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 Ruger American Predator .223 Review 
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You may recognize the first part of this post, as I had it in another thread . . . but instead of thread-jacking even more, I'll consolidate it all here.

I already own a Mossberg MVP LR model in 5.56: http://www.mossberg.com/product/mvp-lr-rifle-27696/
I'm very happy with it. The adjustable comb makes it easy to shoot with a scope, it uses AR mags, and it's accurate; I've shot 5-shot groups as low as 0.4 MOA, and I can regularly do 0.5 MOA with it. The threaded barrel is nice if you have a suppressor. You can get it for $700+, and it's a bit tough to find. This is a nice rifle, and it's my go-to rifle for prairie dogs.

I wanted a backup gun for prairie dogs, so I recently ordered a Ruger American Predator model 26944, in .223 Remington: https://ruger.com/products/americanRifl ... 26944.html
It has most of the same features as the MVP LR (threaded barrel, takes AR mags), just no adjustable comb, but it's cheaper (roughly $450).

I bought the rifle from kellybachand, and I picked it up recently. My expectations were that it would be a decent rifle with good features, but I know it's a low-priced gun so I wasn't expecting perfection. And my expectations were met. :bigsmile:

First, it had a light rub mark on top of the barrel, a few inches long:

Image

Irritating yes, but not a big deal. I hit it with a cold blue pen, and you won't really notice it now. (You may not have noticed it originally if I didn't point it out, either.)

The thing that bothered me the most, though, was that the plastic stock was a bit warped. The barrel is supposed to be free-floated, but the stock was pushing against it on the left side. Notice how there's a nice gap on the right, but not on the left?

Image

I did some internet surfing, and found that this is fairly common with these rifles. Some folks cut away the offending area inside the stock with a Dremel or knife, and some people use a heat gun to try to soften the plastic in that area to re-form it. I went with the heat gun route.

Here's the stock before I missed with it:

Image

I used the heat gun (on low) to soften up the front left portion of the stock, a few inches at a time. Once I had an area softened, I laid a 3/4" socket on top and pushed it downward, and this moved the soft plastic on the left side. I did this in a few different areas, until the stock looked like this:

Image

I then hit it with some oil and fine sandpaper, just to take some edges down.

And . . . success!

Image

The trigger feels decent, not super-light but pretty clean. It has an adjustable trigger and I have it lightened all the way and it's still not as light as I'd like it, but it's okay for now.

Well, today I took it to the range for its maiden voyage:

Image

That's a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x scope on it, which I moved over from an AR that I have. Once I got the rifle set up, I looked through the scope and the target looked pretty small to me. I looked at the zoom ring and sure enough, it was on 20x. I looked through the scope again and thought to myself, "damn, I've really gotten spoiled with my nicer high-magnification scopes, this 20x looks tiny." Well, I finally figured out that it wasn't REALLY on 20x . . . the zoom ring only works sporadically, most of the time you move it back and forth and nothing happens. :cussing: I finally got it on 20x so I could do my shooting, but I'll be contacting Vortex and I'm sure they'll take care of it.

So anyhow, I finally got to shooting. One thing I noticed is that the bolt was fairly hard to close, which I thought was odd because I religiously use a case gauge when I process my .223 brass, but all right, no big deal. I kept shooting. I tried a few different loads, and it was shooting decently, and I finally got to my tried-and-true prairie dog load which is 26 grains of Benchmark and a 50-grain Zmax bullet. This is a pretty hot load. Well, I took one shot and I saw smoke coming from the chamber area. Sure enough, the primer was pierced. I kept shooting; after ten rounds, I had two pierced primers and eight primers that cratered pretty good around the firing pin.

I finally got to my 77-grain loads, but before I fired the first one something tickled my brain . . . finally. I removed the bolt, pushed a loaded round into the chamber with my finger and tipped the muzzle up . . . and nothing happened. The round did not fall out of the chamber. I banged the butt of the rifle on the bench, and it still didn't come out. I finally put the bolt back in and used the bolt to remove the round. I repeated the process with a couple of different loads.

