Ruger American ranch .223

[Murphy-94]

Hi guys

I was just wondering if anyone has had much to do with the ruger American ranch rifle and where would the best place to buy one from???

[bladeracer]

I don't have the Ranch, but I have Ruger American's in .204 (Predator model) and 7mm-08 so far with plans to get .223, .243, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308. I also have the Ruger American Rimfire Compact in .22LR.

I would just order one from your local. I picked up the 7mm-08 for $529 with the Redfield scope. The Redfield is crap though so it went on one of my .22's and I put a Bushnell AR Optics 4.5-18x40 on instead. When I ordered the .204 there were only two left at the importers and when I wanted the Rimfire I could only find two on the shelf in all of Oz so I had one shipped from Claytons - it cost more than the .204.

There are only two things that bother me about the RAR, both very minor.
The original rotary magazines are crap but Ruger will replace them for you. My .204 would fail to feed the third-last round every time and my 7mm-08 the same with the second last round. Annoying at the range but not so bad for hunting where I rarely need more than one _immediate_ follow-up shot - pig shooting would be the exception. The later replacement .204 mag actually holds six rounds giving me seven-round capacity and functions flawlessly. I'm keeping the 7mm-08 mag for a few hundred rounds and if it doesn't improve they'll replace it.

The second thing is that the stock is very flimsy in the forend and will touch the barrel pretty easily if you're shooting off a bipod. I put an additional sling swivel in just ahead of the magazine for the bipods.

Spare mags are about $100 but .223, .204 and .300BLK are interchangeable, as are .243, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 mags - which is a great excuse to buy more than one RAR

On the plus side, both shoot 0.5MoA and I fully expect the rest to do the same.

[Murphy-94]

Thanks bladeracer the only problem is the local guy quoted me $970 haha but others then that I'm very keen to get one

[wrenchman]

wow $970 man they are hard on you guys they run from $300 to $350 here

[bladeracer]

Geez, that's a bit steep
Do you know if stock is low just now at the importers? That tends to drive the price a bit.
If I order locally I pay more - but I avoid postage and the transfer fee which adds around $85 depending on where it's coming from.
When I was a youngster I was happy to wander into a gun shop and just buy something that took my eye. Nowadays I prefer to determine exactly what I want, and then find one of those.

[bladeracer]

Are you looking at the .223 or .300BLK Ranch Rifle?
I don't see any value at all to .300BLK, other than the potential mag interchange if you also have an RAR in .204 or .223.
Action is the same length in .308, so unless you need the 1:7" twist for heavy subsonic bullets, you might as well just shoot reduced .308 loads without the price and hassle of trying to find or make .300BLK brass. The 16" Ranch is only 18mm shorter and 45 grams lighter than the 18" Compact.

[Murphy-94]

I'm really just wanting a short affordable.223, that I can take everywhere on the bike ect, and not have problems with it.

[bladeracer]

I'm really just wanting a short affordable.223, that I can take everywhere on the bike etc, and not have problems with it.

The Ranch Rifle has the same 1:8 twist as the standard Compact RAR so the only differences are the RR has 1.25" more length of pull (which could be good if you're tall, or bad if you're short), and the threaded muzzle if you want to run a flash hider or brake. The extra butt length wipes out most of the length saved by the 16" barrel at the expense of some velocity, and probably with more noise and flash. And the RR is more expensive than the Compact.

Although I certainly appreciate a carbine-length rifle for its handling I still prefer more barrel length for most centrefire cartridges. .223 is designed for the short barrels of the M16-series so it usually doesn't lose too much from short barrels. But it's still only a tiny bullet that can use all the velocity it can get

There might even be better deals if you put some time into finding them.

[Mitch]

Are you looking at the .223 or .300BLK Ranch Rifle?
I don't see any value at all to .300BLK, other than the potential mag interchange if you also have an RAR in .204 or .223.
Action is the same length in .308, so unless you need the 1:7" twist for heavy subsonic bullets, you might as well just shoot reduced .308 loads without the price and hassle of trying to find or make .300BLK brass. The 16" Ranch is only 18mm shorter and 45 grams lighter than the 18" Compact.

Price and hassle? You mean the $45 bag of ADI factory brand new brass stocked at every gunshop near me is a hassle to find and too expensive?

[bladeracer]

Are you looking at the .223 or .300BLK Ranch Rifle?
I don't see any value at all to .300BLK, other than the potential mag interchange if you also have an RAR in .204 or .223.
Action is the same length in .308, so unless you need the 1:7" twist for heavy subsonic bullets, you might as well just shoot reduced .308 loads without the price and hassle of trying to find or make .300BLK brass. The 16" Ranch is only 18mm shorter and 45 grams lighter than the 18" Compact.

Price and hassle? You mean the $45 bag of ADI factory brand new brass stocked at every gunshop near me is a hassle to find and too expensive?

How many bags of .308 brass do they keep on the shelf though?
I would say you're lucky that you live near a dealer that stocks it is all
I'd have to order it in down here if I wanted it from a shop, but I buy all my brass online anyway so it's no big deal for me.

Have you found the .300BLK to offer anything over reduced .308 loads?
What made you decide to go with .300BLK over other offerings?
I'd consider getting the RAR just for novelty value and a spare mag for my .204 and .223 RAR's.

[Murphy-94]

Is there any other brand that offer a short barrelled, bolt action .223 that's affordable?

[bladeracer]

Savage Axis and the Howa 1500/Weatherby Vanguard are probably the cheaper rifles, but I don't know that they do short barrels.

How much does it cost to cut and re-crown a barrel these days, can't be much?

Although the rules vary from state to state. I think NSW it's illegal to "shorten" any firearm regardless of its length?

[Gwion]

How much does it cost to cut and re-crown a barrel these days, can't be much?

About $120 from the guy i use.

There are quite a few 20" barrel rifles. I think the Howa Mini 223 is a 20" jobbie. Willing to be corrected on that, though.

PS: Just looked it up: light weight and heavy barrels are 20", standard is 22".

[bladeracer]

How much does it cost to cut and re-crown a barrel these days, can't be much?

About $120 from the guy i use.

There are quite a few 20" barrel rifles. I think the Howa Mini 223 is a 20" jobbie. Willing to be corrected on that, though.

PS: Just looked it up: light weight and heavy barrels are 20", standard is 22".

He's wanting 16" though. I consider a 22" barrel to be on the short side for a high-velocity hunting rifle myself.

[Gwion]

Barrel on my 223rem is around 18". It is quite short enough and it is more than quite LOUD enough. Louder than a 24" 308, possibly. It spits out a 50gn bullet at mid-hot load for around 3100fps.

Also consider that if your barrel is only 16" and you damage the crown, you are now up for a new barrel as there is no room to trim or recrown: 16" being legal minimum length.

http://rifleshooter.com/2014/04/223-rem ... nds-rifle/

[bladeracer]

Barrel on my 223rem is around 18". It is quite short enough and it is more than quite LOUD enough. Louder than a 24" 308, possibly.

Also consider that if your barrel is only 16" and you damage the crown, you are now up for a new barrel as there is no room to trim or recrown: 16" being legal minimum length.

Put a muzzle brake on it as well and you'll soon develop a mighty flinch

Luckily the Ranch Rifle is threaded so you can run a cheap AR-15 style birdcage to protect the crown. I run one on my .204 for just that reason. I sling a rifle muzzle down so when I crouch the muzzle will very likely hit the dirt or mud, and it sucks to have to clear a blocked barrel in the field.