Ruger American Ranch in 5.56/.223 caliber, takes AR-15 mags....

canoeguy

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I have been wanting a Ruger American Ranch bolt action rifle in 5.56/.223 caliber for a while, but they have been scarce since the Covid shortages. Used to be on every retailers shelf, but I haven't seen one in several years. I saw a Facebook ad from a retailer I follow who said he had one in stock, so I asked my local dealer if he could order me one. Found Davidson's had 26 of them in stock, so one was heading my way shortly....

Got it in hand, then ordered a Leupold VX-1 "Freedom" 2 X 7 power scope from Midway, and a set of Leupold rings. Got it sighted in, and have been having a ball with it. The longest shot on my property is 200 yards, with this combo anything within that range is doomed!



The Ruger American Ranch has a 16" barrel, FDE color composite stock, weighs 6.1 pounds without a scope, with my scope mounted right at 6.7 pounds, so quite light weight. Takes AR-15 magazines, comes with a Magpul 10 round mag.

Reliability has been 100%, works with several different magazines I've tried, G.I. 20 rounders, off brand steel 10 rounders, but I like the Magpul 10's. I need to find a belt magazine pouch to carry a spare.....

I can't share with you it's accuracy potential, as I don't have a shooting bench, and since a shoulder surgery the most accurate position I can shoot from is sitting, can't even go prone yet. Here is the results shooting sitting at 100 yards, target is a steel round with a black dot spray painted in the middle. Five rounds, one flyer high left, the rest obliterated the black painted dot, about 2" in diameter:





Now this rifle is in .223 caliber which may be light for you, but if need a stouter caliber they are available in 7.62 X 39, 300 Blackout, .350 Legend and 450 Bushmaster.

This will be my new utility rifle, cairried on my ATV or accompanying me on hikes....
 
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Have had mine for several years; really like it. Mine's got a little 1-4x20 Leupold scope on it which is nice for Pa.'s small fields and woods. Found some "shorter"[about 1/2 to 1"] 5 round "C Products Defense"[?] magazines for utility work; also added a 10 round elastic bullet sleeve on the butt.

Removed the thread protector and added a birdcage to the barrel; and a paracord sling

But have a few Magpul 10rd mags for if the SHTF.

Doesn't get shot a lot but IIRC was able to keep rounds under the cross-hairs[1-1 1/2"] at 100yds off the bench.
 
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I've got one, with a Primary Arms 4-16 scope with an ACSS DMR scope on it. Its seen duty as a hog hunting rifle equipped with a Pulsar night vision scope, along with ATV/Tractor duty on the farm for predator control. When paired with a YHM Turbo K can, it is pretty quiet.

A word of caution, I have not had success with magazine capacities greater than 20 rounds in mine. It seems like the 30s get too heavy, and pull down against the magazine catch, and do not feed reliably. 10s and 20s work great though.
 
I haven't owned one in .223 but have owned them in 7.62x39 and 300 Blk. My experience with both is that they shoot incredibly well, like an inch or so even with crappy Russian ammo in the 7.62 and even better than that in the .300. Get yours on paper if you can and see what it will do. I'll bet you will be very pleasantly surprised.
 
This is on my want list. It would be nice to see a 18 and 20 inch available

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That thing needs a suppressor. A neighbor’s daughter has one of those in 7.62x39 with a Dead Air Sandman K on it. Not the quietest combination but her rifle will consistently shoot the Brown Bears subs into a tennis ball size group. It will do a little tighter with the Tulammo 154 (?) grain soft points. I believe it has a 1x-6x Redfield scope on it. It appears to be a very decent rifle for the money, right about five Benjis.
 
I also looked high and low for one of those, finally found the same rifle with the longer barrel, the Predator, and bought it. I happen to have that same 2x7 Leupold scope sitting in a box, so I only need the scope rings.
Canoeguy's report is very encouraging.
 
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