Ruger American Predator .308 Trouble

[Brad96]

My first rifle was a Ruger American Rifle in .243. I wanted a .308, but my son who was interested in hunting was young and recoil-sensitive at the time, so we got the .243. It shot sub-MOA with American Whitetail and performed flawlessly.

Fast-forward a few years. Now my son is less recoil-sensitive, and I would also like a threaded barrel. So, I traded another TBHer my .243 RAR for his .308 RAP (Ruger American Predator). When I test-fired the RAP, it was a little off from the bull's eye, but made a reasonably tight group, so I figured it was good.

Unfortunately, every time I took it out, it seems like I was having to adjust the scope again. Plus, I couldn't get consistent, tight groups, no matter which ammo I tried. I checked that the scope mounting screws were tight. I removed the scope and remounted it. I removed the stock, ground away the plastic that was touching the barrel, and remounted the stock. I even swapped the scope from another rifle that was shooting well.

None of these efforts fixed the problem. I don't even want to add up how much money I spent on ammo, trying to trouble-shoot this thing. I was just about ready to toss it in the river and buy another rifle.

[Tx Trad Archery]

Just curious, but are you cleaning the rifle in between outings to the range?

[TxAg]

Probably why he traded with you

[Brad96]

I made one last try to figure this thing out. I bought a used lead sled from the TBH classifieds, to help remove my own unsteadiness from the equation. And, I brought a friend along, who knows more about guns than I do.

Shooting from the unweighted sled at 100 yards, my first shot looked good. But, subsequent shots strung out to the left. They didn't necessarily move progressively further left with each shot. One would be near the bull's eye, the next would be several inches left.

[Brad96]

Just curious, but are you cleaning the rifle in between outings to the range?

Yes. I should have mentioned that I was cleaning the barrel after each range session.

Probably why he traded with you

I know. Someone else got frustrated with this rifle, and traded it away. I thought because it shot a decent 3-shot group once, that it was fine. My mistake.

But, I think this story is going to have a happy ending anyway.

[Fmjag64]

I would switch up the ammo for what is most ideal weight for your barrel twist. My 308 was grouping a few then a few way off. It did not like the 150 grain bullets. Changed to 168 grain and it is extremely accurate and consistent now. That would be the ideal issue. Hopefully it's not the gun.

[Brad96]

So, I got the idea that maybe the barrel was heating up, and shifting the POI. I should mention that it was nearly 100 degrees when I shot that target above.

So, the next thing we tried was waiting 4 minutes between shots, with the bolt open during the waiting period. That produced the 3-shot group that I circled in the next picture. At that point, I started adjusting the scope, so the rest of the holes aren't really a group, exactly.

But, you can still see a drastic improvement in how this rifle shoots when it's allowed to cool between shots.

For the previous target, with the holes all strung out to the left, I wasn't shooting hurriedly. I was taking my time to aim very carefully for each shot, trying to remove most of the human error from the situation.

[Brad96]

I would switch up the ammo for what is most ideal weight for your barrel twist. My 308 was grouping a few then a few way off. It did not like the 150 grain bullets. Changed to 168 grain and it is extremely accurate and consistent now. That would be the ideal issue. Hopefully it's not the gun.

Sure. The first time I took it to the range, I brought a bunch of different ammo with me, to see what it would like. I don't remember everything that I tried. Mostly 150 gr, but I'm pretty sure there was at least one with 165 gr or heavier bullets. But, the rifle didn't really seem to like anything that I fed it.

[Brad96]

After shooting that last target, and making final scope adjustments, I figured it would still make a decent hunting rifle. The first shot from a cold barrel seems to be good. That's usually the most important shot, if not the ONLY shot. But, follow-up shots might be questionable. And, it's no fun for punching paper or plinking, if you have to sit and wait for the barrel to cool between shots.

Just for grins, I called up Ruger, to see if they had any ideas that I hadn't already tried. The lady that I talked to in customer service said that it sounded like a barrel issue, and asked if I would send it in, so they could check it out. I agreed, and she e-mailed me a shipping label. Since I wasn't paying for shipping, I figured the only downside to me is that I had to remove the scope. If they sent the rifle back to me and said it was fine, then I'd have to remount and re-zero the scope. Plus, be without the rifle for a little bit.

So, I removed the scope, boxed it up, and sent it back to Ruger.

[Brad96]

OK, I'm finally getting this story caught up to the present day.

I dropped the rifle off at the UPS store on 8/5. As a quick side note, I used my original .243 RAR box to ship it. But, Ruger asked me to cover up any markings that would indicate the contents, which I did. So, I guess UPS is OK shipping firearms, as long as it doesn't look too obviously like a firearm. I suppose this size box might be used to ship a large umbrella. Anyway, a couple days later, I got an e-mail saying that they had received it. A few days after that, another e-mail saying it had been assigned to a technician.

Today, I got an e-mail saying that they are replacing the rifle at no charge to me!

So, based on this one experience, I have so far been pretty impressed with Ruger's customer service. Note that I am not the original purchaser of this rifle. I don't know how old it is (Ruger does, based on the serial#), how many rounds have been through it, or how it's been treated. But, they found it to be defective, and are sending me a new one. Hopefully the new RAP shoots as well as my original .243 RAR did, since these inexpensive Ruger Americans have a reputation for being accurate.

[ColinR]

did you torque the action screws after removing the stock?

[Fmjag64]

That's awesome. When you get it back, google the best bullet weight for whatever twist your barrel has. My 308 has a 1:10 twist and loves the Hornady Superformace 168 grain SST. It hated 150 grain bullets and would not group them. That will make it even more accurate bc that is supposed to be a very accurate budget friendly gun. Multiple forums online with long range shooters taking 1k yard shots with Ruger American Predators.

[TacticalCowboy]

Glad they’re taking care of you! Let us know how the new one shoots.

[Brad96]

did you torque the action screws after removing the stock?

I'll admit that I couldn't quickly find the proper torque spec for those 2 screws, so I hand-tightened them to what felt good.

Going off on a random tangent, I love it when spec's like this are labeled right on the product. My Schwinn mountain bike has the proper torque for the handlebar stem screw labeled right there next to it. You don't have to go looking for the manual, or searching the internet. Kind of like when the oil cap on your car says, "5w30" right on top of it. I know I'm being kind of lazy, but that's super convenient. Sometimes these spec's are hard to find, even if you have the manual, and a good internet connection.

[Jspradley]

Were you using a bipod by any chance? My American gets all wonky if I shoot with a bipod with any load on it