Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Need advice on a couple Ruger American upgrades

Kwg,
Judman has a ruger american predator in 358 winchester with 18" barrel. Cool guns.

It's a factory built gun or did he swap the barrel ?? We can use the .357 and larger bullets in Iowa to hunt deer with. Most folks are going with the .350 Legend but I'd rather have a bolt action.

kwg

Kwg, it was a factory run for grice I believe. 500 built. Anyhow for a cheap rifle, I love it, tac and 225 sgk’s, shoots great, kills even better. Saw one in the classifieds a while back.

Dang Judman, between that thumper and your American in 7mm PRC, you're pretty well covered. Very impressive, the diversity of cartridges the Americans come chambered for.

How does the PRC shoot?

And you ask yourself, why did he say buy a Kimber on a Ruger thread?

Well, this is why.........

I have owned around 25 RARs and still have 16 of them.

I think that the RARs are good budget rifles, they were better when the NIB prices were under $400 all day every day everywhere, but they're still okay. Despite their accuracy, I don't think that they are a platform worth spending a lot of money on to upgrade, 'cause those one at a time upgrades can end up costing more money than you plan to spend or can ever get out of it. I don't particularly care for the stocks, so I restocked several of the Predators with Boyds laminated Heritage style stocks. I like the ergs of the Boyds stocks better than the OEM stocks, but with 8 years of hindsight to reflect on, if I had it to do over again I'd just install a Beartooth comb riser and save $150 per stock swap. I'd also save close to 16 ounces, 'cause the Boyds laminated Heritage style stocks weigh a full pound more than the factory stocks. I also swapped into Timney triggers on several of the Predator and feel that it is an upgrade well worth the money spent. That said, I got snake-bit when it comes to modifying factory triggers due to a trigger failure on a Mossberg 800 over 25 years ago. When you dodge a bullet, literally, its an experience that you're never likely to forget or ever want to experience again.

I'm not married to any particular brand or style of firearms and what other people chose to buy or use is of no consequence to me. I don't own any shares in a firearms manufacturer, I prefer tobacco companies, so I don't have any incentive to try to steer anyone toward any specific firearms manufacturer, but if you chose to smoke, please consider buying an Altria product to help a fellow out.

For a guy who is looking for a light weight bolt action rifle to carry up and down the hills around Bartlett, New Hampshire, I think that a Kimber Hunter is just a better choice. A Remington 700 TI would be a good choice too, as would a CLR, but neither of them are still in production and there seem to be plenty of Kimber Hunters on GB. Yes, it costs more to buy, but it comes as a complete package, no need to change anything. As a tinkerer, I'm driven to tinker with just about every mechanical thing that I own, looking for changes that will improve it to better fit my wants/needs, but the Kimber Hunters that I own have resisted all temptations so far. I guess that if McM inletted a Comapct for the Kimber I'd be tempted, but they don't and I would have a hard time justifying putting a $700 stock on a $700 rifle.

Mainer, I have not. River been too high, don’t wanna swamp the sxs.😆

Been mowing, spraying, fertilizing, weed eating and killin turkeys. I will post findings when I do. Hard to beat a straight up RAR for a budget killin hammer.👊🏻

260rem,
Just looked at that 308 kimber, since you're repeating yourself.

Not impressed. Fed from a 3 round mag with a 1:12 twist, that thing would be useless.

All my handloads are 200 grain bullets, I've not had good luck stabilizing most 200 grain bullets from a 1:12 rifling in 308's.

It is too long for brush busting.

In multi caribou bag limits, 3 round mags would be useless.

At $819, I see no value in a kimber hunter compared to a $499 ruger compact or standard american. You may "think" it's complete package but your perspective is far too narrow.

I'll stick with my Ruger American, and I'm quite certain someone would gladly pay $677 for this Alaskanized carbine.

Different people, different scenarios, different needs, perceived or actual. You obviously formed your opinions base on your experience, just as my opinions are based on my experience.

