Ruger American Rimfire

[crappie-hunter]

Load 5 rounds in the magazine and the first shot is always 1 1/2 " high and slightly right,the other 4 are dead center in the bull in a 5/8" group. Tried about 5 different brands of ammo ,including Quiet and sub-sonic all act the same. Anyone else have a ruger american with the same problem? Have a new magazine on order,some say that may help. All shooting is at 50yds from a sandbag with a scope. Any help appreciated.

The american takes the same rotary magazine as the 10/22, tried taking one turn of pressure off the magazine spring ,did not help. Did not try and put one turn of more pressure on the spring ,may try that and see what happens.

[35remington]

Examine rounds after feeding to see if there are any visual differences. Mine does not do that and is a honest .75 inch rifle at fifty with dyna points and CCI subsonic. Have not tried any match ammo but for a sporter that is above average.

The rifle is a good buy and met my expectations plus a bit.

[crappie-hunter]

Thanks, already checked for bullet defects after chambering nothing visible. Have contacted ruger customer service for a possible solution.

[marshhawk]

I recently acquired a Ruger American, and it does the same thing, I hope Ruger has an answer, if so please post it!
Thanks, Marshhawk

[crappie-hunter]

I recently acquired a Ruger American, and it does the same thing, I hope Ruger has an answer, if so please post it!
Thanks, Marshhawk

I'll post their reply, will most likely be a few days till they reply.

One thing I did try and seemed to help, was to only load 4 rounds in the magazine, will try this several more times to see if this holds true.

[jmorris]

What happens if you load 6 or 10 for that matter?

[Mk42gunner]

Or single load into the chamber?

[crappie-hunter]

More than 5 rounds makes no difference,same as 5 rounds,single loading shoots a pattern like a shotgun no group what so ever.

One more thing I have had the action out of the stock to make a trigger adjustment. Just this morning I went and read the owners manuel and they say to torque the action screws to 35 in/lb, I had just randomly tightened them down. Went to a friends place and borrowed a in/lb torque wrench and re-tightened the action screws,will give a range report sometime after this 90 degree weather subsides.

Nothing at this point makes any sense to me,hope ruger will shed some light on the issue.

[marshhawk]

So I have not had my action out of the stock, I am starting to see some slightly better groups after about 2 hundred rounds, I hope I just need to get the barrel broken in and it will start to shoot better after a brick or two!
Marshhawk!

[Ben]

crappie-hunter (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?20327-crappie-hunter)

I'm thinking like Mk42gunner.

Wonder what kind of group the rifle will fire if you single load them and have the mag. completely removed from the rifle while you shoot the group ?

[JMax]

I have one replaced the plastic stock with a nice laminated Boyd's and it is a tack driver at 50yds with even wild cats and blazer ammo.

[TXGunNut]

I have the 17HMR and it seems to be breaking in nicely. Bore seems a bit rough, I'm hoping it will settle down a bit as more rounds go down the tube. Shot quite well last time out.
Boyd stocks for the Ruger American? Kinda sounds like fun, hope they don't make one for the 17, lol.

[crappie-hunter]

Well guys thanks for all the suggestions and response, I have tried them all to no avail. Ruger has failed to respond so what next? Even if they did respond and I would send it back they would just shoot it at a 50' indoor range and say it met their accuracy standards and they would send it back to me as is. Been down that road before with remington and TC.

So I am thinking of licking my wounds and trying to fix this thing myself. The barrel is pinned and looks like it would be easy to remove,but where would one look to find a replacement barrel that a handy fellow could install? Or does this type of work require the expertise of a good smith? I have read on another post that fellow said he replaced the barrel on his 77/22 and it was easy to do. One more time any suggestions.

Was just over on the ruger forum and it looks like this is not a DIY job.

[Ola]

Wait a minute.. a bolt-action rimfire rifle is doing what?

First shot flyers AND

single loading shoots a pattern like a shotgun no group what so ever.

Please someone explain me how is that even possible?

[crappie-hunter]

If I had the answer to that question I would not have started this thread.

Mod's you can shut this thread down,if my integrity is going to be called into question I'm done.

[Ola]

No no no. That was not my purpose. Not at all. I was asking if someone could explain how that could happen, I mean what could cause it. Let me explain.

I have seen the first shot flyers happen with semiautos.
first shot: bolt is closed manually
next shots: automatic function

So there is a difference. A cause to a fenomena.

And with .22's the feeding is the usual suspect when there is accuracy problem. Not the other way around. In THIS case the feeding is actually making the accuracy BETTER. And that is something I have never heard before.

[Pigboat]

I've been thinking about getting one of these so I hope you keep us updated. What happens if you load another mag. before anything cools down? is the first round out of it also a flyer?

[CHeatermk3]

In my experience first-round fliers are a common phenomenon especially 22lr and even CF cast bullet shooting.

If the 1st round flier is consistently out, like say 1 o'clock 1/2 inch out, then you adjust your aim to compensate or if target shooting put the first round in a sighter bull.

What happens if you chamber the 1st round but do not fire it; but extract/eject it then make the next round in the mag the first shot in the string?

EDIT: Just re-read your original post first round 1-1/2" high and slightly right --sounds like bore condition to me.

[Ola]

What happens if you chamber the 1st round but do not fire it; but extract/eject it then make the next round in the mag the first shot in the string?

Yes, that is good question! It would tell if the magazine some how distorts the first round (in FULL mag).

[yovinny]

FWIW,
My 'predator' model American wasent shaving lead as much as 'kinking' the bullet in the case while loading.
Mine wasent first round only, but rather any time I worked the bolt quickly or just without going slow and with great care.
I did find the mag that came with the rifle was a worse offender than some of the older 10/22 mags I had around.
Mine needed the sharp edge around top dead center of the chamber broken better and needs the bolt worked slowly and gently, that along with using an older mag has solved my issues with it.
I'm not saying your issue is identical, but I'd sure look to a mag/feeding issue first.
Cheers, YV

[tenx]

my regular 77-22 magazines rubbed the bullet nose hard enough during feeding to leave marks on the bullet nose. have x3 magazines, lightly polished the magazines, problem solved. was a while ago so i don't remember accuracy issues but rubbing and marking up the bullet nose surely could not have helped accuracy.

[Jackpine]

Crappie-Hunter,

Give us some more specifics. When you are referring to the first shot, is this your first shot on a range visit or ? Was the rifle cleaned since you last shot it.

Do I understand correctly, that when you single feed five rounds, it shoots a "pattern" not a group? If this is correct, what size is the pattern?

Jackpine