Ruger American

[odis]

First off I hope all had a very nice Chrismas.
Now my wife entered a raffle earlier this month and won a new one in 243. I'm curious if any of the American owners here have installed one of the new Boyds replacement stocks? I'm waiting on a scope, brass bullets and dies so I have not shot it yet. I have read very good reports about the accuracy of this rifle and it would be nice if it had more eye appeal. It sure is ugly.

[Maineboy]

I have a stainless version also in 243 which I won in a raffle. It shoots my reloads with 100 grain Speer spbt bullets and Nosler 95 grain Ballistic Tips very well. I'm having trouble developing a coyote load with Hornady 75 grain V-max bullets though, 3-3 1/2 in groups seem about as good as it will shoot them. I have no plans to replace the stock at this time.

[GabbyM]

My son in laws both have Ruger American predator models. Those have a camo painted stock. I thought the stocks felt fine. Have a good bedding system. Not like some other brands. Assuming your stock is black. Have you considered just painting the stock? I know I have enough black rifles with the AR's sitting around here.

I put a Boyd's walnut sporter on my old Weatherby Vanguard a couple years ago. It is nice. Decelerator recoil pad is nice on that 270 Win also.

[odis]

I just like a more natural stock material than plastic. I was wondering if anybody had any experience with the Boyds bedding system and the hardware? Maineboy I've never worked with the 243 in the past, is the 1-9" twist rate too slow for the light bullets?

[C A Plater]

Not yet for the Ruger American but have put one on a Savage Axis. I chose the pepper laminate to match the SS rife and got the prairie hunter style. It would have been a drop in fit except I replaced the trigger and it needed a bit of inletting to accommodate it. Made a very nice upgrade. I have a Ruger American Predator one in .22-250 and will probably opt for another Boyd laminate to dress it up.

[odis]

Not yet for the Ruger American but have put one on a Savage Axis. I chose the pepper laminate to match the SS rife and got the prairie hunter style. It would have been a drop in fit except I replaced the trigger and it needed a bit of inletting to accommodate it. Made a very nice upgrade. I have a Ruger American Predator one in .22-250 and will probably opt for another Boyd laminate to dress it up.

Thanks for the reply, I've never tried any kind of after market stocks before and have always been a little bit of a skeptic about "drop in ready" ads.

[northmn]

A good source for info is the MidwayUSA at times. You can look up the Boyds stock and get legitimate user reviews as to how "drop in" the stock is. I bought a cheap black plastic one for my Turkish Mauser and it was not quite drop in.

DP

[Bzcraig]

I put a Boyd on my compact 308.

Attachment 156707

[jmort]

Is it still a "Compact" with the Boyd's stock? I really like a reduced LOP.

[odis]

Thanks for the replies, I have a bunch of stuff on order for this rifle and once I have done some load development I will decide if it deserves good wood. Some time next week the scope mounts brass dies and bullets will arrive and we shall see. I've never shot a 243 much less reloaded for one. I'm almost 63 and am about to learn something new. Life is an adventure.

[Four Fingers of Death]

My Compact 223 shoots so well, I'm reluctant to touch it. Ain't broke sort of thing.

[GabbyM]

I put a Boyd on my compact 308.

Attachment 156707

Tried reading Boyd's instructions on the American. Am foggy on the bedding. Do you have to glue in bedding V blocks? I suppose they'd glue in as easy as a recoil lug. Or do they just do away with the V lugs and go to conventional bedding style? What Ruger calls there power bedding. Which is a lame sounding name to me. http://www.ruger.com/products/americ.../features.html

[Bzcraig]

Is it still a "Compact" with the Boyd's stock? I really like a reduced LOP.

No it's not but Boyd's does offer custom LOP for a nominal fee. I wanted the 18" barrel so ordered knowing I would end up changing the stock.

[Bzcraig]

Tried reading Boyd's instructions on the American. Am foggy on the bedding. Do you have to glue in bedding V blocks? I suppose they'd glue in as easy as a recoil lug. Or do they just do away with the V lugs and go to conventional bedding style? What Ruger calls there power bedding. Which is a lame sounding name to me. http://www.ruger.com/products/americ.../features.html

The V lugs come with the stock and are already completely inletted, just bolt it to the rifle. The only fitting I had to do was add a little extra room for the trigger adjust screw and this was very minor.

[northmn]

Thanks for the replies, I have a bunch of stuff on order for this rifle and once I have done some load development I will decide if it deserves good wood. Some time next week the scope mounts brass dies and bullets will arrive and we shall see. I've never shot a 243 much less reloaded for one. I'm almost 63 and am about to learn something new. Life is an adventure.

