The Ranch Rifle, a F&S Answers Swan Song

[FirstBubba]

"... What part of WV were you in? ..."

Well sir, I guess I'm getting forgetful sarge01! LOL!

Back in the mid 80's, I did some OTR driving. Made about 3 trips to the Safeway warehouse in Charleston, WV.
When I went to see the kid, we took a trip to see Harper's Ferry, WV.

I was impressed with the agriculture and vineyards.


We did stop and visit this tiny gun store.
We were 2 of the 4 customers and we were pretty much elbow to elbow! LOL!
The proprietor was a bit of a grouch, but he knew his "bidness"!

[Sarge01]

FirstBubba our deer firearm season comes in Monday the 23. Back to the surgeon because I have been having trouble with the replacement knee they put in last deer season. He put me back in a hinged knee brace and back to therapy . We can shoot bucks or does during our two week buck season. I have the 300WSM tuned up with 165 grain Hornady SST's. I usually shoot Nosler Accubonds but I wanted to try the SST's this year. The 165 SST's will shoot a 5 shot group about an inch at 100. What part of WV were you in ?

[FirstBubba]

LOL!
No sir sarge01, that ain't bad at all!

How's your deer season going?

I was in WV for the first time in early Sept. I was surprised at the agricultural crops I saw and the numbers of dead deer on the highway shoulders! LOL!

Actually, we went to Delaware too!
That REALLY shocked me!
Being an old country boy, guess I was just expecting more pavement and less tillage!

[Sarge01]

Different kind of Ruger ranch rifle. I had over 1600 rounds of .223 ammo and no .223 rifle. I purchased a Ruger American Ranch rifle and was amazed how it shot. I shoot nothing but reloads and I loaded up two loads, one with IMR 4198 and one with WW 748 with Hornady 50 grain V-Max bullets. I shot two 10 shot groups at 100 yards. The 10 shot IMR 4198 group measured 3/4 inch and the WW748 group measured 1 inch. Not bad for a 16 1/2 inch barrel and stamped 5.56.

[jhjimbo]

How does it shoot ?

[Milldawg]

That’s a neat looking rig I like it. It i like interesting things.

[jhjimbo]

So I've been working on this project rifle off and on for several years now. Some of you have an idea of how much time, effort, money, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into it. I've basically done everything you can do to one of these short of recutting the chamber and replacing or serious interior barrel work.

Couple weeks back I sent it out to ASI in Colorado. They're the best there is for working on minis and if I hadn't been so stubborn, I would have followed thru with them 3 years ago and have made the thing Match Grade with a guarantee. Instead I tinkered and continue to tinker.

Well my Ruger Ranch 6.8 (mini) came back from the Colorado gunsmith this afternoon. I am super satisfied and I cannot wait to shoot this bad lad. ASI sent me a copy of this months Small Arms Review. It has an article about frankenguns contest... maybe it was a hint?

It's been a fun project that's close to the end. Right now I'm trying to decide between the prism scope or holographic site.

I'll give everyone a run down of what I've done along with pictures, but then I think I'm going to take another long break from the site. It's really disappointing that they haven't fixed the spam issues. Seems like they can't be bothered. So I'm going to try to head out on a high note. Give closure to this story and be back when it looks like they've decided to take care of the site.

Oh and here's a teaser...

Break your barrel in like you know how to do. Good luck with the project.
I know what you mean, I am spending more time on other sites I belong to.

My stock mini-14 .223 does o.k. for me. Jim

[DakotaMan]

Thanks for posting Buckshot... good to hear from you again. This is a beauty! I hope it shoots well for you. Is that a tuner you have on the muzzle? I'm working on a similar project to make my AR accurate. From what I've seen so far, these rifles have poor bedding between the stock and the action, changing the harmonics of the barrel from shot to shot. I've also found that the barrels commonly fitted are not nearly as accurate as common bolt rifles nowadays.

On my AR, I've replaced the barrel with a Bartlein, and used an Accu-wedge to limit wobble between the upper and lower units. I also installed a crisp trigger that shoots at about 1 pound. At this point it is shooting a 6mm AR cartridge at around .5" at 100 yards. Each group however has two through the same hole and one landing away. That is a sign of bedding to me so I will take the next step of epoxy bedding around the front upper lug where it attaches to the lower unit. There is about .010" of wobble there and I will see if eliminating that does anything.

Hang on if you can. I hope the spam doesn't last forever.

[FirstBubba]

Guys, there are ways to deal with the "spam". Right now I've got probably 100+/- of those guys on my "ignore" list. Everytime one pops up, they go on the list, never to appear again.

Buckshott00, that looks VERY interesting. I'm all "aquiver" wanting some detail!
Please don't just disappear. Come over to the OL site. You too, proverbs!

Start with the muzzle device.
Brake or suppressor?

Okay! To hell with with the muzzle device! LOL! Let's talk about fire group (trigger) and mag release!
Heck, I'd just about send mine out there if they would simply improve the trigger! 😀! ...and that damned mag release!

[Proverbs]

Looks interesting, to say the least!

I'm with you on the spam. Very discouraging.

Have fun with your 6.8. Sounds like it's been at least partially a labor of love.

[Buckshott00]

So I've been working on this project rifle off and on for several years now. Some of you have an idea of how much time, effort, money, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into it. I've basically done everything you can do to one of these short of recutting the chamber and replacing or serious interior barrel work.

Couple weeks back I sent it out to ASI in Colorado. They're the best there is for working on minis and if I hadn't been so stubborn, I would have followed thru with them 3 years ago and have made the thing Match Grade with a guarantee. Instead I tinkered and continue to tinker.

Well my Ruger Ranch 6.8 (mini) came back from the Colorado gunsmith this afternoon. I am super satisfied and I cannot wait to shoot this bad lad. ASI sent me a copy of this months Small Arms Review. It has an article about frankenguns contest... maybe it was a hint?

It's been a fun project that's close to the end. Right now I'm trying to decide between the prism scope or holographic site.

I'll give everyone a run down of what I've done along with pictures, but then I think I'm going to take another long break from the site. It's really disappointing that they haven't fixed the spam issues. Seems like they can't be bothered. So I'm going to try to head out on a high note. Give closure to this story and be back when it looks like they've decided to take care of the site.

Oh and here's a teaser...