With retail pricing from around $630, the Ruger American Rimfire represents great value for money. 14 Australian Hunter
The Ruger American Rimfire.22LR 18" OD Green by Don Caswell The fast-handling Ruger American Rimfire let Don Caswell roll these bunnies in quick time. I have a pretty standard approach to testing rifles and I started my review of the Ruger American Rimfire.22LR 18" OD Green rifle the way I usually do. The only variation was that instead of doing the sighting-in at my local SSAA range, I was using the private 50m range on my hunting buddy s farm. It did not take many shots to have the Ruger shooting to point of aim at 50m, good enough to test some groupings of different ammo types. However, before I could settle down and start shooting groups, a shower of rain came over and reduced my batch of targets to soggy paper mâché. The range has a few metal plates hanging from a target frame for plinking. I figured it would be a good idea to run a few rounds through the test rifle at least, rather than pack up and go home. I quickly discovered how fast the action of the Ruger American Rimfire is. The short stroke and 60-degree lift bolt, with its larger-than-normal handle, make this one of the fastest bolt-action rifles I have ever used. Combine that with a particularly ergonomic stock, a stubby 18" barrel and a 10-round magazine and the Ruger is truly lightning fast to handle and shoot. In designing the American Rimfire, Ruger has followed on with the theme of the compact rifle that has proved very popular in its centrefire rifles while borrowing from the highly successful 10/22 rifle. Soon, despite the light rain, I was out of the shelter of the vehicle, standing unsupported and playing a tune on the ballistic xylophone 50m away. Before long my hunting buddy showed up to see what was going on. The fast, repetitive rate of fire was not what he had been expecting to hear and he was intrigued. I passed the unloaded, opened rifle over to him. He inspected it and did a few trial sightings and swung the rifle to aim at the metal plates. Nice balance, he commented and added: You better load me up a magazine. Then he started to ding away at the metal plates. Naturally, as these things go, it rapidly evolved into a contest to see who could fire off 10 rounds as fast as possible without missing a plate. We quickly went through several hundred rounds and the thick stubby barrel on the Ruger was starting to become hot! My host had to reluctantly leave to attend to some farm chores. > Australian Hunter 15
Gee, that was serious fun, he said as he departed. I had to agree with him. I had not had a plinking session like that in decades and I had forgotten what fun it is, not to mention excellent practice for hunting. The Ruger American Rimfire rifle has certainly achieved what it was designed for. But, I am getting ahead of myself. The bolt On pulling the rifle from the box and slipping in the bolt, I held it at arm s length and assessed my first impressions. Those were of lightness, fine balance, compact, modern design styling, good feel and ergonomics. The only slight jarring note was the bolt; it looked to be a bit oversized, poking well out from the side of the rifle and topped by a largish, conical-shaped knob. But, I learned to love that bolt. Its size and shape makes this little rifle a particularly fast one to cycle. Other than that, it is a relatively standard rimfire bolt, albeit a compact one with a tapered rear end. The Marksman Adjustable trigger of the Ruger American Rimfire.22LR. The trigger and safety The trigger is Ruger s Marksman Adjustable model, which is changeable between 3 and 5lb weight of pull. The trigger is crisp with negligibly minor creep. My trigger scales indicated that the trigger broke consistently at each setting I adjusted it to. The trigger weight of pull adjusting screw is positioned on the front of the trigger assembly, which requires the stock to be removed in order to access it. Out of the box I measured the trigger A shower of rain will not worry the Ruger American Rimfire and its Leupold scope. The bolt of the Ruger American Rimfire.22LR. 16 Australian Hunter
