Ruger American Ranch rifle. BLK or 7.62x39

[thumbs]

Been doing quite a bit or research here but still have a few questions. I could care less about the 300Bk band wagon. I am looking for a rifle for deer and hogs. I hear the ballistics are close on these two rounds. So I am calling it a draw there.

My concern is reloading and getting the components. Actually I would rather go with the 7.62x39 only for the cheap available ammo. The problem may be the bullet size. What size bullet does the American Ranch Rifle take? Are these bullets readily available? Pretty sure I can get the 300blk components pretty easily but factory ammo is pretty steep.

thanks

 

[57springer]

I reload for my mini 30, I use 123 grain .

 

[Big Old Boy]

I have the 300bk and have never fired a factory round, really economical to load for.

 

[hammie]

I just bought an American ranch rifle, chambered for .300 blackout, and one of the reasons was the economy of hand loading ammunition. I literally have buckets of .223 rem/5.56x45 brass, and if I needed more, the ground of every range I visit is carpeted with .223 Remington. So .300 blackout brass is essentially free. I purchase .308 dia., 125 grain bullets in bulk, and so ammunition for the .300 BLK is pretty cheap to assemble. For the non-hand loader, I just visited the midwayusa site and compared prices between factory loaded .300 BLK and 7.62x39. If you throw out the steel cased and FMJ 7.62x39, and limit your comparison to soft point, brass cased, hunting ammunition of equal quality, it seemed like the costs between the BLK and Russian round were just about the same. However, I'm not sure that's an issue for you because you said you were reloading and looking at component costs and availability. You can also load extra heavy for caliber bullets in the blackout, but I don't know if that is, or is not, an advantage for hog hunting.

I think one advantage of the 7.62x39 American ranch rifle is the magazine. The 7.62x39 version take the mini-30 magazines, which appear to be much better quality, more dependable, more reliable, and more robust.

It is my understanding that the groove diameter of the 7.62x39 ranch rifle is .311 inches.

 

[blume357]

I point out that Ruger Factory mini-30 mags are pretty good and reliable.. after market mags are not so... at least in the mini-30...not so sure how that would be in a bolt action rifle....

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I just checked Midway and they seem to have a good selection of .311 rifle bullets from the major manufactures at reasonable prices.

https://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLocation=%2F_%2FN-19785%2B4294943976%3FNp%3D2%26Nr%3DAND%2528p_visible%253A1%252Ccustomertypeid%253A1%2529%26Nrpp%3D24%26Ns%3Dp_price%257C0%257C%257Cp_metric_sales_velocity%257C1%26Ntpc%3D1%26Ntpr%3D1&userItemsPerPage=48&persistedItemsPerPage=0

 

[Alan in GA]

I have the RAR in 300BO but I think if doing the purchase over I would consider the 7.62x39 BECAUSE, I enjoyed the round in a very accurate SKS rifle I had years ago. Easy to handload for, and .310-.311" bullets were not hard to find at all.
I purchased Lapua brass but removed the op rod from my SKS when shooting it scoped off the bench which made into a bolt action repeater.
Also, I used to easily pull factory 123 grain FMJ bullets from lacquered steel case Norinco ammo, and without removing any powder, reseat quality 123 grain .310" Hornady and Speer game bullets and crimp in place with a Lee factory crimp die. Then it was no problem to let the steel cases fly off into the brush and briars off to my right when deer and coyote hunting.

 

[grobin]

I'd go with the 300 because of the versatility in available bullet weights. Also it is desighned to fire heavy bullets subsonicly. If you don't need subsonic you don't need to load for it a 208gr bullet will go at around 1500fps. The 7.62 has more widely available ammo -although the quality is often dubious. But the 7.62 just doesn't handle bullets over 123gr well if at all.

 

[SHOOTER]

Go with the 7.63x39

 

[57springer]

My choice would be the 762 /39 if ammo availability and cost are important to the decision .

 

[Big Old Boy]

From what I've seen the 7.62x39 is a shooter. I know my American 300bk is.

 

[Alan in GA]

Well,... if subsonic is wanted then the 300BO wins out I guess BECAUSE... it has the fast twist rifling necessary to stabilize the long 200+ grain bullets. I've not yet gotten started on application and funds for a suppressor yet as I'm already set up with a Ruger American 22 mag with suppressor, and not ready to plunk down the $$ for a 30 cal can!

 

[Kanook]

Well,... if subsonic is wanted then the 300BO wins out I guess BECAUSE... it has the fast twist rifling necessary to stabilize the long 200+ grain bullets. I've not yet gotten started on application and funds for a suppressor yet as I'm already set up with a Ruger American 22 mag with suppressor, and not ready to plunk down the $$ for a 30 cal can!

What Alan said is correct.

Alan take a look at the Liberty Mystic X or even the Liberty Cosmic. The Mystic is a great silencer and rated for alot of calibers. They are also in Georgia.

