Agree with above comment. The Magpul AICS single stack mags function better than the factory supplied, double stack mags. My bolt would hang up with the factory mags, sometimes had to drop the mag a few mm by releasing to get round to chamber.
My round count is just over 300 now and I'm very impressed with the accuracy of this rifle. It's essentially custom-like accuracy at factory price. Mine likes Hornady ELD 140's....Winchester Match was ehhhh, Prime was ok....but the ELD, awesome. Was gong to do a barrel change but now think I'll just shoot it out and replace when needed.
My round count is just over 300 now and I'm very impressed with the accuracy of this rifle. It's essentially custom-like accuracy at factory price. Mine likes Hornady ELD 140's....Winchester Match was ehhhh, Prime was ok....but the ELD, awesome. Was gong to do a barrel change but now think I'll just shoot it out and replace when needed.
mine is 15" from middle of trigger to butt. that's almost fully collapsed. so for you it may be too long. maybe a gen 2 would be better or if someone is using a standard receiver extension instead of the full length it may come in shorter, the gen 3 is compatible with both.
Any of you gents want to try a Timney trigger in your RPR, here is a swinging dick deal! Helluva price, $165.00!
https://www.dvor.com/timney-triggers-ruger-precision-8oz-1lb.html?options[]=2248-0-1662743
DVOR is a sale site for Optics Planet.
https://www.dvor.com/timney-triggers-ruger-precision-8oz-1lb.html?options[]=2248-0-1662743
DVOR is a sale site for Optics Planet.
A few post back some of you guys were talking about cerakoting your rprs. My wife just got hers back so I figured I'd let you check it out.
It was done by Bell Precision Rifles in Indiana. Its a 3 color mix of graphite black, midnight bronze and tiffany blue. She liked the distressed look. She also was not fond of the cheek rest so he covered it in saddle leather, also distressed. He changed out the grip and installed an extended safety.
. Thought it turned out pretty damn good. Hope the pics show up.
It was done by Bell Precision Rifles in Indiana. Its a 3 color mix of graphite black, midnight bronze and tiffany blue. She liked the distressed look. She also was not fond of the cheek rest so he covered it in saddle leather, also distressed. He changed out the grip and installed an extended safety.
. Thought it turned out pretty damn good. Hope the pics show up.
And one more, a little closer on the detail. Forgot he fluted the bolt also. 
Settle in for a while. I'm right at 1700 rounds and still shooting 1/2moa. My new barrel has been setting in the closet for over 9 months. Maybe a few more months and I can finally toast this barrel.
Was shooting out at 600 today with a new 190gr SMK load I'm looking to use at 1000. Superb accuracy. Out of 20 rounds I only left the 10 ring 3 times. However, freakin barrel nut came loose. That's some bullshit! Set it back to 60 ft/lbs and see what happens
Ha! Very true
Thanks for the heads up. I ordered the straight Timney trigger, $175ish delivered. Now for some glass for my RPR.
Just for some info if you got one of the brakes where Ruger turned the lock nut on all the way. Put the barrel in a vise. Then stick a screw driver through the round holes on the brake all the way in to the handle of the screw driver. Give the screw driver handle a good couple hits with a hammer in the loosening direction. That should do it nice and quick.
That's a Gen2. The Gen3 is a tad longer.
my bad
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First post here... waiting on a gen 2 rpr in 6.5cm from dros. This will be my first bolt gun and I chose the rpr for its modularity. Have a couple of issues with it. My rail is off to the left, muzzle break is off to the right. I've read through the 22 pages of this thread and looks like it's almost common. I don't want to adjust anything until after I shoot it. If it functions fine I might just leave it, but I guess it just bugs. Second the bolt is a bit rough in the action, has anyone done any lapping of the receiver? And lastly the pmag it came with is tight in the magwell, it does drop free but it's difficult to insert, nothing crazy just a bit tight. Nit picky things I know but I figured it's worth sharing with this community. I bought a few boxes of the 129gr interlock hornady American whitetail ammo for break in. Does anyone have any experience with this ammo? It was all my local gun store had in 6.5cm. Looking forward to shooting it!
Welcome aboard WuYen!
Mine took a bit of break in as well. Work the bolt on the bench, Cycle it a few dozen times and it will get much better. The tolerances are very tight, but that makes for a good shooter in a bolt. I have seen other comments about brake and hand guard alignment, but I had none of those issues. What I will comment on is the accuracy, after doing a proper break in on the barrel the accuracy got good, then much better than good, and finally after a few hundred rounds, astoundingly wonderful. A few weekends ago I picked off several squirrels with perfect headshots, out at 180 + yards, along with a couple of turkeys.
