Ruger American-Maybe not MOA out of the box

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YourWifesBoyFriend

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I have a fairly new Ruger American, and I cant hit a damn thing. I bore sighted and tried to zero it in at 50, 75 and 100. Out at 100 nothing is on paper, I'm no Flinching Flynn, .308 isnt new to me. The rifle claims to be free floated, but looking at the fore end, its contacting the barrel. Somewhere on the internet, I've read other people having this issue and just dremelling it away until its truly free floated. I don't know if i was just unlucky with 25 rnds, or if i need to re-think my zero'ing strategy.
 
Just make sure you're shooting slowly and letting the barrel cool. Those thinner profiles often make people think they're inaccurate. I remember a guy complaining his Remington 783 shot like a shotgun but he dumped like 2 or 3 boxes through it in like 15-30 minutes. Any gun with a thin barrel will do that. His first 3 or 5 shots were like a dime sized at 50 yards, then they just "magically" opened up.

If you have to shave material off the stock it shouldn't be that big a deal. These things come pillar bedded and should be pretty rigid after obstructions/elevated spots have been cleared.
 
Take the bolt out and boresight at 25y. Fire one shot at 25y and adjust your scope appropriately for about 3/4" below the POA. Move to 100y and you should be close or a few inches high. Zero at 100y. This should not take more than 10 rounds max. As for the stock touching the barrel, sand the touching side a bit until the barrel is free floating all the way. Wrap a piece of 150grit sand paper round a 1" dowel or something similar and sand away. I have a Ruger American Ranch in .223 caliber that shoots just great, well under 1 MOA. Also, check that your scope rings are tight.
 
Usually when a rifle won’t zero it’s the optic or the mounts. First thing I would do is try a different scope and make sure the mounts are tight.

And also check for rifling. :)
 
Had 2...sent first one back it was so badly machined and put together it was gross.
Got one back not much better, shot like crap, sold immediately. Both were 308. Probably the worst new gun I have ever seen on the market...
 
Also make sure all the bolts holding the stock to the action are really tight! I have a friend with a Tina t3 that had problems and after some research he fou d out that the screws/ lots were not formed to spec and when he fixed that it shot perfect!
 
Buckmastr said:
Check for rifling.
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Hitzy said:
Had 2...sent first one back it was so badly machined and put together it was gross.
Got one back not much better, shot like crap, sold immediately. Both were 308. Probably the worst new gun I have ever seen on the market...
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That was my experience also, only difference was mine was a .22-250. Total junk, couldn`t get rid of it fast enough.
 
Gatehouse said:
Usually when a rifle won’t zero it’s the optic or the mounts. First thing I would do is try a different scope and make sure the mounts are tight.

And also check for rifling. :)
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My experience has been this. Its typically the scope, rings, or bases... I start with a good inspection of the rifle, but then focus my attention on this.
 
S1de8urnz said:
My experience has been this. Its typically the scope, rings, or bases... I start with a good inspection of the rifle, but then focus my attention on this.
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The Ruger American is not your typical rifle. Maybe if people would not purchase "junk" firearms, maybe manufactures will stop making them.
 
track said:
The Ruger American is not your typical rifle. Maybe if people would not purchase "junk" firearms, maybe manufactures will stop making them.
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<LOL> ...... The irony here is that many of the new entry class "junk" guns shoot as well or better than guns we paid a premium for 25yrs ago.

They might not be pretty, but ........
 
Interesting thread, 2 of my buddies have purchased the 5.56 Ranch Rifle and reported fairly good accuracy from them at 100 yards. I was thinking of getting one of these also, but now not so sure.
 
tobin said:
Interesting thread, 2 of my buddies have purchased the 5.56 Ranch Rifle and reported fairly good accuracy from them at 100 yards. I was thinking of getting one of these also, but now not so sure.
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After the gun ban last year I bought 2 Ruger Americans in 5.56 to use my many AR15 magazines. Their round count is now 3500-4000 each so I have a reasonably good idea of how the rifles perform. I haven't shot a group with them recently nor do I intend to but they can hit a 2" gong at 100 yards every time with bulk ammo so I think they remain accurate enough for any sort of hunting purpose. Any malfunction that they have had was magazine or ammunition related so I would say the rifle design is reliable enough too.
 
Purchased the 5.56 ranch AR mag model because it was on sale, was so impressed by the budget performance I picked one up in 7.62x39 too. Great plinkers for burning through piles of military ammo.


edit forgot to mention the 556 can be picky with primers, haven't got around to measuring to see if firing pin within spec, not all sunshine n rainbows I guess
 
Randoengholio8 said:
Purchased the 5.56 ranch AR mag model because it was on sale, was so impressed by the budget performance I picked one up in 7.62x39 too. Great plinkers for burning through piles of military ammo.


edit forgot to mention the 556 can be picky with primers, haven't got around to measuring to see if firing pin within spec, not all sunshine n rainbows I guess
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I found that Federal bulk box 223/5.56 ammo had about a 2-3% failure to ignite on first snap. PMC bulk FMJ seems to ignite 99.9%. Handloads with CCI primers ignite 100% so far. I'm not surprised that the ammo made for AR15's doesn't always go bang in a bolt action though.
 
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