New Ruger American Gen II

[Ajsomp]

I'm pretty excited about this release. I don't like the drop in the comb, but other than that this is seems like a really solid budget option. I'm hoping they put longer barrels on the magnum chamberings. But for a street price of probably $600-650 you get a light, accurate rifle with cerakote, a threaded barrel, a 70 degree bolt throw, an adjustable stock, a little baby bedding system (which on paper is better than just metal pillars in tupperware), a muzzle break, and nice aesthetics. I think this is really pushing the feature set of what people would like in a budget + tier rifle. The only obvious thing to replace for a great budget rifle is the trigger spring (hoping original mcarbo spring works or they're quick to make a new one). If the baby bedding system isn't enough to keep the flexing down, rockite/epoxy the forend and then add weights to balance it back out. Overall I think this is the sort of improvement you want to see in the lower end of the market. It should push the other manufacturers to get with the times and improve their lineups by adding more features on the low end and/or not charging a large markup for their next-tier models that have the features everyone wants standard (looking at you Tikka).

I hope they don’t have longer barrels in the magnums. 22” for 7PRC is plenty especially when suppressing it.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

I agree if you buy the Tikka threaded from the factory. But you can buy one and have it cut (to whatever length you want) and threaded for much less than the price for factory

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Still more than a RA and does it shoot better? My experience says no. Poor? Sure, but that poor rifle outshoots many I own that are twice as expensive.

 

[robtattoo]

I love my original Ruger Frankengun. The AICS mag upgrade was good. The Timney trigger was definitely worth ½ the cost of the rifle & I was all giddy when I saw this thread.
Then I saw the pictures & wouldn't you know it? Yep, it looks like 13 damp arseholes in an onion sack, priced like a Tikka.
Damn shame.

 

[z987k]

I love my original Ruger Frankengun. The AICS mag upgrade was good. The Timney trigger was definitely worth ½ the cost of the rifle & I was all giddy when I saw this thread.
Then I saw the pictures & wouldn't you know it? Yep, it looks like 13 damp arseholes in an onion sack, priced like a Tikka.
Damn shame.

Street price looks to be $564. Add $170 for the trigger. I don't think you can get a tikka in half those chamberings, in a proper length and threaded for anywhere near that.
The tikka stock also sucks, so that's an upgrade with either rifle.

 

[Snailz]

I hope they don’t have longer barrels in the magnums. 22” for 7PRC is plenty especially when suppressing it.

They're all 20" barrels in the initial offerings, which is a little short for the PRCs IMO. Also, I think that consideration of a can is a pretty moot point for this class of rifle. While there will be exceptions, on the whole I would bet people who are willing to spend the money, headache, and time needed for a can are not targeting this budget tier of rifle. Even if a lot of people running cans were, I doubt they'd make up more than an extremely tiny fraction of the purchasers of this product. I wouldn't factor that in as a consideration if I were Ruger. I'm guessing the shorter barrels are to accomodate the included brake. I'd like to see at least 22" for the magnums, but would be even happier with a 24" since I would take off the brake anyways.

 

[fwafwow]

Still more than a RA and does it shoot better? My experience says no. Poor? Sure, but that poor rifle outshoots many I own that are twice as expensive.

I have no idea what the RA gen 2 will cost, but I suspect a cut Tikka will still come in above that price. Although I have an original RA and a Tikka, I've not spent any time comparing them and couldn't say which shoots better. I have nothing against the RA but personally prefer the Tikka.

 

[robtattoo]

Street price looks to be $564. Add $170 for the trigger. I don't think you can get a tikka in half those chamberings, in a proper length and threaded for anywhere near that.
The tikka stock also sucks, so that's an upgrade with either rifle.

$750 will get you into a blued Superlite T3x (I was looking around this morning) no trigger needed & the stock with the $30 vertical grip is literal light years ahead of the RA, which also has almost no aftermarket stock options.
So yeah, the Tikka is a hair more, but it's also a class above. I have both.

 

[Snailz]

Street price looks to be $564. Add $170 for the trigger. I don't think you can get a tikka in half those chamberings, in a proper length and threaded for anywhere near that.
The tikka stock also sucks, so that's an upgrade with either rifle.

MCarbo has a trigger spring for the original, which should work since they didn;t make any claims about the trigger being different. IMO worth the $20 and 20 minutes to install and test before upgrading to a whole new assembly. At that point I'd probably for a CVA cascade, whose stock trigger is quite good by all reports. If it's the same as the accura muzzleloaders, I can confirm it's a great trigger.

 

[BLJ]

Street price looks to be $564. Add $170 for the trigger. I don't think you can get a tikka in half those chamberings, in a proper length and threaded for anywhere near that.
The tikka stock also sucks, so that's an upgrade with either rifle.

Is the street price something you saw or speculation? Thanks.

 

[Snailz]

$750 will get you into a blued Superlite T3x (I was looking around this morning) no trigger needed & the stock with the $30 vertical grip is literal light years ahead of the RA, which also has almost no aftermarket stock options.
So yeah, the Tikka is a hair more, but it's also a class above. I have both.

RA has magpul hunter, KRG bravo, B&C, boyds, MDT field stock. All of those should be better than the Tikka factorty stock. MCarbo has a trigger spring kit for like $20 that should make the trigger much nicer, but still unlikely to come close to a tikka. So for about $900 you'd have a rifle with a better stock, cerakote, threaded muzzle, a worse but hopefully manageable trigger, a less smooth action, but more chamberings. And that's IF the new stock needs to be replaced. It's not obvious Tikka is the better option in that comparison. More of a tossup based on what features you're looking for.