Mine took a bit of break in as well. Work the bolt on the bench, Cycle it a few dozen times and it will get much better. The tolerances are very tight, but that makes for a good shooter in a bolt. I have seen other comments about brake and hand guard alignment, but I had none of those issues. What I will comment on is the accuracy, after doing a proper break in on the barrel the accuracy got good, then much better than good, and finally after a few hundred rounds, astoundingly wonderful. A few weekends ago I picked off several squirrels with perfect headshots, out at 180 + yards, along with a couple of turkeys.
As for ammunition, I load my own and load with Sierra GameKings and MatchKings. I have loaded a few of the Hornady bullets, the latest being the 143-ELD-X. Results with all of these have been very good. The Sierra Gamekings (130gr) have been the most accurate for me at shorter ranges (<500 yards) while the Hornady ELD series has been the best at 500+ yards. The worst results I have seen are with the Hornady SST series. So far, all of my reloads have been with Varget and RL-17 powders. RL-17 is preferred and is the produces the best consistency.
the action and bolt have a "zipper" effect at first. its a product of mass production. they aren't perfectly milled from the factory. but after a couple hundred rounds and just working the action it will disappear. the rifle isn't perfect, but for the money its damn close. I find the bolts to be a bit sloppy inside the action, they wiggle way too much for my taste, but I have to stop comparing it to my other high end rifles, its just not in the same category. that's the hard part, like anything else. when you compare to other rifles, make sure you are comparing to a comparable rifle and not your buddies GAP. obviously the GAP is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more refined.
But the RPR is a shooter no doubt.
Thanks for the info on the ammo Griz headshots on squirrels at 200 sounds like fun, what scope are you running? ...I don't reload but am seriously considering it. As far as the zipper I figured it would break in it but I would like to speed up the process I was thinking about getting some flitz and polish the receiver and maybe the bolt. I'm new to bolt guns and long range. I've shot up to 600yards with an AR with a 1-4 bdc and with an eotech. I like pushing the red dot out past 300. Long range scope work is new to me and I'm looking forward to learning how to develop dope. Does anyone have a general dope out to a 1000 yards? Like I mentioned earlier I only have the 129gr interlock hornady. In the foreseeable future I will be shooting factory ammo. Any recommendations?
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^ Definitely get into reloading if you're able to, especially if you're going to be shooting long range. You'll wish you did sooner.
Believe me I want to but I'd rather send rounds down range than spending the funds on reloading equipment. I am a total noob with reloading so there will definitely be some growing pains as well. Just placed an order for a scope, picked up an SWFA SS 12X moa quad. They're having a sale, glad I procrastinated. Scope, butler covers, and a bubble level came out to $320 shipped, picked up a few different boxes of factory ammo to try after break in, dying to get it out of dros 
I'm using a SWFA SS as well. Mine being a mil quad 20X. Love that scope
Have you shot the ELD Match 147 gr? If so, would you mind sharing your R17 recipe? I know it wont exactly work for me, but I'm just looking for a starting point.
Griz how do you like those GameKings? With Sierra ive only loaded the MatchKings
I went medium on a scope for the Ruger, I went with a Vortex Viper PST 5-24 EBR-2C and mounted with a Burris P.E.P.R mount. When not shooting this allows removing the scope from the rail quickly and easily and replacing it with no change in point of impact. It keeps the scope safe and leaves a lot more room for rifles.
If you are going to shoot many varied distances, I encourage you to get Ballistics Arc software for your phone. I run it along side a Weatherflow BT weather meter and it will calculate all your dope for you. It accounts for the distance, elevation, direction of shot (Coriolis) direction and speed of the wind, temperature, latitude and longitude, temperature, humidity and a lot more. And it does it in a matter of seconds. If you don't know the distamce, it has on board GEOsat maps and you can mark your shooting position and multiple targets and then save them for future use. It's kind of expensive though, at $12.00, it's a lot of software for the price. If you hunt, you can even load the terminal data for the bullet and it will show a track for the bullet showing where no dope is required, to where it is and change colors of the line when you get beyond the terminal point of the energy curve. You can track multiple rifles with multiple loads, you will love it! Another decent phone app is STRELOK PRO. It also does most of the same functions as BALLISTICS ARC, but does not have the mapping function. It also will get data from the Weatherflow BT.
I did not get stellar results from the 129gr Hornady, it was good, do not think that it's not acceptable though, it is a good bullet. But I got better results from the ELD series and even better results with the Sierra bullets.
Believe me I want to but I'd rather send rounds down range than spending the funds on reloading equipment. I am a total noob with reloading so there will definitely be some growing pains as well. Just placed an order for a scope, picked up an SWFA SS 12X moa quad. They're having a sale, glad I procrastinated. Scope, butler covers, and a bubble level came out to $320 shipped, picked up a few different boxes of factory ammo to try after break in, dying to get it out of dros
If you are buying factory ammo, you are likely paying close to a buck a round for them. How much do you shoot?
