I'm looking for a new rifle for my son and I need one that's a compact version and I don't want to spend a lot on it. I've narrowed it down to the Ruger American and the Remington 783. Any input on these guns would be much appreciated!
783 is heavier. Otherwise both will be accurate and good quality. 783 has 40 dollar rebate right now if that matters
Is there such a thing as a compact 783? I have a standard (?) 783 in .223. Nothing real special about it. It is very smooth and has a pretty good trigger, adjusted to 2#. The stock is cheap and pretty flexible. Acurracy is pretty good, at least groups are consistent. Mine holds 6 in the mag. Seems to heat up and start sending fliers a little sooner than I would have thought. I do like mine though and Boyds can fix the stock problem.
I bought the 1st American Compact I saw in 223. I later ordered a full length stock for it from Ruger and added Predators in 308 and 6.5 Creedmoor to the safe. They are the 3 most accurate rifles I own.
I have no experience with the Remington, but I got my daughter a Ruger American and I'm extremely impressed with the accuracy... the magazines aren't the greatest, but the rifle shoots great
Other choices to consider-
TC Venture youth carbine- lighter than the 783
Weatherby Vanguard S2 youth carbine- a little more money, but nicer than the Ruger American. More accurate, better trigger. I own all 3 of these, and my .243 Weatherby does .5 MOA for 3 shots. I got my Weatherby "on sale" at Cabela's for $400 out the door.
Of those two, the Ruger without question.
The Ruger will resell when desired. The 783 won't.
You could find a Rem700 Youth model that will work and resell later.
I"d pick the Ruger hands down.
And I am not bashing the Remingtons..Ruger just did a better job designing their rifle.
Looks ,quality , product support and resale all favor the Ruger.
I also.believe the safety, trigger, bolt ooeration and magazine are easier to both operate and understand from the perspective of a woman or child.
,
No other bolt gun is easier to load or to clear and make safe than the Americans.
Ruger
I have a Compact with 16' barrel in .223 and it will print one on top of the other for the first two shots. You will have to let it cool off a little after that if you are punching paper.
I chose the Remington because I wanted a cheap rifle to see what I would get out of a .223 bolt gun. I think I would like a Tikka now to go with my 6.5 Swede Hunter.
Any remington that isn't based on a 7 or 700 is a turd... 710, 783, etc... I don't hate any ammo enough to waste it through one of those crappy tubes
Ruger.
Never handled a 783, but I saw one in the rack once. From three feet away, I knew I wasn't interested.
Another vote for the Ruger.
I gave away my Ruger Predator... the new owner seems to like it a lot...I replaced it with a Howa Mini Action in 223, which I really
enjoy...so I'm no fan of the Ruger American... I called mine the Ruger Mexican...
That being said... a friend on a budget came home with the 783 in 223... he is forever bringing it over here for me to look
at due to having problems with it...its his first rifle, so he "loves it"...and won't consider trading it off..
But Comparing that Ruger American, to the experiences of straightening out his 783, when he brings it over...
even if the Ruger was a $100 higher....I'd recommend it and say it was $100 well spent...
if you are open to options, check out the Howa Mini Action in 223 from Whittakers... the owner posts here...
ShortActionSmoker...
mine was $345 to my door step...
I'm looking for a new rifle for my son and I need one that's a compact version and I don't want to spend a lot on it. I've narrowed it down to the Ruger American and the Remington 783. Any input on these guns would be much appreciated!
Wal-Mart sells a 700 ADL youth package with a throw-away 3-9x40 scope for around $390.
It would be, at least IMO, a better rifle than either the Remington 783 or RAR and one that you can easily and inexpensively restock when he grows out of the youth stock's shorter LOP.
If cost is an issue, CDNN still has some Marlin XS7s in 243 for $240, plus shipping and dealer fees, that can be restocked with the youth length stocks that regularly show up on eBay. I am a fan of the Marlin X guns because they can easily and inexpensively be rebarreled with small shank Savage specs barrels if you ever want to play with a different cartridge.
Yep. I bought a Wal-Mart ADL youth 243 last weekend. $379 and you can get $40 for the scope on Craigslist, plus there's a $50 rebate right now. So it's suddenly a $290 rifle.
If going one of the routes mentioned by the OP, I'd go with the RAR. They are easy to get to shoot with a little sandpaper work for a good free-float and a spring swap in the trigger.
ya know boys, I picked up one of those Rem ADLs in 223 not long ago...
its certainly not the same 223, as one I picked up 10 years ago...
first thing it needs is a trigger replacement...
I picked it up to replace the older ADL, figuring it would be cheaper than a rebarrel,
plus I was told it was a one in 9 twist... which turned out to be BS...
been sitting in the gun cabinet for a year or more...
will probably eventually pull the barrel, and sell the action...
and the first thing I did when I got it home is took off the scope and gave it to
a kid for his 10/22...
I think Walmart ends up with stuff, that other stores have returned to Remington
or its cheap stuff that Rem put together to use up crap stuff from the parts Bin..
which sends me back to Recommending the Howa from Whittakers.
ya know boys, I picked up one of those Rem ADLs in 223 not long ago...
its certainly not the same 223, as one I picked up 10 years ago...
first thing it needs is a trigger replacement...
I picked it up to replace the older ADL, figuring it would be cheaper than a rebarrel,
plus I was told it was a one in 9 twist... which turned out to be BS...
been sitting in the gun cabinet for a year or more...
will probably eventually pull the barrel, and sell the action...
and the first thing I did when I got it home is took off the scope and gave it to
a kid for his 10/22...
I think Walmart ends up with stuff, that other stores have returned to Remington
or its cheap stuff that Rem put together to use up crap stuff from the parts Bin..
which sends me back to Recommending the Howa from Whittakers.
I doubt that Wal-Mart is buying seconds or refurbished returns as they are too big a customer to piss off.
I am a full time gunsmith. So you can think of me as the Gun Doctor. I get to see every thing that goes wrong, and if I see them over and over and over I can give sound advise, based on facts instead of opinions about what guns to buy and not buy.
The Ruger Americans so far have been trouble free.
The Remington M783 have been very troublesome.
To me that's a SUPER easy choice to make.
I bought a Ruger predator in 22-250 a few weeks ago to serve duty as a cheap truck/Prarie dog/yote gun. It's a cheap POS but shoots well and functions good enough for what it is. The trigger is terrible, but I wasn't expecting anything else. I will burn the barrel out, pitch in the trash and repeat as needed.
I have a Ruger American in 300 Blackout that is an extremely accurate rifle and I really like it.
Of those two, the Ruger without question.
^^^This^^^
Not a Ruger American fan, I traded away my 06 model but do like the little rimfire model for teaching kids and using my 10/22 magazines.
Unfortunately the bargain models "non 700" from Remington are the worst rifles in the marketplace. Crappy fit and quality are outweighed by worse accuracy and dependability. With so many good choices in attractively priced rifles - Howa, TC Venture, Marlin, Ruger, Savage, etc the 783 is a very poor choice.
Not a Ruger American fan, I traded away my 06 model but do like the little rimfire model for teaching kids and using my 10/22 magazines.
Traded away my RAR .30-06 as well, even though it was a gift from Dad. It was one of the early ones and I tried 6-7 different types of factory ammo in it. None shot well.
Unfortunately the bargain models "non 700" from Remington are the worst rifles in the marketplace. Crappy fit and quality are outweighed by worse accuracy and dependability. With so many good choices in attractively priced rifles - Howa, TC Venture, Marlin, Ruger, Savage, etc the 783 is a very poor choice.
That is sure to piss off some 783 owners. But I agree.