Ruger Compact Laminate 16.5" opinions

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madashell

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Have a thing for compact short barrel bolt actions. Prefer .308. Great brush gun rig.

Handled this model Ruger a few years ago at P&D (?) and liked it but thought it should be a touch lighter for what it is.

Who owns em ?
What's your opinion on them ?
Barrel looks pretty thin, how do they shoot for you ?
What are you running through them ?
etc.

It's too bad they didn't come up with a compact action for this rifle to make it even shorter OAL.
 
I had one in 223, and as much as I tried to dislike it - I couldn't. I really liked it every time I handled it, and it was extremely accurate. That said, yes they are loud, and the factory triggers suck.
 
Volume is not an issue with the compact and 16.5" barrel. At the range, you will be wearing hearing protection regardless of barrel length... and when hunting out in the open, you won't be able to tell the difference between 16" and 22".

The compact is a nice little rifle... I have owned several in various cartridges. They carry very nice and handle with good balance.
 
hoytcanon said:
Volume is not an issue with the compact and 16.5" barrel. At the range, you will be wearing hearing protection regardless of barrel length... and when hunting out in the open, you won't be able to tell the difference between 16" and 22".

The compact is a nice little rifle... I have owned several in various cartridges. They carry very nice and handle with good balance.
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My tinnitus thinks otherwise. :)
 
Bought one in .308 for the wife last spring, trimmed the butt stock 1/2" and ground a Limbsaver to fit, topped it with a Leupold VXIII 2.5-8x36. I loaded up some 130gr TTSX's - got 2850 ft/sec so pretty happy with that for a short pipe, and sub - moa accuracy. I agree about noise, I think it's louder than my .338WM under the shed roof at the range (Doubled-up hearing protection so not a big deal) - not noticeable in the great outdoors. The action isn't the smoothest, but it feeds reliably and the trigger is decent. It's a solid little rifle, and sharp looking too.

20150321_201205_zps6i1zpsvd.jpg
 
Very nice landphil.

I like the limbsaver mod.

Would like to go with lighter and lower rings for my preference.

Thanks for posting the pic. That rifle looks great !
 
I've read the trigger is so-so on these. A replacement might be in order ?

Also recall reading about a guy doing a bedding job and free floating to improve it. Typical stuff I guess.
 
hoytcanon said:
Volume is not an issue with the compact and 16.5" barrel. At the range, you will be wearing hearing protection regardless of barrel length... and when hunting out in the open, you won't be able to tell the difference between 16" and 22".
.
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Don't disagree with you about much, but this is one where I do.

.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB
.30-06 in 18 " barrel 163.2dB

That is a huge difference. One that can be clearly heard.
 
1899 said:
Don't disagree with you about much, but this is one where I do.

.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB
.30-06 in 18 " barrel 163.2dB

That is a huge difference. One that can be clearly heard.
Click to expand...

I'm not an audiologist but perceived volume would be more than those numbers indicate. That's a small spread, no? Or are decibels measured similar to the Richter scale on earthquakes?
 
Is there much difference between the compact and the scout? I like my scout with the synthetic stock. Not much over 6lbs minus the optic. Wouldn't want to shoot it without hearing protection while using the muzzle brake though.
 
bearkilr said:
I'm not an audiologist but perceived volume would be more than those numbers indicate. That's a small spread, no? Or are decibels measured similar to the Richter scale on earthquakes?
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That difference indicates the noise from the short barrel is about 5x more powerful.

The result of this logarithmic basis for the scale is that increasing a sound intensity by a factor of 10 raises its level by 10 dB; increasing it by a factor of 100 raises its level by 20 dB; by 1,000, 30 dB and so on.
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1899 said:
Don't disagree with you about much, but this is one where I do.

.30-06 in 24" barrel 158.5dB
.30-06 in 18 " barrel 163.2dB

That is a huge difference. One that can be clearly heard.
Click to expand...

I'm basing my opinion on actually shooting the rifle in question in the same cartridge with the same load side by side against rifles of different barrel lengths out in the open at the range on a calm day. I used a Ruger M77 Compact (16.5"), Ruger M77 International (18.5"), Ruger M77 Standard (22") and Ruger M77 Heavy (26"), all in .308 Win... and the numbers may indicate a huge difference, but in actual perception, the only noticeable difference I could actually cognitively perceive were between the Compact and Heavy, a 9.5" difference in barrel length... and while I could tell that the sound was louder with the compact than with the heavy, it was certainly not so obnoxious that I would take it into consideration on a hunting rifle where 1-3 rounds might be fired in open air. With hearing protection on, at the range or say, sitting in a box blind, where hearing protection "should" be worn, it won't matter anyway.

Disclosure;

The fly in the ointment on any opinion I express on the subject of "sound" (or noise), is that as a moronic young man, I eschewed the wearing of hearing protection, and as a result have suffered a degree of hearing loss in my left ear after many thousands of centerfire rounds... so it is possible that my perceptions of sound are less sensitive than someone with full auditory faculty.
 
I have one in. 260 Rem and it is the most accurate rifle I own. I don't find the noise too bad, either but like hoytcannon, I also suffer significant heating loss in my left ear from the same reason he does.
 
Slooshark1 said:
I have one in. 260 Rem and it is the most accurate rifle I own. I don't find the noise too bad, either but like hoytcannon, I also suffer significant heating loss in my left ear from the same reason he does.
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HEATING loss ? Wear a toque !! :p
 
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