Initial review of the Ruger Precision Rifle.

freedomintheskies

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I was one of those guys who watched the developing storm of interest and speculation, for the past few months. These rifles have been touted as the greatest thing since the Winchester 1894 and some have described it as nothing more than a polished turd (their words, not mine).

The good-
Regardless of what each of us thinks, this thing has grabbed the long range shooters by the bootstraps and flung them head long into a frenzy over this modern interpretation of a factory made custom precision rifle. It features a chassis cradled recoil management system, bull barrel, magazine interchangability, 20MOA rail, KeyMod forend and a nicely adjustable AR type butt stock.
Was it time that a major firearm manufacturer step up to the plate and give the shooting public the means to get into F Class shooting at a pricepoint that does not require a second mortgage on the house? You bet it was! -And Ruger did it.

The bad-
I received my copy of the RPR chambered in .308 Winchester. The barrel length was in my opinion about 4 inches too short. It would have been nice to see a 24" barrel on the rifle, in order to get more velocity out of this tried and true cartridge out past the 700+ yard range, where it's bullets will pass into the subsonic speed range. In utilizing an AR style stock which uses a buffer tube for a mounting system, there is lots of room for the manually actuated bolt to travel and Ruger has taken advantage of this and tucked an allen wrench for adjusting the trigger pull inside the bolt shroud. I would have happily paid an extra 20-30 bucks more to have a drawn or better yet; a milled aluminum bolt shroud installed on the south end of the bolt. The factory one feels flimsy and is prone to breakage, say reports from south o' the border, where this rifle has been in circulation for several months now. Shooter beware- If you try to fold the stock with the bolt open, you risk shattering the plastic factory piece. As expected though, the aftermarket folks are jumping all over this rifle to bring us bits and pieces to improve on the good and eliminate the bad. No doubt my own wallet will take a kicking, since I am one of those guys who can't leave well enough alone.

The Ugly-
The AR style (and interchangeable) safety sounds like a spoonful of rice in a tin can when you jiggle the rifle. It is enhanced by the rattling of one of the two Ruger made Accu-Mags that are generously supplied with the rifle. I would prefer to have the Magpul ones like the US market. They might not rattle so much. Perhaps it's just because the platform is designed to accept just about any other mag ever made (kidding, but it will accept many others).

Mounting an optic-
Like most AR weapons platforms, this rifle likes extra high rings to allow clearance for most optics with an objective larger than 40mm. Many of the AR specific forward offset mounts will work fine right out of the box and can accommodate an optic with a larger 50 or 56mm objective.

Range report-
Since our local shooting range is closed on Mondays, I was not able to get out and shoot this thing today. With any luck, I will be heading out at first light to put a few rounds through it. I'll bring back a report ASAP.
Until then, enjoy the new RPR and tight groups!
 
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Good initial review. I have already ordered a replacement bolt shroud and knob from Longrifles Inc. I would suggest checking them out if you are worried about the plastic shroud.
 
F-class? I would say Savage has them beat with their M12 F-class.

As for 308 i would agree you made a poor choice but with the 20" barrel and some Berger 185's youll get WAY past 700 yards.
 
Yeah, I agree with you that the plastic bolt shroud does feel kinda cheep, but after reading this, I just went down and shook the hell outta the rifle and have no rattle on the safety or even much of one with the magazine inserted? I did put a pmag in as well (as I have a few) and it was about the same, tbh the IMI seemed to fit the snuggest :s
 
Wasn't designation for F-Class. If it was, it wouldn't be mag fed. It was designed for PRS type shooting.

Some questions relevant to that sport:
-How does it balance? On barricades and for standing/kneeling shots. (the reason they went with a medium contour barrel)
-How well does the contoured magwell work shooting from barricades? Normally, you rest the handguard on the barricade and ram the front of the magwell into the side of it. That ramped part prevents that...
-How fast can you cycle it? (reason for the 3 lug design) Does the bolt bind if you put off-axis forces on it?
-Is the magwell beveled internally for quick mag changes?
-Are there sling attachments on the buttstock? You can obviously add one to the handguard... (for carrying the rifle and using a sling as a shooting aid). Will it work with a bungee sling like FTW or Armageddon?
 
