quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:

quote:

Originally posted by Jaywalker:
The premise is wrong - Ruger's do shoot well.

Jaywalker

There are probably some Rugers that don't shoo well. But there are probably a lot MORE Ruger SHOOTERS that don't shoot well, and they blame it on the gun........

Thats aweful funny, I take my CZ varmint out and agg 5 shot groups with factory ammo in the mid .5's all day. I guess I better learn to shoot better

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

its a pretty little gun that seems to have it all, 3pos saftey, hindged floorplate, CRF action

I wouldn't say CRF is a positive feature on a 22-250

quote:

what does it take to get a ruger to shoot??

I'm among the Ruger nay sayers.....but never said they don't shoot Same as all the others.....glass bed and free float.....reload for accuracy and if it's not there.....trade it off....very few rifles have ever failed this test for me.

This is good advice!

Well, I'm not gonna claim that Rugers are garbage but I don't think I'll ever get another one. First of all, I admit that I like their physical appearance and especially like the fact that they come with open sights. I'm a firm believer in a set of open sights as a backup in case of a scope failure. I'm not sure I like the angled front screw and I know that the trigger sucks & I always replace that and of course glass bed the action.
In the mid-70's, I picked up a Mod.77 with a tang safety in .257 Rob'ts. For years, I never shot it much then about 5 years ago, I decided to see what I could wring out of it. I admit that I didn't spend a lot of time wringing out proper handloads but It just didn't seem it was as accurate and consistant as I wanted. I finally decided to get it rebarrled & rechambered to .257 Imp. After a lot of foot dragging by my gunsmith, I sent it off to Kreiger & had them do the work. In a nutshell, with a Canjar set trigger and the action being blueprinted, that rifle shoots bugholes with the 75 gr. v-max and does it consistantly. I've got more work to do on it but I'm entirely satisfied. Did I try to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? Yup! I'll never get my money out of it but it is reliable.
My other Ruger story regards the .270 Win. I picked up new in the mid-90's. Regardless of what I did, I couldn't get that rifle to shoot to my expectations on a consistant basis - ie. 1" groups. Glass bedding, new trigger, recrowning, checking & rechecking torque on the screws - nothing worked. Not to mention trying different powders, bullets & seating depths. It should at least shoot Sierra's. This past summer, I decided to try one more time with another powder & bullet or I was gonna either get it rebarelled or get rid of it. Still not up to my expectations. I decided to get rid of it. Then, I found my lost love at the fall gunshow - a pre-64 Win. Mod 70 in .270 Win. Needless to say I bought it. I've taken it to the range several times so far and without really playing with components, I'm confident she's gonna do a consistant 1". Nuff said, I got rid of the Ruger.
Having written all of this, I will admit to having a Ruger .338 Win. mag. and I like it. The accuracy with a 1.5-5x scope is very close to my 1" expectation, after all, the scope isn't designed for shooting bug holes. I've finally decided that in the future, I'm gonna pass on Rugers. I think they're too "iffy" for me. They're a fine rifle for many but not for me.
Sorry for the long diatribe but these are my opinions. Bear in Fairbanks

Most of the problem is the actions are touching wood where they shouldn't be, like all around the action instead of just the bottom. Pull the action out or the stock and look at the wood, especially around the rear bridge area. Scrape off any shiny spots so the action seats in the stock properly. When you put the front trigger guard screw in, keep it just tight enough so it doesn't vibrate out. Any tighter and it will stress the center of the action.

I have a .22-250 MKII VLE that will put 20 rounds into 1.5" at 300 yards. I used to take it to 300 yard practice night at a range in NH once in a while; from cold to hot it will just keep laying them in the 10 ring of a 50 ft pistol target, they wouldn't let me shoot at anything bigger.

One last thing, definatly check your crown, the barrel polishing machine Ruger uses have centers that go in the ends of the barrel to hold it for the belts. If they hit slightly off center as they are being loaded there will be a dingle in the crown.

1.5 inches at 300 yards in 1/2-minute of angle. That's damned fine shooting. No doubt the lack of wind at night and the consistent lighting helps. Still, a very noble performance.

Mixed feelings about Ruger. I had a 77/II in 300 WM quite accurate, 7/8 cm at 200 m. and have an Ultralight 270 W. that was a junk. I had to rebarrel/bed/work the trigger; now shoots well. Than I discovered Tikka, and bought a 695 300 WM where EVERYTHING is ok out of the box. I will never buy a Ruger again.

Are you in Italy now, wildboar? I didn't know rifles were legal in Italy. I would have guessed the gub'mint didn't want people owning guns that could throw a projectile hundreds of meters when there were so many unpopular politicians around.

I lived near Pisa as a lad from '69 to '73, then again from '75 to '76. All I ever saw were shotguns.

Hey rootbeer, Italy isn't North Korea! Here a hunter can own as many shotguns and rifles as he can buy, as well as 3 handguns, and even more with some special permits. 9 mm Para handguns and full auto guns are forbidden and we have some limitations about magazines capacity. Unpopular politicians are (unfortunatly) a pest worldwide, not only in Italy.

I never knew that about gun ownership in Italy. I was just a punk kid back then; I was more interested in ten-speed bicycles and playing endless rounds of golf than I was in guns. I discovered guns when we moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho (where Dutch lives) in 1973. Unfortunately, as a 15- and 16-year old, I couldn't afford the princely sum of 200- to 300-some dollars for a new 700 or M70 back then. If I remember correctly, the minimum wage was about $1.75 or $2.00 an hour-- it would take a long time to save up the money for a nice rifle at that rate. I knew nothing about reloading-- didn't even know it could be done, so I'd be buying my ammo off the shelf. More hours spent in drudgery at ridiculously low pay...

The lack of evening wind and non-glaring light helped alot, but it took me along time to find the load too.

I tried 4 different Bergers, 2 different Sierras, 1 Speer, 2 Nozlers, 2 or 3 Hornadys.

All this over various charges of Benchrest, H414, 3031, 4350 and a couple of Winchester ball powders, 748 and 760 I think.

With all loads the gun is a solid .75-1.0" gun at 100yrds. But the 55gr Nozler really shines over H414. From a low charge of 34 to a high of 36.5 grains it will hold .50-.55" groups all day long. While not spectacular by Benchrest measurments, its as repeatable as the sunrise.

I had several test groups with the Hornady 53gr match that were .18 to .4 but I ran out of time before a woodchuck "safari" to wring them out for the perfect charge wieght. So I stuck with old reliable. I really like the Noz55's performance so I will probably stick with it.
Having two little ones around makes it difficult to go to the range for 4 hours for testing.