Ruger American Rimfire Target

[vmaxaust]

Nice purchase. The stock looks heaps better then there standard piece on plastic junk that comes on most Ruger rifles these days.
Enjoy...

The standard plastic is just fine unless you need to have the prettiest rifles. The Ruger Americans are a bargain considering the bolts on the centrefires or rimfires cycle as well and often better than rifles costing twice the money or more. The rotary magazines are faultless although you can get a bad one. These days that's not common. They are very accurate with the right ammo. For me, I have a 300 Blackout, a 223 and a 22LR for the cost of one overpriced very pretty (take it out once a year or you may scratch it) rifle.

Sam

[bladeracer]

The standard plastic is just fine unless you need to have the prettiest rifles. The Ruger Americans are a bargain considering the bolts on the centrefires or rimfires cycle as well and often better than rifles costing twice the money or more. The rotary magazines are faultless although you can get a bad one. These days that's not common. They are very accurate with the right ammo. For me, I have a 300 Blackout, a 223 and a 22LR for the cost of one overpriced very pretty (take it out once a year or you may scratch it) rifle.

Sam

The forend of the polymer stock is a flex problem if you attach a bipod at the sling swivel. But if you move the bipod back to the magwell it's fine, or you can fill the forend with bog to stiffen it. If you don't use a bipod then it's not a problem at all.
The centrefire mags are a poor design, but when they work they work very well. My .243 mag doesn't have any problem feeding but I had to have it replaced in my .204, and the 7mm-08 came good after a bit of use. I gave the .204 300rds before deciding it was not going to improve and NIOA replaced the mag. The later mag holds six rounds rather than five which was nice. Being top-load single-stack mags is neat as well.

I prefer poly stocks rather than wood, but aluminium is better than either, so all of my Americans are in MDT LSS chassis with 10-rd AICS mags and Bushnell AR Optics 4.5-18x40 scopes.

My first rifle was a new 10/22 in '83 - an amazing little rifle that started my appreciation for Ruger.
I currently have five Ruger Americans - the two .22's, .204 and .243 Predators, and 7mm-08 Standard. My brother has started his Ruger collecting with the .243 Predator and will get a .22 Target shortly. The most expensive was the .243 at $765 in my hands, the cheapest was the 7mm-08 at $529 plus postage and transfer (about $620 in my hands) but with a crap Redfield Revolution scope included.

I still want the 6.5mm Creedmoor, 300BLK and .450 Bushmaster, and will likely end up with the .223 and .308 as well.
I've recently been toying with the idea of getting one of the Magnums as well just to complete the set - possibly the .338 WinMag. But the Magnum, like the Rimfire has no commonality of parts with the Short Action platform.

There are a few rifles that offer similar bang-for-buck (and a whole lot more that don't even come close), but the Ruger American has an excellent choice of calibers that won me - especially having .204 and 7mm-08 in the same platform.

[bladeracer]

From what I can see in the pic., it does look like a 64MS - If you have a look in this link, there is a download for the 64MS manual listed:
http://jga.anschuetz-sport.com/index.ph ... &sprache=1

Thanks Allan
That PDF is one of the documents I used to determine it's probably the 64 MS.

[bladeracer]

Managed some more testing yesterday.
First I fired a ten-round group of Tenex from both rifles from cold bores. Interestingly, both threw the second shot low left - 31mm for the Compact and 33mm for the Target.

At 50m, ten rounds of the following:
Winchester Powerpoint 42 - 51mm
CCI Velocitor - 28.5mm
Winchester Superspeed - 60mm
Sellier & Bellot Subsonic - 27mm and 45mm
Sellier & Bellot Standard - 72mm
Sellier & Bellot High Velocity - 35mm
CCI MiniMag - 46mm
CCI Stinger - 48mm
CCI Copper-22 - 58mm
Remington Yellow Jacket - 54mm
Highland RX Subsonic - 32mm
Wichester Super-X Short - 90mm+
Eley Edge - 18mm (best of three groups)
CCI Standard Velocity - 18mm (best of three groups)

I now have 510 rds through the Target and can see that Eley Edge and CCI SV both shoot consistently well in both rifles. CCI Velocitor is a good option for a high-velocity hunting round in both rifles as well. Highland RX HP is probably the best choice for cheap practice ammo. I would still like to try Highland RX Target and SK Rifle Match if I can get them.

