Eating Crow

W

William Suter

Active member
LOL, I have to eat some crow today. I said I wasn't going to buy anymore cheap/budget rifles but I did today. I went into one of my favorite gun stores today just looking and ended up taking a NIB Ruger American Gen II home. Its a 223 Rem. Says it has a 1-8 twist barrel so maybe I can use up some of my heavier bullets in it. I know what I said but this rifle seems a cut above the old Gen I rifles. Out of the box, the trigger breaks at 3 pounds. Stock is pleasant to look at but still has some flex in the fore-end. has a nice scope base for the tactical style rings and has a nice spiral fluted barrel. Working the action, its really nice and smooth for a budget rifle. It came with a threaded barrel and a break. One con, I can't get the dang break off as of yet. Its super tight. All the metal has a nice cerakote finish and the stock is kind od a dark gray with light gray spider webs. All in all, it seems like a nicer rifle than the Gen I series. A few trips to the range will let me know if its going to be a keeper or not.
 
William Suter said:
LOL, I have to eat some crow today. I said I wasn't going to buy anymore cheap/budget rifles but I did today. I went into one of my favorite gun stores today just looking and ended up taking a NIB Ruger American Gen II home. Its a 223 Rem. Says it has a 1-8 twist barrel so maybe I can use up some of my heavier bullets in it. I know what I said but this rifle seems a cut above the old Gen I rifles. Out of the box, the trigger breaks at 3 pounds. Stock is pleasant to look at but still has some flex in the fore-end. has a nice scope base for the tactical style rings and has a nice spiral fluted barrel. Working the action, its really nice and smooth for a budget rifle. It came with a threaded barrel and a break. One con, I can't get the dang break off as of yet. Its super tight. All the metal has a nice cerakote finish and the stock is kind od a dark gray with light gray spider webs. All in all, it seems like a nicer rifle than the Gen I series. A few trips to the range will let me know if its going to be a keeper or not.
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HAHA I just bought one in a .204 and was surprised as heck, I took the muzzle brake off as well and replaced the trigger spring for a 2 pounder. But hey, it groups good, light weight, has a pic rail, what can you say? It goes boom and gets the job done.
 
Yes, three position safety. I can see the bolt hits the follower. I may grind a bevel on the follower or see if other P mags have a different follower in them. I don't like not being able to close the bolt without removing the mag. I did take my rifle back to the shop and they put it in a vice and got the break loose. I don't have a barrel vice so I just couldn't hold it tight enough to loosen the break.

Something I did notice. A different store had the Gen II in 243 and it had different bottom metal than my 223. I imagine that maybe the mags may be different also.
 
Crow is not as taste as chicken but it does keep you from starving :)

I wrapped drywall tape around my RA barrel, using rubber barrel vise blocks and I really had to crank on my Wilton vise to prevent the barrel and action from turning and then used a 24" pipe wrench with a cheater pipe on the muzzle brake to break it loose.
 
I got to put a few rounds through it today. Looks like it may be a shooter. I had some 52 grain Bergers loaded for another rifle so I had to seat them deeper to fit the chamber and the mag. I shot a few three shot groups then one 5 shot groups last. I haven't measured it yet but its not much over a half inch at 100yds.
 
Sounds like you got one of the good ones. As a Ruger fanatic (don't tell anyone) I can attest to the fact that Rugers can be hit or miss in the accuracy department. Most all of them will hold MOA or close to it, but getting one under 1/2" is really good. Hard to beat at that price point.
 
I got to measure the last 5 shot group and it was .728. Not the best I've shot but for the first 20 rounds from a new rifle its promising. I do have to do something with the trigger.........its not at all what I'm use to. (LOL, that the nicest way I can come up without saying the trigger sucks.)
 
I may grind a bevel on the follower
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Having cut my teeth on WWII surplus Springfields and Mausers, it was standard procedure to bevel rear end of followers to resolve that issue. Springfields had the magazine "cutoff" selector to hold follower down, but not the Mausers.
 
I swapped out trigger springs and while not as light as I like I got it down to 2 1/2 pounds. Not bad for a hunting trigger but I prefer them a little lighter. As for the mag, I took it apart and the follower looks hollow. Can't do much grinding on that or so it seems. Its just a PITA as at the club, off a bench, I usually just single load. I figured out a cheap fix on the trigger, maybe I can figure out something with the mag as well.
 
These are P-mags. Genuine plastic except for the spring. I still thought about body fillers or bedding compound to fill the hole. Not to sure it will stay there though.
 
I kinda sorta solved the mag issue. I bought a Pro-mag. All metal and its even longer and 5 rounds less than the Pmag (10). It hangs down farther and holds less ammo but it does allow the bolt to close. I did pick up a box of Sierra SBT
 
Well, I got brave...or stupid and took the Pmag apart and ground the follower at an angle. Results.....works like a charm. I ground just enough to allow the bolt to close smooth. Now on to my next issue. The rifle has a short throat and the mag is also very short to me. Going to be hard to seat a heavy bullet out very long. Not to sure there is a cure for that.
 
CHF barrel. Aluminum bedding block. Free floating barrel. Adjustable trigger.

1/2'' with factory load

$460

That's my two Americans. Yeah, I'll take them.
 
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