I was a bit puzzled at first by the name of
this new rifle, The Ruger American, as all Ruger
rifles are made in the USA. However, while Ruger has been
building quality American-made bolt-action rifles for
forty-three years, this new bolt gun is not just a variation on
the legendary Model 77, but is a
totally new design for Ruger. Using their knowledge of how to
build a bolt gun, along with modern materials and methods of
manufacture, the folks at Ruger have built the Ruger American
Rifle to be a reliable, lightweight, easy-handling and
superbly-accurate bolt gun that sells for about half of the
price of their lowest-priced Hawkeye. While price is not
everything in a hunting rifle, this Ruger American gives up
nothing to its more expensive competition in terms of handling
and accuracy.
I first got to handle a prototype of this new
rifle back in early November of this year at the NASGW
show in Reno. Ruger did not have it on display, but they did
show this new Ruger American to me, along with some other
products that are slated for introduction very soon. Ruger has
been introducing new products at a pretty fast pace lately, and
they have also made a point of having the firearms in the
distribution pipeline as the announcements of the new products
are made. These Ruger American rifles are in production and
ready to ship as of this writing.
The Ruger American Rifle will be offered in
both short-action and long-action versions. The one shown here
is a long-action, chambered for the 30-06 Springfield cartridge.
There are several things that I really like about this new
Ruger. First of all, and the thing that I immediately noticed
when first shown the rifle, is the trigger. Ruger calls this
trigger design the Ruger Marksman trigger, and it is
user-adjustable for weight-of-pull. Specifications call for a
weight-of-pull range between three and five pounds, and mine
adjusted down a quarter pound lighter, to two and three-quarters
pounds of resistance. The release is very crisp, and the trigger
has a safety lever set into the blade, much like the system used
on the Savage AccuTrigger.
The internal design of the Marksman trigger and the Savage
trigger differ, but in use, they are similar. I am glad to see
Ruger offer this excellent trigger on their lowest-priced rifle.
I also very much like that Ruger used a
three-lug bolt design on the Ruger American Rifle. This allows
for a seventy-degree bolt lift, which gives plenty of clearance
between the bolt handle and the ocular bell of a riflescope,
allowing the scope to be mounted low, as it should be. At the
rear of the bolt is a visual and tactile cocking indicator.
Ruger placed the two-position safety on the Ruger American in
the center of the top tang, right where God intended it to be,
reminiscent of the original Model 77 bolt action safety. The
safety pushes forward to fire, and is easy to operate while
shooting from either shoulder. The bolt can be cycled with the
safety on or off.
Another feature of the Ruger American that I
really like is the detachable box magazine. I much prefer a
detachable box to a drop floorplate design. The Ruger box
magazine is a rotary design, allowing a four-shot capacity,
without the magazine projecting below the stock, making the
rifle easy to carry, and allowing a five-shot fully loaded
capacity. The stock is matte black, and lightweight. It has
molded-in Ruger Power-Bedding recoil/bedding blocks to rigidly
attach the barreled action, and the barrel is, thankfully,
free-floated in the forearm channel. As should any hunting
rifle, the Ruger American comes equipped with sling studs
attached. The stock is well-designed and textured for a secure
grip. Even though the Ruger American wears a twenty-two inch
hammer-forged barrel, the rifle weighed in at a svelte six and
one-quarter pounds on my scale. The stock wears a very effective
soft synthetic rubber recoil pad.
The Ruger American rifle uses standard scope
bases, and comes supplied with a two-piece scope base set, for
the use of any Weaver-compatible scope rings.
For accuracy testing the Ruger American, I
mounted a three-to-nine power Redfield matte black scope using
Weaver Grand Slam steel rings. This Redfield scope, like the
Ruger American rifle, is made in the USA, and offers high
quality along with exceptional value, priced below many Asian
scopes. This Redfield has precise one-quarter-minute click
adjustments, and is waterproof and fog-proof. The Redfield is
also a very good choice for a hunting scope, and its power range
and size matches perfectly with the rifle and cartridge. The
30-06 is a dandy cartridge for hunting just about anything in
the Western Hemisphere. The only thing that I do not like about
the ought-six, is that if you own one, you really don’t need
anything else. It works perfectly hunting anything from
predators to bears, using the proper ammunition.
For accuracy testing, I wanted to keep things
as simple as possible, realizing that the purchaser of the Ruger
American rifle is most likely a hunter who just wants a great
rifle that will handle his hunting needs reliably, without the
bother of working up custom handloads for the gun. I did not buy
premium ammunition, but instead bought ammo that is as
affordable and as readily available as can be found, and
purchased the ammo off the shelf at Brigham Hardware in Dover,
Tennessee. Standard Remington and Federal ammo, in three
different bullet weights. The Federal ammo was soft point
hunting loads, in 125 and 180 grain weights. The Remington was
loaded with full metal jacket bullets, weighing in at 150
grains.
Setting up at the bench, I rested the Ruger
American Rifle into a Target Shooting
Inc. Model 500 rifle rest, and after laser
bore-sighting the scope, I loaded the Ruger to capacity.
Feeding from the rotary box magazine was butter-smooth. The bolt
glides easily, with no hint of ever trying to bind, no matter
how slowly or quickly I worked the bolt handle. I could not make
the bolt bind. The low-lift bolt worked well, allowing plenty of
room between my knuckles and the Redfield scope. I fired first
at fifty yards, then after getting the scope pointed in the
right direction, I moved out to the one hundred yard target, and
settled in to shooting for accuracy. I usually mount a scope
with more magnification for accuracy testing, but again, I
wanted to use a scope that would be used in the hunting field,
as is the purpose of this new Ruger American Rifle. Starting
with the Federal 180 grain ammo, the first three-shot group
fired at 100 yards measured exactly one inch center-to-center,
and I was well-pleased with the accuracy of this inexpensive
Ruger rifle. After that first group, things got even better.
Using only those three commonly-available factory loads, that
first group fired was the largest of the day. Speaking with my
friend Jason Cloessner at Lipsey’s about the Ruger American
Rifle before mine arrived, he told me that those who had tried
it were getting amazing accuracy, but I was still surprised at
how well it did with standard ammunition. As can be seen in the
pictures, this Ruger American Rifle exhibited excellent
accuracy, better than many rifles which I have fired that cost
four times as much money.
The Ruger American Rifle is a dandy hunter’s
rifle. What it lacks in polished blued steel and highly-figured
walnut, it more than makes up for with its smooth action, great
trigger, quick handling, and superb accuracy. It is priced
competitively with any entry-level bolt action rifle on the
market, but delivers premium performance in a one hundred
percent American-made rifle.
Check out the Ruger American Rifle online at www.ruger.com.
For the location of a Ruger dealer near you,
click on the DEALER LOCATOR at www.lipseys.com.
To order the Ruger American Rifle online, go
to www.galleryofguns.com.
For a closer look at Redfield optics, go to www.redfield.com.
Jeff Quinn