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Old February 16, 2013, 07:17 PM   #1
Dan Newberry
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Ruger American .243 at 650 yards...

...with Federal Fusion 95 grain ammo. This is a bit hard to believe... but facts are facts... here goes:

We had a guy show up at the course today with a factory, brand new never fired Ruger American Rifle (RAR)... we ran through the bore sight, got it on paper at 100 yards, and fired these two shots with Federal's Fusion 95 grain .243 ammo...



We just had 40 rounds to work with, so 2 shots at 100 yards seemed enough... a few clicks of right windage and we took the rifle on to 350, 500... and finally 650 yards. The thing shot extremely well. No break in, just shooting it...





It was pretty cold, in the high 20's with wind blowing 8 to 12 mph... but waiting on the lulls with 4 minutes of windage allowed the shots to come onto the plate. Look at the elevation spread.... practically non-existent. This Federal ammo is really good stuff...

A shot down range...


This kind of performance will be hard for many to believe, I realize... but facts are facts. I was just as amazed at the Federal ammo as I was the Ruger rifle itself.

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Old February 16, 2013, 09:53 PM   #2
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I believe it! Fusion ammo is all I hunt with in my .25-06 and my wife's .243. Very underrated stuff.
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Old February 16, 2013, 10:02 PM   #3
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It has been exceptionally accurate in my .270 also!
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Old February 17, 2013, 01:05 AM   #4
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This post is encouraging. As i have just picked up an american in 243. All i have found locally is winchester super x and remington cor lokt in 100gr. And some 80gr super x. Saw one box of hornady 58gr vmax. But they wanted 45 bucks for it. Would love to find some fusion around here and try it out.
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Old February 17, 2013, 08:41 AM   #5
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We live in a golden age of rifle manufacture. It's amazing to me that some of the gun-makers budget rifles shoot so well, as evidenced by the Ruger American. I also see the same level of performance in the Savage Axis. I bought two of them at Christmas for teenage grandkids and the little $300.00 rifles are hovering right around MOA straight out of the box.

And yes, the guys I know who shoot .243 swear by the Federal Fusion 95 grain load. Some won't shoot anything else.
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Old February 17, 2013, 09:36 AM   #6
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Fusion Ammo

the 180 gr. Fusion in .30-06 shoots GREAT in my Savage 110
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Old February 17, 2013, 09:56 AM   #7
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Sold I'll have to try a box, and people need to understand that Dan TEACHES people to shoot long distances, so he gets 50% of the credit.
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Old February 17, 2013, 06:39 PM   #8
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I recently bought a used Savage 270 that came with 150 Grain Core Lokts and it doesn't shoot them well. Guess I'll give these a try, lol. I'll reload for it eventually, but in the mean time...
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Old February 17, 2013, 06:49 PM   #9
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Incredible
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Old February 17, 2013, 06:50 PM   #10
Brian Pfleuger
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Wow. Looks like NY, except guns don't shoot that well in NY...
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Old February 17, 2013, 08:32 PM   #11
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Took mine to the range today to sight in. Took 12 shots and upon cycling the bolt to eject the last shell the bolt disassembled. Firing pin, spring, etc shot out the back of the bolt. Looks like ill be calling ruger tomorrow....
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Old February 17, 2013, 09:17 PM   #12
reynolds357
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Yall need to quit talking so much about the Ruger American. If yall keep showing me this stuff I am going to have to break down and buy one of them.
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Old February 17, 2013, 09:35 PM   #13
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About 15 years ago I went on a hunting trip to South Africa. Friend of mine there wanted me to bring a Ruger SS 270 with boat paddle stock so he could buy it off me when I was done hunting. Tried my best to convince him to let me bring him a Remington 30/06, but he insisted. Just so happened a big chain store was going out of business and I found the 270 there for a really good price. Then I thought I better shoot it to see if it works before taking it overseas, put a scope on it, bought some cheap Federal 130 grain ammo and took it out to the desert in AZ. First 5 shots at 100 yards could be covered by a quarter. Could not believe my eyes, took me a long time and lots of different reloads to make my Winchester 30/06 to shoot half this good! Shot another group really taking my time, and had an even better group.

I though no way in hades am I selling him this rifle, ran back to the store and bought another one! It shot good as well, not quite as good but still a 3/4 moa rifle. Shot 7 springbuck with it, including a double. He hunted extensively with it, shot lots of animals with it, including a springbuck at what he said was 430 meters, and was happy as a pig in Palestine with it.

I still have the Ruger, just shot it about a month ago in real windy conditions at 200 yards, and shot a decent group. It actually became my wife's elk rifle, but she never got a shot at one.
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Old February 17, 2013, 10:00 PM   #14
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Unlike similar offerings from Remington and (OMG) even Savage...this "budget" line from Ruger doesn't seem to have a negative review online that I've seen yet.

From the simple, 3-lug short-throw bolt (such a simplistic piece of "engineering") to the hammer-forged barrel, Ruger has hit a definite winner.

A testament to the ammo and the rifle (not to mention the shooter!).

Interesting, in that you did no "break-in"- and it seems to have needed none. Not what you'd typically expect from a price-point barrel like this.