 

[z987k]

$750 will get you into a blued Superlite T3x (I was looking around this morning) no trigger needed & the stock with the $30 vertical grip is literal light years ahead of the RA, which also has almost no aftermarket stock options.
So yeah, the Tikka is a hair more, but it's also a class above. I have both.

Cerakoting, chopping and threading, or just get the stainless, chop and thread put the tikka well north of 1k.
Or really this is closest to the roughtech. For half the price. And honestly, you still have to chop and thread most of the roughtechs. Their barrels are too long.

The tikka stock isn't good. They both need replaced. It's serviceable. But it's not good. This new ruger stock looks serviceable as well. But not good.
I'm a tikka fan. I own a bunch of their actions and triggers. I wish they'd make a modern rifle.

 

[sneaky]

Exactly what I told my buddy. We have each had multiple American predators. I saw msrp was listed at $729 and I told him I’d just buy a tikka for that.


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They won't sell for anywhere near msrp. Most likely in the $599 to low 600ish range. The original RA lists for $629 and they never sold anywhere close to that on the street

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[z987k]

Is the street price something you saw or speculation? Thanks.

I haven't found one in stock yet, but if you do a search for the UPC a bunch of places have them up on their site as the gen 2 for that price. Brownell's for example.
Ranch appears to be $20 cheaper.

 

[robtattoo]

RA has magpul hunter, KRG bravo, B&C, boyds, MDT field stock. All of those should be better than the Tikka factorty stock. MCarbo has a trigger spring kit for like $20 that should make the trigger much nicer, but still unlikely to come close to a tikka. So for about $900 you'd have a rifle with a better stock, cerakote, threaded muzzle, a worse but hopefully manageable trigger, a less smooth action, but more chamberings. And that's IF the new stock needs to be replaced. It's not obvious Tikka is the better option in that comparison. More of a tossup based on what features you're looking for.

Cerakoting, chopping and threading, or just get the stainless, chop and thread put the tikka well north of 1k.
Or really this is closest to the roughtech. For half the price. And honestly, you still have to chop and thread most of the roughtechs. Their barrels are too long.

The tikka stock isn't good. They both need replaced. It's serviceable. But it's not good. This new ruger stock looks serviceable as well. But not good.
I'm a tikka fan. I own a bunch of their actions and triggers. I wish they'd make a modern rifle.

All fair points, but none of them address the fact that the new factory rifle looks like damp shit.

 

[z987k]

They're all 20" barrels in the initial offerings, which is a little short for the PRCs IMO. Also, I think that consideration of a can is a pretty moot point for this class of rifle. While there will be exceptions, on the whole I would bet people who are willing to spend the money, headache, and time needed for a can are not targeting this budget tier of rifle. Even if a lot of people running cans were, I doubt they'd make up more than an extremely tiny fraction of the purchasers of this product. I wouldn't factor that in as a consideration if I were Ruger. I'm guessing the shorter barrels are to accomodate the included brake. I'd like to see at least 22" for the magnums, but would be even happier with a 24" since I would take off the brake anyways.

I own 4 cans. I have a hard time buying any factory rifle that isn't 20" or less and threaded. Because if it's not, I'm really just buying an action. I have to put another 2-600+ into the thing to make it what it should be from the factory.
I think Ruger got with the times, kind of like browning with the xbolt speed SR.

 

[z987k]

All fair points, but none of them address the fact that the new factory rifle looks like damp shit.

Function > Form. If I cared what it looked like I'd be buying something with the nicest maple you've ever seen. I think the monte carlo stock is dumb from a function perspective, but I'm probably in for a ranch in 223 for what they seem to be going for. If I hate the stock that much I'll replace it.

 

[Snailz]

All fair points, but none of them address the fact that the new factory rifle looks like damp shit.

I guess there's just a difference of opinion here. I really like the look of the thing. I like the stock pattern, I like the gray on gray color scheme of the standard, and I like the fluting pattern. I would like to see an FDE/brown stock paired with a burnt bronze or FDE barrel. I would've given them bonus points for matching the fluting pattern of the barrel with the bolt. What points do you dislike and what are your preferred rifle aesthetics?

 

[Ajsomp]

They're all 20" barrels in the initial offerings, which is a little short for the PRCs IMO. Also, I think that consideration of a can is a pretty moot point for this class of rifle. While there will be exceptions, on the whole I would bet people who are willing to spend the money, headache, and time needed for a can are not targeting this budget tier of rifle. Even if a lot of people running cans were, I doubt they'd make up more than an extremely tiny fraction of the purchasers of this product. I wouldn't factor that in as a consideration if I were Ruger. I'm guessing the shorter barrels are to accomodate the included brake. I'd like to see at least 22" for the magnums, but would be even happier with a 24" since I would take off the brake anyways.

They haven’t listed the specs for the LA but I can’t imagine they would all be 20”. I’d make a guess that they would be 22”I could be wrong though, but if they are looking at other companies - browning, Bergara, etc. shorter barreled options are making up a bunch of the offerings and what people are asking for.

 

[robtattoo]

What points do you dislike and what are your preferred rifle aesthetics?

Literally every part of the stock in its entirety.
The action & barrel are actually kinda nice. The long mag doesn't bother me, the 10rd MDT on mine hangs lower. The Accucopy Trigger is just awful (as are the originals & all knockoff copies thereof)

I really couldn't tell you what I prefer. Some things just look right to my eye, some things don't. The original does, this doesn't. *shrugs