Ruger American....wow, what a piece of crap!

Hitzy said:
So the mag's I had ordered from Brownells showed up for this (more #### to send back), and oddly enough one of them felt heavier. Checked it out and it has a steel follower opposed to the plastic card type, and also a stiffer spring. Are these steel follower mags a new design, or left over from previous years? They certainly appear like they would function better, much more positive getting the rounds up to feed...
Also took a last look at the only Ruger American I will likely ever own, RMA is in, going back to get melted down, or more likely sold to some other sucker like me.
The stock does touch the barrel on the left side, while lots of clearance on the right side. I thought just a warped plastic stock because of how junky it is, but I traced it down to the front V block being molded in crooked, visibly crooked...rear one was OK. "Power bedding" was a good idea, foiled by shoddy workmanship. I don't even know how you would correct that... You would have to reduce one side of the V and build up the other I guess. Should have just pillar bedded these goddamn things, at least that can be home remedied if the manufacturer ####s it up.
Next I played around with the trigger...again, I find myself comparing it to the Axis accu-trigger. The feel is basically identical, and what I'll call a "3-stage" trigger. The safety tab plunger gets taken up, then the ridiculous amount of creep, then it stops and you are now ready to fire. It's like a Glock trigger on a rifle. Terrible, but at least just as bad as the accu-trigger. For the record my Axis doesn't have the accu-trigger and I consider that superior with minor tuning.
I see the rifle they were trying to make and I like it, really. I just think they rush these things out way too fast, and cut too many corners, and the end product shows that. Maybe they will improve on it over time, add a little more QC in there, spend a couple extra bucks making these things right...who knows. Certainly not worth owning one if it's anything like I got.... Pile o crap lol
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A little light sanding on the forward bit of the fore-end of my son's rifle and the contact was eliminated...took all of ten minutes. No drama necessary. I'm with you on the trigger, all those discount gun triggers are junk...barely tolerable for a marksman. Thank God for the aftermarket, that create things to fix issues that result from companies building products as cheaply as possible to sell to cheap people, lol! An adjustable Timney trigger took 15 minutes to install, and now the trigger pull is a crisp 2.5 lbs. So, with ten minutes of sanding on the fore-end I eliminated the barrel contact issue, with 90 minutes of sanding and polishing the bolt and action I gave the RAR perfect smooth-as-silk cycling, and with 15 minutes to install the Timney trigger I gave the RAR a perfect trigger. Now the gun is a lightweight, handy, all weather mountain-spec rifle with a silky action, perfect trigger, and less than moa accuracy. What else could my kid want for a first rifle? :)
 
What do the aftermarket stocks like Boyds have for bedding blocks for these....just wood or do they have some metal V pillars? Just curious more then anything as Ruger says it's "power bedding " patented and I'm at a loss how else you could secure the action to a stock without it.
 
Nestor said:
783 is using Marlin old trigger...which is actually better than the AccuTrigger, but still not as good as a decent, normal trigger.
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Nestor, which shop is your shop?

(cut and paste from the Savage site)
"We continue to be thrilled with the winning results from Team Savage. It says a lot about them and it says a lot about the rifles," Savage VP of Sales & Marketing Brian Herrick said. "We're not trying to tell anybody that they can just buy a Savage and shoot like Darrell, John, Monte and Stan, but it should be fairly obvious by now that shooting stock Savage rifles isn't holding these guys back at all."
 
+1 on the Vanguard Series II
IMO it's extra money well spent very well made and smooth action

"you can take a car out of a junkyard but you can never take the junk out of the car"
 
EHG said:
There's an article in the new issue Calibre magazine discussing the Axis, 783, Ruger American and Mossberg $500 and under type guns.
Looks like the 783 is the clear winner.
The Ruger certainly looks better finished than Hitzy's.
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Yeah, not much bad I can say about the 783....molded in sling attachments may be the only weak part of the rifle, but even then the stock is pretty decent quality.
 