Good initial review. I have already ordered a replacement bolt shroud and knob from Longrifles Inc. I would suggest checking them out if you are worried about the plastic shroud.

Where on the web site are the bolt shrouds? I'm having a moment....
 
Wasn't designation for F-Class. If it was, it wouldn't be mag fed. It was designed for PRS type shooting.

Some questions relevant to that sport:
-How does it balance? On barricades and for standing/kneeling shots. (the reason they went with a medium contour barrel)
-How well does the contoured magwell work shooting from barricades? Normally, you rest the handguard on the barricade and ram the front of the magwell into the side of it. That ramped part prevents that...
-How fast can you cycle it? (reason for the 3 lug design) Does the bolt bind if you put off-axis forces on it?
-Is the magwell beveled internally for quick mag changes?
-Are there sling attachments on the buttstock? You can obviously add one to the handguard... (for carrying the rifle and using a sling as a shooting aid). Will it work with a bungee sling like FTW or Armageddon?
^^ this
 
Wasn't designation for F-Class. If it was, it wouldn't be mag fed. It was designed for PRS type shooting.

Some questions relevant to that sport:
-How does it balance? On barricades and for standing/kneeling shots. (the reason they went with a medium contour barrel)
-How well does the contoured magwell work shooting from barricades? Normally, you rest the handguard on the barricade and ram the front of the magwell into the side of it. That ramped part prevents that...
-How fast can you cycle it? (reason for the 3 lug design) Does the bolt bind if you put off-axis forces on it?
-Is the magwell beveled internally for quick mag changes?
-Are there sling attachments on the buttstock? You can obviously add one to the handguard... (for carrying the rifle and using a sling as a shooting aid). Will it work with a bungee sling like FTW or Armageddon?

I shot today both standing and kneeling and personally feel the rifle balances very well for me. It just seems to fit me well. (Take that for what it is as I know people are very different) As for shooting from a barricade I have no tried, so can't answer this. Cycling the 6.5CM is smooth and fast, I can do quickly without coming off target. That being said it seems to stick slightly for me on the back stroke when excessive upward force is applied.

There is a slight beveling on the inside of the magwell that makes inserting new mags very smooth.

There are multiple places to attach a sling on the stock and it comes with one for the handguard as well.
 
Yeah, I agree with you that the plastic bolt shroud does feel kinda cheep, but after reading this, I just went down and shook the hell outta the rifle and have no rattle on the safety or even much of one with the magazine inserted? I did put a pmag in as well (as I have a few) and it was about the same, tbh the IMI seemed to fit the snuggest :s

On mine, there is about 10-15 degrees radial play in the safety selector. It is as if the safety cutout on the lower receiver housing was milled too big. Not exactly what I would call "precision". What caliber is yours? Perhaps they came off different CNC milling machines. Or serial number... Maybe a certain batch had a line of programming that resulted in the hole being milled too large and Ruger just let them go? I dunno, but I may call them to let them know...
 
On mine, there is about 10-15 degrees radial play in the safety selector. It is as if the safety cutout on the lower receiver housing was milled too big. Not exactly what I would call "precision". What caliber is yours? Perhaps they came off different CNC milling machines. Or serial number... Maybe a certain batch had a line of programming that resulted in the hole being milled too large and Ruger just let them go? I dunno, but I may call them to let them know...

Ruger is aware and they have a fix as well as a video on how to install the fix. There is also home made fixes in the 70 page thread on the hide about this rifle
 
Wasn't designation for F-Class. If it was, it wouldn't be mag fed. It was designed for PRS type shooting.

Some questions relevant to that sport:
-How does it balance? On barricades and for standing/kneeling shots. (the reason they went with a medium contour barrel)
-How well does the contoured magwell work shooting from barricades? Normally, you rest the handguard on the barricade and ram the front of the magwell into the side of it. That ramped part prevents that...
-How fast can you cycle it? (reason for the 3 lug design) Does the bolt bind if you put off-axis forces on it?
-Is the magwell beveled internally for quick mag changes?
-Are there sling attachments on the buttstock? You can obviously add one to the handguard... (for carrying the rifle and using a sling as a shooting aid). Will it work with a bungee sling like FTW or Armageddon?

