Thread: Ruger American youth in 223 . 18" stainless steel barrel Accuracy issues

The "help" you got from Ruger USA/NZ isn't that surprising. Mass produced factory rifles that have been built to a price and fitted with no frills barrels and plastic stocks tend to be a bit hit and miss. Ruger can't advise what particular brand of ammo will work best because no two rifles off of the same production line can be guaranteed to have a particular liking for the same stuff. So they don't know if anything's going to give you 0.5" groups, and if you're getting 1.5-2" groups with most cheap stuff, that's probably well within what they would deem "good enough".

My advice... A 1:8 is spinning short lightweight bullets much faster than is necessary to acheive stability (a 1:12 will stabilise 55gr bullets). Much like the wheels on your car will judder if they aren't balanced (and that juddering gets worse the faster you go), your groups are going to open up more and more, on average, the faster and faster a bullet gets spun above what is needs... unless it's perfectly balanced... Which soft points aren't renowned for.

I reckon your chances of finding accurate factory ammo will be a lot higher if you try a polymer tip type projectile and/or ideally one a fair bit heavier like 65-77gr.