The Ruger American Rimfire.22LR. pull at a consistent 3.25lb. I varied the weight up and down and was pleased to see that when I wound the adjusting screw back to former settings I had the same weight of pull as I had previously. After testing the trigger, I left it at the lowest setting I could achieve, 2.75lb. That is a perfectly good choice for a hunting and plinking rifle. The tang safety is a two-position model that locks and blocks the sear, rather than just blocking the trigger bar, as is sometimes done. Pushing the tang safety switch forward exposes a large, bright red letter F, leaving the user in no doubt about the rifle s condition. The safety was positive Accuracy testing a variety of ammo off the bench. in its movement and I could find no faults with it. The barrel and receiver As received, the rifle has a Picatinny rail fitted. It features the Ruger symbol in white. Underneath this Ruger-standard Picatinny rail, the receiver has a machined 3/8" dovetail alternative for scope mounting. I removed the Picatinny rail and fitted the Warne 7.3/22 Series, medium-height steel rings that had been supplied with the rifle. On the left side of the receiver is a bolt release button, as more commonly seen in centrefire rifles, which wisely avoids simply pulling the trigger to release the bolt, as was a commonplace feature of rimfire rifles. The barrel is alloy steel, cold hammerforged for more precise rifling that enhances accuracy and ease of cleaning. The rifling has six lands in a right-handed spiral with a one in 16" twist. The barrel is a medium weight straight taper with a length of 18". The muzzle is crowned and has been threaded. A machined barrel cap screws onto the thread for a neat finish. The finish is satin blueing. The magazine This bolt-action rifle uses the same nifty rotary magazine as on Ruger s famous 10/22 self-automatic.22lr. The magazine fits flush with the stock, clicks easily into place and pops free at the press of the release lever. The magazine is simple to fill, the 10.22LR cartridges sliding smoothly into place. The magazine is the 10/22 BX-1 10-round rotary magazine and the rifle will accept all 10/22 magazines, including the BX-25, BX-25x2 and BX-15. The stock This rifle is not exactly the rifle shown on the Ruger website. The rifle I tested is a slight variation for the Australian market, known as a distributor exclusive. Nioa lists it as the 18" OD Green model and it is a blend of the best features of the US Compact and Standard models. That is, it has the short 18" barrel of the Compact combined with the high comb and longer length of pull butt of the Standard model. As the name suggests, the synthetic stock is a one-piece, moulded polymer unit in OD Green. The pistol grip has comfortable Australian Hunter 17 >
palmswell with an effective raised grip pattern. The fore-end has a distinct finger recess, also with a raised grip pattern, that provides for a very comfortable hold of the rifle. There was no slipperiness, or loss of grip, when I used the rifle in the rain either. The cheekpiece is a separate, charcoal colored moulding that is held in place by the rear QD stud. There is no recoil pad. A textured pad is formed integrally with the cheekpiece and has the Ruger logo boldly displayed. I did not find that it impacted on shooter comfort; there is no recoil in a.22lr anyway. One minor issue was that you need to be careful when leaning the rifle against a wall. The hard plastic recoil pad can be a bit slippery. On removing the butt QD stud, a light tap will free the cheekpiece. On other Ruger rimfire models, with open sights, it is possible to fit a lower comb cheekpiece that better positions the shooter s eye for the open sights on those models. The stock also features Ruger s patentpending Power Bedding integral bedding block system that positively locates the receiver and free-floats the barrel for better accuracy. There is a recess and prominent release lever for the 10-shot rotary magazine. The triggerguard is integral with the moulded stock. I measured the length of pull at 14" to the front of the trigger s safety blade, which equates with the specified 13.75" length of pull on the trigger proper. The front QD stud is securely anchored into a reinforced section of the stock s fore-end. The scope The rifle was provided with a Leupold VX-1 4-12x40 Matte LR Duplex scope. It was a good match to the rifle, with sharp optics and the Duplex reticle that I prefer on hunting rifles. The LR variation features two mil-dots on the vertical cross-hair, below the centre point. The intention of that is for centrefire rifles that are sighted to 200 yards. The dots provide 300- and 400-yard sightings. On a.22lr they are also handy when indulging in some longrange plinking. The scope was not bothered by being exposed to the weather