Talk me out of a Ruger American Gen 2 6 creedmoor

[BLJ]

function well, both feed well

You and I are the only ones.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Ok, I’ll bite.

The trigger sucks, feeding is iffy and can be difficult, feels like there is sand in the action.

Otherwise they are typically accurate and cheap.

I would pay the difference for a Tikka compact in a heart beat.


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[Sixpack]

You and I are the only ones.

No, there is three of us…

 

[RWT]

Inspired by Ruger engineers next stock design. The rifle functions to the maximum allowances of its design.

Can’t kick a dog for being a dog. Hunt with it and be happy

 

[Sixpack]

Honestly, although pricey, the flushfit DuraMag have been better for me.

 

[CMF]

Just curious, has anyone come up with a protocol to smoothen up the bolt?

Theres a yt video that shows using compound on the bolt and cycling it. I ordered the compound in the video, slapped some on it, and it to the kids to cycle a couple of hundred times. It's smooth as butter to run back and forth, but it's still a little tough for the kids to push the bolt down with ammo in it. There's a video for that as well, but I haven't tried it yet. It's not an issue for me, as long as I'm holding moderate pressure down and forward, it shuts.
I've also found the trigger to be fine, but my daughter commented recently that is was too strong, so I'll probably order the spring for that to lighten it up. There's a video for that as well, where the guy cuts a coil out of the spring, but I'm trying that yet since we're too close to hunt.

 

[Ringbill27]

No don’t do it. The rifles don’t shoot well at all and the cartridge doesn’t work on animals. I hope this helps.

 

[Deere_Man]

The zippy bolt is a positive feature as far as I’m concerned. It’s akin to the sound of powder being loaded into the cannon! Like a laser beam recharging, or a very large hornet on its way to sting a deer.

 

[BLJ]

feels like there is sand in the action.

Funny that you should say that.
This is how my Gen 1 308 looked like when I brought it home. First RA I ever bought. Good memories.

 

[Deere_Man]

Funny that you should say that.
This is how my Gen 1 308 looked like when I brought it home. First RA I ever bought. Good memories.

View attachment 963093View attachment 963094

Was this factory new or used? If new, how did it get that sandy? Sandblasting station in the assembly process?

 

[BLJ]

Brand new.

No idea how it got in there.

 

[207North]

The zippy bolt is a positive feature as far as I’m concerned. It’s akin to the sound of powder being loaded into the cannon! Like a laser beam recharging, or a very large hornet on its way to sting a deer.

Gen 2 Bolts are quite smooth. Gen 1 Bolts were like you described.

I have no issue feeding from the mag, but it is definitely rougher than cycling the bolt on an empty chamber.

 

[Sixpack]

Theres a yt video that shows using compound on the bolt and cycling it. I ordered the compound in the video, slapped some on it, and it to the kids to cycle a couple of hundred times. It's smooth as butter to run back and forth, but it's still a little tough for the kids to push the bolt down with ammo in it. There's a video for that as well, but I haven't tried it yet. It's not an issue for me, as long as I'm holding moderate pressure down and forward, it shuts.
I've also found the trigger to be fine, but my daughter commented recently that is was too strong, so I'll probably order the spring for that to lighten it up. There's a video for that as well, where the guy cuts a coil out of the spring, but I'm trying that yet since we're too close to hunt.

I used JB bore paste on mine for a couple hundred cycles while watching tv. It does make a difference to me!

 

[TradLife406]

Bolts a little hard on our 6.5cm predator model.
I ordered an aftermarket 5 round and it feels a lot better than the stock mag.
I need to adjust the trigger down. It felt fine to me, but my daughter said it was to heavy, and she'll be shooting it on upcoming hunts, so I'm going to adjust before we head out again to practice this week.

If you're ok spending more and plan on doing a folding stock anyway, I'd look at the Sig Cross.

This. 16.5" 22 creed

 

[claydan]

We have a Gen 1 Ruger American and a Gen 2. Gen 2 is a much nicer rifle. Locking bolt, nicer stock, still very light and dependable. I actually think the trigger is decent and it’s adjustable. Still need to shoot it more to verify how it’s shooting, however our Gen 1 can hold very very tight groups.


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[craigrh13]

I happen to love my Gen 2 Rugers. No the action isn't as smooth but it's nowhere near terrible after breaking it in by cycling it a bunch. The trigger with an Mcarbo spring and adjusted down is perfectly fine and they are flat out shooters. If you're not a diva the Rugers are perfectly fine. I'll take any of them over my damn Bergara b14 that shoots like absolute hell but has a great action.

 

[Cherokeeguide]

To head off any 'just use the .223 responses'; while I have read the threads and won't discount it, I would not feel comfortable with her shooting an elk with that cartridge.

You really think that .020" more bullet shank diameter and 31 grains of bullet weight is going to matter when you're going to guide the user into shots of 200 yards or less?

Do you also think that a broadside elk is really more bulletproof than a broadside mule deer is?