You can reduce the per round cost by 50%.You can set up a single stage press with all required "extra" stuff for around $250.00. Find a used on on Flea-Bay or other sites and reduce that cost as well.
In 500-600 rounds you will have paid for your equipment, and you will get more accurate, higher quality ammunition.
I'll bet if you let us know where you live, someone here will offer you an invite to come load with them and show you the ropes. The shooting community is a big family and love to share!
I am in the Austin area, and you would be more than welcome to come sit at the loading bench here.
As a post adder note, you will likely not save any money loading, the end result is you will shoot twice as much for the same money!
I have not. For a load workup with RL-17 I would start with 41.0gr and work up in .3gr increments. Just load a few at each level watching for signs of pressure and watching the velocity. ( I use a MagnetoSpeed) There is no published data for RL-17 in the 6.5 Creedmoor, so tread these waters carefully. I pressure peaked with 143gr bullets at 43.8, with best accuracy at 43.0 (2868 fps). When you go with a heavier bullet, you need to back down the powder as the heavier bullet will produce higher pressures. Load safely my friend, and no matter what data you receive from any source, VERIFY!
I have settled on the 130gr Gamekings (#1728) for my "GO TO" hunting load. With 43.0gr of RL-17, 2850-2900 FPS and out to 200 yards, minute of squirrel brain accurate. At <300 yards, they are just as accurate, (a little more consistent) than the Matchking 140's. Could be because of the weight, I don't have enough data yet to determine that.
you tried it at 15 yet?
This is from my initial ammunition development. I use "ONTARGETPC" to measure my groups.
I just got my RPR Gen II back from Rampart Gunworks where I dropped it off to get it sprayed with Magpul OD Green Cerakote to match the Magpul PRS stock I added. I think it came out great!
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^ Sweeeeeeeeet. I've always liked that bolt knob too
If you are buying factory ammo, you are likely paying close to a buck a round for them. How much do you shoot?
You can reduce the per round cost by 50%.You can set up a single stage press with all required "extra" stuff for around $250.00. Find a used on on Flea-Bay or other sites and reduce that cost as well.
In 500-600 rounds you will have paid for your equipment, and you will get more accurate, higher quality ammunition.
I'll bet if you let us know where you live, someone here will offer you an invite to come load with them and show you the ropes. The shooting community is a big family and love to share!
I am in the Austin area, and you would be more than welcome to come sit at the loading bench here.
As a post adder note, you will likely not save any money loading, the end result is you will shoot twice as much for the same money!
Thanks for quantifying that for me, really appreciate it. I'm looking to shoot more often and midrange shooting is getting stale. $250 to start sounds very reasonable, and $12 for a good app with a full feature set sounds like a steal to me. I've been looking into the apps and was looking at shooter, jbm, and strelok. I'm in SoCal there is a reloading store at one of the ranges I go to, might have to go to one of their classes...
^ You don't have to spring for a whole kit either. The only thing I've used that came in my kit is the actual press itself, and the powder dish. My Lee single stage press costs about $60 and I don't know how many hundreds of rounds I've loaded with it. I just powder dip with a digital scale. Then of course there are the dies. I recommend a micrometer bullet seating die. A decent caliper and you're set.
I don't know if anyone has tried to lap their RPR but here's a clip of someone doing it on a Ruger American Ranch:
https://youtu.be/r1xsveHON-I
Good idea/ bad idea?
Sounds good, all in due time. Hey do you have a zero stop setup on your SS?
https://youtu.be/r1xsveHON-I
Good idea/ bad idea?
Sounds good, all in due time. Hey do you have a zero stop setup on your SS?
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I got my RPR back from Rampart Gunworks where they sprayed it with Magpul OD Green Cerakote and Armor Black. Take a look:
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^ It's badass. I think id go OD since it's darker. It would show less scratches
I don't have a zero stop on mine. But I really like the turrets. They're strong and audible. They've never moved on their own. When I first got it I did actually use the hex key to move the marker to zero, but since I shoot different loads that have different zeros, I don't bother to anymore. I just have the drop for my loads on my ballistic app. With just the 20 MOA base, I have more than enough available MOA for my 1000 yard range whether I sling a 168gr or 190gr bullet out there
If it somehow only got on the bolt body id feel better. My only concern would be wear on the bolt head. I've never done that before though so I don't really know. After 1500 rounds my bolt is plenty smooth lol. I have cerakoted bolts which is what I plan to do with this one if I get around to it.
So, I was doing a bit of bullet research today and decided to throw a few .264 bullets through the McMillian calculator.
I was a bit taken back, according to spin rate calculations, in the RPR with a 1:8 twist barrel, the lighter bullets should stay have netter stability than the heavier ones.
I have not shot any of the lighter bullets, and have no personal data on them.
