New Gun Report: Ruger American "Go Wild" 7mm/08

[Chaparral]

My wife has been going out to my hunting lease with me. And now she wants to hunt also. I wanted it to be special to her so I purchased her the new Ruger American "Go Wild" in 7mm/08. This model has the muzzle break. Comes with a picatinny already installed. I put a nice scope on the gun for her. And loaded up some rounds. Loaded some Hornady 139 gr SSTs. Easily bore sighted and I easily shot a 1 inch group at 100 yds. I've been letting my wife practice with a .222. The muzzle break does a fine job on the Ruger and really lightened up the 7mm/08 for her. She shot a 1 inch group 3 times shooting 3 round groups. Glad to see her excited and ready to hunt. I would definitely recommend this rifle.

[Brian Pfleuger]

7-08 with a muzzle brake.... that's got to be down right pleasant (in terms of recoil).
Your post is conspicuously missing pictures of this gun you speak of.

[Chaparral]

Would love to post photos if someone could walk me through how to do that.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Here you go:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=292842

[Chaparral]

https://goo.gl/images/D5AkER

Also I failed to mention that the barrel is freefloated and it is cerakoted a brushed bronze color. Camo stock.

[Brian Pfleuger]

That's just a generic marketing picture! We want to see *your* gun.

BTW, if you paste the link between the text [IMG][/IMG] it will appear directly in the thread

Or, click the button at the top of a post that looks like this and paste the link in there, it will do it for you.

Don't do that with generic photos from the web though... that's a copyright violation, you have to leave those as links.

[Chaparral]

Okay I'll try again. I posted that as a link. Thx for the help. I'm not too computer savvy.

[agtman]

7-08 with a muzzle brake.... that's got to be down right pleasant (in terms of recoil).

The 7mm-08 imparts very little (comparative) felt-recoil to begin with.

All adding a muzzle brake does is increase lateral concussive blast and guarantee auditory damage to yourself and anyone with you if you're hunting without hearing pro and touch off a round at some critter.

Get rid of the brake. It's a crutch for lazy shooters who only 'hunt' paper off the benches.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Wow. Opinionated much?

Let's skip the (thinly) veiled insults and holier than thou attitude and try to add something constructive to the conversation.

And any center-fire rifle is more than loud enough with or without a brake to produce hearing damage from a single shot. It can and does happen. No one should ever shoot one without hearing protection, hunting or otherwise.

[Bimus]

My wife likes the 130 grain lead gas checked with 11 grains of unique moving at about 1600 fps as her target load and walking in the woods load for the 7mm-08

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by agtman

The 7mm-08 imparts very little (comparative) felt-recoil to begin with.

All adding a muzzle brake does is increase lateral concussive blast and guarantee auditory damage to yourself and anyone with you if you're hunting without hearing pro and touch off a round at some critter.

Get rid of the brake. It's a crutch for lazy shooters who only 'hunt' paper off the benches.

Or the muzzle break might be for a dainty lady that just turned 71 and has never hunted in her life and just wants to sit in the blind with her husband so we can spend time together for the memory. This year we both went into the woods and built the blind for two. She has been to the range twice once with a 222 and then I purchased her the 7mm/08 with the break so it wouldn't hurt/scare her.

[Tallest]

Get rid of the brake. It's a crutch for lazy shooters who only 'hunt' paper off the benches.

Not that I don't take issue with the rest of your the post, but I especially wanted to point out that brakes can serve some really useful purposes for dedicated hunters who have probably spent more than their due time behind a rifle in the service, hunting, and at the range.

FOR SPECIFIC EXAMPLE - The company where I work has a long-time customer who is a disabled Vietnam Vet. Last year he had to undergo open heart surgery in late July. Dr. said no recoil for 4-6 months. His family had already planned and purchased a New Mexico elk trip for him and his son, and with the Doctor's input, they purchased an aggressively recoil dampening (though ugly as homemade sin) break for his, of all things, 7mm-08. He told us later that the hardest thing to get used to was the rifle not really coming back at all.

So... if you would like to meet my friend, hear his story, and call him lazy, I might be willing to even arrange the meeting.

Otherwise... find a cork for that sort of thing.

[NHSHOOTER]

Well said Tallest. There is also a old adage, dont judge a person until you have walked a mile in "her" shoes..Some just dont like recoil. Personally I am a good size guy and have owned and shot a 7 mag for a while.."short while" way to much for me, just love my 7-08's they are great deer killers and dont recoil too much for me.