I've tagged 20 elk in my lifetime. The farthest I've ever shot one was 178 yards. I tagged 9 of them with a .30-30. I tagged 7 of them with a .270 Winchester. I tagged 1 with a 7-30 Waters from a Super 14 Contender pistol. I tagged 1 with a .257 Roberts. I tagged one with a .495" patched round ball from a .50 cap-lock Lyman Great Plains muzzle-loader. I tagged one with a .250 Savage, a round slightly less powerful, on paper, from 200 to 300 yards, than 77gr. 5.56 NATO loads from a 20" barrel AR-15 are.

The 100 grain Nosler Partition .250 Savage handload I used got an average MV of 2620 fps out of the 20" barrel of the Ruger M77RL Ultralight I shot it out of and was loaded to SAAMI pressure. I mention this because the terminal ballistics of that ammunition from that rifle aren't substantively different than my old 70 grain 5.56 NATO handload delivered, and the 77 TMK 5.56 NATO load I've been using since last November makes higher volume wound channels, more like what I'd get from a 160 gr. FTX launched at 2370 fps from my Marlin 336 in .30-30, or a 120 grain Ballistic Tip from a 7-30 Waters fired out of a Contender pistol at 2,400 fps from a 14" barrel.

No animal alive is going to live on whatever minor terminal ballistics differences that exist between the 5.56 NATO, .250 Savage, 7-30 Waters, or .30-30 loads previously described.

If you shot an elk at 200 yards or less with a 6mm Creedmoor I have a hard time believing that you or the elk you shot would notice a difference if I hit it in the same spot with any of the 70 grain to 77 grain 5.56 NATO loads I've used to take game with. If you drive a bullet from either one into the same spot on an elk at 200 yards, you should get the same result out of either of them.

Opinions are like colons. Everybody's got one.

Mine, as a former licensed and bonded hunting and fishing guide in the State of California (#2725) is that I would rather see your daughter show up on a Central Coast pig hunt with the rifle and caliber that SHE is comfortable with rather than the rifle and caliber her father is more comfortable with. She's going to be a whole lot more comfortable shooting 77 grain TMKs from a .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO than she will be shooting 108's from a 6mm Creedmoor. As a guide, it would be my job to get her set up on a shot that she's comfortable taking and that will result in a clean kill from the rifle and ammunition combo she's comfortable using.

I've literally seen thousands of wild pigs get shot. The key elements to deadliness were plenty of practice, away from a bench and rest, from field positions, with the same rifle and ammunition going on the hunt. The cartridge, from 5.56 NATO on up, fundamentally had no bearing whatsoever on the outcome. Placement was key, followed by penetration, Once we had .224" bullets designed for medium game, my experience was that inside of 200 yards, everything from .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO and up kills game just as dead, because they all have the capability of shooting completely through a pig's chest cavity at 200 yards with the correct bullets. Mono-metal bullets out of the pipsqueak .223 / 5.56 have the capacity to break a 302 pound boar's shoulder blades at 237 yards. A pig with two broken shoulders is a stopped and soon to be dead pig.

It's not really about what YOU feel comfortable having your daughter take game with. It is about what SHE is comfortable taking game with, coupled with whatever method of take restrictions are in place for the game she's going to take.

That's a reason to move her up to .244," .257", or .264" bullets, IMHO.

I doubt I'll ever tag another elk. The last one was all shits and giggles, right up to the time the hammer on my old Marlin 336 hit the firing pin and there was no stopping the 160 grain FTX bullet from exiting the barrel and center-punching that bull's heart. What happens after tagging is no longer fun for this old man.

If I DO buy another elk tag, it'll be for the same place I tagged my last one in four years ago. I won't be buying another rifle. I'll take my AR-15 A4 in 5.56 NATO and fill my tag with that, or have a ball attempting to. A Ruger American Gen 2 in 6mm Creedmoor, or the lack of one in my case, isn't really what my success, or lack thereof, would hinge on, and it wouldn't be for your daughter, either, if she gets plenty of trigger time on her .223 with same ammo she'd be hunting with.

 

[SwiftShot]

The Ruger is going to cost 700. The trigger another 150. So you are in it for 850 to 900. If you go with a Tikka you are about the same total price if you go base. The problem is that Tikka lower model stock is MEEEH. So if you are not changing stock, well go Ruger. If you want a Hunter 26 stock well I dont think they make a Ruger one yet.

 

[CMF]

The Ruger is going to cost 700. The trigger another 150. So you are in it for 850 to 900. If you go with a Tikka you are about the same total price if you go base. The problem is that Tikka lower model stock is MEEEH. So if you are not changing stock, well go Ruger. If you want a Hunter 26 stock well I dont think they make a Ruger one yet.

The Ruger is $600 or less all day. A new trigger might be 150 but a spring is only $13.

 

[brancher147]

I just got a gen 2 RA. Said I would never buy another RA but the gen 2 fixed most of my complaints and here we are lol. I haven’t shot it a lot and my only complaint so far is the bolt, mainly the bolt shroud….after shooting a few rounds and working the bolt to try and smooth it out, the bolt shroud started rattling then easily came off when I started messing with it. I did reach out to Ruger and they are sending me a new bolt shroud. The rifle cycles fine and the action is not bad otherwise. I did upgrade to a dura mag flush fit magazine. The trigger does seem a little heavy but I haven’t messed with it much yet. I bought the gun mainly for my kids and think it will work fine for it’s intended purpose until they are ready to upgrade if they decide to keep shooting/hunting.