with well finished chambering/reaming. Quality where it’s not readily visible, not a safe queen..

I borescoped mine, a Left Hand Predator .243W before I started shooting it. I was shocked at the amount of pitting along the entire bore length and convinced myself the rifle could not possibly shoot. I was all set to return it and order a Tikka instead. Went moaning to a friend who has a long association with Rugers and he shoot it first and see what you think, so I did. Holy smoke, it's shoots very accurately. So accurately I forgive the "zippy" cycling sound of the bolt and the fairly squishy trigger, both of which are annoying but I will live with them. And , I kept the rifle. Yes, the overall finish is definitely rough but I guess one shouldn't expect custom rifle standards for what these Rugers cost. It shoots damn well and that's what matters most.

Originally Posted by Barefoot

Played around with a couple of the bog standard americans that belonged to others and found them accurate.
When my son claimed my 6.5x45 I needed a truck gun for work and and picked a 223 one up for a song and it works well too.
Trigger is easy to lighten up, stock is what it is but they function well for a budget.

No ones going to claim a silky trigger pull or slick bolt but hey that $500+ you save from not buying the Kiwi darling T3 pays for plenty of ammo and it won't be the rifles fault if you miss.

Ruger at work again today . . .
Point, pull trigger, hit what you aim for.