Thoughts on ruger American carbine ?
- Thread starter Mike112288
- Start date
I can only imagine at that price the stock won’t be much of a stock. Is the action cruddy? I sold my impact precision 223 build cuz I hardly ever shoot my guns and don’t need such a price fancy firearm for occasional plinking. Compared to that smooth action I’m sure I won’t be amazed by a ruger American that’s for sure. Just want a decent reliable solid built gun preferably a short barreled carbine.
if by carbine you mean the Ruger American Ranch (16") then they're decent rifles
the finish on the 2 I have is nowhere near even cheap Savages.
the bolt is not polished and makes a "zipping" sound when cycled (I've heard Ruger addressed this issue; I had to polish them myself)
Accuracy is quite good but then again I don't use factory ammo in any center-fire.
the finish on the 2 I have is nowhere near even cheap Savages.
the bolt is not polished and makes a "zipping" sound when cycled (I've heard Ruger addressed this issue; I had to polish them myself)
Accuracy is quite good but then again I don't use factory ammo in any center-fire.
I have an American ranch I was disappointed with accuracy at first. With 77 grain smk and hornady 80 grain it was about 2 moa. It has a 1-8 barrel so should have been fine but it was not. Then I ordered a box of hornady 53 grain match and the groups tightened up to sub moa.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
I'm happy with the 2 RAR's I bought. One in 450 BM & the other in 300 BLK. I fitted a Timney trigger on the 450 & tweeked the trigger on the 300 by removing the blade safety & swapping out the trigger return spring with a lighter unit. I torqued the action bolts to 65 inch lb. on both rifles. Accuracy is fine in both rifles using my hardcast loads. Polishing the bolts greatly reduced the zipper sound when working the actions. The stocks are rather ergonomic for me and the V block bedding system does a good job of maintaining shot to shot accuracy if I do my part with my reloads.
Big JD-From the hills
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan.
My 7.62x39 shoots awesome with barnaul... wich is to bad because that's not going to be around for much longer. The action is craptacular, too much surface area milled out to accommodate ar pattern mags. bbl is well finished..... on the inside... its definitely not worth the asking price.... and if it wasn't anything other than 7.62x39.... littleraly everything out there is way more value for $ spent.
redbirddog
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Maple Syrup land Ontario
I have one. I love it. Light and accurate for yotes. AR mags are a bonus. Easy to get in and out of the truck. Been playing with loads. It likes the 55 grn SP and 69gr HP. Can do 1" groups all day. 100 or 200 yrs. Was playing out to 400.. Too windy and the16" barrel does slow things down. My axis can out shoot it right now. But I only had for 3 months. Axis mags suck. So does the long action. I would trade the ranch if I could get the longer predator model. But great gun. 8.5 out of 10. Axis is 7.0 out of 10.
I'd drop the extra couple hundred bucks and get a tikka t3x blued / synthetic. The tikka is much higher quality, lots of aftermarket options. I have both the american and t3x - The american can shoot straight, but indeed the bolt is sticky and zipper sounding, the stock is absolute plastic crapatola, and the trigger, while decent, looks like an abomination from an abused glock. Cheers.
- Location
- Steel Town and The Peg
Pick-up a soon-to-be-gone CZ 557 for a bit more... no comparison.
I had one in 6.5 cm shot as good as any other rifle. Now the caliber…well it ain’t for me. I think I paid 600 plus tax about 6 years ago. It fits perfect at that price but now I see them selling for 800 not happening. There are better options out there for that price or just a little bit more. Tikka, or browning ab3 come to mind
I've shot the Carbine in 308 Win. It was handy but I prefer the full sized rifles. It grouped pretty well but the guy shooting it only had one type of ammo available. If I was dead set on a 308 I think I'd follow the comment given that a Predator couldn't be overlooked...but weight is not of supreme importance here and I like the AI mags.
Have had a few Americans now, in a couple forms. I like them. The criticisms so far have all been subjective and not objective. Other rifles might be something that someone likes better, but I find a hard time identifying the actual measurably better. Unless perhaps you really luck out on a price for a stainless rifle.
Not one to mind the "feels cheap" etc etc. They are danged accurate, come with a decent trigger, light enough and I don't mind bringing them anywhere under whatever conditions.
Have had a few Americans now, in a couple forms. I like them. The criticisms so far have all been subjective and not objective. Other rifles might be something that someone likes better, but I find a hard time identifying the actual measurably better. Unless perhaps you really luck out on a price for a stainless rifle.