[BeeShooter]

I built a 708 last winter and was very surprised to see how easy it was to dev a load and was astonished at its accuracy. Rem 700/McGowan 1:10/130gr MKs./Vortex. My daughter shoots this hunting rifle(11 crown only) and produces groups that rival my custom 6mm. comp gun. Maybe this is a fluke or maybe it's the 7mm08 cartridge itself. I guess time will tell.

[Tallest]

I must admit, I got a little side tracked there.

But in regard to the OP... I have a Standard Ruger American in 7mm-08 and it is my go-to rifle for deer. It has put a decent number on the ground in the short time I have had it, and just Saturday night I added a very dead coyote to its record.

I imagine the augmentations on the Go-Wild model make it an even more enjoyable gun to shoot.

Also, I really like the 139 Gr. SSTs. I never could get them to group in the Superformance factory loads out of my Ruger, but I got them up and running with some hand loads that were a smidge lower in velocity.

Congratulations and best of luck to you and the Mrs!

[FITASC]

then I purchased her the 7mm/08 with the break so it wouldn't hurt/scare her.

I think I am a little confused, Muzzles brakes increase sound to the shooter, and loud sharp sounds seem to impart a sense of greater recoil to sensitive shooters (which seems to mean women more than men). Secondly, they do help with some muzzle rise, but not so much with recoil as the recoil has begun as the rifle is fired.
Now, if SHE THINKS it helps reduce recoil, then by all means leave to help her with perceived recoil. Actual recoil is a math equation and Newton rules.

[FoghornLeghorn]

I failed to mention that the barrel is freefloated

This is a factory gun? Ruger freefloated a rifle barrel? That's interesting. I wonder if they're doing that to the new Hawkeyes? IIRC, some of their rifles are manufactured so as to deliberately put some pressure on the barrel.

Edited to add: I googled the subject and found a thread from 2013 on a Ruger forum. One poster said, " The American is also "power bedded" and the barrel is free floated. M77's do not have any type of bedding from the factory and the barrels are not freefloated in fact they are designed to shoot with some upward pressure on the end of the barrel."

Interesting that the more expensive of the two has the better freefloated feature.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by Tallest

I must admit, I got a little side tracked there.

But in regard to the OP... I have a Standard Ruger American in 7mm-08 and it is my go-to rifle for deer. It has put a decent number on the ground in the short time I have had it, and just Saturday night I added a very dead coyote to its record.

I imagine the augmentations on the Go-Wild model make it an even more enjoyable gun to shoot.

Also, I really like the 139 Gr. SSTs. I never could get them to group in the Superformance factory loads out of my Ruger, but I got them up and running with some hand loads that were a smidge lower in velocity.

Congratulations and best of luck to you and the Mrs!

Thank you sir. I'm glad to see her excited about the gun and hunting. We now go to the range together. Been going all my life, and now it is us. I drove to our local gun/hunting supply store today. She walked in with me and the guys said," I see you got your hunting buddy with you." Made me feel good for her. and I have reloaded some Hornady 139gr SSTs behind RL15 and they are holding a great group.

[ThomasT]

I have one of the older Remington model 7s with 18.5" barrel and walnut stock that weighs about 7.5 pounds ready to hunt and with 150gr bullets it does have a bit of recoil. And I shoot BP rifles and am not bothered by recoil but this little lightweight rifle can kick as much as my 30-06. So I understand the muzzle break may be just the thing for your female shooter. But I draw the line on the camo paint job. Its not for me. But its good to hear of a woman that likes to hunt and shoot. I would never get my wife to do that.

And the 7-08 round is about as good a deer round as you can ask for. I would pick it over the 243 any day. I loaded some 120gr Sierra bullets to around 2600fps so a small 15 year old girl could use my rifle on a 4H youth deer hunt. Twice she used it and killed 4 deer with 4 shots.

[std7mag]

I was just reading a post on the 7mm Rem Mag group on FB today. Gent had an accident of some sort and ended up with a broken neck. After learning to walk and regaining about 50% of his arm strength back was rear ended by a tractor trailer. Broke his neck again. Developed infection in his spine after surgery. Learned to walk yet again and now has about 20% of his arm strength back.

So for him, yeah something like a muzzle brake makes sense.

My daughter (very recoil sensitive) doesn't mind the sound of a gun at the range. Yes hearing protection on!
I was going to let her use my Stevens 200 that i re-barreled to 250 Savage. One shot and that was it for her! Didn't want to touch it again. She did like my much heavier Ruger 77 MKII in 257 Roberts. So she's using that this year.

Chaparral,

My hat is off to you and especially the Mrs. for wanting to share your experiences and time together!

