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Thread: Ruger American

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

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    Angry Ruger American

    My cousin and I took his Ruger American in 22 LR out for a test run.
    We shot groups at 50 yards with 12 different brands/types of ammo.
    We got some very interesting results.
    Aguila Super Maximum shot nearly as good as Eley Tenex at $23 a box.
    Your results may vary.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Nice. Glad you where able to get out and shoot.
    Stop being blinded by your own ignorance.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    I think the Ruger American is the best under $500.00 rimfire rifle available today. Aguila Super Extra 40 grain shoots great in every gun I try it in.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master


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    Dale,

    I picked up a RAM .22 LR about three years ago, and it's been an ongoing project these last three summers, shooting groups just to see how good I can get an essentially stock .22 to shoot. I've shot LOTS of different ammo into 5 shot groups at 50 yds, and I've saved them all, logged into a 3 ring binder.

    My experience with Tenex mirrored yours. It didn't shoot badly, but no better than average. Certainly not worth +$20 for a box of 50. In fact, the much cheaper Eley stuff in the yellow box (Target, I think?) was much better.

    While it was nice trying all of the super expensive target grade stuff (and I still will as I find it; very few local shops around here carry it regularly) like Eley, RWS, SK, even the match grade American stuff like the better CCIs and Federals, what I was really looking for was to see what blue collar level stuff shot the best. I meant stuff you could actually find and afford in quantity. So far two loads have stood out as the best in both the RAM and my old 1980s vintage 10/22; CCI Blazers and CCI Minimags.

    By the way, I don't know what you are looking for in terms of accuracy. Since I'm basically dealing with stock guns (just tuned the trigger pulls in each) with stock scopes, I strive for "dime size" (half inch) 5 shot groups at 50 yds off of the sand bags. That's not easy, at least for me. Both of the above named CCI loadings have given me that enough times that I know they're consistently good.

    Another thing is, I don't base my conclusions on 1 or 2 groups. A fifty round box gives me 10 five shot groups. I'll shoot the same load several times, often weeks apart, over the course of a season. That way I know its not just a bad day (or a good one for that matter, it happens). All of the groups are saved and logged in the book, in which I have a page for each load I try.

    It's getting close to time to start again for this season. Something I started to explore a bit last summer, and plan on continuing, is trying to tweak my two favorite loads to see if I can tighten things up even a smidge more. I have played around a bit with rim thickness sorting, and unifying the bullet diameters with Paco Kelly's Accurizer tool. Both show some promise, but I've not done enough testing yet.

    I hope you enjoy your RAM as much as I have mine!

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    A buddy of mine shoots rimfire competition locally, he uses a RAM and a Savage MK2, heavy barrel. He is shooting against some high dollar rifles, CZ, Anschutz, and Rem 40x's, and he was winning one to two matches per night, out of 12 matches, holding his own with any of them. One day he called me and I went over there, he was all excited. He had been shooting Remington Match, 100 round boxes in competition, and had read online, about a guy who was spraying them with WD-40 and letting them dry and was shooting better. He had tried that with the Rem. ammo, and man did it turn on. Cut groups by 30% at about all ranges in his Savage, not hardly that much in his RAM. Two days later at the Friday night match, he cleaned house, won 6 out of 10 matches, and left the other guys talking to themselves. Might want to try this, I just remembered that, and am going to do some of the same on a 100rd box.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


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    Could the WD 40 penetrate the round at the juncture of the bullet and case and kill the powder?? It is sold as a penetrating oil.

    I wonder how long it takes to dry? Truth be told everytime I used it I wiped with it.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    The fellow lifted out the tray with the bullet hanging down, and sprayed, then let them drip dry. He never had any issues, doing them this way. I know from shooting a lot of match grade .22 rifles and ammo, little quirks like the lube can make a big difference. Some of the best shooting I ever did in my life, was some of the Russian wolf ammo when it first came in the country, 50 rounds to the box, cost me about $1 a box, and I won several money matches with it locally. I had a ton of lube, and you had to watch for buildup in your extractor grooves, and keep them clean.

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    My RA 22WMR shot two .3” groups on a row the first time I took it to the range and tested it at a 100 yards with hornady vmax. It also shot a .6” and .7” group with Winchester varmint ballistic tips with the next two groups. Best $199 I ever spent!

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    We shot 5 shot groups with each brand and type of ammo.
    Some of the stuff that shot the better groups we each shot a 10 shot group.
    By only shooting 5 and 10 shot groups we could not establish definitively which was best.
    Obviously many more groups need to be shot with the better grouping ammo to establish which is best.
    We definitely found some the gun did not like.
    It was great fun shooting some rimfire for a change and I look forward to more testing..dale

  10. #10
    Boolit Master


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    I found that even the good loads will shoot inconsistently. I cannot tell you how many 5 shot groups I have shot that had 4 almost touching, then a flyer. I was blaming myself and and poor benchrest technique, but some real old timers that did a lot of this said they often found that to be the case, even with ammo fire with the guns in holding fixtures that eliminated human error.