Not one to mind the "feels cheap" etc etc. They are danged accurate, come with a decent trigger, light enough and I don't mind bringing them anywhere under whatever conditions.
Two options here:
1) Savage Axis (they are quite good/accurate)
2) Weatherby Vanguard (a bit more expensive) but the quailty is obvious
My #1 has about 1900 pews through it all stock except for the spring upgrafe (McCarbo) good 3 pound trigger
My #2 (240wby) shoots like a dream excellent riffle.
For your price point I would recommend the Weatherby - if you want to save a few bucks then I would recommend the Savage Axis.
1) Savage Axis (they are quite good/accurate)
2) Weatherby Vanguard (a bit more expensive) but the quailty is obvious
My #1 has about 1900 pews through it all stock except for the spring upgrafe (McCarbo) good 3 pound trigger
My #2 (240wby) shoots like a dream excellent riffle.
For your price point I would recommend the Weatherby - if you want to save a few bucks then I would recommend the Savage Axis.
CZ Shooter
CGN frequent flyer
Had the Ruger Ranch in 5.56.
Overall great rifle, but yes the bolt was making zipper sounds, which had somewhat smoothened out by working it back and forth everytime I was watching TV.
Accuracy was not bad from the 16 in barrel, considering the ammo I was using (mostly steel cased Barnaul and the white box Winchester 5.56), it was deffinitelly more accurate than the shooter (around 1 MOA).
The fact that it takes AR mags is a big pro to this rifle.
Had to cut couple of coils from the trigger return spring, as it was still pretty heavy even after maxing out on the factory adjustment...this resulted in about 2lbs trigger pull.
This rifle would feel great sitting in a Magpul stock/chassis, but I'm not sure if there is one available for this model.
Also, considering the price of this rifle, the stock would likely be almost just as expensive as the actual rifle.
Now the not so good:
This thing is LOUD...
With the 16 in barrel, this will likely be the loudest rifle on the range and the guys in the lanes beside you will not be too thrilled.
Also makes a great fireball to boot.
I had solved this issue by threading on a linear compensator...
To my surprise, this very much exceeded my expectations, as with the noise now being directed away from the shooter, at times I felt that I was firing a 22 with some hot ammo such as the CCI Stinger (this is not much of an exaggeration really).
But as they say, usually when you do a certain mod, you will sacrifice something else in another area.
In this case it was the accuracy...
The addition of the muzzle device must have shifted the balance and likely disrupted the harmonics of the barrel, as the best I could do now was about 3-4 MOA.
Still not bad for a light, handy carabine, but I can do that with a T97.
Another feature I was not crazy about was the mag release button...it is so far forward, that in order to reach it, you had to let go of your grip (maybe my fingers are extra short but I heard others complain about the same thing)
As I said before, overall not a bad rifle especially for a Scout project, but not perfect by any means.
Overall great rifle, but yes the bolt was making zipper sounds, which had somewhat smoothened out by working it back and forth everytime I was watching TV.
Accuracy was not bad from the 16 in barrel, considering the ammo I was using (mostly steel cased Barnaul and the white box Winchester 5.56), it was deffinitelly more accurate than the shooter (around 1 MOA).
The fact that it takes AR mags is a big pro to this rifle.
Had to cut couple of coils from the trigger return spring, as it was still pretty heavy even after maxing out on the factory adjustment...this resulted in about 2lbs trigger pull.
This rifle would feel great sitting in a Magpul stock/chassis, but I'm not sure if there is one available for this model.
Also, considering the price of this rifle, the stock would likely be almost just as expensive as the actual rifle.
Now the not so good:
This thing is LOUD...
With the 16 in barrel, this will likely be the loudest rifle on the range and the guys in the lanes beside you will not be too thrilled.
Also makes a great fireball to boot.
I had solved this issue by threading on a linear compensator...
To my surprise, this very much exceeded my expectations, as with the noise now being directed away from the shooter, at times I felt that I was firing a 22 with some hot ammo such as the CCI Stinger (this is not much of an exaggeration really).
But as they say, usually when you do a certain mod, you will sacrifice something else in another area.
In this case it was the accuracy...
The addition of the muzzle device must have shifted the balance and likely disrupted the harmonics of the barrel, as the best I could do now was about 3-4 MOA.
Still not bad for a light, handy carabine, but I can do that with a T97.
Another feature I was not crazy about was the mag release button...it is so far forward, that in order to reach it, you had to let go of your grip (maybe my fingers are extra short but I heard others complain about the same thing)
As I said before, overall not a bad rifle especially for a Scout project, but not perfect by any means.