Now I can swap it into the MDT chassis and see if there's any improvement. My brother and I shooting the Target alongside the Compact MDT really noticed how much better the pistol-grip chassis is ergonomically.

[bladeracer]

I also tried the old 1930's Cooey Ace-1 and 1950 BSA Sportsman 5 at 50m over open sights for a bit of fun.
First I fired 20rds of Highland RX HP from the BSA and they grouped quite well at 106mm, but I really couldn't see the target. I can really only shoot iron sights to about 30m as the sight picture past there is too blurry for my aging eyesight. So I made a three-inch aiming point I could actually see and put another 20rds of CCI SV on that one. A 70mm group impressed me greatly!

Then it took me five shots to put a round on the paper with the little (1.33kg!) Cooey before I discovered it shoots about 250mm high at 50m, so I held my aim along the bottom edge of the target sheet. I think 20rds into 100mm is excellent due to the incredibly poor sight picture offered by the most rudimentary sights. I might have to get myself some Ruger American Rimfire sights and see if I can install them on both rifles without doing any damage to them.

[rsj223]

I pick mine up tomorrow.

[bladeracer]

I pick mine up tomorrow.

Soon everybody will have one

[rsj223]

Oh well

[bladeracer]

I put mine in the MDT chassis today.
It has a different pin for the mag latch which won't fit into the chassis.
I cut a 1/8" drill bit to 18.5mm long and replaced the pin with that - works fine.

[rsj223]

Might start a new thread on my Ruger but thought I would post this video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvPqU_rFoSo

[bladeracer]

Might start a new thread on my Ruger but thought I would post this video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvPqU_rFoSo

Geez, you really have some luck don't you

[rsj223]

Cant win but keep trying

[bladeracer]

Cant win but keep trying

Did you get it sorted today?

[rsj223]

Yep trimmed the screws and mounted the scope ready for the range in the morning.

[bladeracer]

Yep trimmed the screws and mounted the scope ready for the range in the morning.

Excellent
I'm hoping to find time tomorrow to try mine in the chassis.

What ammo are you trying?

[bladeracer]

I have 768rds through her now
Lots of fog but no wind today.
I concentrated on the CCI Standard Velocity and Eley Edge and then had a play with some Highland RX HP and two lots of Remington Cyclone from my rim thickness batching. I wanted to compare the narrow rims with the thicker rims.
At 50m I set up twelve targets plus a larger target for making scope adjustments before shooting the smaller targets. I put ten rounds into the first target with the CCI, then shot nine five-shot groups and two groups of Eley when I ran out of CCI.

Then I adjusted the scope 3MoA up and right and switched to the Eley on the same targets I'd just shot. Ten rounds on the first target, then six five-shot groups. Then I shot five more groups by putting one round on each target for five cycles so I had to adjust my position both laterally and vertically between each of the 25 shots. Then I shot a ten-round group on the last target but with both eyes open, despite the eighteen-power scope. It took perhaps a minute to get my left eye to come into focus after shooting 140-odd rounds with it closed. But the group was really good indeed - 16.5mm, with eight in one ragged hole. The 10rd CCI group was 19.5mm. Best 5rd groups were 9mm for the Eley and 6.5mm for the CCI. Averages of the thirteen five-shot Eley groups was 20.8mm and the nine five-shot CCI groups was 16.7mm. Then I shot two five-shot groups with Tenex for no particular reason - best was 20.5mm.

Six 5rd groups of Highland RX HP gave a best of 18.5mm, but 30-35mm is more the standard fare. Average was 33.8mm.