So who here has pushed some 90-120 grain pills down the tube? What speeds? How did they perform?
I ask, because I have an acquaintance that is leaving the reloading world and retiring, and has a large quantity of lighter .264 bullets that he wants to sell.
I was considering making him a bulk offer, but really need some performance data on the lighter bullets.
I was a bit taken back, according to spin rate calculations, in the RPR with a 1:8 twist barrel, the lighter bullets should stay have netter stability than the heavier ones.
I have not shot any of the lighter bullets, and have no personal data on them.
So who here has pushed some 90-120 grain pills down the tube? What speeds? How did they perform?
I ask, because I have an acquaintance that is leaving the reloading world and retiring, and has a large quantity of lighter .264 bullets that he wants to sell.
I was considering making him a bulk offer, but really need some performance data on the lighter bullets.
Just outside that range, I have put 2-300 Lapua 123gr Scenars down range and I was getting velocities just over 3000 fps and 10 round groups right at 1 moa. It was fine, but mine prefers the 140 Berger hyprid, with groups shrinking to .8 moa at 2750fps.
Stability is only one aspect of precision, one thing I have discovered is that whatever I use needs to tolerate a big jump. The 140 hybrids are 103 thousandths off the lands at max mag length.
Stability is only one aspect of precision, one thing I have discovered is that whatever I use needs to tolerate a big jump. The 140 hybrids are 103 thousandths off the lands at max mag length.
I agree with your statement. I have experienced a lack of consistency with bullets that I have to load that far back out of the rifling, that being those with very long noses and extended points. One in particular being the Hornady match grade bullets. The closer to the rifling, the more consistent they become. We all know that no two rifles will behave exactly the same, subtle differences in chambers, throats, depth of reamer cut, etc... will all have an influence on the consistency, which will usually translate to accuracy. My shooting buddy has an RPR 6.5 gen 1, the throat is .013 deeper than my Gen 2.
The Bergers have a good reputation, but for most of us who put a lot of rounds downrange, the pricing of solids makes it an expensive endeavor.
What powder do you normally use? When I get close to 3,000 with a Sierra 123, I start seeing pressure signs that I don't care for. I'm always up for trying a different powder...!
I don't have an RPR, but have had great results with the 123gr Scenars, getting ~3050fps & very low SDs with RE17, from a 23" barrel.
If you plug those numbers into a ballistic App, you may be surprised by how little wind drift it has, compared to the more 'normal' 140s.
If you plug those numbers into a ballistic App, you may be surprised by how little wind drift it has, compared to the more 'normal' 140s.
Sounds like you are using the factory mags. If so you could look ate the AI or Accurate mags. I was able to get to 20 off the lands till almost 1k rounds. Now at 1800 rounds I'm at 40 off but finally got to a point where mag length stopped me from chasing the lands. My load using 140 ELD-M still shoots the same sub-half moa it has since day one.
Hey Lefty,
Can you post some images of what you did to the pmags to fix the problem? I really hate the bolt stop!
Haven't been on the forum in a few days.
Regarding your hand guard, if it is far off center and you shoot off a bi-pod, it might cause some problems as the rifle recoils but I'm not sure. My Gen 1 hand guard was off also. I just loosened up the allen bolts holding it on at the receiver and put wooden wedges between the barrel and hand guard where the barrel exits the hand guard. I moved them until the barrel was centered in the hand guard and then tightened the bolts. It stayed centered after that.
I had my bolt body and bolt handle Micro-Slicked (black) by Zephyr Defense to get rid of the "zipper" sound. I think they have a web site (I had mine done through the Ruger Precision Rifle page on Face Book, good info there). Micro-Slick is made by Cerakote and it is sprayed on and heat cured. I did both the bolt & handle so the color would match. It was in the $45 - $50 range including shipping. Picture attached.
I shot the Hornady 129 grain Interlock during break-in (I know, everyone says you don't need to break in the barrel but it can't hurt). It shot OK with it. I have shot some of the common factory loads through mine including Hornady 140 gr ELDM, Winchester 140 gr Match and Federal American Eagle 140 gr OTM. All of them shot very well at 100 & 200 yards but I have only taken the Hornady to distances past 200 yards and it has shot well. I have all the stuff to start reloading and will start developing a load soon.
If you want to try different ballistic apps for your phone, I have tried a few free ones and then finally paid for Strelok + (there are 3 versions, Free, + and Pro). I am happy with it.
I know this reply is a little late but hope it helps.
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I was using the factory mags, but in Canada, those are the Accurate mags. I switched to AI mags because I had unreliable feeding with the bolt not picking up the round on occasion. Never a problem with the AI. I recently purchased a PMag AICS pattern mag and it has just a little less space than the AI. I usually measure to the ogive, but I check COAL as well to confirm mag length. I am running 2.845".
