Ruger American Ranch 300 Blackout Light Primer Strikes

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LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Sorry in advance, this will seem really negative, but I think folks need to know the great things about Ruger as well as the bad. Overall, none of this changes how fantastic I think Ruger is as a company, and I love how they have moved into bold new areas.

Now on to the review of MY Ruger American Rifle.

Despite reading about the potential for light primer strikes, and bad headspace, and bad magazines on various forums, I purchased the Ruger American Ranch Rifle instead of the Remington 700 AAC in 300 Blackout. It seemed to me from my reading that Ruger had solved their problems.

Money was NOT really the issue, rather the Remington haters convinced me otherwise.

So, my first day shooting the Ruger, I fired 6 rounds of Subsonic Hornady ammunition fine. And I was elated, because I got it sighted in firing only 6 rounds . I was proud of my purchase. Way to go Ruger!!!

Then I loaded 4 rounds in the Magazine of the Hornady super sonic 110 grain vmax, that I shoot all the time from my ARs. Click. cycle the gun. Click. cycle the gun. Click. one more time. Click .

0 for 4. The primer is barely dented.

I sent Ruger a report and will hear from them in 3 business days so says their response.

I just want folks to know because once you spend the time and effort buying the gun, getting the rings, mounting the scope, taking your time at the range.... to hear click is unacceptable. There is a cost to our time. Now I will likely have to send something back to Ruger. Maybe the bolt, maybe the whole gun. More time on my part . Then more range time....

I cannot count the number of Ruger guns I own from No 1 rifles, to 10-22s and everything in between. This one seems problematic at best.

I will let you know how it goes, I am sure Ruger will make this right, but I wish I could just return it an buy the Remington....... call it day....
 

Big Old Boy

Hunter
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
2,401
Location
Tn
Ruger will fix it for you, I have the same gun no problems at all I only shoot my reloads and use Winchester primers.
 

djw54

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
377
Location
West Michigan
I'm confused, I guess. The subsonics fired without fail. A different loading, albeit from the same manufacturer, failed to fire altogether. Which of these loadings was out-of-spec, or at least at the edge? Was the subsonic long-ish, or the supersonic short-ish?
Did you measure the fired brass from the subsonic and unfired rounds from both lots? Compare to fired brass from your AR(s)? Curiosity would have me trying to figure it out.
I do understand that you should expect factory ammo to fire, as long as it's in spec. The wrench in the works here is that the subsonic fired. Is it possible that the profile on the subsonic was "fatter" enough that it impeded the feeding so that the base of the cartridge was seated more firmly against the bolt face and under the extractor?
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
LongRifle, I'd try some different ammo before I gave up on the rifle. I had Hornady 7-08 ammo fail to fire before due to incorrect cartridge dimensions, no fault of the rifle. This is not a bash of Hornady ammo either. The demand for 300 BLk ammo is so high that even Hornady could get a bad batch of brass. Bob! :(
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Couple comments to the postings

1) I agree, odd that the subsonic fired. I had suspected it is because the bullet is SO much bigger on the subsonic (208 grain vs 110), that the 208 somehow started to engage the rifling a bit, or as another posted surmised, that it somehow created some resistance (which takes me to #2)

2) I grabbed the cartridges that had light primer strikes last night and lined them up with new cartridges. There is absolutely some deformation on the shoulder. It is visible to the naked eye. The shoulder of the lightly struck cartridges is compressed and visibly shorter.

3) That said, since I also fired my AR that day, I was unable to exactly ID fired brass from the bolt gun representing the fired subsonic. However, I could find no shoulder in my fired pile of brass that was compressed.

4) Lastly in hopes of reproducing, I carefully chambered a live round and ejected it, looking for the compressed shoulder. I was unable to reproduce that. However, once again, since this was not tested and controlled at the site, I cannot tell whether that ammo was from the same lot. (another poster's idea that this could have been a bad brass lot)

Will wait to hear from Ruger. Thanks for the feedback and ideas.
 

Jimbo357mag

Hawkeye
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
10,350
Location
So. Florida
I think if you got light strikes on factory ammo it is probably the gun. It should fire with almost all factory ammo. I think Ruger will have to fix it. :D
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Not the response I expected, and I was not firing Remington or Barnes. I was firing Hornady ammo which they do refer to as whisper.

This really ticks me off. Essentially they are giving me a big "take a hike". Wow...


Response:
This rifle is chamber and is designed to use 300BLK factory ammunition loaded to United States industry specifications. Our gun has been extensively tested using many different brands and types of ammo and we get reliable function on everything other than Remington and Barnes. We do not recommend using 300 Whisper ammunition in our rifles. Thank you for your email
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
I replied to them letting them know that this answer is not acceptable. What a waste of time.

I own 4 other Blackout rifles and none of them misfire on this ammo.

Really irritated. Loyal Ruger customer dating back to 1985.
 

Kanook

Buckeye
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Messages
1,123
Location
FL
So you are upset that your rifle will not function with ammo it wasn't designed for? https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=/amp/s/www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/12/foghorn/ask-foghorn-is-it-safe-to-fire-300-whisper-in-a-300-aac-blackout-firearm/amp/&ved=0ahUKEwj1v6W44YLRAhUKQCYKHY5UAIcQFghoMAc&usg=AFQjCNGBPGgIFkyedITLSN8Jel1nl4ePUw&sig2=DoiJ-rambB0T19EjspvRNw
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Whisper and Blackout. "Same ammo". Let's start that debate. We can also discuss .223 vs 556 at the same time .

However, let's for sake of bandwidth put that aside. Ruger admits it does not work reliably with Remington and Barnes BLACKOUT ammo.

So the answer the your question is Yes in this case.
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Here is the update. I got an RMA for the rifle, and sent it back.

I instructed them I wanted one of 4 things

1) Fix the gun so that it fires 300 Blackout. Not selected 300 Blackout
2) Replace the gun
3) Buy the gun back
4) Destroy the gun, I believe it to be unsafe given light primer strikes and lose a customer forever.

It appears that they test fired it with selected ammo (Fiocchi, Nosler, and corbon) . And sent it back .

No call, no discussion (I guess they created Option 5).

I own 61 Ruger guns and this is how you lose a customer.

I sent them a note this evening, will see where it goes. Unfortunately, finding time to call these guys during the day is challenging at best for me.
 

steelshooterco

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
315
Location
Shawnee, CO
Interesting background on both the Whisper (JD Jones) and Blackout (Alexander Arms) cartridges.

http://www.gunsandammo.com/ammo/ga-tv-300-blackout-vs-300-whisper/
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Potentially good news.

Ruger called me and left a voice mail.

Message said they did indeed change out the Bolt. The notes on the work order did not say that, but the gentleman that called did.

I will get the rifle out in the field this weekend and see if it works.
 

LongRifle

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
23
Location
Va Beach, Va
Shot the gun today

Seems to work fine with all Blackout ammo that I have on hand. Even some very cheap reloads that I purchased for my AR-15.

I had a box of hornady Whisper ammo and that fired most of the time.

I think they fixed it..... new bolt assembly.
 

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