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Ruger American gen 2’s

Jmccracken1214

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Minuteman
  • Dec 10, 2018
    2,320
    1,055
    Thomasville, NC
    These new model Ruger Americans look good! They have some nice calibers coming now next year also, 22arc, 6arc, 7prc…. Etc

    I like them.
    IMG_5937.png
     
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    Reactions: DubfromGA
    I wonder what changes they would make. Looks extremely similar except for the detachable bolt knob. Maybe they improved the bolt lift, which is pretty much the only thing holding the original back.
     
    If it were priced like the 1st gen, or offered as just a barreled action, it’d be more attractive. Looks like they spent a lot of the price increase on the new stock, which is still something I’d throw away and replace.

    Price is almost double what the others were. If it shoots groups half as big as the previous generation I’ll recant, but I think Ruger might’ve just priced themselves right out of a niche they could’ve dominated.
     
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    Reactions: tacoman69 and XP1K
    Seems all the Ruger rifles have gone up in price. The Gen 2 isn't much more than the current price for the Gen 1, and an RPR now starts just under $2k. Glad I got mine when I did.
     
    Yeah, I have an older American in 5.56 and an RPR in 6.5 CM. Not sure I would be willing to pay the current price. Unless everything else has gone up equally as much....
     
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    Reactions: Bender and J. W.
    Yeah. Cheap rifles now cost what the upper end models cost 20ish years ago.

    I gagged when I first saw the stock, but it’s starting to grow on me. I hope they stiffened it up.

    I’m either gonna do a Howa Mini or Ranch Arc next year, so I’d like to finger bang one of the new gen II’s.
     
    When T1x’s came out around ‘19, I think they were around $499. By the time I got mine in early ‘23, I was $675 out the door.

    Makes one try not to think about what his 401k is actually worth…..
     
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    Impressive specs for the 7mm-08... 20" spiral barrel, with a modern 8.5" twist rate, and 5/8-24 threads. Might have to get one to try... If they shoot good, might have to grab one in 7 PRC when those drop.

    On their website it also says they're going to be making them in 350 legend, 400 legend, 6mm ARC, 22 ARC, 6mm CM, 6.5 Grendel, 7 PRC, etc...

    Screenshot 2023-12-19 at 10.30.10 PM.png
     
    Include the courtesy link darn it

    Edit: why do they always make the 223 use ar mags. The 204 reportedly is ai pattern, so why not enable the use of actually good 223 ammo instead of just bad light bulk fodder? The fudds can shoot crap ammo from an aics mag just as well as from an ar mag.
    And why not make the 243 at least an 8 twist instead of 9 and capping it at reliably 100 grains ammos.
     
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    That 7mm-08 caught my eye as well. Don’t need it, but like it. Ruger has always (as far as I know) twisted their 7mm’s pretty fast. I’ve got a 8.5” Ruger #1 7x57 I’ve been tempted to try 180 eldm’s in and it’s 20 years old. Though it’d be laughable while wearing its 2-7x32 Monarch.😂
     
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    Reactions: Guns&WhiteWater
    I wonder if their upcoming .30-06 will use AI magazines. That and hopefully someone like MDT will make a chassis for the Ruger LA or the new stock design will have an bedding block that goes to the end of the forearm. Hopefully the fit and finish is worth the increased price.

    LR
     
    Include the courtesy link darn it

    Edit: why do they always make the 223 use ar mags. The 204 reportedly is ai pattern, so why not enable the use of actually good 223 ammo instead of just bad light bulk fodder? The fudds can shoot crap ammo from an aics mag just as well as from an ar mag.
    And why not make the 243 at least an 8 twist instead of 9 and capping it at reliably 100 grains ammos.
    The first question is easy to answer. AR mags are cheap, plentiful, reliable, and the target market already owns a ton of them. AI mags are neither cheap, nor plentiful- and if the 223 AI mags are similar in design to the 308 mags, the follower is a joke compared to the AR mag design. And, the target market will need to invest in expensive, unreliable magazines that don’t crossover to their other rifles. (Before anyone gets too butt hurt, the number 1 issue I have observed at PRS events can be boiled down to “AI mag followers suck donkey balls, and the mags are prone to barf cartridges into the open action upon seating, or allow the cartridge to nose dive causing a failure to feed.”)

    The second question is also pretty easy to answer. The bulk of the available factory ammunition will shoot well in the 1:9 twist. This rifle- like the vast majority of “budget” rifles- is not targeted at the the precision long range shooting hand-loader that might benefit from shooting heavy for caliber bullets.

    The larger answer, which encompasses both questions, is that the average SH member is not the target market for this rifle.
     
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    Some of you are fucking challenged. The price isn't twice the price, the difference between the gen 1 and gen 2 ranch is $60... SIXTY DOLLARS. It's like nobody knows how MSRP and street pricing works. The same retardation happens with Trijicon RMR's.

    Given the cerakote finish, spiral fluting, and stock upgrade I'd say that's a damn good value. If you had one cerakoted you'd pay $250 just for that.
     
