Ruger American.308

[eveled]

Found this for my son today. $250 for just the rifle. Looks unfired but sn has it from 2013. I had the scope and rings on my shelf and the bypod is mine. It cycles shells fine, but we haven't shot it yet.

Anything I should be aware of?


He is really happy.

 

[azleite]

That'll be a shooter, will you be hand loading for it? Heck of a bargain there

 

[eveled]

No, I don't reload ammo, but I probably should.

 

[Larsman]

I am not reloading so I specifically purchased the Ruger American in .308 to take advantage of the plethora of factory ammo choices. I found boat tail bullets in the 165-175gr range work best in my 22" 1:10 barrel.

 

[kmoore]

I need to brag a little about the Ruger American in 3006. I don't own one, but a friend asked me to help him sight his in.
He became a deer hunter a few years earlier and bought the rifle because it was cheap. He is in no means a good marksman but does get a deer every year. He shoots them under 100 yds. He fires the rifle only a few shots a year.
This was about 10 years ago. Before we went to the range, I readjusted the scope to fit him and bore sighted the scope. Using Remington ammo, (I can't remember the bullet weight) he was shooting in a 3-4 inch circle around the bullseye. After about 10 shots he asked me to fire the rifle.
I dry fired it several times to understand the trigger. Then shot a 3-round group to before changing the scope. The group was right at 3 o clock about 2 inchs. Shots 2 and 3 were touching, shot 1 was slightly right. The group was not measured but maybe .75 of an inch.
Unbelievable to me that a cheap rifle with a Bushnell Banner scope could shoot factory ammo that well. But I did it and seen it. It shot better than my handloads in my Remington 720,700 BDL in 3006. I did adjust the scope and got it zeroed at 100 yds as he asked. As I recall the zeroed 3 shots were close to 1 inch, maybe bigger. Point is his rifle sure can shoot great.

 

[Larsman]

First time shooting a new Ruger American @ 100 yards with a Leupold 4.5-14x40. No bore sighting other than my one eyed guesstimation and initial shots at 25 yards to verify general accuracy. Pretty amazing out of the box. I was shooting "around the clock" intentionally moving the poi 2" to approximate a 200 yard zero with this ammo. Federal Matchking 168gr.

 

[The Norseman]

From original post above, "Anything I
should be aware of?".

Yes there is, you have one heck of an
accurate Rifle there! Out shoots
most factory rifles.

The best to you and your endeavors.

 

[thinckley]

Found this for my son today. $250 for just the rifle. Looks unfired but sn has it from 2013. I had the scope and rings on my shelf and the bypod is mine. It cycles shells fine, but we haven't shot it yet.

View attachment 68871
Anything I should be aware of?


He is really happy.

The only Ruger American's I own are rimfires, but they are great rifles! That is a great find and a great price. How old is your son?

 

[eveled]

Early 20's. Poor college kid. He has a friend from ME that offered a tenuous invitation to hunt the family land someday.

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Those are great rifles for the money. The stocks are crap though. I have a American Predator in 204R....it's a tack driver for sure. I ditched the stock and bought a B&C. One of my favorite predator and ground grizzly rifles. It's been thrashed pretty hard back in the day when I did tournaments. The Americans were popular for a reason. I was hoping Ruger would hatch a 17 Hornet in the American line back then but never did.

 

[rcs9250]

I bought a Ruger American Gen 1 last October 2024 in .308. Scoped it, took it to the range, bore sighted it then shot two rounds at 50 yards. Then shot it at 100 yards, high and left about five inches or so. Adjusted scope and took two more shots. That's all it took. See attached photo. Then I saw that Gen 2 was also available and bought it in .308 as well and sold the Gen 1 three days ago.
The ammo used on Gen 1 was Hornady Whitetail 150 grain.
I'm hoping the Gen 2 is just as accurate.
I bought the rifle to do a hog hunt here in Ohio but lo and behold, Ohio banned hog hunting. I'll need to look at a plan B for an alternate state.

 

[Rumrunner]

You got a great gun at a good price.
I have owned 7 Americans and still have four, in 308, 243, 223, and 22 in various models. All have been incredibly accurate. One thing I noticed on an earlier one, when I removed the barreled action from the stock was to make sure when reassembling that the barrel is centered in the stock channel. One my first one, I had to put shims on either side of the barrel as I tightened it down, then pull them out before final tightening. That was only an issue on that particular one.
My latest one is a Gen II Predator. I'm really impressed with the upgrades.

 

[Mobuck]

I only have one Ruger American centerfire and it's a 6.5 Grendel. It's primary purpose is for use as a suppressor host during deer season for those places that don't require 350-400 yard capability. It's short(er) barrel keeps the overall length with an 8" suppressor a bit more manageable and saves a few ounces. Accuracy runs from excellent to 'good enough' depending on brand/type of ammo. The downfall is the magazine feeding. I purposely chose the RAR because it uses AR type magazines but found out they don't work all that well. Four brands including a dedicated 'single feed' version display the same difficulties and doesn't get better with use.

 

[dobegrant.45]

Have multiple Ruger American rifles and all have been great shooters and very accurate.