American Carbine in .358 Win.

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BigBlue

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
126
Location
Eastern PA.
I picked up this Ruger American Carbine in .358 Win. at my LGS yesterday. It wears a Ranch rifle stock, has a 20" threaded barrel and came with a Leupold 2-7x32 scope mounted. Until I saw this one, I never knew Ruger had made it. From some research I did, it seems that less than 300 were ever made as a special order for Grice's Gun Shop in Pennsylvania. I really like the Ranch rifles I have and thought a .358 Win. would be a great addition. I already had ammo, brass and dies for this cartridge from a Browning BLR I once owned.

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BigBlue

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
126
Location
Eastern PA.
Here's an ad that I found. It was originally posted early in 2019 and you'll notice this American Carbine in the center of the ad, selling for $399.95 NIB at that time.

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Alan in GA

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Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
327
I sorely missed my Ruger 77R I sold in 1995. Was planning on building one when I saw the Grice ad and didn't hesitate a minute!
I grabbed one of the '300' 358's…. Probably should have grabbed TWO! Only tried Hornady factory 200 gr ammo so far. It didn't like it.
I really like the Ruger American and hope it likes my handloads when I get some made up.
 

BigBlue

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
126
Location
Eastern PA.
I took it to the range today and soon discovered why the original owner sold it. It has a problem feeding from the magazine. I have to hold my hand under the front of the magazine to give it the extra 1/32" lift it needs to feed from the magazine to the chamber otherwise the nose of the bullet hits the bottom of the feed ramp. Being a .308 based cartridge, the magazine reads .308 multi and I also have a Ruger American chambered for .308 so I tried switching magazines, but the magazine from my .308 doesn't have enough width where the bullet sits in the magazine. They must have changed the design of their magazines at some point. I even tried changing out the stocks, but it made no difference. I'll give Ruger a call in the morning to see if they can help, but if all else fails I'll buy a new .308 magazine and take a Dremel to it so the .358 Win. bullets fit. On the bright side it did shoot very good groups using Hornady Custom 200gr ammo. I have 250gr. Hornady Interlock bullets on their way for reloading.
 

Alan in GA

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
327
Seems I remember my magazine was the same way. The forward edge of the case mouth catches the edge of the magazine. A quick touch with a file or Dremel bit smooths things up.
What did Ruger say?
 

BigBlue

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
126
Location
Eastern PA.
I know what you mean about the case mouth hitting the magazine edge, but in this case the bullets are definitely hitting the bottom of the feed ramp. The nose of the soft point bullets were damaged by it. For some reason I couldn't get through to Ruger Customer Service on the phone this morning, something that has never happened to me with them before, so I used their online support. It says it could be three days before I get a response. No hurry, bear season is a good ways off.
 

BigBlue

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
126
Location
Eastern PA.
Good news, my LGS had another new magazine for this rifle and it worked like a charm. I cannot see any difference between the two magazines, but this new one works so I'm happy. I knew I had other boxes of ammo for this cartridge squirreled away and came across two boxes of Winchester 250gr Silvertip.
 
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