wrenchman wrote:my late father inlaw had a howa in 7.62x39 the finish was nicer then his ruger american that was 308 i felt that the bolt handle could have been a little larger on howa
the real short turn on the ruger is nice i would like both and are well made,
when ruger first come out with the american it was to offer a gun at a lower cost to compeat with savage and rem i think they very good .
I often shoot with gloves so I've put the Hornady Bolt Ball on my Rugers and don't find it obtrusive at all.
https://www.hornady.com/shop/accessories/shooting-accessories/lock-n-load-bolt-ballI've never understood why so many shooters look down on the cheaper models. They're not a flash aesthetic ornament that's been uglyfied down to a price. They're very good rifles that have been designed from scratch to perform at a fixed price. I can drool over a Brno Model 2 all day long, as a piece of art, not as a shootable tool of enjoyment. I wouldn't hang one of my father's paintings in a paddock, and I wouldn't take a Brno out there either. I understand that others might like to hunt with a piece of beauty, but not all of us do.
I think the Ruger, Howa and Savage are fairly similar in ability, and I think most people would struggle to find serious fault with any of them. The Remington though I don't think much of. Even the 700 I think it's mainly selling these days on reputation and massive aftermarket support. I don't know if Winchester still makes rifles, haven't seen any for a very long time.
I think Ruger has the best grasp of marketing a product based on what the buyers want, except I do wish somebody would make aftermarket box mags for them
I bought a mag loader which does take the fiddliness out of loading them, but doesn't make unloading them any easier and does nothing to fix the bulkiness in your pocket.