Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger American - impressed

I snipped a half coil off the trigger spring on my 6.5cm. Lightened up the triggger. Made a difference.

I disagree. The stock is the interface between the shooter and the barreled action. Factory stocks are usually a one size fits most compromise, but if for some reason it doesn't fit a shooter, that shooter will need to modify or replace the stock to fit him or accommodate himself to the stock. I bought Boyds Heritage style laminated stocks for some of my RAR-Ps that significantly improved how they balanced and fit me, but the cost to upgrade the stocks made me question the value of doing so.

Dad purchased one of the early models on 30-06 when the Americans first came out and later gave it to me. I tried 7-8 different types of factory ammo in it - none shot better than 1-1/2" at 100 and most were worse. I ended up trading it away after Dad passed. Since then I've seen several that shoot very, very well and the stock has been improved. SIL bought a used Predator in 6.5CM and it shoots clovers with factory ammo.

Quality is defined by a a set of requirements and how an item stacks up against those requirements. For a sub-400 dollar rifle the current Americans are excellent rifles IMHO.

I purchased an early RAR in .308. With my usual luck with new purchases, I ended up with a non-MOA shooter. It did not respond to any of Internet fixes that showed up with Google and DuckDuckGo. Eventually I full length, neutral bedded the fore end with 'Good Stuff' expanding foam. That seemed to stabilize groups to MOA for 3 quick shots. Expanding foam was used for bedding the barrel to save weight. The cured foam was painted to minimize moisture absorption and perhaps changing bedding pressure. After a couple of years in variable northeast weather, the foam bedding seems to be a stable and useful fix.