I just retired and last year got the itch to try a 257 Roberts, but due to the lack of ammo availiability and the price of the rifles at the auction I ended up buying a Mossberg 243 for $200 with loading supplies and dies. Got a deer with the rifle and find it to be more than adequate for deer hunting under my conditions. I have not shot it with the lighter bullets and ordered some 65 grain Hornady V-Max for varmints. Had a 243 before and got a deer with it also but it preferred the lighter bullets and would practically one hole them.
Personally, after about 50 years of deer hunting I think it is one of the better calibers one can use. I sold off a 270 and don't miss it as it is a bit much at closer ranges and really too much for varmits. I process my own deer meat which may have some bearing on that opinion. As there are quite a number of varmit bullets available for the caliber you can probably find one that shoots. Many like the 95 grain as both deer and varmit bullets, but for deeer I am going to try the Nosleer partitions as some have told me they do a good job without a lot of bloodshot meat. I like venison.

DP

[GabbyM]

The V lugs come with the stock and are already completely inletted, just bolt it to the rifle. The only fitting I had to do was add a little extra room for the trigger adjust screw and this was very minor.

Thanks for the clarification.

For medium game with a 243 there are lots of good bullets. IMHO it's pretty hard to get better than the old Sierra Pro Hunter #1540. 100 grain flat base. Been around since the 1950's. You don't want to confuse the reputation of SBT Game Kings with the Pro Hunter line. PH are quite a bit tougher bullet with thicker jacket and harder lead. For less bloodshot meat slow the bullet down a little. H4895 loaded to 2,700 fps. Should give plenty of range for woods out to 200 yards. Save on bore life.

For cast bullets I shoot 80 to 87 grain bullets over 11.0 grains of Unique. It does very well.

[northmn]

Gabby. I appreciate input on the 243 as I really do not have as much experience with it as other calibers. As to the Noslers, they are what is called a "sunk cost" as I already have them and I doubt if I could go wrong using them. Not putting down the Sierra PH recommendation at all. As I will just shoot the Noslers at deer they should last a long time. The rifle came with a couple of boxes of the Nosler 95 grain plastic tip bullets. My load was not super fast for a 243 anymore as I had some left over 4350 to use up. The bullet went in behind the front shoulder and came out in front of the liver (angle shot) which is plenty of penetration for any deer but it hit a rib on the entry (hit one on the way out too) and kind of blood shot that side.
Before I bought the 243 I read a forum where a couple of individuals thought it was a very marginal caliber. The same types that will tell you a 30-30 bounces off (I switched to a 30-30 for a while when I sold my 270 and my daughter killed her first 5 deer with one with 5 shots) While there are some powders now that can really speed it up over what I use, as you state, if anything it would not be all bad to slow it down a bit as I consider a 250 yard shot a long one under my hunting conditions.
It is an enjoyable cartridge and one I may stay with for a while. Know more than one individual who have done what I have and hung up the larger cartridges and gone with more moderate ones for deer.

DP

[Maineboy]

I just like a more natural stock material than plastic. I was wondering if anybody had any experience with the Boyds bedding system and the hardware? Maineboy I've never worked with the 243 in the past, is the 1-9" twist rate too slow for the light bullets?

I don't know if the twist is too fast for 75 grain bullets; I kind of doubt that it's the problem. I've been using surplus 4895 and CMR100 powders with the Hornadys because I have so much of it. I've loaded up a few with IMR4064 and H380. I'm hoping those powders will improve my groups.

[odis]

I don't know if the twist is too fast for 75 grain bullets; I kind of doubt that it's the problem. I've been using surplus 4895 and CMR100 powders with the Hornadys because I have so much of it. I've loaded up a few with IMR4064 and H380. I'm hoping those powders will improve my groups.

After I posted I realized that I asked if the Rifling was too slow when I meant to fast. I figured you would get. This caliber is very new too me and over the years my rifle reloading has been mostly cast lead in 30 cal. I have a friend who lives fairly close to me and he loves long range shooting, he has an airstrip that he uses for 1000 yd shooting, I hope to wring this rifle out at 500yds this spring.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Fast twists and light bullets are a bit of a mystery to me. I have two 223s, a Tikka T3 Hunter and a Ruger American Compact, both have 1 in 8" twists. The Tikka sprays light bullets around and the Ruger runs them into 1/2" or therabouts sized groups. Go figure.