I think that pouring money into upgrades to a basic rifle is almost always poor economy. I have 4 Kimber Hunters in 243, 6.5 CM, 308, and a 22 CM in process. The first 3 shoot good groups with both factory ammo, Winchester Deer Season XP and Hornady American Whitetail, and my handloads. I have a variety of rifles with bore diameters larger than 0.308", so I have no need to shoot any bullet weights over 180 grains in the 308 and have never personally come across anyone else who felt the need to shoot hunting bullets heavier than 180 grains in their 308s.

Lots of people who are hanging suppressors on their 16" barrels seem to get by, even though they are likely to create a package longer than a factory specs Kimber Hunter 84M.

The OP lives in northeastern NH where there is a 1 deer bag limit, so magazine size in a manually operated action rifle is likely to be less of an issue for him than for you.

If you think that my perspective is narrow, I'd suggest that the attributes that make your modified RAR perfect for your needs aren't nearly as universally useful as you may believe them to be.

As is true of all free advice, the OP can embrace that which he agrees with and discard that which he doesn't agree with.

Good post. Hard to argue with those great points. I'd buy a Steven's 200 for a few hundred dollars before I paid hard earned money on a RAR. If one was worried about cost. However, you are more money ahead by just buying a Tikka.

260rem,
Many, many Alaskans load 200 grain bullets in the 308 and 30-06. Even a few Alaskans on here. They're the bison-legal minimum sized bullet and they're decent on bears and moose. A 1:10 twist simply adds versatility, plain and simple.
The op kept his ruger compact, common sense IMO. Its perfect for northeastern deer hunting.

BSA,
You should get a ruger American. I think you'd like it. They're the top-selling bolt action rifles. Used prices on Ruger American are very affordable. They're an actual short-action and you won't have to waste time and money repairing tikka's inferior bedding system.

Darn yard chores, can't a guy relax over a target with a good rifle? Yep same here. Haven't gotten out to river to test this ruger after the gunsmith trip. Snow is rotten and ground is going soupy.

Inundated with falling/limbing/bucking/splitting next years firewood, so it'll at least dry by September. Gotta edge all these slabs as well. Shooting paper would be procrastinating.......

I bought Ruger Americans in .308 WCF and 6.5 Creedmoor first year they came out.
Also bought a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor with the fancy 5R rifling
The straight factory Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor with the standard rifling was more accurate than the fancy chassis rifle.
The .308 WCF Ruger American was a bugholer too.

I have a RAR in .243Win . compact. I am not sure what improvements I would make. I bought it cause I need a light gun, short and handy in a climber for close shots like 40 yds max. It is a real nice gun . I payed $464 plus tax so it was not all that cheap neither, but it is my best gun for that purpose. Maybe the RAR is a real good gun for what ya want it for . Try using it for a year the way it is and you will likely like it. A Boyds stock might add weight.

I have had 2 Ruger Predators, both shot great from the factory. One was a 6.5 Creed which I had found an MDT chassis cheap so did that. I loved the way it shot but didn't care for the chassis. It went down the road to someone that was willing to spend some money.

Second is a 223 Predator that I shot and was very accurate. I punched it to 223Ackley and it is awesome. I have done a lot to this rifle with very little expense but it is a completely different gun.
1. I have cleaned up and re-sprung the trigger and now a very nice 2.5lbs for hunting. no cost as I have plenty of spring stock
2. Rechambered. Already had reamer.
3. Added a switch barrel in a new wildcat I designed. $100 had most of the stuff.
4. Stiffened stock and reshaped. Painted. About $40 in 2 part epoxy and paint.
5. Smoothed up action and receiver.

If I had to hire everything done I would have definitely picked a much better Receiver or overall rifle to start with. This does shoot great but I don't feel they feed as smooth due to how they cut the feed ramp. I am actually just starting on a new aluminum magazine which will fit much better and be able to feed the short wildcat round I built.

Then he will be asking for a quality barrel replacement