Has anyone used or shot one of these? Thoughts good or bad,I know its ugly.

An acquaintance bought one in 30/06 last year and I loaded up some hand loads for it using Win brass and 4831SC with 180 grain Speer bullets. At 100 yds. it put four rounds through a slightly ragged hole and at 200 it put three side by side touching. My S-I-L has one chambered in 308Win and it is almost as accurate. I bought one in 270Win last spring but have only started load development with it and shot four into an inch (first four to sight in and the next four -1") but I am positive it will be a tack driver. I have owned and loaded for three 270wins and I haven't even neared where the others hit their sweet spot.

For the money, it's got a lot going for it. Aluminum bedding block, three locking lugs, tang safety and accu-trigger. The ones I've seen have all shot very good groups. I'd take it over anything else in it's price range.

Personally, I'd rather have a 40 year old sako but a used Sako is also twice the money.

Thanks thinking a knock around beater

quote:

Originally posted by tr 405:
Thanks thinking a knock around beater

A very good friend of mine who is a superb marksman is getting 1/2" groups at 100 with 130 gr. Winchester whitebox 270 ammo. First two shots touching, third 1/2" off.

It's big bang for the buck.

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Personally, I'd rather have a 40 year old sako

Those late model Sakos from the 1970's were okay, but the really good ones were prior to 1968, not 1972 as some people believe.

If it's all about the kill, then the pedestrian discount house rifles like the Ruger and plastic Savages and Remingtons will kill just fine. But having to use one of those does detract from the totality of the hunt.

Stone, I do have to disagree with your second comment about cheap rifles.

While perhaps you and I may be able to afford high end rifles and scopes there are a lot of people who cannot. Why should we disparage people with cheap rifles? For that matter, what about the absolutely beat up 75 year old rifle that can't shoot 3" groups at 100 yards anymore...but it was great grandpa's so that makes it ok, right?

The only thing that's important is that one values the hunt - be it a rabbit, a white-tail, a bear, kudu, buff...

Saeed's rifle (err, one of them anyway!) is beat to shit, scarred, damaged...it continues to work and take game. In a plastic stock. Heaven help us!

I guess he's less than for not using a walnut & blued Kilimanjaro or Heym. Right? We might forgive Walter though...

A lot of absolutely crap rifles have taken phenomenal game - record book stuff. One hunts with what they have, what they can afford, what they want. The gear does not detract from the hunt.

The guy I referenced who owns the Ruger "Plastic Fantastic" American rifle is a Wounded Warrior, returned home, and is going on an elk hunt with three other Wounded Warriors. I'm betting he has a spectacular time with that rifle and I'm betting further that the rifle is not a consideration of the value in this hunt.

The fact that one hunts, that one values the game, the process, the trials and tribulations, is enough.

My Ruger American 243 put 80gr Rem Pt'd soft pts
in .294. These were shots 7,8, And 9 using the first 6 to sight in scope. Returns to the range have repeated this.

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rifles like the Ruger and plastic Savages and Remingtons will kill just fine.

rnovi: What else do you want from me? I happen to derive great pleasure from being a rifle snob. That's my right. Others may be just as happy hunting with plasticized aluminum, which is their right. They are just about as likely to kill their quarry as am I, which I think I made amply clear in my original post with the words reproduced above.

Most guys out there can't afford the custom rigs that most members of this forum enjoy, hence the big demand for cheap rifles, which all makers have jumped to fill. Added to that is the fact that modern, cheap, rifles tend to out perform the older, classic ones makes them good killers. For those who enjoy the finer things in life that only money can bring, more power to them as well. There is room for well heeled rifle snobs who would not be caught dead in the field with an off the shelf piece, as well as those who have to make do with lesser (no less capable) off the rack, rifles.

Thanks for the info . I have beautiful wood stocks custom guns tack drivers and so on .I just wanted to know how the gun faired, to use and not worry about banging it around thanks to all who posted.TR

I like nice rifles. But then again I am primarily a shooter not a hunter. It is good to have a nice rifle that is worn and aged due to good hunting experiences. But I can also enjoy one at the range, while the guys that depend only on hunting for use of a rifle, sit on a sofa watching football and hockey.

