Ruger American® Rifle with Vortex® Crossfire II® Riflescope

Broad strokes…

The Ruger American joined the company’s product line up on January 2, 2012, not a casual departure from its then predominately walnut and blued steel Hawkeye bolt action rifles. The then new Ruger American Rifle was quite a bold step as Ruger must have known it would challenge their flagship bolt action product line. Sidestepping an Aristotle reference… it is difficult to prioritize the importance American Rifle’s features as it is a systems rifle where components compliment one another to yield a greater overall benefit, rather than just enhanced individual components so let’s just have at it…

The Hawkeye action is a Mauser design derivative, with a 90° bolt lift, controlled feed, non-rotating extractor, and fixed blade ejector. The top of the Hawkeye receiver is scalloped to accommodate Ruger’s proprietary ring system, it’s barrel is threaded to the receiver with headspace set with chamber cut depth and a precise locating of a machined shoulder at the end of the barrel threads. MSRP $979.

At the center of the American Rifle universe is an action that is unique within the Ruger line up. Its bolt head’s triple lobe geometry reduces bolt lift to 70°, it is a push feed design, the sliding extractor resides in, and rotates with, the bolt head. The top of the American receiver is drilled and tapped for conventional scope mounts and the rifle is supplied with a Picatinny rail to facilitate the use of many ring types and preferences. The barrel is threaded to the receiver, however, a traveling nut on the barrel shank is used to precisely set headspace, eliminating a precision and permanent machine operation. MSRP $489 without Crossfire Scope, $639 with.

A little elaboration

A talented magazine system. The magazine module, secured to the stock with two screws is available in four versions to accept : AR-15, Mini 30, AI style, and Ruger’s short and long style rotary magazines. The standard American Rifle and Ruger American® Rifle with Vortex® Crossfire II® Riflescope kit are supplied, appropriately, with the latter. The Ruger magazines fit flush with the underside of the rifle, are made of everlasting poly and self center rounds for smooth and reliable feed.

Four locating V slots in the bottom of the receiver engage and locate to V blocks that are integral to the composite stock. Stock to action fasteners pass through the center of the V blocks and into the action, making the two pieces inseparable; no torsional movement, no vertical movement, no longitudinal movement. The barrel floats the entire length of the barrel channel. Cumulatively, a huge contributor to the rifles accuracy and consistent shot-to-shot point of impact.

The full diameter bolt provides slick travel through the receiver. The dual cocking cams lighten the effort require to cock the American’s action. The absence of a large, non-rotating extractor, the self centering magazine and the rifle’s push feed system smooths the bolt’s travel when chambering a round. The recessed bolt face provides additional support to a cartridge casehead.

The Ruger American’s Marksman trigger, unlike the Hawkeye trigger, is adjustable in the range of 3 – 5 lbs. there is no pretravel, let off is clean and it is creep free. The trigger mounted safety guards against a dropped firearm discharge and isn’t noticeable in use.

The Ruger American’s tang safety is two position and placed for intuitive operation. A tail end of the cocking piece projects from the bolt shroud, arrow, when the action is cocked…. not the arrow, the cocking piece.

As found in other Ruger products, the American has a left side as well as right. Probably not necessary on the Internet, but is surely beneficial in a material world. The forearm and pistol grip contours are comfortable, hand filling and provide secure purchase which is not at all like the internet terminology for… making a secure purchase.

Scope included…

The Vortex Crossfire^® II 3-9×40 included with the Ruger American is a good basic scope, with a one piece 1″ diameter tube. Magnification covers the most useful range, the optics are coated to improve light transmission and anti reflective to cut glare and improve image quality. The the Dead-Hold BDC reticle provides range estimating and hold over information. However, because this is a second focal place scope, the reticle size remains constant throughout the magnification range and range estimating and holdover  information applies only at the top magnification range. The Crossfire II, waterproof, fog proof and shockproof, carries the scope manufacturer’s lifetime warranty. In more quantified terms…

If the scope in this package isn’t quite what you’d like, the rifle is available without the scope and apply the money saved to another scope of your choice.

The 308 Winchester

There are approximately 145 factory ammo types for the 308 Winchester. Bullet weights run from 110 grains to 200 grains, with hunting loads topping out at 185 grains. The trend is toward heavier weights and longer VLD type copper bullets. The Ruger American is fortunately a 1:10″  twist hammer forged barrel, rather than the more traditional 1:12″ rate of twist. The 308 Winchester is one of the great all around cartridges… recreational and competitive shooting, hunting, handloading. In the case of the Ruger:

Joe, why can’t you hit a bullseye!..!! Well, I can, sometimes, but that isn’t what I’m going for here. The process is to shoot to see how well the firearm repeats point of impact. So as long as I have a stable point of aim, and as long as groups are printing in the same zip code, I’m a happy guy. No, it isn’t that I am too lazy to zero before shooting groups, it’s just that each load will have a different point of impact and I would have to zero for each cartridge and, being the frugal fellow I am, I would rather put those sight in shots into shooting more groups.

While we are on the subject, shouldn’t you be shooting 22 shots per group. echoboy@blankblank.edu said statistically that is the minimum number of shot required to predict what the NRA now refers to as firearm “precision”. Yeah, about that… If you hunt competently, when you take a first shot, you probably start with a cold, clean bore gun. Most of the time one shot will do it, but a missed vital might take another and, at the extreme, even one more. The shots will happen fast. If you shot an animal more than three times, you’re not hunting, you’re making ground meat. If you’re shooting large count groups, the result is irrelevant as the test is not appropriate for the application. What would be thorough assessment of a sporting rifle’s precision? Shoot five, three shot groups, allowing the barrel to cool between each set and that will take the surprise out of what your rifle will do in the field.

While the Fed 150 grain copper group is exceptional by any standards, I don’t believe I have shot any of the eight major variations on the American theme that would not shoot sub MOA. I believe it is the result of Ruger designing a rifle from scratch to deliver a high degree of accuracy with a moderate price.

While the American Standard weighs a tick over 6 lbs, the stock and the stock’s geometry seem to dampen recoil effectively. The recoil pad cushions well, but is laterally stable so as not to detract from accuracy.

The scope performed well during all of the live fire work and it stayed put in its mounts. Adjustments tracked incrementally and the reticle was a good choice for recreational shooting. Eye relief was comfortable, eyepiece adjustment smooth and magnification stayed where set. The only issue I had was at full magnification where it was easy to lose image with the slightest amount of head movement. Maybe I’ve been shooting through too many red dots lately?

Ruger American® Rifle with Vortex® Crossfire II® Rifle Scope would make a terrific gift for a new hunter in the family, but it would make an excellent all around rifle for any hunter or for many other recreational rifle shooting endeavors. The package is available in: 204 Ruger, 223 Remington, 243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, 270 Winchester, 308 Winchester, and 30-06 Springfield.