I needed another 22lr like a hole in the head, but I've been wanting a bolt action for a while for squirrel hunting as my bolts are antique and open sights only. I had a gift card to burn at BPS, so took you guy's advice on the Ruger American. I was a bit worried at first as when the guy opened the box the bluing was messed up and it looked like somebody took a side grinder to the barrel(literally!). That was the last one he had in the back, so I bought the display as it looked perfect. My first impression was pretty good after taking it apart, seems like a lot of gun for $297 OTD. The trigger went to 2-12 pretty easy, but the blade takes some getting used to. I found some Weaver #12s at a LGS and mounted a Minox ZV3 3-9x40 in Leupold Medium ring, which barely cleared the folding rear sight. I also cleaned the bore and coated with UBC for the heck of it.
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I grabbed every type of ammo I had on hand(15 various types)to test the accuracy. Also grabbed my most accurate 22 for a comparison, an old Rem 552.

Here's the results for 5 shots with each ammo at 50yds, 2 foulers and 5 in the group. It was 45deg with a varying L-R wind and all shots were fired off a pretty elaborate BR(bags on a flimsy table on the camp porch laugh ).
1. Federal Champion 36g HV CPHP: 1.840"
2. Federal Game Shock 38g CPHP 1.694"
3. Federal Auto Match LRN: .788"
4. Federal Premium Gold Medal HV Match LRN: 1.421"
5. Federal Premium Gold Medal Match LRN: 1.252"
6. Armscor 36g HV CPHP: 1.653"
7. Win Super X HV CPRN: 1.009"
8. Remington Viper: 2.751"
9. Rem Golden Bullet: 2.102"
10. Aguila SE 40g HV CPRN: .698"
11. CCI Mini Mag CPHP( real old lot): .744"
12. CCI Mini Mag CPHP(new lot): 1.353"
13. CCI Mini Mag CPRN: .864"
14. Rem Sub Sonic: 2"+(2 off target)
15. Aguila SE Std V 40g LRN: .498"

Ag HV CPRN:
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Ag Std V LRN:
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Federal Auto Match:
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I decided to try the Fed Auto Match, Aguila HV CPRN, and Aguila Std V LRN again to see which did best.
- Fed AM: .961"
- Ag HV CPRN: .486"
- Ag SV LRN: .620"

Ag HV CPRN:
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Ag Std V LRN:
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I then shot the two Aguila rounds at 100yds for a tie breaker and the SV LRN shot a little better ~1.5ish for 5. Decided to stick with the Ag Std V for hunting for now as I have a brick left.

The Rem 552 shot good as usual:
Ag HV CPRN: .563"
Ag Std V LRN: .581"

The trigger is terrible on the 552, so I think the RA will prob move to my #1 for tree rats for now when I'm not taking my RWS 54.

Pretty dang impressed with the RA. Going to be hard to beat for the price.

Have a good one,

Loder