A guy at the local gun club had just purchased one and was sighting it in a couple weeks ago.After a few rounds to get it on target he promptly put 3 rds under 3/4" @ 100 yds. I had looked at one of these for a friends Grandson earlier this summer. Me concern was the plastic clip. I asked the guy at the range how his fed and he offered the rifle to me and his box of ammo. Filled to rotary mag and they cycled as smooth as can be. I would say this may be the best entry level rifle on the market right now.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Most guys out there can't afford the custom rigs that most members of this forum enjoy, hence the big demand for cheap rifles, which all makers have jumped to fill. Added to that is the fact that modern, cheap, rifles tend to out perform the older, classic ones makes them good killers. For those who enjoy the finer things in life that only money can bring, more power to them as well. There is room for well heeled rifle snobs who would not be caught dead in the field with an off the shelf piece, as well as those who have to make do with lesser (no less capable) off the rack, rifles.

I'll drink to that! Hic! Oh dear . . . excuse me

If the truth be known, I'm a huge fan of cheap and/or ugly rifles, so long as they shoot.

One could call me a cheap rifle snob, or an ugly rifle snob. I'll fess up to both!

Not only do I own either the most ugly (or second most ugly ) rifle ever built, I also selected a Stevens 200 for my birthday present (well, I installed a Rifle Basix trigger and I fire-lapped the barrel before shooting it).

Both shoot to < 0.5 inch.

So yeah, I'm very proud of both (as I am of my kids . . . ).

B. L.: You can certainly say that again!

Oh, I see you already have.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
B. L.: You can certainly say that again!

Oh, I see you already have.

Ooops! Thought I'd deleted those extras. Problem now fixed.

I bought one in .243 for my daughter to use... great shooting rifle. We killed three whitetail bucks with it last season. I like it a lot.

I'm thinking of one as a beater in 30-06. If it is satisfactory I will have JES bore it to 9.3X62 in the three groove pattern. I particularly like a tang safety on my guns. My 99 in 358 Winchester even has a name. And a tang safety.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

rifles like the Ruger and plastic Savages and Remingtons will kill just fine.

rnovi: What else do you want from me? I happen to derive great pleasure from being a rifle snob. That's my right. Others may be just as happy hunting with plasticized aluminum, which is their right. They are just about as likely to kill their quarry as am I, which I think I made amply clear in my original post with the words reproduced above.

There are many, many used firearms for sale for a fraction of the price of any new that often are of much higher quality.

I see Frank Martinez has a lh ruger 25-05 for sale for $450.00 shipped in the classifieds. Sure, maybe not the finest example of gunsmithing craftsmanship, but a good example of a cleaner rifle, (blued, wood,) than the ruger american.

Most of the rifles I've acquired over the years have been used and I couldn't be happier with them. I'd advise any thrifty sportsman to ignore the new gun racks and check out the older models in the corner.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

rifles like the Ruger and plastic Savages and Remingtons will kill just fine.

rnovi: What else do you want from me? I happen to derive great pleasure from being a rifle snob. That's my right. Others may be just as happy hunting with plasticized aluminum, which is their right. They are just about as likely to kill their quarry as am I, which I think I made amply clear in my original post with the words reproduced above.

There are many, many used firearms for sale for a fraction of the price of any new that often are of much higher quality.

I see Frank Martinez has a lh ruger 25-05 for sale for $450.00 shipped in the classifieds. Sure, maybe not the finest example of gunsmithing craftsmanship, but a good example of a cleaner rifle, (blued, wood,) than the ruger american.

Most of the rifles I've acquired over the years have been used and I couldn't be happier with them. I'd advise any thrifty sportsman to ignore the new gun racks and check out the older models in the corner.

+1

I never buy new guns, furthermore I never buy new scopes. It allows me to have high end equipment with minimal investment.

For some folks a rifle is a tool to put meat on the table for others a work of art to be admired. I'm more on the tool side although I enjoy a beautiful piece of walnut and fine engraving and find it to be enjoyable to handle a fine piece of a gun makers craft. I can't imagine comfortably dragging a $10,000 work of art through scrub brush as I try to sneak up to a bedded elk herd or drag out a pack full of meat through that same terrain. Let alone fall on my but on ice covered slopes covered by snow and through tree limbs waiting to dump the snow down my back an all over my rifle. If you have ever seen a sling swivel come loose or sling unravel and drop the rifle in the dirt it is painful - but with a collectors piece it would be horrible.

Hunting guns should shoot well and perform reliably in adverse conditions - being ergonomically correct and having safety features where the hunter naturally looks for them would be next priority. Making your friends jealous because it looks so cool is kind of nice but to me is way down the list.

Advertisements for a 20 year old un-fired rifle for sale is kind of sad as far as I'm concerned.
I don't need another rifle but as soon as I make up my mind on caliber - I'll pick up a cheap reliable accurate american made Ruger that shoots well and has a decent trigger and a safety where I like to have them.

Reminton 721's were built better and look better than new model 700's. Old Ruger 77's were built better, have less printing stamped into the barrel, (look better,) than the new ones. No need to bring up the difference between original Model 70's and todays versions.

With the exception of Winchesters, the old ones cost less.

To me, the Ruger Amercian is the current state of the art in the ongoing evolution of mass produced North American hunting rifles...

What I'm trying to say is that since about 1860, American manufacturers have been striving to make rifles which will work great for just about everyone, for all of the American big game, at an inexpensive price.

The Ruger American is selling locally for about $380. It is very accurate. It has a smooth feeding rotary magazine. It doesn't weigh a ton to carry after a long day in the field. The stock is pretty much impervious to weather.

Sure the magazine is plastic. So what? How many of us have ever experienced a broken plastic magazine on a Ruger 10-22? I doubt we will see any greater breaking frequency on the Ruger Americans.

It is the very thing most hunters would have traded their left nut for in the 20th Century. And Even now, it is about as good as the everyday reliable hunting rifle gets.

Anyway, I am a high end rifle snob. And a low end rifle snob. And a bastard chamberings snob (how many of you have a 7x33 Sako, or a 9.5x57R, or some of the other really weird ones?). And I'm a used pre-1945 military rifle snob too.

Funny though, when I go hunting with other guys in camp, I take one of my older American semi-classics, such as a pre'64 Win M70. When I go with a guide, I usually take one of my high dollar modern rifles.

But when I go hunting by myself, just for the pure fun of hunting, I usually carry something like a MAS36, a Marlin .35 Rem. with a LOT of miles on it, a Savage 219, or some such inexpensive beater. They shoot plenty well for hunting, and I can literally throw it in the back of my truck, or lean it against a tree in camp with no worries about it if it falls over onto the ground or even onto a rock.

I wouldn't even consider buying a new Remington M700 or current Model 70 or any similar rifle for daily hunting as long as the Ruger American is here and nothing even better has evolved to fill that purpose.

I was talking with a fellow in the ammo isle of the local farm supply store. He stated he brought one for his kid in 243 and it shoots sub 1 inch groups with green box Remington.

Wasn't that long ago a sub one inch rifle was what one dreamed about now they are becoming common out of the box.

quote:

Wasn't that long ago a sub one inch rifle was what one dreamed about now they are becoming common out of the box.

especially on the internet!

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......What else do you want from me? I happen to derive great pleasure from being a rifle snob. That's my right. Others may be just as happy hunting with plasticized aluminum.........

Got that part Stone. Tell me this though: When you hunt, do you wear a necktie or an ascot? Does your butler tie it for you or do you tie it yourself?

I'd have to say that every Ruger American I've un-boxed has had a good usable trigger.

What bothers me with the current state of things is "cheapening" of current, what I would categorize as mid level guns like the Remington 700s for example. I handle a lot of new guns in the course of a week and I see flaws that are just ridiculous for the prices of such guns.

Not every one wants the absolute cheapest gun they can buy or the most expensive, but there are an awful lot of people who are still willing to pay for better than "bottom price point" products.