Bottom line: The bullets are pushing into the lands of the rifling, and they do this for EVERY one of my reload flavors, and both kinds of commercial ammo that I own. This explains why the pressure was so high with the loads that had pierced primers. This can happen when you load very long cartridges, but my reloads are all at 2.23-2.24" overall length, which isn't long at all.

I brought the gun home and cleaned it, and repeated the process; nothing changed. I did the same thing with an empty but sized case, and a cartridge where I pushed the bullet way in, and both chambered nicely and then fell freely out of the chamber when I tipped the muzzle up.

:angryfire:

So, I think this needs to go back to Ruger. I'll be calling or emailing them soon.

I'm not sure that you can actually conclude much from these photos, but they're kind of cool so I'll post them. This is using my $10 eBay borescope, with a round chambered. There is no bolt in the rifle as I do this; the round is held in place by friction between the bullet and the rifling. The colored rings around the outside are a reflection from the colored bullet tips.

Here's a 50-grain Zmax:

Image

And a 55-grain Hornady soft point:

Image

And finally, a 50-grain Vmax:

Image

Pretty, eh? :bigsmile:

But after all that, the question remains . . . how did it shoot? Here's my target:

Image

Not bad at all, especially considering that the rounds were jammed in there so tightly. Ignore the rounds that aren't marked; those were just screwing around getting it sighted in. All of these groups were shot with a suppressor.

Hornady flat-base soft points: These are pretty shitty bullets and I don't expect much from them. The 0.740 MOA and 0.758 MOA groups were a pleasant surprise, showing that the higher powder charges work better, which is what I saw with my MVP too.

Hornady 50gr Zmax: My old standby, I expect good groups from these. The Vmax should be similar. There are a couple of good groups there, the best being 0.685 MOA.

I'm satisfied with the groups, considering the price of the rifle. I just hope I can get the chamber/rifling fixed to make it safe, and hopefully that will make it shoot better too.

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Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:21 pm
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Great review Steve! Nice shooting too! The accuracy is impressive from a budget rifle but between the chamber issue and the stock being warped it's pretty disappointing. I expect more from Ruger, even on an entry level rifle. I guess it goes to show the brand name isn't everything.
I had an 18" Mossberg mvp and was seriously impressed with it. My prairie dog rifle is the mossberg mmr hunter. Surprisingly, it seems Mossberg makes a pretty damn good rifle. Since I don't really have a backup prairie dog rifle I just bring a complete extra lower, bcg, and a couple other miscellaneous small parts with me. The modular nature of the AR almost makes having a backup rifle unnecessary. And semi auto is awfully nice for follow up shots.
Planning to have Tom Ryder thread the mmr barrel so I can start shooting suppressed on my next trip to Montana. I can't imagine how nice it must be not having to wear ear pro out there all day. Are you using a heat jacket on your suppressor to limit mirage?

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Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:50 pm
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Did you make sure to buy an extra bolt?
Asking for a friend. :peep:

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Fri Jun 01, 2018 10:51 pm
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sinus211 wrote:
The modular nature of the AR almost makes having a backup rifle unnecessary. And semi auto is awfully nice for follow up shots.


I have an AR that shoots at least as well as my MVP, probably better, and that's what I started out using for prairie dogs. Mine's a heavy SOB though, with a 24" bull barrel. The thing I really didn't like about the AR, though, was chasing brass; I much prefer being able to pull the bolt back and hold my hand in front of the action to block the brass, and have them drop right next to the rifle.

And yes, the AR is "good" for follow-up shots but I also found myself doing a lot of blasting and ammo-wasting. :bigsmile: That might be a self-control problem, though, not a rifle problem!

sinus211 wrote:
Are you using a heat jacket on your suppressor to limit mirage?


No, I don't, and it doesn't seem to be a big issue.

