Time/true Ruger American action?

[mattri]

Afternoon gents,

Just curious if this is something anyone's had done?

Sharp Shooter Supply is known for working on Savage actions with good results, is anyone doing similar with Ruger's American?

Seems plenty of folks are doing barrel swaps with prefits, now thought this may be in the works too.

Thanks, Matt.

 

[mattri]

FWIW I haven't found much. Have a few emails in to smiths but no responses yet.

Maybe the Rugers don't need it as much or maybe the design doesn't allow it to be done as easily, will update if I hear anything back.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

The Ruger is probably the best of the "affordable" rifles, and it does what it says on the box - and probably what it says on the boxes of more expensive rifles too. I have one in 7-08 I also have 2 10-22s and a Precision rifle. But I'm not about to spend any money on them. One thing that is worth doing, is ensuring the bolt lug contact surfaces are true, which is a fairly easy task, with some fine lapping compound.

 

[mattri]

Could be wrong but don't think the Americans are cast.

Yes they are certainly budget rifles, but then so are the Savages and rems.

Just curious if anyone's doing it and how/if it's different than the others.

 

[ebb]

I have no experience with the new Ruger's but I think that they are pretty much the same as all the barrel nut rifles. Remington, Savage, Ruger and the Portuguese made Winchester all look to be a similar design. A willing gun smith should be able to tell you how well they are machined. People spend lots to work on a Savage, I can't imagine it would be any different with a Ruger. Its a relatively new gun so I bet the machine work is all done on CNC equipment, and may be very close. The bullet doesn't know what rifle it came out of, hitting the middle is all tolerances. Good luck and keep us posted, I want to see what you find out!!!

 

[LCazador]

Could be wrong but don't think the Americans are cast.

Yes they are certainly budget rifles, but then so are the Savages and rems.

Just curious if anyone's doing it and how/if it's different than the others.

I think just replacing the barrel will increase accuracy. I'm not sure that truing or timing the action will result in improving shooting performance further. Barrel, brass, and bullets are what make a rifle shoot.

 

[Bc'z]

Could be wrong but don't think the Americans are cast.

Yes they are certainly budget rifles, but then so are the Savages and rems.

Just curious if anyone's doing it and how/if it's different than the others.

I have a Gen 1 Rap in 6.5cm
Sporting a shouldered HH barrel.
Matting surface was cleaned up before installation, action was bedded into a Boyd's Pro Varmint with DBM to delete the rotary magazine, had bolt fluted and polished, no more zipper when operating.

 

[farmerjohn]

Hey Fellers, over the years of a lot of people sighting in their rifles before hunting season here at the farm and helping them get sighted in for different distances I've observed what others here have said.... minute of deer or elk. Several years ago I saw a film clip, may have been on the bulletin here or at the shot show of Rugers new barrel making process and they were bragging about the amount of time it took to make a barrel, don't remember exactly how long it was but it was an amazingly short time, just a few minutes seems like from a contoured blank to a finished rifled barrel. I thought to myself, well that explains a lot.... not sure I would have advertised that. I'll bet the gentleman on the site here with Bartlien Barrels could tell you more about that process. I always liked the action and the wood and the early handguns, but never owned one of the rifles because I had never seen one shoot to the degree of accuracy that I liked... IMHO... John

 

[mattri]

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Review: The Ruger American Rifle

Ruger stuffs a lot of value in its minimalist-package American rifle for less than $450.

www.americanrifleman.org

Yes the M77s etc are cast, the American is machined.

 

[troupe]

I have a Gen 1 Rap in 6.5cm
Sporting a shouldered HH barrel.
Matting surface was cleaned up before installation, action was bedded into a Boyd's Pro Varmint with DBM to delete the rotary magazine, had bolt fluted and polished, no more zipper when operating.

I have one in the 6.5 Creed and I done the same to the bolt. In the factory plastic, it is a .5 rifle with factory ammo. Can't be beat for the money. I would like to have one in 7mm-08 for what I paid for the 6.5. $369 when I bought it new.

 

[mattri]

This is the first Ruger boltgun to be built around a machined, not cast, receiver.
A major departure from Ruger's normal rifle lines.

American uses what is essentially a round tube receiver -it is milled from round bar stock like a Savage or M-700 Remington action for the same reasons those are -it's fast and cheap.
Hawkeye receivers are investment cast and some machine work is done to that casting to yield a finished product, but this isn't as fast and cheap.

The Ruger American Rifle Gen II Review

A full, in the field, review of the new Ruger American Rifle, Gen II. The Ruger American Rifle Gen II is a serious upgrade to the Ruger line.

hookandbarrel.com

No need to be impolite, there seems to be some disagreement on this.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

It's machined, not cast. I read the entire article you referenced, and couldn't find the excerpt you quoted.
I did find this;

"For instance, unlike the Hawkeye’s receiver, which is made from an investment casting, the American’s receiver is turned from bar stock steel on CNC machining centers, making it even more economical to manufacture."

From American Rifleman, "Looking at The Ruger American Rifle", BRIAN C. SHEETZ

 

[mattri]

So finally got some feedback from a local smith re the T&T. He says it's the same procedure as any other receiver, they do a fair amount but not as many as the Savages and obviously nowhere near as many as the 700s.

The first three blurbs were copy/paste from other articles, not in the link sorry to not be clear.

 

[Jon Leary]

There are severalmrifles out there with a similar design. Large diameter bolt with 3 lugs. Pretty simple to make with cnc equipment . Pretty accurate without a lot of hand fitting.

 

[mattri]

Yeah he said they were usually very close, may be part of why you don't hear about it being done much- the older rems and Savages prob weren't held to such tight tolerances.

 

[ebb]

I think you are right, they weren't CNC and some used to say that Remington's receiver face was so rough they thought they were saw cut.