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I’ve spent plenty of time with the brand new Ruger American Rifle Technology II over the previous few weeks, searching with it within the area and wringing it out on the vary, and am assured that Ruger has one other success on their fingers.
This rifle is a big replace over the corporate’s fashionable first-gen Ruger American Rifle, which set a brand new high-water mark for reasonably priced efficiency when it was launched in 2010.
This new iteration options improved performance, an progressive modular inventory, and higher aesthetics for not far more cash. The Technology II lists for about $130 greater than the unique Ruger American, placing it squarely within the mid-priced rifle phase.
Ruger American Rifle Technology II Specs
- Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor (examined)
- Different Accessible Calibers: 308 Win., 7mm/08, 450 Bushmaster, 204 Ruger, 223 Rem.
- Capability: 3+1, removable polymer field journal
- Inventory: Grey splatter, modular
- Barrel: 20 inches, fluted, 1:8 twist, threaded 5/8-24 with radial muzzle brake
- End: Gun Steel Grey Cerakote
- Size: 41.25 inches (relying on size of pull)
- Size of Pull: 12 to 13.75 inches
- Weight: 6 kilos, 7.8 ounces (measured, with empty journal)
- Set off: Person adjustable, 4 kilos 2 ounces (measured)
- Security: Three place, ambidextrous
- Worth: $729
What’s New with The Ruger American Rifle Technology II
This rifle isn’t a mere line extension, however a official reconfiguration of the platform. Whereas it does share some parts with the first-generation Ruger American, there may be a lot that’s totally different.
Ruger American Gen II Main Upgrades
- Ambidextrous three-position security
- Configurable modular inventory
- Improved aesthetics
These are the three largest areas of differentiation between the Technology II and Technology I Ruger American.
Three-Place Security
Whereas there’s nothing unsuitable with a basic two-position security, you may not notice what you’re lacking when you haven’t carried and shot a rifle with a three-position security. Having the bolt of your rifle locked in place whereas the gun is on protected is a invaluable characteristic when traversing terrain. It gives peace of thoughts that your bolt received’t inadvertently elevate open as a result of it snagged on brush or acquired caught on the strap of your pack.
The center place of the protection mechanism unlocks the bolt and permits you to unload or affirm the standing of the rifle while not having to position it on “fireplace.”
Ruger centered the protection simply behind the tang, so it’s as straightforward to function with both hand. The protection strikes simply via the three positions with out a lot stress required to control it.
Modular Inventory
The rear swivel stud on the rifle is tucked right into a recess on the toe of the inventory at a 45-degree angle. This design makes the stud much less obtrusive, which is sweet, nevertheless it performs a extra necessary perform past securing the decrease half of your sling.
Unscrewing the stud permits you to take the butt of the inventory aside and swap out the spacers that management the size of pull and comb peak.
From the manufacturing facility, the rifle comes with a 13.75-inch size of pull, the usual measurement for an grownup. However you should purchase a spacer package that allows you to cut back the LOP to 12 inches, for youthful shooters or these with smaller builds. Equally, you’ll be able to swap cheek items to boost the peak of the comb if desired.
Ruger additionally gives a weight package to tune the stability and heft of the rifle. With an empty journal, mine tipped the scales slightly below 6.5 kilos, which is a useful weight for ease of carry. However with the rising use of suppressors, which are likely to make rifles muzzle heavy and impede clean dealing with, it may be preferable so as to add some weight to the butt to even issues out. Additional weight can be useful for mitigating felt recoil. Ruger says the package can add as much as 1.6 kilos to the butt inventory.
Ruger American Rifle Technology II Disassembly
One other modular factor on the inventory is the magazine nicely, which might be swapped to accommodate various kinds of magazines. Mine got here with a polymer AICS-pattern 3-round journal, which is commonplace on this mannequin. Different iterations of the Ruger American Gen II will take AR-style, Mini Thirty, and flush magazines.
Eradicating the journal nicely and disassembling the rifle contain the identical course of. There’s a 3/16-inch hex-head fastener in entrance of the magazine nicely, and one other tucked in behind the journal launch latch.
The rear fastener tucked behind the magazine latch is a ache to get to and requires a round-head hex driver. So, when you don’t have a kind of in your device field you’re going to need to add it to your assortment when you get a Gen II Ruger American Rifle.
