Ruger American Generation 2 finally here!!

Disclaimer, A copy of my “review” I posted to my gun page, Working Class Firearms NZ. No paid ad or anything, just my honest thoughts from a life long Ruger fan.

Finally, the wait is over!! The new Ruger American Gen 2 has landed!! I have been patiently waiting for their arrival on our shores, and boy was it worth it! I opted for the “standard “ model in .223 with a 20” 1:8” barrel. They will also shortly be available here in the Predator configuration(green stock, 22” barrel) and Ranch Rifle(brown stock, 16” barrel). The calibre options are seemingly endless, from .204 Ruger and .22 Creedmoor up to .300wm and 7mm PRC. There are also a range of straight walled cartridges like .350 and .400 Legend.

The rifle seems to be an excellent hybrid, light enough to walk around with all day, great ergonomics for taking a solid standing shot, while also having a decent enough barrel profile to set up at the range or even in a competitive environment and send quite a few rounds down range at a time. This one in .223 uses Pmags, but the majority of them now use AICS pattern magazine wells, which is much improved over the old rotary mag design.

Overall, the fit and finish, cerakote application, design and the sexy spiral fluted barrel make this an excellent contender for someone picking out their first rifle, someone wanting to try out more competitive style shooting or someone looking for a solid, reliable work tool that can be depended on for reliability, accuracy and quality!

Sadly haven’t had the chance to shoot mine yet, but have fitted it out with a Vortex Optics Viper HS 4-16x44, Harris bipod and Sonic Compact 40 suppressor from Reloaders Supplies LTD

I highly recommend heading in to your local store to check one out, or get in touch with the team at Shooting HQ NZ to find out about calibre and model availability!

I can honestly say I haven’t been this excited to get out and shoot a rifle for a long time, it’s an exciting entry in the rather mundane entry level market, I will get the barrel piping hot and report back!!


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Nice! Rugers are a company that does their own thing and are underrated as far a forum level talk gos. In that you hardly ever hear about them. Ive always thought they are the modern iteration of what A BRNO was. A no nonsense, get out there and go hunting rifle that will not fail you.

be very interested to see how they shoot the earlier Ruger were really well made but did not ignite any fires in the accuracy department compared to Sako and Tikka I had a Ruger No 1 in 22.250 beautifully made but very disappointing accuracy lets see how they go

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Originally Posted by whanahuia

Nice! Rugers are a company that does their own thing and are underrated as far a forum level talk gos. In that you hardly ever hear about them. Ive always thought they are the modern iteration of what A BRNO was. A no nonsense, get out there and go hunting rifle that will not fail you.

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Really, really like my Gen 1 Predator, Left Hand, 243W. When I unboxed the new rifle I borescoped it. It looked like a disaster zone - pitting, tooling marks, rough edges on the lands. I almost took it back to the shop for a refund. Moaned about it to a friend, a Ruger fan. He said shoot it first, so I did. Hell, it's as accurate as ! I'm glad I kept it. Now it's my main varmint rifle and still a fantastic shooter.
Hope I don't get to handle a Gen 2. I don't need another rifle :ORLY:;)

I've got a custom rifle built on a long action ruger american, shoots good. Only teething problem I had and overseas they seem to have had it is the bolt inners disassembling them selves upon firing....I fixed it and its been fine ever since

They should give tikka a good run.
Someone just needs to make some light weight carbon stocks for them, remove that stupid 2 stage trigger blade and trim the spring.
The actions are a bit average to start with but quickly get smoother with use.
All in all pretty bloody good value!

I wonder if you can dock and thread that spiral twist barrel?

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Originally Posted by Tahr

I wonder if you can dock and thread that spiral twist barrel?

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@Tahr
I think these new models come threaded and with a muzzle brake as well. Dont know if a cap is supplied for shooting with the muzzle brake removed.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

I wonder if you can dock and thread that spiral twist barrel?

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I would prefer the "normal" barrel. Spiral flutes may look "cool" but they are hard to clean and you lose bugger all weight.
My 308 Tikka is spiral fluted and bolt is fluted to match. It came that way but not something I would consider an essential.

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Originally Posted by 30.06king

@Tahr
I think these new models come threaded and with a muzzle brake as well. Dont know if a cap is supplied for shooting with the muzzle brake removed.

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I was meaning can you shorten the barrel and re-thread. Or is the fluting too deep to re-thread, and would there be a shoulder for a suppressor to pull up onto.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

I was meaning can you shorten the barrel and re-thread. Or is the fluting too deep to re-thread, and would there be a shoulder for a suppressor to pull up onto.

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@Tahr
Gotcha. Yes, good questions and I would suspect the fluting depth might negate threading after docking. I'm not a gunsmith though and a qualified comment would be better.
I don't use suppressors and would ask if the end of the barrel couldn't butt against a stop inside a suppressor and tighten up against that ? Or, don't suppressors work that way ... ??

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Originally Posted by Tahr

I was meaning can you shorten the barrel and re-thread. Or is the fluting too deep to re-thread, and would there be a shoulder for a suppressor to pull up onto.

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The ranch model comes with a 16” spiral fluted barrel, and they are releasing them in a lot more calibres than the first gen, like 308win, 6.5cm and 6mm arc to name a few

The mag release on the 308 looks like it'd be easy to knock while out hunting.

Yeah I think it’s the same for most/all the ones that use AICS mags, thankfully the Pmag pattern ones have the recessed mag release

Most good AICS mag DBMs have a somewhat more shielded mag release than that - a bit of a design clanger there

I could definitely go for a rifle like that but the protruding letter box is big turn off, for the bush hunter.

Finally got a chance to shoot it, was excellent! Grouped about half MOA 5 shot groups at 100m with ADI 55GR, then a nice cloverleaf 5 shot group with PPU 69GR. Barrel cooled down quite quickly, fluting probably helped with that, but could easily get a quick 10 shot group without any wandering. All in all, extremely happy with the rifle, the Vortex Viper 4-16 is a perfect match, definitely will be staying in my safe for a long time!