Ruger American Ranch - 300 BLK - Review

[CP]

I’m pretty disappointed in this rifle.
 
The 5 round rotary magazine is a flimsy plastic POS.  Why did they not design this to take standard AR mags?  Money is the only reason that I can think of:
http://shopruger.com/Ruger-American-Rifle-5-Round-Magazine/productinfo/90440/
 


The combination of the cheesy mag with the awkward geometry of the mag, bolt, and chamber makes it so you can’t feed a round into chamber without putting it into the magazine first.   It also will not feed anything but pointed bullets with an overall length of at least 2.03 inches.  Anything else jams short of the chamber and damages the bullet.   

While all factory loadings that I’ve tried chamber fine, this makes hand loading of many of my favorite .308” bullets impossible.   No flat nose, no round nose, no short bullets. 

Long pointed bullets only:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/614359/barnes-tipped-tac-tx-bullets-300-aac-blackout-300-whisper-308-diameter-110-grain-flat-base-lead-free-box-of-50

[headshot5]

I guess I never realized back when you were looking at getting one that you had not held a Ruger American.  It's no secret that the mags are different (all plastic and seem flimsy), and some people don't like them, plus I thought it was pretty well known that the ejection port isn't really set up for single feeding.  (Sounds like you would be equally disappointed with a tikka t3 etc., same thing poly mag and small ejection port) Edit to add this is why tikka just came out with the t3X to make the ejection port bigger, but it'll cost more than a  T3.  Sorry to hear you're disappointed.  I was able to use Speer 130 flat points (handloaded) in the ones I have shot, and nosler 125gr.   

Yes the bullet has to be seated a little deeper (for 130 flat point) so it won't bind up, but it works fine getting acceptable velocity and accuracy is great.     I'd say you should mess with it a little more before you give up on it.   

Or you can always fork out more money and get a Remington 700 or Remington model 7 (neither uses mags, but can be blind fed)...  for the price I think the Ruger American ranch delivers.

Good luck with it, I'll try to do some testing with the one I have used (belongs to a friend).           

[headshot5]

Can you tell us what kind of accuracy you are getting out of it?

[CP]

The accuracy is pretty good so far – only shot it out to 100yards.  I do like the trigger and the overall feel of the rifle. 

And I did know about the mag before I bought it -  but the rest of the issues are a big disappointment.  I really like the Sierra 125g FNHP – shame that it won’t feed.

 Ruger should have done a better job on the design.

I’ll keep after it though and post some better accuracy data when I get it.

[CP]

Left to Right:
•   Sierra 125g FNHP - won’t feed without jamming
•   Missouri Bullet Co.  165g cast - OAL = 1.946” - won’t feed without jamming
•   Nosler 150g HPBT – OAL = 2.000” – feeds sometimes, jams sometimes
•   Same Nosler – OAL = 2.190” - feeds reliably, every time
•   Remington UMC 220g subsonic – OAL = 2.229” - feeds reliably, every time

[headshot5]

I can understand your disappointment then, since the shorter OAL ones won't feed and you can't single feed the ruger American without standing on your head.   I'd keep playing with seating depth and see if their is a magic spot for the shorter OAL.

I'm pretty sure you're going to have a tough time with the 165 regardless that thing has a huge meplat, I hope you get it to feed I bet that thing hits hard. 

[CP]

There’s no playing with OAL.  If the nose of the bullet hasn’t started into the chamber before the other end pops out of the magazine the nose drops and jams in the corner were the barrel and receiver join.  An OAL longer than 2.00”ish works great, a shorter bullet jams.  It’s that simple.  With the right length ammo the rifle is 100% reliable.

I have found a procedure for chambering a short round:
•   Point the rifle muzzle down at about the 5:00 O’clock position
•   Turn it so the bolt handle is up
•   Slowly push the bolt forward until the bullet pops from the magazine
•   The bullet usually drops into the chamber, if it doesn’t shake the rifle until it does
•   Close the bolt.
Of course this little dance will get you kicked off a lot of ranges and isn’t very useful for hunting.   

Here’s my 100 yard target for 3 loads that I’m working on.  Two of which chamber well, the XTP of course is too short to chamber reliably.  All were fired at the same POA and I can whack an 8” steel plate @ 225 yards all day long with any of them.

I'm getting to like the little rifle, just have to work within its limitations.

[headshot5]

 

[Thefisherman83]

Nice groups!

Those Barnes 110gr are what my dad used to whack a deer with last year in my 300BLK AR.  The deer only went about 30yds and was stone dead when we got to him.