    Some of you are fucking challenged. The price isn't twice the price, the difference between the gen 1 and gen 2 ranch is $60... SIXTY DOLLARS.
    🤣 I was the one that said twice the price. Not challenged. Well, not usually anyway.
    Just didn’t realize they had gone up so much on the price of the Gen 1s.
     
    🤣 I was the one that said twice the price. Not challenged. Well, not usually anyway.
    Just didn’t realize they had gone up so much on the price of the Gen 1s.

    It didn't though, MSRP went up $60 which translates to about $50 street price. Given that many manufacturers have a 5-10% price increase at the beginning of each year that's nothing and you're getting features that cost far more than the small difference in price.
     
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    Retarded. Here’s some actual street prices. $400 for a standard that has a $599 MSRP and $460 for a ranch that has a $669 MSRP.

    Use your brains people, it’s not that damn hard.

    The gen 2 ranch should be a little over $500 street price.

    When they came out 11 years ago the cheapest you could get one for was about $325 or so, so given over a decade of everything going up in price and Covid and inflation driving stuff up $75 increase in street price is jack shit.
     

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    When T1x’s came out around ‘19, I think they were around $499. By the time I got mine in early ‘23, I was $675 out the door.

    Makes one try not to think about what his 401k is actually worth…..
    This why I am trying buy all of my toys before retirement.

    -Stan
     
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    Reactions: FuhQ
    Retarded. Here’s some actual street prices. $400 for a standard that has a $599 MSRP and $460 for a ranch that has a $669 MSRP.

    Use your brains people, it’s not that damn hard.

    The gen 2 ranch should be a little over $500 street price.

    When they came out 11 years ago the cheapest you could get one for was about $325 or so, so given over a decade of everything going up in price and Covid and inflation driving stuff up $75 increase in street price is jack shit.
    All I can say is I hope you’re right on the street price vs MSRP delta. I’m gonna go find my ‘tard handler and be quietly skeptical in the corner now. 🤓

    I do hope you’re right though.
     
    All I can say is I hope you’re right on the street price vs MSRP delta. I’m gonna go find my ‘tard handler and be quietly skeptical in the corner now. 🤓

    I do hope you’re right though.

    You can look up any Ruger product on their site and then look up street prices of that part number. I even posted two examples.
     
    I meant for the new ones. All I could find was Ruger’s MSRP of $729.

    Dealer pricing structure is going to be the same so cost will be the same and markup. They’ll obviously sell a little higher initially due to demand of the hot new item but that normally falls off pretty quick once the “gotta have it now” idiots satisfy themselves.
     
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    I meant for the new ones. All I could find was Ruger’s MSRP of $729.
    Based on other models pricing I think they're retail for $550 to $600 after they become readily available. The stock upgrades they list don't really do anything for me. My current one is going to go in chassis after I get a new scope for it (but my son may get it as is) and for the current price point I don't think it would be feasible to have a full length bedding block in the stock. If the cerakote is anything like the one on my go wild it will be roughly applied. But I am liking the fluted barrel. All things considered if I'm picking a new rifle to start another hunting rifle to build from the gen2 would be on my list depending on the caliber I went with. I'm wanting a long action and until some makes a chassis that uses AI mags that kind of pushes the Ruger american out of the running.

    LR
     
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    Does anyone know if the action footprint for the gen 2 is the same as the gen 1? Will I be able to use an aftermarket stock / chassis for the Ranch AR version like the MDT LSS-XL gen 2? Furthermore will the timney trigger still be compatible?

    I called Ruger customer support and the guy said he and his manager didn't know the answer to that and that I should ask these third party manufacturers like MDT? WTF?? Ruger are the ones who made the rifles.
     
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    Does anyone know if the action footprint for the gen 2 is the same as the gen 1? Will I be able to use an aftermarket stock for the Ranch AR version like the MDT LSS-XL gen 2? Furthermore will the timney trigger still be compatible?

    I called Ruger customer support and the guy said he and his manager didn't know the answer to that and that I should ask these third party manufacturers like MDT? WTF?? Ruger are the ones who made the rifles.
    Would be wise if they did, but good question
     
    I got basically the same answer yesterday when I called to ask minus the "go ask aftermarket companies if our action inlets are the same" LOL. That's crazy. I guess the tech guys haven't submitted that info to the script for them to read off of.
     
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    Would be wise if they did, but good question
    I got basically the same answer yesterday when I called to ask minus the "go ask aftermarket companies if our action inlets are the same" LOL. That's crazy. I guess the tech guys haven't submitted that info to the script for them to read off of.

    I decided to call MDT. The tech didn't know the answer to it right now since it is so new they haven't gotten any to see yet but he thinks that everything would probably be the same, except that the three position safety could cause a need for more clearance based on the hardware being slightly different.

