Hey all,

I am thinking about picking up a fairly cheap rifle to take advantage of (this is quite relative) ammo that is still available and cheap, and be able to shoot without needing to reload to have fun without breaking the bank. Filling the freezer now and then would be a nice thing too.

The Ruger American in 7.62x39mm stands out here. We can get Savage Axis scouts with 20" barrels, in stainless, and they look great except for the magazine. Its a 3 shot, and I have read complaints saying it works better with 2 than with 3.

Has anyone had an American Ranch for long enough or shot it enough to comment on reliability/durability? I know "feels cheap" is very subjective....do they stand up to lots of use well?

I have one in 7.62x39 and 450 Bushmaster. My nephew has one in 5.56. All have been boringly reliable and all shoot lites out. My 7.62x39 is MOA at 100 yards with Hornady ammo. The 450 BM is MOA at 100 and my nephew’s 5.56 is less than MOA at 100 and it has shot everything we have put through it MOA to less than MOA.

I had one of the original RARs in 300 BO. It wouldn’t shoot for squat. Light primer strikes galore. Sent it back to Ruger twice. Finally traded it because I was tired of messing with it. Later heard many of the early 300 BOs had issues like that. New ones seem to be ok.

Brother in law has one in a 350 legend. No hiccups of any kind and it shoots great.

I have one of the 300 BO. Was having light primer strikes and one case separation. I took a hard look at it and decided it was a headspace issue. It took about a quarter turn of the barrel to get the headspace right. Nice thing about the barrel nut system, you can straighten that out fairly easily. I also had to touch up a rough crown. I was disappointed at first, but the two issues were not worth sending back to have someone else look at it when it only took a half hour to fix. Now it shoots very well (~0.75moa with factory vortx loads), and no more light strikes. Took a 110lb doe with it at 75 yards at the end of our season with the Barnes 110gr and it performed very well. Might just become one of my favorite deer rifles.

Like all the RARs, if people keep buying the damned things they won't upgrade that abomination of a stock.

I have one in 223 that i love. I have a decent selection of nice varmint rifles. This low budget rancher is my favorite. At 200y its as accurate as any of them. Riding a snow machine with it on your back is nice because that short barrel doesn't catch trees as easy. I'm hunting wolves with it tomorrow morning! 55 gr. vmax fb and 24.6 gr. of varget is deadly.

Hopefully they will are one that takes SR25/LR MAGPUL in 308, 6.5cm

Been looking for one of these in .223.

Looked at Gunbroker and they were going for $650 I can't pull the trigger on that much for what it is.

I bought one about a month ago in 7.62x39 for the exact reason that the OP mentioned. I’ve got several cases of steel cased ammo in the above caliber. So far I’ve had it out once and shot 80 rounds of GT and Tula through it. Consistent 1.5 inch groups, I’m sure Hornady would probably shoot MOA.
The rifle is a blast to shoot with no function issues of any kind. The trigger is good, I find the stock fine.
I paid $500 for it which is probably $100 more than it was before the madness but I’m very pleased with my purchase.
I highly recommend it for simply fun factor.
I also picked up a 10 round and two 20 round mags

Had three Americans, two of them Ranches. Couldn't get past how cheaply made they are. Each went down the road.

The 300 blackout was fun little rifle, but shot supersonics a lot better than subs.

Buy an American. You won’t regret it. I like nice wood and blued rifles but for a beating around gun that you don’t have to worry about and will shoot accurately, the RAR is hard to beat.

^^^This^^^

Have one in 350 Legend. No complaints

I have a 300BO that's accurate. Not the smoothest bolt. I got it before the AR mag models came out, and the proprietary mag kinda sucks. I wish it had a 3-position safety. Like all the budget plastic stocks, the stock is flimsy.

It checked the boxes, but if I had the chance to do it again, I'd go with the AR mag model.

Fill the front end of that stock with epoxy to make it much firmer.

It's fine as is and I don't want to make it heavier. It just feels cheap.

Have you considered one of the Howa Minis or Zastava 85s?

I have the compact in .223. It's so handy and light. I have the original rotary magazine version. In .223 the magazine holds 5 rounds. My only concern is about it dropping out. I think the magazine could have been developed a little better but I like the smooth round stock and no long magazine hanging out. With 55 grain Hornady soft points it's a tack driver.

kwg

Down here, available means 6mm CM and .416 Whatever. I managed to get some Nosler 7.62x39 a while a go for my grandson’s Howa, but that dried up quickly.

If you can find some Hornady 123gr SSTs, grab them. They kill deer well.

I have a couple American rifles. Both in centerfire and rimfire. I have found that if you can get past the junk stock (easy to replace but pricy) then they are lights out shooters for the money.

The stocks are really my only gripe with them, then being an entry level rifle I have a hard time spending as much on a replacement stock as I did the rifle itself.

Best group out of my 7.62x39mm Ruger Ranch

I have one of the first ones chambered in 5.56. Solid Rifle.

Friend has one in 7.62x39 and its actually sub MOA with Wolf Russian 154gr SP ammo!

Very nice deer rifle out to at least 200 yards. Flatter shooting than you might imagine. The really nice thing is that it takes Mini 30 mags...cheap and easy to get and available in 20rd guise.

I’ve got a rotary mag 5.56 Ranch. I did the mag modification to shoot 75g amax’s. It shoots those and everything else great. If you can get the 7.62x39 version for cheap right now, there’s no reason not to.

They appear to be very functional and decent rifles especially for the price. I have only held them, but the seem well regarded. I must admit I like older Rugers though.

I have a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creed, had a 450 Bushmaster American, traded that for an American 350 Legend (we have to shoot straight wall ammo in the midwest for deer hunting).

450 was loud and kicked like a mule but it was very accurate.

The 350 is also accurate and much milder recoil.

The Predator in 6.5 is very underrated. Crazy accurate for the price and I have shot steel out to 650 yards with it. Several videos on YouTube of guys shooting stock American Predators out to 1000 yds.

Unfortunately can't hunt deer with it in the midwest. (It's for sale/trade in the classifieds at the moment.)

I have two. One in 7.62x39 commie, and one in 223. Both are accurate and reliable. I load a Sierra .311 Pro Hunter SP for the 7.62, and a 64 grain Winchester SP the the 223.
They are a great value, and I am very pleased with them.

I picked up a 300 blackout last week and have had one trip to the range. It shot everything I fed it better than expected. Even my best guess cast bullet loads went under 2 inches, but the jacketed loads were an inch or under. It is going to make a good truck gun, new shooter gun, and kid deer rifle. It may push me to buy a suppressor.

I left a 7.62x39 on the shelf over the summer to go home and pick up a trade for it, when I got back it was gone. I wanted to the blackout more anyway, but if I didn't reload I would have the 7.62x39.

Thanks for the info everyone, I appreciate all the reviews and thoughts!

Good to hear some people are running a lot of ammo through them and they are holding up too.

Fotis, that is one accurate rifle, and good shooting! Also happy to see you can still reach 2500 fps from the 16" barrel. That makes me like it quite a bit more. Expected worse velocity loss to be honest.

260 Rem, yep I have considered the Howas and the Zastavas too. The Howa in particular looks like a great option. Decisions decisions.

I HAD one in .223/5.56...

Stock, 5
Bolt, 5
Action, 7
Finish, 5
Accuracy with hand load, 9

Great budget rifle, I sold it to buy a Tikka T3x lite. Needless to.say im much happier now.