Even when you don’t intend to swap journal programs on the rifle, it’s necessary to have the ability to entry the innards of the firearm as that’s the way you regulate the trigger-pull weight and carry out a deep cleansing on the gun.
Improved Aesthetics
Whilst you can’t argue in regards to the efficiency of the unique Ruger American Rifle, particularly contemplating its worth, nobody ever accused it of being a looker. It has a fundamental, utilitarian design typical of an entry-level rifle.
The Gen II rifle has better aspirations. The traces of the inventory are far more fascinating than the unique. It has many sculpted, however sensible, contours molded into the fore-end, grip, and butt.
Ruger completed the inventory in a spider-web model platter end that provides strands of black and lighter grey to the bottom battleship grey of the inventory.
The metalwork is upgraded too. The 20-inch barrel is lower with deep spiral flutes that trim some weight from the entrance of the gun, but additionally look sharp. And the Ruger American Rifle Technology II’s steel—particularly the barrel, receiver, muzzle brake, and bolt deal with—is completed in a beautiful grey Cerakote.
General, the rifle has a racy, rugged look that elevates it above the primary era.
Working the Ruger American Rifle Technology II
One factor I like about this new Ruger is the way it builds upon the profitable basis of the unique whereas augmenting the characteristic set. It checks a powerful variety of bins for the value.
As with most issues in life, nonetheless, you get what you pay for, and the Ruger American Rifle Technology II is not any exception. That is most evident within the rifle’s dealing with and ergonomics.
Now don’t get me unsuitable—the rifle runs nicely and is an excellent worth. There’s no head-scratching factor in its design. Every little thing in its development serves a helpful function and does what it’s speculated to do.
However it’s nonetheless a $700 rifle and isn’t as refined as its pricier competitors. For example, the journal matches snuggly within the journal nicely and doesn’t drop freed from its personal accord when the discharge lever is actuated. It’s worthwhile to give it a light-weight tug to tug it free. And when inserting the journal, it takes a little bit of fiddling to get it began—it doesn’t effortlessly slide into place, although as soon as in it does seat with a constructive click on.
Three-Lug Motion
The brand new Ruger American Rifle makes use of the identical three-lug motion as the unique. Twin cocking ramps assist mitigate the hassle required to run the bolt via its 70 levels of journey when working the motion, which was some of the notable design improvements of the platform.
The total-diameter bolt physique retains bolt chatter to a minimal when transferring the bolt up and down the receiver for dependable, constructive feeding.
The bolt head accommodates a Sako-style extractor in one of many lugs and a plunger-style ejector. Within the couple hundred rounds I ran via the rifle I had no points with both.
However the rifle does take some effort to cycle. It doesn’t go into battery as simply as another three-lug actions and the bolt has a barely clunky really feel. It isn’t that noticeable when operating the rifle laborious underneath area circumstances however is extra obvious with deliberate taking pictures from a bench.
Person-Adjustable Set off
I’ll be the primary to confess that I’m a bit spoiled by my rifle triggers. If a rifle of mine doesn’t include a premium set off it tends to be the primary part I improve.
From the manufacturing facility, the set off on my Ruger American Rifle Technology II had a pull weight of 4.25 kilos. A pair many years in the past that will have been deemed greater than acceptable. By at the moment’s requirements, although, it’s on the heavy facet for a bolt-action. On prime of that, the set off has a good bit of creep previous to the break. The motion is clean—there’s no grit within the set off pull—however the creep is noticeable, and I discovered it distracting.
To get to the set off’s pull-weight adjustment screw that you must take away the motion from the inventory, per the method I described above. The three/32-inch Allen head adjustment screw is situated on the entrance of the set off housing and is secured in place with some sort of thread lock.
After turning the screw counterclockwise to reduce the pull, the set off on mine broke at 3 kilos, 15 ounces, which was as gentle as I may get it to go. Screwing it in deeper, the set off maxed out at 4 kilos, 6 ounces, so there wasn’t actually plenty of adjustability within the set off—about half a pound—at the least on mine.
Inventory and Bolt Interface
The contours and texturing of the inventory present the shooter with ample grip and management of the rifle whereas taking pictures from sensible area positions. The spherical bolt knob is clean however generously sized, additionally giving wonderful management. The knob is secured in place with a 5/16-24-inch fastener and might be simply changed with an aftermarket design, if desired.
