Do these bolt "issues" have any effect on the functionality of the rifle? Is the American stock better than a vanguard series one stock (I hear the new ones are better but the old ones were absolute garbage). I bought this rifle so I could beat it up. Buy once cry once doesn't apply to beaters, or guns in my opinion. Buy often smile often is more appropriate. It's the cheapest rifle in my safe, don't see why everyone thinks it's so expensive, I've got more money in the barrel of one of my other rifles than the whole package cost to put together. Functional platform built on an excellent barrel.
Thoughts regarding a Ruger American Ranch in .223 for plinking out to 500metres?
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S1 stocks are not as nice as the S2, but they work just fine....
Here is my Howa 223 in a "flamo camo" S1 stock I recycled from my .243 Vanguard, shoots just fine.
These are miles ahead of the RAR in terms of quality, just no comparison at all.
5 rounds at 100.
I just purchased a weatherby vanguard S2 last week. when i was at the store i handled several ruger americans, a savage axis, and several other guns. And while lightweight and easy to handle the fit and finish on the ruger was well below the weatherby, weatherby bolt was silky smooth, ruger was rough and gritty, as well as having several issues with the plastic stock being less than ideally finished on the ruger.
Some of the more expensive rugers i handled were much better, it just seems ruger does not QC there low end line, like at all by the looks of it. There are better budget guns out there for same price or few bucks more IMO.
Some of the more expensive rugers i handled were much better, it just seems ruger does not QC there low end line, like at all by the looks of it. There are better budget guns out there for same price or few bucks more IMO.
They make 3 different 20" versions with threaded barrels now...fer real.
From my own experiences with 16" barrels (have 2 Rem700's, one 223, one 308) they are fine for range shooting, suck a lot for hunting. A plain 16" barrel is loud, with a brake it's loud and obnoxious and not fun with no hearing protection. Both mine wear linear brakes now just to help direct the noise forward more. I'd get a plain non-threaded 20" barrel if I had to do it over. Threading on these sort of things is more cosmetic then functional. Folks want to have some cool useless crap hanging off the end of their bolt guns these days...so shops make them.
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Those rifles aren't really in the price range of the American. 789 for the top 1269 for the other 2 US. Compared to the rugers 529 US... fer real. For that price range they run into a lot of stiffer competition. I'm not saying the vanguards are terrible, they are a fine piece of kit no doubt. But do they compare to a ruger American ranch? They are over 100$ more expensive at least and don't come with a rail etc.
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Your dig was that Wby doesn't make a comparable Vanguard, just pointing out they do, MSRP doesn't mean too much either, but yes the top one is cerracoted, Vanguard's are all metal (no cheap plastic bolt shroud or plastic trigger guard on these), so not really as low grade as the RAR. The rail they come with is about $30... I'd rather stick something good on there then use that. OP is talking about putting it in a Magpul or MDT stock too, so that gets it up into the $1000-$1400 range as well. Maybe should just grab the Ruger Precision for that price from the start.
Howa makes some as well that retail in the US for $300-$500 depending on the package. Same gun as the Vanguard with some minor cosmetic differences. The most I paid for a Vanguard or Howa in Canada was $599 and that was for a 257Wby Cabela's had on sale. The cheapest was $399 and I think a bunch of us Gunnutz got in on those....the flamo camo stocked versions.
Again, better guns at a better price. As someone else already said.... I'd take another Axis before I would ever consider another Ruger American lol. You would have to own the 2 of them to see how different they really are made.
Here is 5 rounds out of the $399 Vanguard in .243. Accuracy is cheap to produce.
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They don't make a comparable rifle, as I pointed out. Neither does savage. Or howa for that matter, nothin on their website anyways, they make barreled actions in 16" though. The howa mini actions I've seen up here were 850+. I've seen savage axis shoot groups just like your vanguard. I've seen ruger Americans shoot similar groups as well. If your criteria is bolt smoothness the howa/vanguard wins. Everything else is a draw except value for money, features, and available barrel length. The only real competition in this short barreled rifle class is the 700 for now. I could be way off base as to what the OP wants and right or wrong I would rather the ruger, I wanted a 16" barreled light rifle to pack around. never was a fan of blued rifles anyways. I'll agree to disagree and leave it at that. Nice shooting by the way, did you do anything to the stock on that one, the series one I had in 300WM was always touching the barrel, especially with the bipod, was kind of soft on the forend, didn't take much to move it around. Maybe I got a bad one.
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It's weird with the WBY rifles...they believe in having a pressure point on the barrel at the end of the barrel channel with #3 or lighter contours. It does work, but really is an old school (1940's) type thing. Howa, which is the same rifle made at the same place in Japan choose to free float all their rifles. The WBY might be a little easier to tune a load for, but I haven't seen any difference in the achievable accuracy of either rifle. The Vanguard is a little more refined then the Howa cosmetically, but that's about it.
Now this might change my mind about the American...
https://irunguns.us/product.php?p=r...6-tb-16950-bl-fde-11-16x24-tpi-450-bushmaster
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Hitzy..... if you don't like the American (which you obviously don't), be careful in listing the RPR as an option.... the RPR is little more than an American with a whole lot of crap bolted to it.....
I personally like the America for what it is...... mind you, that was when you could get one all in for $450...... but Ruger really soiled the sheets when they chose not to use the m77 platform for the rpr.......
I personally like the America for what it is...... mind you, that was when you could get one all in for $450...... but Ruger really soiled the sheets when they chose not to use the m77 platform for the rpr.......
Oh I ain't plugging the RPR, just OP discussed getting an MDT chassis for the Ranch, may as well just get the RPR from the get go if that's the case.