I mentioned the F- Class use because that is what I will be using it for, among other things. We also do some pop up 300 yd target sets and service rifle sniping at the local rifle range (It's a 600 yd DND owned range). We are very lucky to have it available. Yes, I know it is not really a competition rifle, but like I said in my review, many can't or don't want to spend $5000.00 and up on a rifle and optic...
The bolt is much smoother than my Savage 10TR and cycles a bit quicker. I'm a lefty though so along with being soulless, I take longer to cycle a bolt gun. :)
 
On mine, there is about 10-15 degrees radial play in the safety selector. It is as if the safety cutout on the lower receiver housing was milled too big. Not exactly what I would call "precision". What caliber is yours? Perhaps they came off different CNC milling machines. Or serial number... Maybe a certain batch had a line of programming that resulted in the hole being milled too large and Ruger just let them go? I dunno, but I may call them to let them know...

Wow that's kind of a lot! Mine is 6.5CM I would check out some US forums to see if anyone else has had the issue.
 
Looks like a fun gun, but I would not get serious about it with F-Class. Looks like a Tactical PR match gun.
F-Class guns today are very advanced, single purpose and Yes, costly to own.

Yes, I suppose so. It's ironic though. F-Class came about as a somewhat inexpensive class for the average guy (or gal) to compete in because it didn't cost a fortune for the gear and guns. Just like everything though. It starts out affordable and gets crazy in a hurry.
Fortunately, the club I belong to is just a bunch of good 'ol boys who have reasonably priced guns and most reload/ hand load for both precision and economy. We have fun and we enjoy ourselves. Sort of the way it should be, huh?
 
Yes, I suppose so. It's ironic though. F-Class came about as a somewhat inexpensive class for the average guy (or gal) to compete in because it didn't cost a fortune for the gear and guns. Just like everything though. It starts out affordable and gets crazy in a hurry.
Fortunately, the club I belong to is just a bunch of good 'ol boys who have reasonably priced guns and most reload/ hand load for both precision and economy. We have fun and we enjoy ourselves. Sort of the way it should be, huh?

You are almost correct. The sport was derived from a TR shooter (George Farquharson) who wanted to continue shooting using his multi thousand dollar TR rifle by adding optics and a bipod. The improvement in optics and bipods has moved the sport forward. With another large contributing factor the removal of the 156gn bullet limit.

Competing at a high level in any sport is expensive both in money and time BUT competing for fun is not. Bring out your Ruger and get or make a single shot adapter and we will see you out on the line.

And when your factory gun kicks a fully custom rifles butt well you just had your first victory.

Hell i will help you out, Look me up if you are competing in Ottawa... most the guys i know will be more then willing to help.
 
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The weather here in Atlantic Canada is just not cooperating with my wish to go out and shoot this dang thing! Now they are calling for rain and 20cm of snow between now and Friday. You can't beat Mother Nature.
I've borrowed the Burris PEPR mount off my AR15 until my Leupold spacer arrives from Al Flaherty's. I have a Bushnell Elite Tactical 6-24x50DMR scope mounted and boresighted. I put the picatinny rail on with the sling swivel so I can mount a Harris bipod as well. It will be used when I don't have my Caldwell shooting bags with me.
My short term plan is to order an aluminum bolt shroud, an ambidexterous safety and an aftermarket bolt knob to replace the factory bits.
Feel free to post links to any aftermarket bits and pieces for the RPR, as well as some pix and range reports of your own rifles...
CHeerz!
 
Range Report...

I had the gun out today and fired 12 rounds.
It took 2 rounds for sighting in and then I went for a group.
I'm embarrassed to even talk about it. I was using my 168 gr. long range ammo that I know would group at .250" out of my Savage that I just sold to finance this gun. I want my Savage back! I have a Mossberg Night Train that groups about 400% better! WTF???????

I shot 5 rounds at 100 yds that grouped about 3"!!!!!
I found that my scope was not completely tight on the Leupold rail that I installed and didn't have a 1/2 " wrench to torque it down tight, so maybe it will be better now that it's torqued. The remainder of the rounds were fired with just a finger tightening, so maybe it will be better. Certainly not a good start (and yes I admit this was my fault).
Ill try to get out again tomorrow morning.
 
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