Best .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO for the Ruger American Ranch?

Spanky

Spanky

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Hi folks,

I got myself a bolt-action Ruger American Ranch this spring after the Trudeau crime family made my AR-15 unusable (for now)

The barrel is stamped 5.56 NATO 1:7 twist so it should (?) stabilize any bullet weight.

Wondering if anyone has ammo recommendations?
 
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I have a R-A Standard in .223 that has a 1:8 twist. I find that mine likes the heavier rounds, the 55g and 40g-varmint were not real consistent. Right now I've found MFS 62g SP are pretty accurate out to 180y - the limit of my range. About 1-2 MOA if no wind. That's more on me than the gun or ammo. I'm not super-focused on form 8-( I also have some Barnaul 62gSP to try, to see if it's better. Both are $10/bx at my local gun store,so I want to stock up before shortage hits around here. BassPro has lots of empty shelves in rifle ammo of all Cals. Hunting season can only account for part of this, since they aren't giving out rain checks due to slow re-supply, as in "Who know when . . . " I've got over 1500rounds, but mostly in various brands of 55g that I tried and don't rely on the accuracy - just practice mechanics.
 
Buck1950 said:
I have a R-A Standard in .223 that has a 1:8 twist. I find that mine likes the heavier rounds, the 55g and 40g-varmint were not real consistent. Right now I've found MFS 62g SP are pretty accurate out to 180y - the limit of my range. About 1-2 MOA if no wind. That's more on me than the gun or ammo. I'm not super-focused on form 8-( I also have some Barnaul 62gSP to try, to see if it's better. Both are $10/bx at my local gun store,so I want to stock up before shortage hits around here. BassPro has lots of empty shelves in rifle ammo of all Cals. Hunting season can only account for part of this, since they aren't giving out rain checks due to slow re-supply, as in "Who know when . . . " I've got over 1500rounds, but mostly in various brands of 55g that I tried and don't rely on the accuracy - just practice mechanics.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'll have to try with some heavier bullets and see what happens. I found it strange that the 53 gr outperformed the 55 gr so noticeably, but that could be related to the quality of the ammo rather than just the bullet weight...

Thanks
John
 
Ammo Accuracy Update 12-19-2020

I was just out last week and tried a couple more brands, just a few shots of each- not really conclusive but indicative:confused: ?
I used 2-ea Sako 55g Gamehead SP, 3-ea Nosler 77g HP Match, 6-ea Barnaul 62g SP, and 6-ea of the MFS 62g SP. The best, surprisingly was the Barnaul 62g SP. At 180yds I had 3 inside a 2" dot, 1 less than 1" @ 1-o'clock outside and 2 @ 10-o'clock 2" outside. I have been using the MFS and expected it to shoot best but it only had 2 inside a 2" bull with the others 2-3" outside. I'll have to get more of the Barnaul as I only bought a box to try as it's only $10/bx, and my LGS only has 15 bx left. I've used Herters 55g FMJ and PMC-55 and PPU-55 which are all OK but not as accurate as the MFS and Barnaul seem to be.
Here's that recent target. The Red Dots are about 2" and the Black ring about 1" thick. The Red Centre Cross is about 6", Top Right about 5" and Red dots 2". It started raining and the Black's NOT waterproof :rolleyes: This looks sorta 'artsy' I think . . .

Range-12-05-2020-Ruger-180yds-Nosler-77-Ctr-Bull-4.jpg
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Interesting. 1:7.
Mine is 1:8

Mine definitely prefers heavy for caliber boolits. I find anything under 62 grain to be obnoxious and inaccurate. My handloads with 75 grain Hornady BTHP will constantly shoot .75 MOA or less.
 
Spanky said:
Interesting. I'll have to try with some heavier bullets and see what happens. I found it strange that the 53 gr outperformed the 55 gr so noticeably, but that could be related to the quality of the ammo rather than just the bullet weight...

Thanks
John
Click to expand...

If it's the 53 grain Hornady, that's because it is a longer bullet than most 55 grain pills. This one is a bit of anomaly out there. In actuality, it's not so much the weight of the bullet, but the length that is affected by twist rates. It's simply that heavier bullets are usually also longer
 
You guys are going to laugh but mine is doing really well with PMC 62gr Greentip. On a bipod, 100 to 300m, 1.5moa constant.

I want to try heavier loads but pmc greentip does the trick for now.
 
DT - I have some of the LC Greentips in 62g ($12.99 ) and it shoots really well. I also used PMC-55g=10.99 - Barnaul SP-62g 9.99, that all shot well. The Barnaul SP was the best so far and MFC 62SP also was V-good. All better than 55g. I've tried some heavier (see Nosler in the 'Blue' pic above) and that seemed OK - 2"Lowleft (most shots were Left) for a 20% heavier bullet than the 62g's at the other bulls. But that Nosler was HP-Match at $30/box where the other 62s were $10. That and the rain was why I didn't shoot a lot of the N. Next time I'm out and so is the Sun...
 
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Ordered my RAR .223/5.56 NATO a day ago from Board Sponsor Tenda on West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON. Oh yeah, AR magazine feed....yahooooo....

I selected the UPS shipping option so we shall see how long things take to get here. I have a pile of 60 grain HP Match Remmy booolits ready to load up. I also have my beloved Hornady 68 grainers ready to be loaded up. These are all leftover from my Service Rifle days.... it’s been a great booolit for me all the way out to 500m.

Will keep you posted when it arrives and how she prints at 100m with the handloads.

Peace Be To Journey!

Cheers, Barney
 
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