It all points to quality and tight tolerances in the machining and assembly. It would be interesting for someone with the equipment and the knowledge to measure such things as concentricity of the action/bore, trueness of the boltface and lugs to the recesses...all the usual "stuff" that makes a rifle accurate. Then compare them to the much higher priced offerings.

I was very skeptical of the bedding "blocks" on this stock- so "cheesy" looking...but if that action were moving around in the stock, you wouldn't have the results you got.

Makes ya wonder what it could do with some load development, huh?
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Old February 17, 2013, 10:18 PM   #15
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Good points... especially on the break in.

The shooter only had 40 rounds of ammo (with shortages as they are, that's all he could come up with). The course was a day clinic, so he ended up being able to meet criteria with the ammo he had.

The two shots on the 100 yard target are actually the 2nd and 3rd shots from the brand new barrel. The first shot was a bore-sight... we did clean the barrel with Butch's after 10 to 12 shots, on three occasions during the course. But even cold clean bore shots were not terribly off point...

I looked around for a bad review, and like you, found none. A member above (in this thread) has mentioned that his bolt came apart... that can't be a good thing. But I'm sure Ruger will make it right, their customer service is very good...

I didn't know how those "V" blocks would work in lieu of a traditional recoil lug, but they do seem to work. I don't know how far Ruger wants to press their strength (i.e. with heavy magnums)... but for non-magnums they seem to work.

IIRC they're recommending around 80 inch pounds of torque on those action screws. The design is different, but seems to work.

Hopefully, some stock makers will get into making some laminated stocks for these... or maybe since the rifles are selling so well, Ruger themselves might begin offering them with heavy barrels and laminated stocks in varmint calibers...

Dan
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Old February 18, 2013, 04:29 AM   #16
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I'd like to see a stainless model and some more calibers, though I already want one in 7mm-08. Has anyone "heard through the grapevine" any plans to offer a stainless and more calibers? I know they just added 22-250 and 7-08 at the first of the year, but I'd like to see .204 Ruger, .25-06, and 6.5 Creedmoor in the American lineup. That would get me even more interested
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Old February 18, 2013, 03:28 PM   #17
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My Ruger American 270 will be going back. Chamber head space is too short. Can barely get factory ammo to chamber. Tried Federal, Remington and Winchester. Not sure what they test fired it with.
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Old February 18, 2013, 07:41 PM   #18
Murauder
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I hear their customer service is great. My problem is the hours. Only from 8am to 4pm MST monday through friday. Kinda hard to get ahold of them when you're stuck at work all week.
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Old February 18, 2013, 08:03 PM   #19
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They have pretty good customer service now. Fifteen years ago it was absolutely awful, but they are very pleasant to deal with now.
Back in the day they made me so mad I said "I would never buy another Ruger." I got over it and have a lot of Rugers now and when needed their customer service has been good.
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Old February 18, 2013, 08:04 PM   #20
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Hmm. It didn't group that well in my .308. Maybe I should try again eh?
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Old February 18, 2013, 08:39 PM   #21
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Quote:
Hopefully, some stock makers will get into making some laminated stocks for these... or maybe since the rifles are selling so well, Ruger themselves might begin offering them with heavy barrels and laminated stocks in varmint calibers...
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the conference room when they hold their sales and marketing meetings.

If they did as you suggest, then they'd be competing with their M77- which now has a heavy barrel "tactical" model.

Substitute a heavy barrel, and a better stock on the American- and what would separate them from the M77-other than a cheaper price for a rifle that'll shoot just as well (or...better?).

That's why I suspect (just a WAG) that they intend to leave them at this price point...time will tell. Wonder what they had / have in mind...

Quote:
Hopefully, some stock makers will get into making some laminated stocks for these...
Well, now...you just might have given me something to think about...
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Old February 22, 2013, 03:08 PM   #22
reynolds357
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Because all you people on here cant quit talking about Ruger American rifles, I had to go buy one. .243 Win. I hope it shoots like the one above.
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Old February 22, 2013, 06:38 PM   #23
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Reynolds 357- I know what you mean, I think I'm getting the bug too
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Old February 22, 2013, 07:18 PM   #24
reynolds357
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My first opinion of the rifle is "Mosin Nagant." Not that the rifle even remotely resembles one, but it is cheap, rugged, functional, accurate, and ugly.
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Old February 22, 2013, 07:47 PM   #25
Dan Newberry
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Reynolds... I think it'll serve you well. We were working with two of them today, the one which is the subject of this thread, and the second one which is my 12 year old son's, he got for Christmas.

We found that both rifles shoot the 105 AMAX in front of 48.2 grains of Retumbo, in RP cases very well. Another three shot group at 650 yards well under MOA from the subject rifle of this thread... and the second rifle (my son's) seemed to want to do as well also, but the wind was getting up and it was hard to get the shots on the plate with the 2nd rifle.

Here are some 100 yard groups from the Ruger American, .243 win...





Then a 'possum decided to walk out in front of the 100 yard target board while my son was shooting in the 87 vmax load...



It was very strange... we saw three different possums out in broad daylight in the field today... the landowner put the first one down with his TC Contender in .218 Bee, and as mentioned the second one fell to the 87 vmax .243 win... and the third one was at 750 yards, and we lost sight of him before we could get a decent shot at him.

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