Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Ranch Rifle - what are your thoughts?

I see them on the rack quite often. What are your thoughts about them for a plinker, medium range pd & reliability of function? A buddy has one for in home protection. It looks like it would fill the niche of a lesser expensive "black rifle".
So, who has them and what are your experiences?

Best $300 rifle you will pay $600 for. You can buy a much better AR for less money.

Should you want to hit something, throw it or get a rock.

I'll have to agree with the other guys. Innacurate.....overpriced. But dependable. The mini M-14 operating system is great.

Just go the AR route. You'll be much better off in the long run. Build your own, even....and have fun in the process.

Ok, maybe that's why I see them on the rack so often.

I must have gotten a good one. I like mine. It's always been accurate. It is one of numerous firearms I use for deer hunting and have taken two deer recently with it including my avatar buck.

They feed and function like a hungry baby. I like the open top action personally, but that is about it. The down side is, they are rough and poorly cast and machined no matter what you do to them. They have HORRIBLE triggers and safeties. The wood stocks are clunky and poorly designed, but hey, they make great shot guns.

Ruger could really make them sing, if they would pull their head out and modernize the dang things. Flinch

Ok thanks for your thoughts so far - maybe a "nevermind".

don't know why they won't make it work with USGI mags, they might actually sell some

Not hard to get Ruger factory 20 and 30-rd mags.....granted they are not as cheap as USGI.....but they're not expensive any more.

They kill deer and are affordable to operate. Add a 3-9x40 and use it up.
Early models had some poor barrels. New models not too bad for fun gun but if you want tighter groups on paper you will need handloads. My friends have a couple nice shooters and always say I need one. I almost bought one after I sold my last SKS but I've been collecting M1s and shooting M1As.

I live on a ranch so I bought a ranch rifle. Its killed a lot of coyotes over the years. Missed a lot too. Its a dependable, 4" moa gun that clanks when its shot.

Here's a recent discussion:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...arch/true/Ruger_Ranch_Rifles#Post5987365

Mine has no problems. All the others around me that people use as truck guns have no problems.

Most coyotes around here are killed with one, from what I've seen.

Nobody that I know dreams of using an AR as their truck/tractor gun. Everybody has a Mini for that purpose. ARs show up on the range and everyone shows them off--Minis show up in the field and kill stuff.

After 200 shots they aren't rough anymore if you clean them up a little bit. Nice thing about a Mini--you don't ever need to clean it if you don't want to, as it will keep running anyway.

The trigger is easily tweaked if desired, the stocks can be replaced if desired, the Ruger mags never fail.

My brother has two, which is why I have none.

Although I like the concept, neither is accurate enough to convince me to part with my money. A couple visits to Dog Town was enough for me - the dogs won...

I had one briefly and with good ammo it shot fairly decent for what it is.

Ok, message received. A DPMS or Bushmaster AP4 style will be bought instead.

A better route. To be honest I actually like the Mini and have owned several over the years. Back when they sold for 1/3 the price of an AR they made sense even with less than spectacular accuracy. I'd buy another today if I could get one at 1/3 the price of an AR. If I still owned one Id keep it and use it. But just cannot justify spending that much money for so little gun.

A basic Mini sell for around $600. I bought one of the DPMS rifles about a year ago for $650 OTD. That price included a hard case, picatinney rail, two 30 round magazines, telescoping stock, cleaning kit, hard case and sales tax. Buy a Mini, add the same accessories, pay tax and you are at $900 for a much less accurate rifle. Saw a stack of those same rifles in a gunstore recently priced at $615, so they haven't gone up any.

No it ain't a Colt, but neither is a Mini-14.

My first one was a GB from the mid 70s. Scoped with the awful B Square mount, it shot two distinct groups each about an inch, but about two inches apart. I always suspected the mount had a slight wiggle in it. In a 10 shot string, there would be 4 to six in one spot and four to six close, but in the other spot. I always thought the mount had a bit of movement caused by the recoil or the bolt operation. I could never solve the problem. I finally traded it for a TC contender carbine in .223.

About a year ago, I bought the all weather Ranch Rifle in stainless with the heavier barrel. It seems to be capable of less than 2" groups @ 100, with good ammo. Factory Rem., Win., and Lake City military is all I have used in it.

IMO, better ammo produces better results. Best wishes with your AR. Jack

They weren't designed to be a target rifle. Mine goes bang when I pull the trigger and is minute of ghetto accurate...