I have to say that my Ruger ownership has been quite limited. I have had 4 to date and still currently own two. I had a #1V in 22-250. Of the 4 it was the nicest in terms of fit and finish but in under 400 rds fired in total, and all factory it had to go back to Ruger twice for repair. Once early on after purchase when I could not get the action to open. It had burrs somewhere in the action that were catching and preventing the falling block from releasing. The block and action had to be polished. Another time when the forend split for no apparent reason. Ruger replaced the forend and then forgot to replace the sling screw? The rifle was accurate as heck though. Next one to go was a mint secind hand Red Label 20 ga. One of the originals with blued receiver and red recoil pad. All I could say upon receiving it and looking it over was my god what a blocky piece of junk when compared to other over/unders of the equivalent price. A Citori is like a Kolar in comparison to the Red Label. I sold it within weeks. So what have I kept? Well my 10/22 hardwood carbine for starters. It is a crude piece of equipment with a fit and finish that is embarrassing to look at but it shoots and functions great and is surprisingly accurate. I can consistently pop gophers out to 100 yards with ease especially since swapping the trigger for the BX-22 trigger. I really like the gun to be honest. I purchased it new in Feb 2014 and have about 10 bricks of ammo through it to date and it runs well. My other keep is a mini-14 stainless synthetic ranch rifle. I purchased it just before Christmas. Upon opening the box and inspecting it my first thoughts were wow, what a crude piece of equipment. The stainless barrels is rough with cutting (turning) marks. The action has lots of cutting marks and is quite rough feeling. The mags are metal with a plastic bottom but fit nice and snug and install andcremove with ease. The safety is an abomination as is the trigger and the stock is a real piece of crap with centre seam on top rather than hidden underneath. Fortunately the rifle cycles flawlessly and really is fun to shoot and I knew going in it would not be a tack driver but it actually exceeded my expectations in performance. The bonus for me is at 38" overall length, synthetic stock and being stainless it makes a nice little truck rifle. I plan to swap out the stock with an ATI folding stock which should really improve the rifle. It currently wears an Aimpoint PRO sight and I also have a Minox ZA-5 2-10x 40 scope for it. My overall opinion on the Rugers is that fit and finish are very poor aesthetically but that the guns perform reliably albeit the actions are chunky and blocky for the money. For the premium price heaped upon some models the value to quality ratio is down considerably. Rugers overall quality, fit and finish has quite diminished since it's early days. Just my .02 worth.
 
Well, its just not the Ruger American's that suck. I have a American Predator in .308. Had to order via online through cabelas with pickup in store. After months of waiting I got it, put a scope on it and took it out to shoot. Would not feed, so back to cabelas looking for help, got none really besides a $20 certificate if I purchase over 150. All they could figure was the mag was some how screwed up. The stock is cheap and needs some work but the action seems to be good. I will sell it once I get the mag feeding issue sorted out.
 
minilover said:
Well, its just not the Ruger American's that suck. I have a American Predator in .308. Had to order via online through cabelas with pickup in store. After months of waiting I got it, put a scope on it and took it out to shoot. Would not feed, so back to cabelas looking for help, got none really besides a $20 certificate if I purchase over 150. All they could figure was the mag was some how screwed up. The stock is cheap and needs some work but the action seems to be good. I will sell it once I get the mag feeding issue sorted out.
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Call ruger huge mag issues with the American. They have been sending some buyers new mags. Some owners have sloved their own problems by sanding or prying open the feed lips on these mags.
 
I bought an American in 22wmr at a local store. Polished and deep bluing and fantastic accuracy, but the same plastic stock. The rimfire line must have a better QC group...
 
rhino62 said:
It seems to be real hit and miss with Ruger American center fire magazines, since some work very well while others are a total failure. I have a Predator in 308 which feeds correctly with no issues and does not have any of the other issues mentioned in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1YLb57ka7w
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That usually means an almost complete lack of QA..
 
On a good note, my $250 Axis in 7mm-08 which has a much better finish, much smoother action, but a similar ####less stock....shot 10's at 100m today round after round using 130gr Speer and 162gr Hornady. I think it's a keeper....ugly as hell though lol.

And the "cheap" .308 I wanted that the Ruger was going to fill, could easily have been replaced with another Axis. But found a nice deal on a Benelli so went that route instead.....no more Rugers for this guy.
 
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