Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires New Ruger American 22 LR

I just ordered one and it is on the way. This will be my first time to play with one of these and was wondering what tips or modifications y'all have found to be helpful in getting the best accuracy out of one of these rifles.
Thanks

Pullit: I bought a brand spankin new Ruger American Varmint in 22 L.R. about three months ago.
I mounted a Leupold 2x7 variable rimfire scope on it in EXPENSIVE Burris "insert" rings.
This Rifle really likes the Winchester 40 grain Power-Point (hollow-point) ammunition.
I have been busy with Antelope, Deer, Elk and ice fishing seasons so haven't tried many factory bullets in it.
I have made NO modifications to my Rifle at all.
It shoots VERY well with that Winchester ammo and that is the main reason I'm posting - to let you know about it.
My Rifle is the laminated stock heavy barrel model and I really like these.
I have another Ruger American Varmint in 17 HMR and it shoots "lights out"!
I have a left handed Varmint Hunting friend who bought a Ruger American in 22 L.R. two years ago - it has a semi-heavy barrel and sadly he had to sell it to me because of health issues.
He had it less than a year and bought a Varmint style ambi-dextrous stock for it and this Rifle shoots extremely well with the Federal bulk pack 36 grain ammo which I have a TON of.
I keep hoping he will perk up health wise and I would sell it back to him. Last time we talked his liver cancer is in remission - so theres hope there.
All the Ruger Americans I am familiar with (in 22 L.R. and 17 HMR) have shot VERY well.
I hope yours does so also.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks, the one I have coming is just the standard sporter barrel but I have heard that they shoot well.
Sorry about your friend and hope his health improves.
I did not know if you had to float the barrel or bed or ? to get them to shoot their best or not.

I had two of these in 22 mag. I traded the first for a cosmetic issue that bugged me. Both of these guns would shoot pretty close to 1" five shot groups at 100 yards. I shot 30gr Vmax exclusively in both. Maybe with calipers actual groups are more like 1 1/4 inch. Most rimfire shooting is done at 50 yards and those are really very small looking 1/2 groups. This is very good for a cheap gun and it takes a careful measure to see the improvement with my CZ. I like the gun design and the rotary magazine.

I replaced the trigger adjustment spring. I feel the center safety bar on the trigger allow me to set a lighter pull than I would normally attempt on a gun not so equipped. Some remove that, and IMHO, that is a big mistake.

I dont have this Ruger in 22LR, but; I have had very good accuracy with all my rimfire guns in 22LR guns using CCI Standard Velocity. I dont hunt with 22LR but; I have a friend who uses CCI mini-mags. I would try both of those and call it quits. If your accuracy stinks with cci std, then end of game. I mean it is not the ammo, it is the gun. By stinks, over 1" average for 5 shots at 50 yards.

I generally tighten the front action screw first. I forget the spec. then snug the rear screw, not much pressure. That is a pretty good rule. There are two little metal inserts in the plastic stock and I dont recall any sensitivity to screw tension. Good and simple system.

I have seen some Ruger where the stock twisted and put side pressure on the barrel. I got mine off the rack and picked guns were the barrel was centered in the stock. This is no1 would look for. The stock is thin enough, I image shooting with a sling could be a problem. I dont know. I like the light weight and dont care about target shooting with this one.

Ruger has also shipped some rifles with the front sight off center. Leaning to the side. Looks bad and will not zero. Check that no2.

Edit: I just saw your bedding question. The thin hollow plastic stock is not something I would bed. The barrel floats. If you are worried about harmonics and pressure points, then get the shortest barrel. That is probably as far as I would go for tuning. I had both barrel lengths and did not see any problem and no need to worry. But if I was concerned, FWIW. all equal - the short barrel will always be stiffer. The short barrel is easier to carry. Some people think the long barrel is more manly or what ever.

It is not likely that accuracy will be an issue. The most common issue with American Rimfires, and it is far too common, is failure to extract.

Best mod you can do to an American and takes all of 5 mins to replace.


https://www.mcarbo.com/ruger-american-rifle-trigger-spring-kit.aspx

You d

I agree with the spring change but save the $$ (spend it on better ammo) and do it this way-

Just take a spring from a BIC style retractable ballpoint pen (most folks have them laying around the house).

Check to make sure the diameter is the same or slighly smaller (most are). Cut to the same length as the factory spring and replace .

The spring much lighter and a pull weight of 1.5 lbs and up is possble. With the trigger blade safety removed, it feels like a light crisp old school trigger with a grooved face.

Any feedback on the rifle Pullit?

