Ruger Predator 223 build done (of course there are pics!)

[wilbar]

I saw your thread about your competition with your dad and was immediately thinking the Vanguard would be the ultimate winner. In my latest search for a 223 the RAR Predator kept surfacing as a winner so I'm very interested to see the results at the range. Another site I like is realguns, they tested the Predator and liked it. Here are the results of his factory ammo test

Type / Bullet Weight Grains/ Rated Velocity FPS 24" / Recorded Velocity FPS 22"/ 100 Yard 3Shot Groups"
Winchester Varmint X / 40 / 3700 / 3547 / 0.5
American Eagle / 50 / 3350 / 3222 / 0.7
Remington UMC / 50 / 3425 / 3296 / 0.6
Hornady Superformance / 53 / 3465 / 3295 / 0.9
American Eagle / 62 3020 / 2938 / 1.1
Hornady Superformance / 75 / 2930 / 2853 / 0.8

This may give you a head start on winning the accuracy battle.

My only beef is that the tang safety means no thumbhole stocks, Boyds doesn't list the pro-varmint for the RAR either

I like that the predator has a heavier contour and 1in8 twist.

How is the bolt feel and feeding? Honestly the first one I saw the year they were released the bolt looked and felt rough, you could see and feel the machining marks like the lathe was set too fast, no binding just a bit of the fingernails on a chalkboard feel.

Is the green contagious? Because I think the Ruger American Predator is growing on me

Willy

 

[Canadiankeeper]

But over sized bolt knobs also make it easier to grab and manipulate the bolt for quick follow up shots on additional animals. On my .223 Ruger American Ranch the recoil is minimal, but not non-existent. I put a quality, effective break on it to give me the best chance of seeing my hits, and more importantly misses, on small targets at distance as possible. Plus as the OP stated, it looks kinda cool.

Having a break on it does make it more uncomfortable for other shooters, something more likely to be encountered at the range rather than out in the field.

I was simply curious as to your line of thinking is all. Each to their own

yea no 100% agree with yah. Umm larger bolt knobs are ok. I like to go with the "Slow is smooth, Smooth is fast" way of working my bolt. If I think im going to be in a situation where I don't make the first shot a kill shot I will use a lever or a semi. So again falling into I make my first shot my only shot, for the muzzle device. I find the 223 very manageable and can quickly get back on target. With a larger cal. I would 100% agree with a muzzle device if your looking for quick fallow up shots or just generally increase pleasure to shoot. I am VERY OCD with everything. I think I am biased just on the look of the rifle overall. Where his fathers is clean and simple. No clutter or extras.

 

[wayupnorth]

Nice!!

Question: were you and your dad on the same budget or does "inexpensive" mean something different for him than for you?

the idea was to see who could make the most accurate 223 and keep it cheap.
so 3 area's we talked about - price/accuracy/fit'n-finish
both guns where about the same price, ruger being 499 and the vanguard being 550.
accuracy - we havnt raced them head to head yet.
fit'n finish - the vanguard has a better bluing and is a bit smoother to work.

we put the same optics on so thats the same price.
where we differed was the old man hated the plastic stock the vanguard came on so he picked up a nice Boyd stock for it which was probably 200 all in.
mine only got a butt bad, bolt nob and comp.

at the end of the day i beat him on price, exact totals are not in yet but im pretty sure i beat him on price.

so with him taking the fit'n finish that just leaves the accuracy to decide which gun wins the race.

 

[wayupnorth]

How is the bolt feel and feeding? Honestly the first one I saw the year they were released the bolt looked and felt rough, you could see and feel the machining marks like the lathe was set too fast, no binding just a bit of the fingernails on a chalkboard feel.

Is the green contagious? Because I think the Ruger American Predator is growing on me

Willy

cycling the ruger is not bad.
its not as smooth as the vanguard but its nots bad.
i invested half an hour to clean and smooth and oil the action and that went a long way.

and yes it is contagious, 1 of my co-workers picked up a Ruger because of it and another wants to get one BAD!

 

[j_06]

A scope must be real pain in the ass for ya if a comparatively little bolt knob gets in the way ps you probably won't like hunting with an old Mauser or mosin.

I personally seem to always get oversized knobs hung up on bush. Also that big brick of a brake would make it annoying to shoot unsupported. Just my 2c

Its a 223, recoil is nil. Why slap a brake on it? Piss of your hunting partners?