and was impervious to the rain it was subjected to. Over the bench Every rifle has its peculiarities, no more so that the humble rimfire, and it is wise to test a range of ammunition to find what any particular rifle prefers. The Ruger American Rimfire is a no-bones, lightweight hunting and plinking rifle; not what you would normally consider for bench target shooting. Nevertheless, I always test a few packets of good-quality target ammunition just to see what the rifle is capable of. The results of the group testing sessions are shown in the table, ranked in ascending order based on the five-shot group size at 50m. Not surprisingly, the top three are quality target The high comb cheekpiece of the moulded polymer stock. The pistol grip has palmswell and a distinctive Ruger logo. cartridges. However, the standout result for me was the CCI Velocitor coming in close behind the target ammo in terms of accuracy. The additional bonus there is that the Velocitor is a hollow-point projectile with an extraordinarily high muzzle velocity of 1435fps. There is the trifecta for everything you would want for hunting: accuracy, velocity and terminal ballistics. The range testing went well and the only comment worth making was that, for whatever reason, I experienced a series > The stock has the Power-Bedding system to free-float the barrel. 18 Australian Hunter
of ejection problems with the Federal Champion Value Pack ammo and a few with the Federal Standard rounds. There were no such problems with any of the other types of ammunition. The spent shells were not stuck - I could easily flick them out with my fingernail. It was just that the extractor was sometimes not pulling those particular shells out of the chamber. In the field The field test went famously. We were driving into our hunting area when two bunnies appeared unexpectedly in the afternoon sunshine. I bailed out of the car, popped in the magazine, filled with CCI Velocitors, and quickly rolled them both. My hunting buddy commented: You did not muck about there! All that plinking hasn t done you any harm, obviously. Quite right, the little Ruger shines at what it was designed for - plinking and hunting. The rotary magazine of the Ruger American Rimfire is flush fitting and holds 10 rounds. Accuracy testing Summary The Ruger American Rimfire.22LR 18" OD Green is 944mm (37") in length and with scope, mounts and 10 rounds in the magazine it weighed in at 3.1kg (6.9lb), which adds up to a light and handy little rifle. The moulded plastic stock is robust and a good ergonomic fit, being comfortable to use in any weather with welldesigned grips. Fast handling and readily manoeuvrable, it is the ideal rifle for a walk-around varminting session on the bunnies, or some full-on plinking. With retail pricing from around $630, the Ruger American Rimfire represents great value for money. The rifle, mounts, Leupold VX-1 scope and a generous variety of ammunition was provided by their distributor, Nioa. For more information, ask at your local gunshop or visit www. nioa.com.au. The muzzle is crowned as well as threaded and capped. Manufacturer and Model Nominal Projectile Projectile Average Best 50m Muzzle Weight Type 50m Group Velocity (grains) Group (mm) (fps) (mm) Eley Edge 1070 40 Solid 19 13 Lapua Centre-X 1070 40 Solid 19 15 Federal Gold Medal Premium Match 1080 40 Solid 19 18 CCI Velocitor 1435 40 HP 21 17 CCI SGB Lead Flat Nose 1235 40 Solid 29 23 Federal Standard 1080 40 Solid 31 27 CCI Mini Mag 1260 36 HP 33 24 Federal Premium Target 1080 40 Solid 35 23 Federal Copper Coated 1240 40 Solid 41 30 Federal Champion Value Pack 1260 36 HP 47 45 The CCI Velocitor delivered good accuracy at high velocity. Specifications Manufacturer: Ruger Model: American Rimfire 18" OD Green Calibre:.22LR Overall Length: 944mm (37") Weight: 2.4kg (5.3lb) bare Action: Bolt repeater Bolt Lift: 60 degrees Barrel: 457mm (18") alloy steel, one in 16" right-hand twist, six lands, free-floating, crowned, threaded and capped Finish: Blued satin Capacity: 10-round flush-fit rotary (10/22 BX-1) Action Mounting to Stock: Power- Bedding integral bedding block Stock: OD Green injected polymer synthetic, high comb, interchangeable Triggerguard: Integrally moulded with stock Length of Pull: 349mm (13.75") Trigger: Marksman Adjustable 3-5lb QD studs: Front and rear Sights: Scope mounting provision 3/8" dovetail machined into receiver, drilled and tapped with Picatinny rail Distributor: Nioa RRP: $630 20 Australian Hunter