Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Any mechanical problems with Ruger American Rifles?

I posted farther up the thread, writing about my Predator in Creedmoor.

I opened the mag front. It feeds great now. Thanks for the fast fix idea.

I also opened up the barrel channel more. A lot.

I went to the range this morning. In the pic, I shot at the left dot first. The rifle is still grouping the same. Shots 1,3, and 5 went into about 7/10. Last time out I had the same shot numbers go into the .5s and .6s. This is from a rest and only touching the rear bag and a very touch on the pistol grip.

Then I shot the dot to the right (after the barrel cooled.), but this time holding the forearm. The same pattern, with shots 1,3, and 5 going into about 4/10. The flyers went left with this hold. Every other trip to the range, the targets have looked just like the first dot.

I guess this could be something in my shooting technique, but it sure seems repeatable! I was thinking the larger free float might do the trick.

With my last four shots, I held one mil low on the reticle and gave the rifle a hard grip, forearm and pistol grip. The first three shots were in the .3s, then I don't know what happened to the fourth. (It felt good.)

I guess the next step is to stiffen the forearm like in the post above.

The other group in the pic is a different rifle and can be ignored.

Good info. Have you tried playing with seating depth yet? Or is this factory ammo?

I haven't tried seating them deeper, but I can next time out. I might have some time tonight and I'll try to stiffen the forearm with some steel-bed putty. I should be able to make it to the range this coming Thursday and will report back after that.

The rifle wants to shoot. If seating depth and messing with this stock doesn't work, I may just bite the bullet and order a Boyds. My 15 year old is six foot, he can pack the weight if he wants to!

The first time out I also tried loads with Varget and Hunter. I haven't tried a different primer or bullet. (I want to stay with the 140 A-Max.) I really do think the flyers are caused by the very flexible stock, based on a half dozen groups throwing shots two and four away, and the hard grip making such a big difference.

I realize this thread has been down for two weeks, but since I said I would report back on my American's mechanical problem (the floppy fore end), here it is.

I put some steel bed in the five inches of the fore end. (Starting at the tip.)It added two ounces to the rifle. But, the problem with the stock tapping the barrel and getting two groups is gone.

I made it to the range yesterday. It was WINDY. 10-15 and gusts. It was coming down the mountain at me and causing some weird vertical in all four rifles I shot. I tried to shoot between gusts, but it was impossible and you can see some extra vertical in the targets.

The before picture is further up the thread. Here is the same load. I switched scopes and the first picture says "sighter", and the bullet hole on the bottom right is my first shot. I corrected up and left and shot the four round group.
The second pic is of the same load, but seated deeper. Then there are two loads with Varget. I am certain the groups would be better on a less windy day.

For the cost, I'm very happy with the rifle. The "fix" cost $6 and a few minutes.

The dots are one inch.