Then I shot six 5rd groups with the Remington Cyclones with 0.039" rim thickness. Best was 31.5mm but 40-50mm is standard for these. Average was 40.5mm.
Then six 5rd groups with the 0.044" rim thickness. Best was 22mm but 30-35mm seems the norm. Average was 29.4mm.

So far I'm confident the Target is inherently more accurate than my Compact. And certainly both shoot much better in the MDT LSS-22 chassis than the OEM poly and lami stocks.

[Wm.Traynor]

FWIW, the theory I read said that closing one eye affects the muscles of the open eye. You can get a "blinder" for the open, non-shooting eye. Or you can make one (cheaper). It is made of translucent material which admits some light to the eye. Apparently it is a mistake to use something opaque. I used a piece of stiff clear plastic.

[rsj223]

Yep trimmed the screws and mounted the scope ready for the range in the morning.

Excellent
I'm hoping to find time tomorrow to try mine in the chassis.

What ammo are you trying?

Will update as soon as I get some time to sort out the pictures, oh and it went good

[bladeracer]

FWIW, the theory I read said that closing one eye affects the muscles of the open eye. You can get a "blinder" for the open, non-shooting eye. Or you can make one (cheaper). It is made of translucent material which admits some light to the eye. Apparently it is a mistake to use something opaque. I used a piece of stiff clear plastic.

My right eye is dominant enough that I don't need a blinder with iron sights or low-scope powers. With both eyes open I have a clear sight picture in my right eye with a very vague overlay from my left eye. Very useful when I was shooting IPSC. I really have to concentrate to bring the left eye overlay into focus if I need to. But I had never thought to try it before at eighteen-power

[bladeracer]

Will update as soon as I get some time to sort out the pictures, oh and it went good

Terrific news
Mine started having some extraction problems yesterday so I need to clean the action (I haven't cleaned the bore since new so far as it's still shooting well) and have a close look at the extractor. Luckily I can compare it to the Compact to see if there are any differences that need altering.

[rsj223]

What is the app your using to work out groups?

[bladeracer]

What is the app your using to work out groups?

I'm not using any app.
I just take photos (with my Nokia N95 6Gb) of the targets before I pull them down, then I note on them when I get back to the bench what was shot where.
After uploading them to the PC I open them in Windows Edit to write the notes on them and draw circles enclosing the groups. I measure the groups with a vernier - which is why they're just rounded to near enough.

I want to set up a camera down at the target butt to record the shooting so I can look for any patterns, but I don't use a smart phone so I haven't worked out a way to view it remotely.

[rsj223]

What is the app your using to work out groups?

I'm not using any app.
I just take photos (with my Nokia N95 6Gb) of the targets before I pull them down, then I note on them when I get back to the bench what was shot where.
After uploading them to the PC I open them in Windows Edit to write the notes on them and draw circles enclosing the groups. I measure the groups with a vernier - which is why they're just rounded to near enough.

I want to set up a camera down at the target butt to record the shooting so I can look for any patterns, but I don't use a smart phone so I haven't worked out a way to view it remotely.

Ok I was trying Range buddy but CBF thought yours looked simple, will do it with vernier later.

[bladeracer]

Big day today. Almost ended up in the big smoke but managed to dodge that bullet again. Got as far as Dandenong though.
Got home at 1600 totally ruined and went straight to bed.
Vet rang tonight to say Joey's operation went well and we'll be back up there in the morning to pick him up. In eight weeks he'll x-ray both knees again and see if the right will need to be done as well. Very likely he thinks. We didn't give him any painkillers Thursday night so he didn't sleep well, and I only managed three hours myself.

Went to pick up 1150rds of rimfire on the way home. Managed to find two other shops en-route and came home with 2850rds - how the hell does that keep happening!