    I know the engineers and machinists at Ruger have exact specifications for the models and they could easily be compared but there is some disconnect between them and the customer service department. It appears that the same v-block bedding is still used so I'm hopeful on that but it looks like we will just have to wait for either Ruger to succeed at interdepartmental communication or have the third parties figure it out for everyone.
     
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    One of their videos shows the bolt. It has lost all of the cuts on the bottom, the body is now just round with the bolt stop cut. The bolt handle is an improvement.

    The original rotary mag on my early 300BO Ranch is just fine by me, better carry. By the time I got around to buying a .223 Ranch all I could find were the AR magazine variety, so I never bought one.

    The 223 AI style Ruger mags are now a bank breaking $42. They work just fine in the RPR. I suppose they'll work the same in the 204. If I can't have the rotary mag, I'd rather the AI pattern. Both allow the longer OAL.
     
    Yeah, at that price, I might pickup one of the 7mm-08's, or wait until the 7mm PRC becomes available. It's a pretty sexy looking rifle, just not a big fan of the high-comb stock...Which I would probably remove ASAP anyway.
     
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    Would really like to see Bergara, for example, compete with this by offering a bunch of new cartridge options.
     
    I may have to pick one up in 7mm prc. The Ruger Predator I have has been an accurate little rifle.
     
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    Finger banged a Gen 2 today.

    I don’t have much to say other than I’m not sure what else I expected for $500.
     
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    I was able to check out a gen 2 ranch model today. It looks like they should drop into gen 1 chassis, everything about the action footprint looked the same.

    Holy shit that was one clanky rough action though. More so than the gen 1’s that the shop had. I’ll probably still buy one as a beater when the ARC comes out unless something better is announced but damn did it feel like a piece of shit.

    The stock was complete Tupperware trash and was pressed hard up against the right side of the barrel. That’s easy enough to fix by throwing it in the trash where it belongs and putting it in a KRG Bravo assuming it does indeed drop in.
     
    Elaboration? Are you saying they are good or bad for $500?

    I was able to check out a gen 2 ranch model today. It looks like they should drop into gen 1 chassis, everything about the action footprint looked the same.

    Holy shit that was one clanky rough action though. More so than the gen 1’s that the shop had. I’ll probably still buy one as a beater when the ARC comes out unless something better is announced but damn did it feel like a piece of shit.

    The stock was complete Tupperware trash and was pressed hard up against the right side of the barrel. That’s easy enough to fix by throwing it in the trash where it belongs and putting it in a KRG Bravo assuming it does indeed drop in.

    This sums up my thoughts pretty well.

    The action was impressively clunky. Raceways were rough and manipulation was sloppy. It was notably worse than I remember the Gen 1s being, and I was never particularly impressed with those either.

    The stock is a throw away. Barrel wasn’t anywhere close to centered, in fact it wasn’t even free floated, and it flexed more than a body builder on roids.

    The barrel was heavy-ish, and the fluting/muzzle looked fine - no terrible remarks here, other than the cerakote finish felt like sandpaper. Trigger was surprisingly OK.

    Again, I’m not sure what I expected for $500. I certainly wasn’t impressed, and yet I’m still oddly tempted to buy one.
     
    Hate to hear that BMX.
    I had started to appreciate the new look, but noodles don’t do anything for me unless they’re on my plate.
     
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    Yeah the clunkyness was maybe even worse than a savage action, but wasn’t bindy like a savage, but was tougher than shit. Like a mosin or something but stupid rough. It was definitely one of the worst feeling actions I’ve ever cycled, but it seemed like it would crank just fine.

    The finish was rough too but not bad, it was like textured or hammered look, I actually kind of liked how it looked.

    The store had it listed for $489.99 BTW so only about $30 more than the cheapest gen 1 ranch models. If I ordered a gen 1 from the cheapest place on line and paid shipping + $25 FFL fee but no tax it would cost the same as the gen 2 OTD from that store.
     
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    The action was impressively clunky. Raceways were rough and manipulation was sloppy. It was notably worse than I remember the Gen 1s being, and I was never particularly impressed with those either.
    On the gen 1s, I took the bolts apart, made up a wooden dowel insert so that I could chuck them up on a drill, and ran them on my 2x72 belt grinder with a Scotchbrite belt until those machining marks were gone, then buffed them. Also polished the raceways with sandpaper and then the buffer. Made a huge difference in smoothness, but no amount of polishing is going to fix the sloppiness you guys are talking about.

    I thought I would pick one of these up, but now I’m thinking I might just put that money towards a nice action that’ll take a prefit and barrel it later.
     
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    I wish they would have left them alone and just added the new caliber options. One of the things I liked about the Gen 1s is that indeed it does come with a cheap stock.....but it works well for a utilitarian beater rifle, and if I want something different I'll paint it or replace it. I don't need to be upsold another plastic version that somebody else molested already in an attempt to "upgrade" while also raising the price.

    I hope the above reports of a worse feeling action are not indicative of all Gen 2s, because I could deal with the stock and fluting as long as the same function of a Gen 1 is there.

    Having said that, I'm still interested in the 6ARC Ranch.