[603Country]

The granddaughter (college kid) called and wanted to hog hunt. She hates recoil, so all that was left for her to shoot without recoil was the 223 Ruger Hawkeye. I had them shoot it for a while, while trying to ignore what the Partitions cost me. I had adjusted the sights for the 60 gr Nosler Partitions. Then put her (and boyfriend) in my best pig hunting stand. He actually took the shot, but the Partition did its job putting the pig down and exiting the far side of the pig. I don’t normally suggest a 223 for deer and hogs, but it will work, and recoil is negligible. It dropped that pig like a bad habit.

[FITASC]

I have one of the older Remington model 7s with 18.5" barrel and walnut stock that weighs about 7.5 pounds ready to hunt and with 150gr bullets it does have a bit of recoil. And I shoot BP rifles and am not bothered by recoil but this little lightweight rifle can kick as much as my 30-06. So I understand the muzzle break may be just the thing for your female shooter. But I draw the line on the camo paint job. Its not for me. But its good to hear of a woman that likes to hunt and shoot. I would never get my wife to do that.

And the 7-08 round is about as good a deer round as you can ask for. I would pick it over the 243 any day. I loaded some 120gr Sierra bullets to around 2600fps so a small 15 year old girl could use my rifle on a 4H youth deer hunt. Twice she used it and killed 4 deer with 4 shots.

I have the same gun and Nosler 140s PUNCH my shoulder whereas my 700BDL in 7mag is more of a big push

[ThomasT]

The granddaughter (college kid) called and wanted to hog hunt. She hates recoil, so all that was left for her to shoot without recoil was the 223 Ruger Hawkeye. I had them shoot it for a while, while trying to ignore what the Partitions cost me. I had adjusted the sights for the 60 gr Nosler Partitions. Then put her (and boyfriend) in my best pig hunting stand. He actually took the shot, but the Partition did its job putting the pig down and exiting the far side of the pig. I don’t normally suggest a 223 for deer and hogs, but it will work, and recoil is negligible. It dropped that pig like a bad habit.

I have a friend that lives down in east Tx and has for many years killed hogs and deer with a 223 using Barnes X bullets.

I have the same gun and Nosler 140s PUNCH my shoulder whereas my 700BDL in 7mag is more of a big push

I had a Remington Carbine in 308 that was absolutly brutal to shoot. It was a rare gun compared to the rest of the line. I bought it with the idea of hunting with soft points and buying military surplus for practice loads. I was surprised the first time I touched it off with hunting loads. And even more impressed by the military stuff. I have posted this before and always get told the 308 is a kittycat and I'm full of... well you know. And the other thing was the hunting loads and military FMJ didn't land anywhere close to each other.

The were a couple of young guys at the range shooting a Remington model 788 in 308 and they had a bewildered look on their faces and were asking if there were lighter kicking loads for this gun. So yes, recoil is real. Even when you don't expect it.

[Drm50]

I don't have a Ruger American but have Several 77s. My SIL won a RA in 22/250
and my nephew bough one too. To me they are butt ugly but they are shooters.
I was surprised with accuracy of the 22/250 with factory ammo. It shot 1" groups right out of box with cheap Pentax 4x12 scope. I'm not big on 22/250
either they can be finicky. I don't think a RA of any calber firing 100gr class bullet would need a brake. There isn't enough recoil to worry about. I would say
from what I've seen the Ruger American is best value and shooter in the class.
The Rems are junk and have only shot them in 30/06 and 270. If they don't shoot in 30/06 it is doubtful they will do much in the smaller calibres. The Savages are iffy, I've seen them shoot like target guns and other ones that wouldn't do 3" at 100. I have a 77/22 bought when 1st avaible that is a tack
driver, nephew also bought RA 22. It shoots right with my 77/22. It ain't purty
either.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by std7mag

I was just reading a post on the 7mm Rem Mag group on FB today. Gent had an accident of some sort and ended up with a broken neck. After learning to walk and regaining about 50% of his arm strength back was rear ended by a tractor trailer. Broke his neck again. Developed infection in his spine after surgery. Learned to walk yet again and now has about 20% of his arm strength back.

So for him, yeah something like a muzzle brake makes sense.

My daughter (very recoil sensitive) doesn't mind the sound of a gun at the range. Yes hearing protection on!
I was going to let her use my Stevens 200 that i re-barreled to 250 Savage. One shot and that was it for her! Didn't want to touch it again. She did like my much heavier Ruger 77 MKII in 257 Roberts. So she's using that this year.

Chaparral,

My hat is off to you and especially the Mrs. for wanting to share your experiences and time together!

Thank you sir. That means a lot to me. She has always cooked what I have brought home and now she is on the hunting end of it as well. She gets so excited in the blind I have to tell her to calm down. We are going through a bunch of dry firing sessions on top of going to the range too.