 

[wayupnorth]

the old man came up for a long visit and we finally got out and got to shoot the guns all day at the range uninterupted.
ill upload the photo's here in a bit!

what a hoot, hell of a fun day when you can spend it with your dad shooting and laughing!

ill also go into the pro's and con's of the guns we found while shooting them today.
but ill leave you guys with this..... the biggest problem we had was ammo, both guns shot surplus ammo like they where shotguns, was nasty nasty nasty groupings. things got a LOT better when we improved the ammo.

like i said ill come back in later tonight or tomorrow morning and upload some pics and targets and give a final conclusion to our build off.

 

[MasterChaud555]

Great post! I might have to get in on this competition lol

 

[wayupnorth]

the ruger

the Weatherby

the set up

the range

getting down to brass tacks!

Ruger 3 shot groups @ 100 yards

Weatherby 3 shot groups @ 100 yards

 

[wayupnorth]

quick overview of the shoot.

it was cold, around 0 to +2 out with a strong wind, not ideal shooting conditions.

we ranged out the distance to exactly 100 yards.

the 2 targets for each gun listed above where the last couple groups we did.
while they may not be the best groups of the day (and by far not the worst) those where at the end of the day and i felt that we had the guns dialed in and shooting good so i would call those 2 groups for each gun to be the 'normal' or 'average' of what the gun was doing on this day with the crappy wind we had.

fingers where getting cold and numb!

 

[wayupnorth]

quick wrap up.
like ive mentioned before, the Weatherby/Vanguard has a better blueing and fit and finish then the ruger.
ruger ended up being a lot cheaper in the end then the Weatherby - that Boyd stock really put my dads build over on cost.
both guns ran like champs.
no problems with either gun.
the Weatherby did get some smaller groups but both guns where shooting consistently about the same 90% of the time, but the Weatherby would from time to time pull off a nice tight group - im willing to chalk that up to either the old man outshooting me or the wind being nicer to him then it was to me.

we had a real problem with crappy ammo.
we messed up and took the wrong ammo out, ended up with surplus stuff.
bunch of FMS hollow point stuff which was NASTY!
made the targets look like we where shooting shotguns!
other stuff we had was PMC cheap stuff but better then the FMS stuff by a long ways.
i actually really liked the PMC.
i think if we had brought the good ammo out the groups would have been consistently tighter, rather then the average 1.5-2" groups we where seeing.

going to see if there is less wind later in the week and take out some better ammo and see if we can get one gun to take a obvious win.

 

[savagecanuck]

I've been having a riot shooting my flamer 223. I've been getting sub moa with winchester white box 4G jhp, federal red box 55g fmj. Mfs sp was absolutely crappie. Hornady 55g sp is also sub moa. I usually shoot about 75 rounds in a range day. For cheap fun I use the federal ar tactical 55g fmj. It's not always moa but can surprise you. I use it to shoot gongs and pop cans @300yds, it's cheap. I'm using a viper HST 6-24×50 on mine. I'm shooting off a rock br and a home made table, a lot more sturdy than your plastic tables. I find the wind wreaks havoc on the 55g round. I would start with a better shooting table.

 

[MattLS]

Nice looking coyote gun.

 

[wayupnorth]

so we where back out again today for the 4th day this week (life is sooooo good this week!) and we finished off the week of shooting with some fun.
the old man brought up 2 boxes of tannerite and we got to try out that stuff for the first time for us both.
what a hoot!

also, with the ruger predator i picked up some better ammo and going off of what was mentioned above with the twist rate and such i picked up some lighter grain stuff. noticed a HUGE difference in grouping with the lighter grain.

(from Wilbar
Type / Bullet Weight Grains/ Rated Velocity FPS 24" / Recorded Velocity FPS 22"/ 100 Yard 3Shot Groups"
Winchester Varmint X / 40 / 3700 / 3547 / 0.5
American Eagle / 50 / 3350 / 3222 / 0.7
Remington UMC / 50 / 3425 / 3296 / 0.6
Hornady Superformance / 53 / 3465 / 3295 / 0.9
American Eagle / 62 3020 / 2938 / 1.1
Hornady Superformance / 75 / 2930 / 2853 / 0.8
tried the 3 bolded ones today)

last group i did for the day i was shooting at the gong just off of bag @ 100 yards and i put 20 rounds in a 3" group with no flyers - rapid shooting, as fast as i could send them.
im pretty impressed with that!
thats a gopher hit at 100 yards 20 times in a row in as many seconds.
ill take that any day!

all in with the end of the week and the end of the visit from my dad i think the experiment was a lot of fun.

i think if you want a pretty rifle that is tight and looks good the Weatherby is the way a fella should go.
i think if you want to get into the game on the cheap and be able to do add on's and such the ruger is the way.
(i still say having the external mag is the winner)
so pick your poison and get into the game!

now ill just have to think up another competition for us so we can build another rifle to test..... maybe the battle of the scout rifle?????