 

[rangerbob]

thumbs, I've been reloading for 50 years and load both, the 300 Blk and the 7.62 x 39. I find the 7.62 much easier to load and components are abundant. I use either WW or PP brass, both use the large primer and CFE BLK powder. I load the Hornady 123 gr. SST seated to the cannelure and finish with a Lee factory crimp die. Nosler, Priv, Sierra, and Speer all make appropriate bullets as well. Lapua is another source for brass and bullets. Joe at real guns just did a review in the Ruger rifle and has some excellent reloading data testing using the previously mentioned CFE BLK. Actually, he's using just a tad more than I. Bob!!

 

[DGW1949]

Been doing quite a bit or research here but still have a few questions. I could care less about the 300Bk band wagon. I am looking for a rifle for deer and hogs. I hear the ballistics are close on these two rounds. So I am calling it a draw there.

My concern is reloading and getting the components. Actually I would rather go with the 7.62x39 only for the cheap available ammo. The problem may be the bullet size. What size bullet does the American Ranch Rifle take? Are these bullets readily available? Pretty sure I can get the 300blk components pretty easily but factory ammo is pretty steep.

thanks

Just going from your stated purposes and the two options you present, I'd go with the 7.62X39, if for no other reason than it utilizes a much-more favorable barrel twist for the types/weights of bullets which you'll likely end up using.

As to which may or may not be better for hand loading...when given a choice, I always go with which one has the most case capacity. Reason is, the larger case will allow for a bit-better performance with a given "X-amount" of bullet weight/length and/or chamber pressure. And let's face it, neither are exactly what I'd call "medium/large game, bone-crushing cartridges", so it follows that if either of those two are what we're using to hunt with, we're going to need all the help we can get, and them deer in your neck of the woods do get purty-big, eh?...
So then there's that.

DGW

 

[JStacy]

"It is my understanding that the groove diameter of the 7.62x39 ranch rifle is .311 inches." This has been confirmed by Ruger.
The 7.62X39 is about 100-125 fps faster than the 300 BO with 110-125 grain bullets. Surprisingly there is little difference when it gets to 150 grain bullets. I Had an Encore 15" in 7.62X39 and , with reloads it was great, with factory ammo I got 50% misfires because of the "hard" primers used in the factory 7.62X39 ammo. Now the Encore had a .308 bore and the 125BT and several others shot well in reloads fire formed to the guns chamber.
I went to the range today and shot my RARR (like the abbreviation) and it shot 110 XTP very good and Hornady 130 SSP bullets excellent. In a 5 shot group with the 130 Hornadys I got 4 shots in 0.4" CTC , I pulled shot #4 --knew it when I did it. My 300BO RARR also shoots the Remington / Barnes 120 OPE load sub 1" regularly. Hopefully I will get to skin test it this fall. A hunting buddy has one of the Ruger Ranch rifles in 7.62X39 and used Hornady's 123 grain factor load with the XTP bullet and had poor performance on deer ?
I wanted a 7.62X39 bolt gun but got the 300BO RARR instead , not expecting much out of the rifle, but have been pleasantly surprised at how well it shoots. If I do not trust my hand loads to hunt deer and hog . I will buy a box of the Barnes black tip copper bullet loads.

 

[mikem2]

I like the 7.62x39, especially with steel cased 124gr HP's, does just fine on deer, hogs and hard shell snapping turtles. The mid weight threaded barrel makes this ideal. I have a M77 compact in 7.62x39 that gets a lot of use for deer and hogs.

Looking forward to getting one!

 

[grobin]

Take a look at the available bulletts. There over 40 in 30 cal and 2 in .310 (counting 123 gr as one bullett-likewise duplicate weights in .300).

 

[Coyote Hunter]

Been doing quite a bit or research here but still have a few questions. I could care less about the 300Bk band wagon. I am looking for a rifle for deer and hogs. I hear the ballistics are close on these two rounds. So I am calling it a draw there.

My concern is reloading and getting the components. Actually I would rather go with the 7.62x39 only for the cheap available ammo. The problem may be the bullet size. What size bullet does the American Ranch Rifle take? Are these bullets readily available? Pretty sure I can get the 300blk components pretty easily but factory ammo is pretty steep.

thanks

My first AR was a .300BLK. I like the round for a lot of reasons, including economy of reloading, variety of bullets available and ability to handle heavy subsonics. As a reloader, I use the same bullets I use in my other .30's, no need to have 'oddball' .311 bullets taking up valuable space on my reloading bench.

Cheap 7.62x30 ammo has never interested me because I've never seen it shoot well. (Probably due to the rifles as well as the ammo.) The .300BLK is very accurate and I'm considering one in a RAR for that reason. If I was just blasting away and the cost of factory ammo was a greater concern than accuracy, the 7.62x39 would be the way to go. But then I'd go with a semi, not a bolt gun.

 

[Stolivar]

The RAR in 7.62x39 is a 311 bore.