I now have the following additional types for testing:
Norma Match 2 Training Ammunition
Lapua Centre-X
RWS Z-Lang
RWS Club
RWS Special Match
RWS R50
RWS R100
RWS Subsonic HP
Geco Rifle
Eley Sport
Federal Target Standard
Federal Gold Medal Target
Federal Premium Match
SK Magazine
SK High Velocity
SK Standard Plus
Remington Golden Bullet

And I have some more Remington Target coming next week.
I have still not been able to find any Norma Match, Lapua Midas+, Winchester M-22, SK Rifle Match, Highland RX Target or Highland Super Quiet Subsonic. If they're so damned hard to find perhaps there's little point in testing them anyway, but I would like to just for completeness.

At this point, this will be at least 47 types tried (I'm sure I've missed recording some of them) so I can probably call the testing finished. I've been trying to put together something of a rating for them, obviously only relevant to my specific rifles, but as both my Rugers shoot the same ammunition very similarly, it might help others decide which to start testing with and perhaps save them some time and money. I haven't kept track of the cost but I have spent at least a couple thousand dollars on .22LR ammo just since I got the Ruger Target - just what I picked up today cost me $552.40. Of course, I still have heaps on hand. Just maintaining the 100rds minimum of each on hand for testing is nearly 5000rds(!) that's kept aside from general use. I have more rimfire ammo than most shops I've been in recently have on display Anything that shows promise I get by the brick, and I still have some bricks on backorder. Hopefully after this I can just buy some cases of the best stuff and not have to buy anything more...until I buy another .22 of course

And we've barely made a start on testing for my brother's Anschutz yet
I've discovered a little more history though. Apparently the 64 MSR was a special order by an Aussie distributor (something like Parabellum Imports?) to Anschutz specifically for Australian Rimfire Silhouette, not available anywhere else. It seems that possibly 2000 rifles were originally ordered, possibly in the eighties. With possibly a second batch ordered in the nineties.
Anybody know anything else about these?

I've been really enjoying focusing on the .22LR recently, in seven different rifles - with more testing when I get the Lithgow barrel fitted to the Remington. But it will be good to back off them a bit and fit in a lot more centrefire as well.

Time for bed again methinks!

[TheGreenwolf]

so whats your top 5 pics so far?

[Gamerancher]

The 64 MSR was purpose built to conform with Metallic Silhouette Rifle rules, open not hunter class. They were available word-wide, and you could still buy new ones as late as last year.
http://www.acme-firearms.com.au/rifles/ ... ifles.html

[bladeracer]

The 64 MSR was purpose built to conform with Metallic Silhouette Rifle rules, open not hunter class. They were available word-wide, and you could still buy new ones as late as last year.
http://www.acme-firearms.com.au/rifles/ ... ifles.html

Thanks GR
You see why I use the terms "seems", "possibly" and "apparently" when I post stuff that came via somebody's memory rather than factual data.

[Gamerancher]

No worries, glad to be of service.

[bladeracer]

so whats your top 5 pics so far?

First, a massive caveat
As you might expect, the hardest ammo to find is also the highest quality and highest price, making it a poor choice for the average rural shop to keep on the shelf. I eventually made a trip up to Melbourne which enabled me to fill in most of the blanks in the very high end target ammunition. Once I test those, there is a decent chance that one or more might out-shoot everything I have so far tested. If so, then there is the added problem of sourcing it as required, or lashing out on a case or two of very expensive ammo ($2000+ per case) so as to have it always available.

Based only on 50m accuracy - my top ones _so far_ would be:
NOTE: By good "consistency" I mean that you can reasonably expect all groups shot to be similarly sized. Poor consistency you would expect to see some randomly tight and open groups during the same session.
For competition shooting - Eley Edge at $25/50 - consistency is absolute (in both my Rugers).
For accurate non-competition practice and hunting - CCI Standard Velocity at $10/50 - precision is almost on par with Edge but consistency is not quite.
Eley Subsonic HP at $15(?)/50 - comparable to Edge but limited testing - may prove to be better than Edge.
Highland RX HP at $6/50 - very cheap with fairly consistent but large groups. Batching may improve it significantly.
For terminal performance over absolute precision - CCI Velocitor at $15(?)/50 - decent accuracy even at 100m.