I wanted to like the American, I was pretty impressed with all the other cheap/budget rifles I ended up with. I was just taken back at how bad it was made compared to the other ones. Mostly shock and disappointment that they would half finish a rifle and sell it like that lol.
Saw your pics..... you got a dud for sure...... and don't get me wrong, they all have bolts that make that zipper sound Etc, but the few I did handle had nowhere near the issues yours had.....
Still in your camp though..... would prefer a used mauser or Parker hale above any of these budget options....
Correct, an MDT chassis was on my list in case this rifle proved accurate there would be the option to upgrade the stock with something that offered a pistol grip or similar.
As for the Ruger Precision Rifle (RPR) being in the same price range as a RARR with the added cost of a MDT chassis not really. As a RPR would still be quite a bit more in price; RARR=$639 +MDT LSS Chassis=$400 (of course that doesn't come with all the needed items like, rear stock and rear trigger grip etc.) so a total of is going to be a little higher then just $1,039 versus RPR @$1,800+/-.
However thanks to this thread I now know the Magpul Hunter stock is available for the RARR and that's were my funds will likely go for a better/different stock (plus it's more affordable at around $300 all in making the rifle and Magpul stock still under a $1,000 together).
To those offering up good information regarding the quirks or lesser quality (and good things too) of the RARR, I do appreciate it all as it helps increase my knowledge base on these bolt guns; since I've been more of a semi.-auto. kinda guy.
I do recognize that there were other (possibly better) rifles in the price range of the RARR such as a Remington 700 SPS .223 for $869 'no detachable mag/no picatinny rail.', or Mossberg .223 MVP Patrol $839 'no rail, but great capability for AR pistol mag.'s' although it came with a very sloppy bolt unfortunately), but none had all the options I wanted like the RARR had in .223.
The "buy once cry once" motto is for sure a good motto at times, however there are times when you're new to a sport/hobby and you require time-in/hands-on to determine what exactly you're going to want and why... When talking about a budget bolt action rifle and I consider a $639 bolt action to be a fairly low budget rifle (you don't get much for any less in a centre-fire) and it compares very favourably "cost wise" to many other bolt action rifles when all features are accounted for including price.
Just to get the cost's sorted for a basic rifle build using the RARR and some basic accessories: RARR .223 rifle *$640, [un-purchased Magpul Hunter stock=*$300], mid-grade Vortex Viper HS-T 4x-16x scope =*$750, ATRS 30mm rings =*$160, Colt C8 IUR flash suppressor (used) *$60 and Harris bi-pod *$90 all combined comes in at $2,000 and that's been the goal for a ready to shoot rifle on a budget, yet still buying all new rifle/components... (*= approximately).
Sure I could have gone with the RPR or a Tikka Tactical among others, but then the whole budget would be spent with no funds for an optic/mount...
Ultimately keeping to distances of 500metres and under offers me a better chance of enjoying the shooting experience with a much better hit probability then at farther distances were wind rules the shots significantly more and experience counts.
Cheers D
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They make 3 different 20" versions with threaded barrels now...fer real.
From my own experiences with 16" barrels (have 2 Rem700's, one 223, one 308) they are fine for range shooting, suck a lot for hunting. A plain 16" barrel is loud, with a brake it's loud and obnoxious and not fun with no hearing protection. Both mine wear linear brakes now just to help direct the noise forward more. I'd get a plain non-threaded 20" barrel if I had to do it over. Threading on these sort of things is more cosmetic then functional. Folks want to have some cool useless crap hanging off the end of their bolt guns these days...so shops make them.
I'll take the one behind door number two for $640.
Seriously regarding my RARR, I'm going to try a Colt Canada C9 flash suppressor I've got laying about and see what that's like for taming the recoil of this .223 rifle.
Cheers D
I sold my Tikka T3 Light, never fired, and kept my Ruger American in 223. 20"
Yes, it is a little rough around the edges, but for the $250 used I bought it for I can't complain about the accuracy.
The rifle pairs nicely with a Nikon P-223 4-12X scope and groups were much tighter with handloads.
I haven't shot past 220 yards but below is at 110 Y. Groups at about 1.5" at 220Y.
Gun, scope, and Harris bipod S-BRM were all acquired for under $650 last year.
You can always consider a Boyds stock as well, about $300 to your door. I'm thinking of the high riser thumbhole. I found the bolt on my RAR a little "tight".
My magazine accepts 6 rounds, which is nice.
For your budget, what about a used T3 Sporter?
Kinda regret selling the T3 as it was soooo damn smooth and had a nice wood stock.
Yes, it is a little rough around the edges, but for the $250 used I bought it for I can't complain about the accuracy.
The rifle pairs nicely with a Nikon P-223 4-12X scope and groups were much tighter with handloads.
I haven't shot past 220 yards but below is at 110 Y. Groups at about 1.5" at 220Y.
Gun, scope, and Harris bipod S-BRM were all acquired for under $650 last year.
You can always consider a Boyds stock as well, about $300 to your door. I'm thinking of the high riser thumbhole. I found the bolt on my RAR a little "tight".
My magazine accepts 6 rounds, which is nice.
For your budget, what about a used T3 Sporter?
Kinda regret selling the T3 as it was soooo damn smooth and had a nice wood stock.
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^^^^at $250 I wouldn't complain about the issues these have either. There is a price point where these fit, and in my mind they are Savage Axis equivalent... similar quality flimsy stocks, similar plastic mag catch that doesn't inspire confidence, similar trigger that's meh, similar ugly buttpads.
If they could clean up the machining that would be a step in the right direction... and lower the price.
If they could clean up the machining that would be a step in the right direction... and lower the price.