I got it yesterday and got a scope mounted. It takes Weaver #12 mounts if anyone want to go that route.
The trigger brakes clean at #4.5 lbs. I will defiantly be doing a trigger job on it. The blueing is way better than I thought it would be for the price. I changed out the cheek riser to the higher one that comes with it and I feel that was was a nice plus.
It was raining all day today so I hope to get it out tomorrow and do a little shooting. .

Thanks was just looking these up and saw the thread

True. I have personal knowledge of five RARs, and every single one of them has extraction issues. Two belong to me, two belong to a buddy, and one belongs to a nephew.

They shoot well enough, but they will fail to extract. Not a "maybe", they will fail.

Must have been a rotten month at Ruger.

My Mach 2 has functioned perfectly so far; maybe 300 rounds. I wasn't crazy about it at first, but it's growing on me. Waiting for a break in the weather to try it at 100 yards. Maybe the lube is building in the chambers on the .22s.

I've got a Ruger American HB 22Mag.

It's never failed to extract.

Have about 1,000 rounds through it.

It's my favorite rifle for front porch critter eradication.

Virgil B.

Nope, after the first problems with extraction, I started a rather extreme chamber cleaning regimen, and it got worse, not better. The LR had several thousand rounds thru it before it started, the WMR, only a few hundred.

Ok, weather and time worked out for me to at least get the scope dialed in yesterday at 25 yards (it was 34 degrees yesterday). This was not a test to see what ammo the gun liked the best or anything of the sort. It was just to get it on paper, and do a bone stock benchmark test.
I took the gun out of the box, put a set of Weaver bases on it, mounted a BSA Sweet 22 6-18 scope in a set of Leupold Rifleman rings, and changed the comb out to the higher one that comes with it.I know the scope it not high end but I had it laying loose and it has proved accurate in the past so, that is what the rifle is wearing. I did not adjust the trigger or do any work to the gun at all except what I listed above. I did check the trigger and it was pulling 4.5 lbs. This was going to be a bone stock test just to see how it would do straight out of the box and get it on paper.
First round went about 6 inches low and 2 inches to the right. I made a scope adjustment up and that is when I noticed that I could not chamber the second round. The lower 1/4 of the bullet was digging into the very sharp edge of the chamber and stopping the round from chambering. I guess I should note at this point the ammo was Aguila Super Extra. I backed off the bolt pressure and pushed up on the mag and I could see that whole mag went into the rifle a little deeper. I tried to chamber the round again and everything worked as it should. I wrote this off to me not getting the mag seated as well as I should have. 3 shot and I was center dot and I finished up the mag on that dot.
I moved to a new 3/4 inch dot and put 5 rounds in the mag to now see what kind of a group I could get. I once again ran into the chambering issue 2 times with this 5 round session. I could take my finger and push up on the mag and everything was fine. I was able to get somewhere around 3/8 of an inch group out of this 5 shots.
I next switched to Aguila Interceptor ammo and dumped 10 rounds thru the rifle to let it settle in on this type ammo (something an old benchrest 22 guy told me to do). During this 10 rounds the mag dropped down again at least 1 if not 2 times.
I now shot another 5 shots to see what this ammo would do. It turned in a little bit bigger closer to 1/2 inch group. I had another feeding issue with this 5 shots as well.
I will say that both ammo's seemed to indicate that the rifle may need bedding or the barrel channel cleared. I say that do to the groups mostly being vertical. The Interceptor ammo shot 3 shots into one little wad and then 2 shots into a separate group with every other shot going back and forth between the two groups.
If I can figure out how to post up a picture on here, I will post the target up.
By no means is the a great test but just the start. I am not sure what to make of the feeding issues as I have never had anything like that happen on any of my other guns that take Ruger mags. I only used the one mag that came with the gun so it could be the mag itself or something with the way it locks up not holding it tight enough.

I could not figure out how to post pictures so here is a link to LRH where I posted it.

https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/ruger-american-22-first-impressions.234711/

Have to watch out for that then. New scope for mine coming today; hopefully range tomorrow.

Do you think the cases are sticking or the extractor slipping? I know 77/22s and some others are prone to trouble when crud builds up in the slots the extractor sits in on the bolt, plus the recess beside the chamber. Both keep it from fully engaging the rim, but you probably know that.

I have no extraction or ejection issues with the few rounds that I shot

The first couple thousand rounds I shot thru my .22LR didn't cause any trouble, either. Then, things went sideways.

The WMR was always problematic, especially with Winchester or Aguila ammo, which is a bit hotter than CCI or Hornady, apparently, as I never had trouble with those two brands of ammo.

I gave them to a couple of nephews, with instructions and boresnakes.