This is a _very_ early list where I've tried grading them. It's neither complete nor entirely accurate at this stage as I entered rudimentary figures to fill it out. My intention is to be able to rate all the ammunition that I've tried in _my_ Rugers. I am not interested in competition shooting _at all_. Other than putting them into MDT LSS-22 chassis I have not modified either rifle at all. I have not even adjusted the triggers. With some basic tuning of the action and chassis I would expect they would shoot even better. With decent trigger groups they would probably shoot extraordinarily well. All of the data from this testing was gained over either bipod and rear bag, or front and rear bags to minimise shooter input as far as possible - I'm only testing the ammunition/rifle combination, my own abilities are excluded as much as possible. I try to remember any shots I know are bad, but shooting numerous groups at a time it can be difficult.

I want to avoid ranking them based on their anomalous best grouping abilities, but more on what I see as being closer to the consistently-achievable or "guaranteed" expectation. I also want to weight my ranking according to how much of the ammo I tried and whether even some of the larger groups show some promise of tunability. Things like ten-round groups that are compact except for an obligatory flier for example.

So, with a huge grain of salt, these are some preliminary ratings.

Based on my Ruger Americans (Compact and Target models - both 18") in MDT LSS-22 chassis.

Graded 1.0 to 3.0 based on averaged result at 50m for 10rds.
Grade 1.0 sub MoA (15mm) at 50m.
Grade 1.5 sub 1.5 MoA (22mm) at 50m.
Grade 2.0 sub 2.0 MoA (30mm) at 50m.
Grade 2.5 sub 2.5 MoA (38mm) at 50m.
Grade 3.0 sub 3.0 MoA (45mm) at 50m.
* indicates consistently worse than 3.0 MoA (45mm+) at 50m

CCI
Quiet RN – 3.0
Quiet Seg. HP – *
Subsonic Seg. HP – 3.0
Standard Velocity – 1.0
Stinger – 3.0
Copper-22 – *
Mini-Mag HP – 3.0
Velocitor – 2.0
Blazer – 3.0

Eley
Match – 2.0
Club – 2.0
Subsonic HP – 1.0
Edge – 1.0
Tenex – 1.5
Sport -

Winchester
Subsonic Max HP 42gn – 2.0
Powerpoint HP 42gn – 2.0
T-22 (1980's stock) – *
Long-Z – *
Super-X Short RN – *
SuperSpeed HP – *
M-22 -

Remington
Target-22 -
Subsonic-22 – 2.5
Cyclone (unsorted) – *
Cyclone (0.038" rim) – 3.0
Cyclone (0.044" rim) – 2.0
Yellow Jacket – *
Golden Bullet -

RWS
Rifle Match – 1.5
HV HP – 2.5
Z-Lang -
Club -
Special Match -
R50 -
R100 -
Subsonic HP -

Highland
RX RN -
RX HP – 1.5
RX Subsonic – 2.0
RX Target -
Super Quiet Subsonic -

Sellier & Bellot
Subsonic – 2.0
Standard – *
High Velocity – 2.5

Federal
American Eagle HP – 2.0
American Eagle Suppressor 45gn – 2.5
GameShock – *
Target Standard -
Gold Medal Target -
Premium Match -

SK
Magazine -
High Velocity -
Standard Plus -
Rifle Match -

Norma
Match 2 Training -

Lapua
Centre-X -
Midas+ -

Geco
Rifle -

ICI
Civic Long RN -
Shot #12 -

[Gamerancher]

If you were still looking to shoot some silhouette,I reckon you would get good service by using the CCI standard for practice and informal club shooting and build up to using the Eley Edge at larger competitions. The CCI standard has had a good reputation for a while now. My Sako P94S has a preference for the high end Lapua, but, I get very similar performance out of much cheaper ammo, albeit with the odd "flyer". For practice and club days that is tolerable for me. I save the high end stuff for big matches and only then if I'm shooting well. At $0.50 to $1 a shot, they are expensive holes in the dirt if you're not on your game.