Your mileage may vary with your blasting, ammo-wasting AR. :ROFLMAO:

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:35 am
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L_O_G wrote:
Did you make sure to buy an extra bolt?
Asking for a friend. :peep:


Good call, I'll ask Ruger about that when I call. :rofl9:

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:37 am
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I've seen a lot of the warped and poorly aligned plastic stocks in most brands while shopping around. Seems kind of bizarre that such an obvious fault can make it through ANY QC, so it makes me wonder if the material is not dimensionally stable.
Would like to hear if the plastic creeps and you need to make small adjustments later.

Bolt action in .223 is on my wish list but only after the house gets finished. I'll pony up for the higher end gun.
Thanks for the review. :bow:


Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:57 am
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Poly and plastic stocks....best of times and worst of times. The heat gun idea seems legit. I’m fairly certain I would have removed the material instead of moving the material.

So they didn’t cut the chamber deep enough?

Want that barreled action finish to be uniform? Halla at ya boi.

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:32 am
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MadPick wrote:
I already own a Mossberg MVP LR model in 5.56: http://www.mossberg.com/product/mvp-lr-rifle-27696/
I'm very happy with it.
I wanted a backup gun for prairie dogs...

Because...
A. America
B. Steve
C. Motherf###ing prariedogs absitivey, posolutely must die
D. All of the above


Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:08 am
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He gets it! :rofl9:

On the surface, it does seem a little ludicrous to need a "backup rifle." However, as I found out first-hand, "shit happens." We go to Montana for a week, so when you're halfway through the week and something happens to one rifle, you need to either have another or be ready to sit around for a few days watching the other guy shoot.

For example, I had this lost bolt problem one time . . . . icon_eek

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:10 am
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MadPick wrote:
...

For example, I had this lost bolt problem one time . . . . icon_eek

At band camp?
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?


Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:14 am
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Back up guns matter. I made the mistake of going to Montana for gophers a few years back. Don't go. It's no fun at all. Not addictive either. And it's cheap. You don't need new guns, scopes, campers, trailers, quads etc. Honest.You can't have enough firepower on hand when the action gets hot. Always seem to run across coyotes, badgers, and fifty pound jack rabbits in the process. This year I took 3 rifles and 2 pistols and was still nearly over run by the little bastards. Next year a shotgun might end up in the mix too!

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 4:32 pm
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I have a Ruger American in 270 and - while I have yet to even fire it - I'm impressed by the build quality.

Your groups are great and for a inexpensive rifle 1MOA is wonderful.

I am curious though, why .223 instead of the more versatile 5.56? Especially assuming you're shooting or stocking some 5.56 for your other guns.

And the Ruger American's now, as I am told, will use AR mags. Is that one that you got? If not, why not?

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 5:09 pm
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leadcounsel wrote:
I am curious though, why .223 instead of the more versatile 5.56? Especially assuming you're shooting or stocking some 5.56 for your other guns.

And the Ruger American's now, as I am told, will use AR mags. Is that one that you got? If not, why not?


Yes, this is the new model that takes AR mags. They seem to work well.

For some reason Ruger makes the American Ranch (16" barrel) in 5.56, but they make the American Predator (22" barrel) in .223. I wanted the longer barrel, so I got .223.

I don't know that it'll matter to me too much. Everything that I reload is .223, and that will be 99.9% of what goes through this rifle. And if I decide to stick a few rounds of commercial 5.56 in at some point, I suspect they'll do just fine.

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 6:29 pm
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MadPick wrote:


I have an AR that shoots at least as well as my MVP, probably better, and that's what I started out using for prairie dogs. Mine's a heavy SOB though, with a 24" bull barrel. The thing I really didn't like about the AR, though, was chasing brass; I much prefer being able to pull the bolt back and hold my hand in front of the action to block the brass, and have them drop right next to the rifle.


Caldwell pic rail brass catcher. You're welcome.

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 6:50 pm
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Yes, I have one. I used it a few times ... I didn’t love it.

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Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:54 pm
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