Ruger American Compact .243

[azbass]

My 14 year old daughter decided she wants to deer hunt year so I picked up a new Ruger American Compact in .243. Fit and finish are a little rough, but realistically in a $350 rifle it's all about function and it passes in that department.

The trigger is decent (like an accutrigger) and breaks clean. The recoil pad is also fairly decent. It's not a limbsaver but is pretty nice. Rounds fed, extracted and ejected just like they should and the best part is it definitely shoots.

I only had factory ammo with me today breaking it in, and here's a 3 shot group once i got everything sighted in. This is 100gr Remington Corelokt at 100 yds.

 

[sixgunner455]

that'll work.

 

[redneck383]

I just found out I need one. What scope did you go with?

 

[Kachok]

I think the American is the best of the Savage 110 knockoffs, the X7 is good too but the Ruger American continues to impress me.

 

[azbass]

Yep. I used a 3-9 Nikon Prostaff

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[Dinosaur1]

Hey AZ try some lighter bullets & post. Love to see the results.

 

[azbass]

Yep that's the plan for the next trip to the range. I couldn't find any brass here locally so I needed to burn through a few rounds first so I had some empty brass

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[SimplyChad]

Ill take that every time for bambi class animals

 

[David Clark]

Man, if it shoots 100 gr like that I would love to see how it shoots some lighter weight bullets. AND don't even say the Ruger trigger is like a savage trigger. All Savage did was to make a junk trigger safe so now it's a safe junk trigger. Stamped pieces mounted on a cross pin with all kinds of slop. Give me a break !!! And if the Savage trigger gets bumped and comes off the sear you won't know it until that big buck of a life time comes out and you go to take a shot and it doesn't fire and you have to lift the bolt again to put it back on the sear YA right. That Ruger is so much better then a Savage !!! And how do I know all this ?? I was a gunsmith for over 40 years and built 100rds of bolt action rifle's. but to each his own!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave

 

[Sav .250]

Looks like a "shooter."

 

[3212]

Yup.In 2005 I bought a compact Ruger stainless/laminated in .243.Same results at the range.Took two deer with it.Grandsons will start hunting with it soon.

 

[ID-shooting]

I have been fence sitting for that same setup only in .308. I think I just fell off the fance. Thank you posting this.

 

[txcookie]

Huh I am thinking about getting my kids a rifle. Torn between a handy MX7 and ruger AA. Excellent accuracy you got going there. If it shooting them corelokts that well why would you change?

 

[azbass]

Yep you're reading my mind TXCookie.

I have some 60 and 85 gr. sierras that I loaded up last night. I'll be testing them at the range tomorrow, but yeah I think at least for this year we'll just hunt with the Core Lokts.

Still need some loads for coyotes, plus I've never loaded for 243 before and the tinkerer in me can't leave well enough alone

One thing I did find is that there isn't a ton of freebore. With the Sierra 85gr hpbt's loaded to the suggested OAL, it was jammed into the lands. I had to back it off to 2.58 to get it to chamber without touching.

 

[Fremmer]

Man she's a shooter! That corelokt round puts deer down really well, so that's great!

If the 85 grainers are touching lands, wouldn't the 100 grain corelokts touch the lands?

 

[azbass]

Nope. The Corelokts are much more pointy. The first part of the bullet that is 243 caliber is way back close to the case mouth. The sierra carries the full caliber width out farther toward the point.

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[allaroundhunter]

azbass, I started loading for .243 about 3 months ago and let me tell you, it is an easy one to load for. During my first range outing for load development I had 3 out of my 5 test loads shooting MOA or better.

 

[Fremmer]

Interesting, thanks for the info. So bullet profile can be just as important as oal.

 

[azbass]

Yep I see what you're saying AllAround. I took some 60gr and 85gr loads to the range this morning. Here are the results from some mid range loads. I didn't want to push max since i'm still playing with OAL.

Here is my best group with the 60gr HP



And here is the 85gr HPBT



Now I just need to load up some more so my daughter can get lots of practice before October..

 

[MattShlock]

Nope. The Corelokts are much more pointy. The first part of the bullet that is 243 caliber is way back close to the case mouth. The sierra carries the full caliber width out farther toward the point.

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Don't give us that ogive man!
I slay myself...

 

[Geno]

azbass:

You're a good dad! This might be a great opportunity to teach her to reload. BTW, have you tried out the 58 grain Zombie projectles? My own .243 Win (although a M70), is very accurate with them, accurate as in 0.50" for three shots. I never expected that level of accuracy.

The one thing I like about the Ruger American over my M70, is that the barrel twist is 1-9. Mine is 1-10. I have little doubt that this difference is going to play out less favorable when I try to load 100 or 105 grain projectiles. I need a Ruger American!!! Okay, I want one. The compact would be great for my 18 year old daughter. She's a compact model herself.

Geno

 

[azbass]

Thanks Geno, I'll put those ZMax's on the list. And yep the 1-9 was one of the things that swayed me to the Ruger. I wasn't sure about the 18 inch barrel, but I don't think it will affect MV enough to matter. We'll probably limit shots on deer to 200 yds anyway.

The funny thing is I've never played with the 243 before because I believed all the Internet anti-hype, but now I'm thinking about getting some kind of 6mm for myself to play with. I think realistically, it makes a lot of sense. Lots of bullet choices, cheap to reload, light recoil. I'm not going to use it on Elk and I'm not going to take some kind of long quartering shot, but other than that.....

 

[allaroundhunter]

Just know that those zmax bullets are not for taking game bigger than coyote. They are simply a v-max with a green polymer insert instead of red.

 

[Geno]

I had a M700 .244 Rem (6mm Rem) years back. It shot fast (3,371 FPS with a 95 gr Nosler Partition) and was extremely accurate. They were extremely hot handloads. I shot a deer at 300 yards, dead on into it's 12:00. The 95 grain Nolser partition sent so much bone flying into that deer, that it completely severed the heart from all connecting tissue. I found the Partition under the skin at about the 6:15 position as I skinned it. Imagine, a full-length penetration on a deer at 300 yards!

I continue to give very serious thought to the Ruger American, too, specifically because of that 1-9 twist, which is (I think) what my Remington had. I have seen the RA in my area, selling for about $299 plus tax. For me, I'd like to mount a straight 4X Weaver scope on it. I think it would be dandy with 95 grain projectiles. It is on my must purchase list, along with a M70 Featherweight in .243 Win. When I found my current M70 Ultimate Shadow for $399, NIB, I couldn't pass it up. Heck, everyone needs at least one .243 caliber rifle, if not three.

Keep us posted on that rifle's performance. It motivates me to go out there and finally purchase my own RA. Gotta encourage your brothers-in-arms ya know!

Edit to add, I am getting 0.50" to 0.75" with Speer's new 80 grain "Deep Curl" projectiles, over 43.5 grains of IMR 4350. For the ZMax 58 grain, I use 44 grains of Varget. In truth, accuracy was identical with the ZMAx, using 43.1, 43.5 and 44 grains of Varget. Ergo, I settled with the hottest.

Geno

 

[David Clark]

azbass, You could set the barrel back on a RA very easy and rent you a 6BR Norma reamer and have a real fun tack driver. very easy to reload and very soft shooting. If you are not familiar with the 6BR,, google it up and read about it!!
Dave

http://www.6mmbr.com/6mmbr.html