I just got back from the range after the first shooting session with the Ruger Ranch Rifle.
Shooting the rifle left me with a combination of joy and frustration.
First the good.
The little rifle is a joy to shoot. It recoils into the sponge rubber recoil pad with the sensation of a .22lr, only more noise. The trigger is crisp and breaks well and in such a light rifle allows one to hold very well as the gun discharges. The rifle fed from the box mag well and I had no hang ups.
Bad;
It does refuse to eject the last round on a regular basis. Probably something to do with the last shot hold open on the magazine follower. That last round wants to flip around backwards and fall into the action. I really feel the ejector spring could be a bit stronger, but I have not taken the bolt completely down and there might be some residue inside the plunger cut. I do know that others have had the same issue with this rifle. I am going to try cleaning the plunger cut real well before calling Ruger on that issue.
This little sucker is LOUD! I did put a muzzle brake on it and that might make it a bit louder than normal, but it really gets your attention.
Accuracy;
I had a Barska 3-9 compact scope mounted in a set of heavy rings as close to the bore as the large scope bell would allow. The cross-hairs on this scope are a bit thick but precise enough to do the job at 100 yards where they just barely cover a one inch dot. I have had this scope on a couple of other rifles and it is repeatable, adjusts precisely and holds zero.
I used Wolf steel case to get the rifle on zero. I fired four 3 shot groups to get a 25 yard zero and then moved out to 100 yards. I used the same ammo at 100 yards to position the group 2.5" above POA for a 200 yard zero with this specific round.
After zero I shot groups with 4 different ammunition types. The Wolf Steel case, Wolf Military Classic, white box spam can ammo of generic Russian manufacture and PPU commercial soft point. Each of the ammo types was 123 grain and the PPU is jacketed soft point commercial grade.
The Wolf steel case grouped into 1.5" side to side and .80" top to bottom. That is about par for this ammo out of both my AK and SKS rifles when scoped. So the RRR is shooting at least as well with that ammo as anything else I own and I suspect it will be more consistent with that ammo over the long run.
Wolf Military classic shot into 2.1". Not real good but not bad and a very usable group size. I only shot one group of 3 shots so I might have done as well as the other Wolf ammo on another group or on another day.
Russian spam can ammo shocked the crap out of me. It grouped inside .90" in the tiny triangle you want and expect from good shooting ammo. It was better than any other ammo choice.
PPU from Privi Partizan. This is brass cased soft point commercial grade ammo. It is what one would expect to use for general purpose hunting and is designed for medium sized game. It also costs four times as much as the other ammo. The PPU shot into a vertical string that I would not call a group. Three shots strung out three inches separated in a line 5.75" tall and .500" wide. The "group" was also six inches to the left of the POA and below the POA.
That was very disappointing! Especially so since the surplus ammo grouped so well and proved the little rifle would shoot. This was an ammo problem, not a rifle problem.
I am really tempted to pull some of the PPU bullets, mike them and weigh the charges. I suspect that the ammo is loaded with .308 bullets rather than the .311 standard for that bore.
This was also the last group I shot, the close of 9 straight shots with only time to reload 3 rounds into the magazine between groups. The barrel was warm, but not hot.
However, the Ruger Mini14/Mini30 platform has the reputation of stringing vertically as soon as the barrel warms. The Ranch Rifle may share that tendency. If that is the case buying a 20-30 shot magazine might be a useless endeavor, since you can not hit anything after the 4th or 5th shot anyway!
I was getting tired and dehydrated as I finished the groups so I did not wait for the barrel to cool and shoot another group with the soft point ammo. I will try that ammo first from a cold bore next trip out. I hope it does better next time.
The warning here is that you can not zero with surplus ammo and then use soft point commercial without checking the zero first. You might be unpleasantly surprised.
I feel better about the rifle after shooting it. The little gun is accurate, with ammo it prefers. It is an easy shooting rifle, carries well and will do the job it is designed to do. I think it would make a good starter rifle for young shooters, women, or even small girls, since the recoil is almost nonexistent and the accuracy potential is present, as well as providing a cheap shooting truck gun for the average guy that wants more punch than a .223 and more accuracy than an iron sighted lever gun.
If I can get the ejector squared away and get some large capacity magazines for general purpose plinking It will be a dandy. I am still contemplating the use of a scout scope on this one, or perhaps a red dot, just to make it easier to carry.
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