. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Those of you who have been seeking the holy grail of long distance at an affordable price have just been provided a taste from the cup itself. Ruger has apparently taken the pulse of the shooting community and recognized a trend which Boone & Crocket turned their noses up at… ”Long Distance Shooting”. By doing so, Ruger’s engineers have come up with an excellent platform, chiefly, The Ruger American Rifle which consists of a number of variants – The Standard (found in multiple configurations), The Ranch, & THE PREDATOR.
The Ruger American Rifle is sort of the skinny little brother to another heavy hitter that Ruger came out with recently to answer long range aspirations, The Ruger Precision Rifle. While the RPR has gotten lots of attention from the press, the Ruger American has somewhat been living in it’s shadow, but make no mistake, this little guy is no slouch, and in my eyes, deserves some time in the spotlight for a number of good reasons!
First and foremost… this little gun is a shooter! The Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor we tested was very accurate and would give many multi-thousand dollar guns a run for their money. Using Hornady ELD 140 grain bullets, we were able to throw lead to 500 yards into groups that would make serious shooters take notice.
This bad boy was capable of shooting a 5 round group in just under 3.5 inches, which to put in perspective, is about the size of the palm of my hand! Considering that we were only using a 10x scope and Kentucky windage to aim, I believe that the rifle is capable of even smaller groups.
Next, the gun is light! I’ll be candid… and admit that I initially broke down and bought two Ruger Precision Rifles! I was enamored by the creativity that the engineers at Ruger put into the RPR, however, to my chagrin, the Ruger Precision Rifle comes in at a whooping 9.7 lbs for the 308 and a staggering 10.6 lbs for the 6.5 Creedmoor. I say staggering because if you ever took this rifle for a long hike up a mountainside (or even small rolling hills for that matter), you’d be staggering back! The RPR isn’t a gun anyone except Arnold Swarzenegger wants to be toting around in the field.
Hunters that are going to be covering terrain need light versatile rifles and that’s where the Ruger American Predator shines! At most, the RAP weights in at just over 6.5 lbs! That’s 64% the weight of it’s bigger brother. Every serious hunter knows that 1 pound of weight feels like 10 pounds upon your return from the field. You can do the math! Also, in field conditions, you may have to shoot standing, unsupported at fast moving game. The RAP weight advantage allows for quick easy shots and swingability that feels natural. Trying doing this with the RPR and you’ll likely blow a disc in your lower back!
And the last real deal sealer… the Ruger American Predator has a street price of around $400! That’s just an incredible value for a rifle that shoots this well. If you want a light, accurate rifle on the cheap that I suspect is capable of boiler room shoots out to 1000 yards, look no further! Heck, I’d rather buy an inexpensive firearm that shoots great than an expensive one that does. Why? Because it means I have more money to put into better optics. When you are shooting as far as this rifle can... accurately, you can’t hit what you can’t see!!
Kudos to Team Ruger. JOB WELL DONE
One last note: If you watch the video... and see that the rifle is not ejecting spent cartridges, do not be concerned! The Ruger American Predator had no issues whatsoever with a soft ejector! My son and I had just done a K31 Swiss review and had to chase a lot of brass. We decided on this review to just not fully engage the bolt stop and keep the brass at arms length, so we could toss it into our stand for easy retrieval!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
P.S. We will be taking the Ruger American Rifle out to 1000 yards in the near future and I will update this blog with the results!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete