OK so my truck gun--Remington SPS in 243 has evolved into a project gun and is off for a new barrel. Probably won't see it for a year. Was in my LGS and had about $500 in points on my Visa burning a hole in my pocket and went ahead and bought a Ruger American Predator in 6mm Creedmoor and a couple boxes of Hornady ELDX ammo....

Took it home...took it out of the stock and adjusted the trigger--maybe 3#--but nice enough that I'm not tempted to replace it and I'm picky about my triggers. OK...then I notice it will take AICS style magpul 5 round magazines with no modifications...OK...even better. The stock is a cheap plastic POS but its functional and the comb is high enough with a scope that I'm not out of position...OK. Safety is nice and positive like I like em. Bolt is smooth right out of the box. Makes a weird noise like a pair of corduroy pants legs rubbing on each other when you when you work it. But nothing obnoxious. The barrel is nice, Threaded...I just put a little loctite on the thread protector to keep it from vibrating loose. Came with a Picatinney rail pre-installed from the factory. I checked the torque on the screws--good to go--and left it alone. Put it back together and retorqued the action screws to 60 In/Lbs per the manual. Oh yeah...the Predator has a magazine latch that must be disassembled by driving a roll pin out before you can remove the rear action screw. A little bit of a pisser. But nothing ridiculous and Ruger includes a reassembly tool that has a slave pin and holds everything in place when you reinstall it and tap the roll pin back in place.

Installed a SWFA Super Sniper 3-15X44 30mm scope in a set of Leupold Backcountry Weaver/Picatinney low rings and was off to the range/hayfield.

After boresighting my first shot at 100 was a little right and at the top of the target. Adjusted the scope. Second shot got it within 2 inches of the bull. Adjusted again and I shot a group. 1/2" off my truck hood with some sandbags. My hayfield needs. to be cut and my bench sits too low to the target with the grass as high it is... time to let it cool a little...it was 90 degrees outside.

Got out my $1600 Eurotrash Benelli Lupo in .270 Winchester and banged out some superb groups with a couple 140 grain Nosler Accubond loads I'm playing with...then back to the Ruger.

Shot two more groups before the sweat in my eyes and horse flies biting my back and arms were too much. The damn gun put three shots touching each other and five more into a little less than a half inch. Hornady factory ammo--off my truck hood.

Damn $500 gun with factory ammo. Kinda makes you just want to throw your hands up and give up on the rest of it....

BTW, the 6mm Creedmoor is something to take notice of if you like shooting 100 grain or heavier 6mm bullets. It purpose built for this with a 1-7.7 twist and while the case holds 2 ish less grains of water then a .243 win case...the creedmoor case is much shorter and lets you seat bullets WAY out there and still fit in a short action magazine...because of this you can actually cram more powder in the case because you have to seat them deeper to feed with a .243... The 6mm Creedmoor will have virtually identical ballistics with the 6.5 Creedmoor FWIW

SO there you have it. I have a sub MOA truck gun with no mods and no custom loads that will shoot with my $5,000 custom rifles and beats some of em... Damn... Plus I used points off my Visa...so free money...LOL OK I know that's a false economy.

Congratulations. I love and hate those stories. I also have some nice customs, but have been lucky with some off the rack guns. That does sound like the perfect truck gun.

I see this all the time at our range. And $500 would be a high price; go to Wal mart and get any of the throw away rifles for $350 with scope; they shoot better than anything.
Modern technology produces precision machines.
And the reason no one will buy a Mauser action these days.

quote:

Modern technology produces precision machines

Nailed it, couldn’t agree more!

This is pretty typical of what happens with advances in modern technology. So many times, you see someone spend big $$$ to get an old or poorly-shooting gun in shape only to have an econo rifle blow it into the weeds. I'm certainly not one for "sell it and get a new one", but with modern rifles that seems to be the case. I had a Ruger 270 from many years ago that absolutely would not shoot lower than 1.5-1.75", no matter the handloads or modest modifications to the gun. I finally got fed up with it, sold it, and bought a Remington 700 CDL made just a few years ago that will cloverleaf anything I feed it. Problem solved.

Your Ruger was actually a result of them using Wilson barrels before 1990; the lowest of the low quality barrels. In that case it was because Wilson's QC was terrible.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Your Ruger was actually a result of them using Wilson barrels before 1990; the lowest of the low quality barrels. In that case it was because Wilson's QC was terrible.

Maybe. I've had Wilson barreled Rugers that shot quite well.

Get a blaser spend custom rifle dollars and you will see modern high tech rifle making.

Won’t be the cheap bang for buck of a ruger American but all your other custom rifles will be outdated.

Mike

Ive had the same luck with the Savage Axis... especially the ones with the Accutrigger.. the .223 and .243 have been 1-hole guns... i stiffened the fore-end with a piece of aluminum arrow and fiberglass putty... cheap scope and all..

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Get a blaser spend custom rifle dollars and you will see modern high tech rifle making.

Won’t be the cheap bang for buck of a ruger American but all your other custom rifles will be outdated.

Mike

Do you what "Blaser" translates to from German to English? LOL

quote:

Originally posted by KY Nimrod:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Get a blaser spend custom rifle dollars and you will see modern high tech rifle making.

Won’t be the cheap bang for buck of a ruger American but all your other custom rifles will be outdated.

Mike

Do you what "Blaser" translates to from German to English? LOL

Just make sure you spend $5k and not $500.

They do sell well on used market - something Rutgers don’t do. But for the dollar buy the ruger.

Mike

quote:

They do sell well on used market - something Rutgers don’t do. But for the dollar buy the ruger.

I will say selling a 300 dollar Ruger is a lot easier then selling a 5000.00 anything rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Your Ruger was actually a result of them using Wilson barrels before 1990; the lowest of the low quality barrels. In that case it was because Wilson's QC was terrible.

I've heard that from a few folks. Irrespective of the reason, she wouldn't shoot! I know the modern Hawkeye they build is considerably better quality, but the styling of Ruger rifles over the last some years... blech. But I digress.

It's a tough pill to swallow sometimes that someone's beloved (and probably very nice) pre-64 Model 70 or whatever is a consequence of the manufacturing of the age and doesn't actually shoot that well.

I had a Factory Rem 700 in 300 RUM that shot tiny little cloverleaf groups and I shot it in Barnes Bullet's tunnel with Randy Brooks (Prior owner) and he said "it's amazing how well some guns shoot with a two dollar barrel".
I've always remembered what he said when I have a $400 custom barrel that won't shoot well enough for me and needs to be replace with another $400 barrel so it does.

Some guns are more prone to shoot well while others, not so much. I agree, price doesn't always mean they're going to be hummers!

Zeke

Bought my daughter a Ruger Predator in 6.5 Creed after watching a video of a former special forces guy reviewing one and shooting 1/2 in groups with it. Hers does the same thing so I bought my son in law one too. Both guns will shoot 1/2 to 3/4 groups consistently. My sons and I all have custom 700's rebarreled with heavy Lilja barrels,precision stocks etc, costing 3-4 x as much and getting .3 to .4 in groups. The Ruger's make a pretty damn good, accurate hunting gun for the money.
Scott

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Get a blaser spend custom rifle dollars and you will see modern high tech rifle making.

Won’t be the cheap bang for buck of a ruger American but all your other custom rifles will be outdated.

Mike

The problem with this suggestion is that the Blaser contraption costs more than just the $$$'s involved. That's easy enough to replace.

The real cost comes with the loss of reputation for being known as a Blaser owner. You can never regain respect afterward.

Todd, what about pictures? What if someone took your picture holding one of those Blaser contractions?

quote:

BTW, the 6mm Creedmoor is something to take notice of if you like shooting 100 grain or heavier 6mm bullets. It purpose built for this with a 1-7.7 twist and while the case holds 2 ish less grains of water then a .243 win case...the creedmoor case is much shorter and lets you seat bullets WAY out there and still fit in a short action magazine...because of this you can actually cram more powder in the case because you have to seat them deeper to feed with a .243... The 6mm Creedmoor will have virtually identical ballistics with the 6.5 Creedmoor FWIW

Sorry, but you just don't know what you're talking about when you assert that the smaller case magically holds more powder than the larger case with the same bullets seated to the same length. Nor do you know what you're talking about when you assert that the 6mm has "virtually identical ballistics" as the 6.5mm. No doubt you are pleased with the performance of an inexpensive rifle, but your enthusiasm should have stopped there before you discredited your comments with "ballistic myths".

I crossed all of that out because I don't intend to offend, and I apologize in advance for my harshness. But misstatement of fundamental geometry and physics simply can't go unchallenged.

Was the Blaser pregnant? Sorry. Could not resist.

quote:

Originally posted by squeezenhope:
Todd, what about pictures? What if someone took your picture holding one of those Blaser contractions ?

Not a mag length clearance advantage issue? Poor wording was not clear.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

BTW, the 6mm Creedmoor is something to take notice of if you like shooting 100 grain or heavier 6mm bullets. It purpose built for this with a 1-7.7 twist and while the case holds 2 ish less grains of water then a .243 win case...the creedmoor case is much shorter and lets you seat bullets WAY out there and still fit in a short action magazine...because of this you can actually cram more powder in the case because you have to seat them deeper to feed with a .243... The 6mm Creedmoor will have virtually identical ballistics with the 6.5 Creedmoor FWIW

Sorry, but you just don't know what you're talking about when you assert that the smaller case magically holds more powder than the larger case with the same bullets seated to the same length. Nor do you know what you're talking about when you assert that the 6mm has "virtually identical ballistics" as the 6.5mm. No doubt you are pleased with the performance of an inexpensive rifle, but your enthusiasm should have stopped there before you discredited your comments with "ballistic myths".

I crossed all of that out because I don't intend to offend, and I apologize in advance for my harshness. But misstatement of fundamental geometry and physics simply can't go unchallenged.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Get a blaser spend custom rifle dollars and you will see modern high tech rifle making.

Won’t be the cheap bang for buck of a ruger American but all your other custom rifles will be outdated.

Mike

The problem with this suggestion is that the Blaser contraption costs more than just the $$$'s involved. That's easy enough to replace.

The real cost comes with the loss of reputation for being known as a Blaser owner. You can never regain respect afterward.

hatters gonna hate

the blaser r8 is the best rifle platform out there.

Mike

quote:

hatters gonna hate

the blaser r8 is the best rifle platform out there.

Mike

I looked at them at the SHOT when they first came out.

I have played with them every SHOT show I went to.

I like them but they are way over priced.

When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel.

Let alone all the cheaper stuff out there.

There is no contest.

I have killed stuff with dozens of calibers many makes and styles of rifles.

For close to 60 years.

There is not thousands of dollars difference in them.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

hatters gonna hate

the blaser r8 is the best rifle platform out there.

Mike

I looked at them at the SHOT when they first came out.

I have played with them every SHOT show I went to.

I like them but they are way over priced.

When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel.

Let alone all the cheaper stuff out there.

There is no contest.

I have killed stuff with dozens of calibers many makes and styles of rifles.

For close to 60 years.

There is not thousands of dollars difference in them.

there may not be thousand dollar difference between a swarovski and a vortex either. between a tesla and a chevy bolt or a nighthawk and taarus 1911.

quality in high end stuff is difficult to sort and is largely driven by consumers discretionary income.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

BTW, the 6mm Creedmoor is something to take notice of if you like shooting 100 grain or heavier 6mm bullets. It purpose built for this with a 1-7.7 twist and while the case holds 2 ish less grains of water then a .243 win case...the creedmoor case is much shorter and lets you seat bullets WAY out there and still fit in a short action magazine...because of this you can actually cram more powder in the case because you have to seat them deeper to feed with a .243... The 6mm Creedmoor will have virtually identical ballistics with the 6.5 Creedmoor FWIW

Sorry, but you just don't know what you're talking about when you assert that the smaller case magically holds more powder than the larger case with the same bullets seated to the same length. Nor do you know what you're talking about when you assert that the 6mm has "virtually identical ballistics" as the 6.5mm. No doubt you are pleased with the performance of an inexpensive rifle, but your enthusiasm should have stopped there before you discredited your comments with "ballistic myths".

I crossed all of that out because I don't intend to offend, and I apologize in advance for my harshness. But misstatement of fundamental geometry and physics simply can't go unchallenged.

Fundamental geometry is quite simple and straightforward in this instance.

"When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel."

Yes cheap rifles, the Remington Outdoors company went bankrupt now a new company RemArms have started production they say no warrantys are taken over from old the companys products. They also promise a much better quality control for their new product rem 700s.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com...marms-guns-warranty/

quote:

Originally posted by Nordic2:
"When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel."

Yes cheap rifles, the Remington Outdoors company went bankrupt now a new company RemArms have started production they say no warrantys are taken over from old the companys products. They also promise a much better quality control for their new product rem 700s.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com...marms-guns-warranty/

blaser is not in same league as remington or ruger. steyr monobloc is maybe in blaser league.

i bought a ruger american 300 blackout. timney trigger was another $200.

adding a proper stock would be another $800 - mcmillan.

never have to add anything to a blaser.

Mike

I have a heritage arms .22 single action revolver with extra .22 mag cylinder, I think I paid $125 for it.

It is has pot metal sights that are off to the right a wee bit, but I don’t want to bend it as I am scared it will just break off.

The damn thing will knock down steel plates at 25 yards with boring regularity. I might be pretty good at shooting it but it pisses off people with expensive guns when they go 1/5 or 2/5 next to me as I knock them down as fast as I can rack the plates and fire the gun.

Why add a new trigger and stock on a rifle with a 200y max cartridge?

quote:

Originally posted by Nordic2:
Why add a new trigger and stock on a rifle with a 200y max cartridge?

i like the rifle - hated the ruger trigger that came with it.

i hate the stock too but dont want to get a mcmillan for it.

will be getting a mcmillan for my cz452 17 hmr instead.

i like 300 blackout - its the best home defense calibre for me. i have a few
ar sbr and other rifles/pistols in it.

the ruger american in 300 blackout with a silencerco omega is a fun range and backyard gun.

Mike

I dont need any home defence guns I use my 300blk for small game hunting at shorter distance.

I hate ugly guns that shoot good!! so there!!!

I took two new 6.5 Creedmoor chambered rifles to the range last weekend to sight in for the owners. One was a Browning X-Bolt with a Trijicon scope. The other a Walmart Savage Axis with a no name scope. I bore sighted them and fired two sighters each. The Browning then shot a 1/4 inch 3 shot group and the Savage printed a respectable 3/8 inch group. 100 yds. $2,500 outfit vs a $350 outfit. Both brand new out-of-the box with no break in. Ammo was Hornady and Winchester respectively.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
I took two new 6.5 Creedmoor chambered rifles to the range last weekend to sight in for the owners. One was a Browning X-Bolt with a Trijicon scope. The other a Walmart Savage Axis with a no name scope. I bore sighted them and fired two sighters each. The Browning then shot a 1/4 inch 3 shot group and the Savage printed a respectable 3/8 inch group. 100 yds. $2,500 outfit vs a $350 outfit. Both brand new out-of-the box with no break in. Ammo was Hornady and Winchester respectively.

Factory rifles and ammo have come a long ways.

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

hatters gonna hate

the blaser r8 is the best rifle platform out there.

Mike

I looked at them at the SHOT when they first came out.

I have played with them every SHOT show I went to.

I like them but they are way over priced.

When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel.

Let alone all the cheaper stuff out there.

There is no contest.

I have killed stuff with dozens of calibers many makes and styles of rifles.

For close to 60 years.

There is not thousands of dollars difference in them.

there may not be thousand dollar difference between a swarovski and a vortex either. between a tesla and a chevy bolt or a nighthawk and taarus 1911.

quality in high end stuff is difficult to sort and is largely driven by consumers discretionary income.

Mike

Mike, do you drive a Porch or a Messarati?

Bobster--If you are sighting in a rifle for a customer, probably doesn't matter how they shoot as the owners probably can't shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

hatters gonna hate

the blaser r8 is the best rifle platform out there.

Mike

I looked at them at the SHOT when they first came out.

I have played with them every SHOT show I went to.

I like them but they are way over priced.

When one can buy complete Remington 700's Win's 70's Ruger MKII's for less then the price of a Blaser barrel.

Let alone all the cheaper stuff out there.

There is no contest.

I have killed stuff with dozens of calibers many makes and styles of rifles.

For close to 60 years.

There is not thousands of dollars difference in them.

there may not be thousand dollar difference between a swarovski and a vortex either. between a tesla and a chevy bolt or a nighthawk and taarus 1911.

quality in high end stuff is difficult to sort and is largely driven by consumers discretionary income.

Mike

Mike, do you drive a Porch or a Messarati?

F150 with 103k miles
And a beat up Honda Accord with 123k miles - that is my dog car I borrow it from him once in a while.

Mike

Super accurate guns are a crap shoot and price has little to do with it, mostly its the barrel, thats the heart of accuracy...I like a good looking horse, gun, or women and a rifle that is slim trim balanced with a good barrel..most of them cost pretty good these days..Ive had excellent results with Ruger 77 these days and love the African models...even in a truck gun, and that to me is a reall nice rifle thats had a hard life, its true beauty used but not abused.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Super accurate guns are a crap shoot and price has little to do with it, mostly its the barrel, thats the heart of accuracy...I like a good looking horse, gun, or women and a rifle that is slim trim balanced with a good barrel..most of them cost pretty good these days..Ive had excellent results with Ruger 77 these days and love the African models...even in a truck gun, and that to me is a reall nice rifle thats had a hard life, its true beauty used but not abused.

I have 10 blaser r8 from 204 ruger to 375 h&h all shoot .60 or better.

I have 4 k95 barrel - all shoot .5 or better.

Never seen a r8 that simply does not shoot lights out. Why they don’t have any gimmick moa guaranties.

Mike

Wal-Mart black rifle accuracy is great, but that is not the only thing that makes a great rifle. I have a T/C Venture in 280 Rem that is smooth as glass and is as accurate as any hunting rifle I own. But the blind, straight up 3 round magazine in a tupperware stock kind of spoils the fun.

I can understand someone having a pro mount a scope properly and bore sight it. However, it really pains me to not only have to sight in a customer's rifle but to be held accountable if they don't shoot a deer with it. I actually had one customer have me called out to the sales counter where he confronted me and wanted a guarantee! I told him if you can't sight in your rifle you may need to find another hobby. Another customer wanted to know the sequence that each bullet was fired into the target group. But, we charge dearly for it so that tends to ease the pain.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
Bobster--If you are sighting in a rifle for a customer, probably doesn't matter how they shoot as the owners probably can't shoot.