Dealing with and Steadiness
This degree of management coupled with the rifle’s good stability make for nice taking pictures. No matter quirks the rifle displays on the bench fade into the background when operating the gun from the shoulder.
Pulling up on a goal, flicking the protection off, breaking the shot, and operating the bolt all really feel fluid and intuitive. The one draw back I skilled was that I couldn’t single load rounds into the motion after operating the journal dry. Once you toss a single spherical into the rifle the tip of the bullet jams towards the shoulder of the barrel, so that you must coax the cartridge into place along with your fingers if you wish to load one this fashion.
Ruger American Rifle Technology II Accuracy
I bear in mind being surprised by the accuracy of the unique Ruger American Rifle, so my expectations for the Gen II had been fairly excessive.
The rifle didn’t disappoint. I put 19 teams for file down-range, taking pictures seven totally different manufacturing facility hundreds via the gun.
One load shot very poorly—and actually is from plenty of ammo I’ve formally retired from my testing protocol as a result of no gun of mine shoots it nicely. Discounting these three dog-puke teams—all of which had been between 1.76 and 1.78 inches, so at the least it’s constant—the rifle averaged 1.061 inches for five-shot teams.
Sub-MOA Efficiency
Of the 19 teams, 9 had been sub-MOA, and got here from 4 totally different hundreds. They included Federal’s new 140-grain OTM Middle Strike, Sig Sauer’s 130-grain Elite Hunter Managed Enlargement, Freedom Munitions’ 140-grain BTHP Match, and Federal’s 140-grain Fusion.
This final load deserves particular point out. The 2 back-to-back five-shot teams I put via the rifle with it measured .747 and .764 inches, which is great for a bonded soft-point searching bullet.
By way of the Ruger’s 20-inch barrel the ten pictures averaged 2547 fps, with an excessive unfold of 48.6 fps, and an SD of 16.3, which is about nearly as good as mass-produced manufacturing facility ammo will get.
(I measured the velocities of this and the opposite hundreds with Garmin’s superlative Xero C1 Professional chronograph.)
That pace included no matter increase my Gunwerks 6IX+Ti gave the rounds. Whereas the rifle ships with an efficient radial muzzle break, I ditched it in favor of a suppressor after the primary few teams to save lots of the pounding on my ears.
Mounting Optics
The Ruger American Rifle Technology II comes with a Picatinny rail that runs alongside the total size of the receiver. I mounted certainly one of my go-to scopes for this analysis, a Leupold Mark 6 3-18x44mm FFP, which fits nicely with the rifle, notably when assessing accuracy and long-range taking pictures potential.
Looking with the Ruger American Rifle Technology II
A couple of weeks in the past I acquired an opportunity to take the rifle looking for per week in Texas, chasing an elusive Carmen whitetail, which is a diminutive critter, just like the better-known Coues.
That included a number of hours of stalking via the rugged damaged nation of West Texas the Carmen name house. I racked up miles on foot and in vehicles scrambling over jagged cabinets of granite and weaving via thickets of cat’s claw and cholla in what final proved to be a fruitless quest for a buck—although it did present an illuminating have a look at the Gen II’s charms.
The rifle was proper at house on this hunt. Simple to hold. Impervious to the dings and scratches doled out by laborious use. And able to making a protracted shot, ought to the chance come up.
That have, as a lot as my intensive vary time, solidified my opinion on the utility and worth of this rifle as a searching device.
Professionals and Cons of the Ruger American Rifle Technology II
I’ve touched on a few of the highs and lows of the rifle on this evaluate, however to recap:
Professionals
- Wonderful accuracy
- Modular design
- Upgraded seems
- Rugged
- Excellent worth
Cons
- Heavy set off
- Some unrefined ergonomics
Remaining Ideas on the Ruger American Rifle Technology II
The unique Ruger American Rifle has been round for 13 years now, so it is smart that Ruger has selected a refresh.
I’m glad to see they went a lot deeper than a mere line extension. The Technology II lives as much as its title, taking the well-regarded Ruger American Rifle to new heights, and giving it significant upgrades and a brand new lease on life as a stable mid-priced rifle.
