Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires New Ruger American 22lr...

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.



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 ).
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:

Ag Std V LRN:

Federal Auto Match:


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:

Ag Std V LRN:


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

I officially broke it in yesterday eve. Took this fat cat squirrel at 90yds, she came out on a gas line Row a few mins after I sat down and that happens to be the distance the 3rd hash is on with the BDC 400 ret:



A few mins later another came by at 20yds and a head shot did her in:


I think I'm gona like this rig for hunting.

I bought a Predator last weekend, haven't had time to shoot it yet, MAYBE this afternoon, if the wind isn't howling.

I haven't got the variety of ammo that you have, but I've got a bit on hand, and a case of Aguila CPRN HV, which shoots pretty good in my CZ 452 (not the best, but pretty good).

I hope mine shoots as well as yours is doing.

I bought an American 2 weeks ago, I wanted the compact but they didn't have one. I topped mine off with a fixed 4x and after a small feeding problem out of the gate it's been great so far. Mine is also very accurate with the CCI Mini-Mags. I've not had a chance to draw blood with mine because every time I get a chance to hunt the winds howling and nothings out of its den.

I just got back from a short range trip. Mine didn't dislike Mini-Mags, but it strongly favored those Aguila CPRN HV loads.

The wind was bad enough to run me off after a couple hours, it was becoming uncomfortable.

I shot some Federal Champions and AutoMatch, they weren't bad, and some truly awful Winchester Super-X HPs, none of my rifles seem to like that load, I think they'll be relegated to plinking with pistols, I can't think of much else, I wonder if I could even kill a coon in a trap with those things.

I think that MiniMags and Aguila will continue to be my "go to" loads for the forseeable future, when it comes to hunting tree rats and such.

I took a new Compact 22LR to the range last week, wind was very strong so I didn't bother load testing at 100 and we don't have a 50 so 25 to shoot what I have. All ten shot groups and clear winners were Eley Sport followed by CCI Standard velocity, the other end of the spectrum was Winchester Super-X HP's and CCI Stingers.

Thanks for sharing your results!

Are you going to buy the higher stock insert?

I bought one of the copper-mica color stocks for a 10/22 and swapping the low stock insert to the higher style that gave me much better cheek weld and eye alignment with the scope.

Good deal RS!

Have you ever shot squirrels with the Ag CPRN HVs?

I've shot a bunch with the Std V LRNs, but they are pretty anemic on body shots. Early season we have so many leaves I end up body shooting most of the time and with the STD V they stay up in the tree a bit or the chase is on sometimes. It just ice picks a hole. Obviously HPs would do better but those Ag SVs shoot so well in my rigs. Just wondering if the HVs did a little better(as in maybe a bit of deformation from the added speed).

Thanks,

Loder

I have a pretty fat face, so get a good weld as is. I could use a touch higher, but the high comb stock is too high. It came with both BTW. I could swap to highs and run the high comb, but I like the lower mount for close range shooting.

No prob. The guys here and at RFC have spoke highly of these and for good reason. I don't know of a better sub $300 rig. I had a really accurate Marlin "squirrel" many years ago that had the short heavy bbl and it shot well, but needed after market or honing to get the same quality trigger.

CCI Mini Mags are probably the most consistently accurate across a broad range of 22s for me. Maybe not the most accurate in a given gun, but theyve been accurate in every gun for me. They're also easy to find.

Nice ammo rundown. It certainly makes a difference.

I totally agree. Same thing with my RAR 22WMR. I tried the taller cheek piece, but it was way too high and uncomfortable. The low one it came with worked like a champ...

Congrats! That'll be a dandy squirrel rig. I really should break down and buy a bolt .22 for that...

Best 22lr shell I've used for body shots are CCI Quik-Shok. Stops them fast, but can tear up some vittles...

Reloader, nice setup and especially for the price..
I put a lighter spring in all my predator triggers and ditched the blade. Big improvement in my opinion