    That's what got me interested in sorting and unifying the most promising loads. Sorting and unifying will NOT make a load that shoots poorly shoot well, but if a load seems to want to shoot, it might help.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    ^^^^thats why I don’t spend a lot of time with rimfire rifles. I don’t trust mass produced factory loaded rounds for any type of consistency. I’d rather concentrate on a centerfire I can reload and control the variables.

    Sure they are fun and cheap to shoot all day and easy on the ears but I’d rather shoot my LTR 223 that will consistently shoot .3” 200 yard groups when I do my part and doesn’t cost much more to shoot with my reloads.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    ^^^^thats why I don’t spend a lot of time with rimfire rifles. I don’t trust mass produced factory loaded rounds for any type of consistency. I’d rather concentrate on a centerfire I can reload and control the variables.

    Sure they are fun and cheap to shoot all day and easy on the ears but I’d rather shoot my LTR 223 that will consistently shoot .3” 200 yard groups when I do my part and doesn’t cost much more to shoot with my reloads.
    I expect most people do not shoot .22’s to get small groups. They are fun guns. No need to spend hours cleaning brass and reloading, and cheap to play with. I can shoot 500 rounds over a weekend for under $20 and not need to clean guns. Plus not many have access to a 200 yard range. I bet 98% are shot at 50 yards or less.
    Don Verna


  13. #13
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    ^^^^thats why I don’t spend a lot of time with rimfire rifles. I don’t trust mass produced factory loaded rounds for any type of consistency. I’d rather concentrate on a centerfire I can reload and control the variables.

    Sure they are fun and cheap to shoot all day and easy on the ears but I’d rather shoot my LTR 223 that will consistently shoot .3” 200 yard groups when I do my part and doesn’t cost much more to shoot with my reloads.
    Each man chooses his own poison. I RETURNED to .22 RF after 30+ years of doing the CF thing. And all the reloading it entails.

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I can’t blame you. It is nice to just go buy a box of loaded ammo and forget about all the brain boggling of trying to get a load to shoot.

    Here are the very first two of four groups I shot at 100 yards with my Ruger American 22WMR. Took it out of the box, never cleaned it or the barrel. Just mounted an optic, sighted it in, and shot these groups. I don’t shoot five shot groups with rimfires as if I missed a squirrel or rabbit after three shots it’s gone. I shot two other three shot groups in a row after these with the same two ammos just as tight. This gun is a keeper! I did have quite a bit of FTFs with the ammo I’d tried. Mostly the Winchester. I got home stripped the bolt and found it packed with thick dirty black grease and a good size metal burr floating in it. All the bolt internals were very poorly machined with ruff jagged edges everywhere. I stone and polished everything and reassembled with some EGW synthetic extreme weapons lube. The only issues I had after that we’re with the Winchester ammo which proved to be defective. Everything else fired flawlessly. I do notice after shooting about 3/4 of a box of ammo through it my case as will stick in the chamber. Ive even polished the chamber a couple of times.I believe it’s just the nature of the beast with a 22 WinMag to keep the chamber clean all the time. Imo i believe it’s just the nature of the beast with a 22 WinMag to keep the chamber clean all the time

    Oh, I did Polish the trigger and remove a couple of coils before shooting it. The trigger breaks at a pound give it take an ounce.






    My buddy who is smith has the same 22” plain Jane RA 22WMR and told me his shot way under an inch at 100 yards. I called Cabela’s the same day to see if they had any. I was told they had one of plain Jane 22” models left and they were selling them and 17 HMR out for $199.00. Needless to say they had none in the system at any of the Cabela’s besides the one there. I am mediately got my truck and drove an hour to grab it. Best thing I ever did it’s one of my favorite guns. I have taken small game out to 150 yards with it so far.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 05-07-2020 at 01:43 PM.

  15. #15
    Boolit Bub
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    I have the thumbhole target 22lr American. It has a reputation at the range. I show up and people start looking to see what rifle I brought. We shoot silhouette matches and the last match we had, I opened the case and someone said "there goes first place." One person put their scoped rifle up and got the iron sight out so they wouldn't have to shoot in the same class. I have decided to take the Henry out for the next match to break my winning streak...
    Lead, brass, and copper are the real precious metals.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    What's funny is, miserable Remington Thunderduds shoot really well in both my Ruger American and Henry H001T.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check