The RPR took the precision rifle world for quite a ride when it first came out. Ruger made an excellent move by introducing an affordable rifle into an arena that was dominated by expensive custom built rifles and actual sniper rifles. And in another stroke of genius they managed to make a rifle that appealed to the AR 15 crowd at the same time, which brought even more customers into their fold.

The RPR
The Ruger Precision Rifle utilizes a bolt action receiver that is built into a chassis. It is fed by SR-25 pattern 308 sized P-mags for the 308, 6mm, and 6.5 chambered rifles. The rifle seems to almost clone the aesthetics of the extremely popular AR 15, using the same pistol grip, and similar operation for the safety. The model I have also includes a folding butt stock for shortening the footprint of the rifle when transporting. The twenty-four inch hammer forged barrel uses 5R rifling which if you ask the internet is the only good kind of rifling. The one in eight twist barrel is ideal for launching the heavy for caliber bullets that many long range shooters prefer. The ten and a half pound rifle is about forty-five inches long unless you fold it, in which case it is thirty-five inches long.

Try It

Having been one of those in the community with a preference for the custom built rifle, it took me some time to actually give the Ruger a try. To be honest I did look down at it a bit, perhaps like many others I was angry that it shot just as good as rifles that cost twice as much or more.
But it didn’t take long for the RPR to prove its worth to those in the community, and now a days its common to see them shooting at top PRS events. I shot in the Hornady Precision Rifle Challenge this past summer and saw several RPR’s including Doug Koenig who did extremely well shooting with significantly more expensive competitors, taking home the top Production Rifle trophy.

I figured it was time for me to open up to the Ruger, so I took the opportunity when it came. I opened up the box, to find the all black rifle complete with a magazine, bipod and a few other items. I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the rifle, and get a feel for the controls and such. For me there are couple things that stand out when first handling a rifle, the first one is throwing the bolt. I shouldered the rifle and ran the bolt a few times, you can tell a lot about a rifle by the feel of the bolt-throw. The Ruger was smooth and had a positive lockup feel when closed into battery, you could also feel a metal on plastic sensation a little bit which I assumed to be the piece at the rear of the bolt. Not that there was anything negative about it, as plastic on metal frequently gives a low-friction feeling which I do like. The bolt lift was not bad, but did take a little bit of getting used to. Not bad, obviously not as good as some of the other rifle actions frequently used today.
The next feature that seals the deal for me is the trigger pull. I don’t consider myself a trigger snob but I do enjoy a perfect trigger whenever I can. The trigger on the RPR was a good one, clean and without the abrasive skipping often felt on triggers of lower tiered firearms. I’ve never been a big fan of blade safeties, when they first came out many years ago, the first thing I did was figure out how to remove them. That being said I wasn’t so hateful of this one to look for a way to remove it.
The main safety was in the same place your traditional AR style rifle safety goes, which made it very convenient and familiar to use. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they put it on both sides like AR’s often do, but certainly not a deal breaker. The RPR runs on 308 sized P-Mags, and it came with a ten-round magazine. I would later try the twenty-round ones as well, just in case you ever needed to do some long strings of fire.
The folding buttstock of the rifle made it much shorter for transportation, and doubled as a quick way to remove the bolt for inspection, lube, or cleaning. Up front we had the hammer-forged twenty-four inch barrel inside a free-floated handguard. The muzzle of the barrel is threaded 5/8-24, which was great because I planned on mounting some stuff there.
The handguard on my particular rifle uses KeyMod for accessory attachment, but they are also available in the more modern and useful M-Lok. I secured the Atlas bipod to the pic rail underneath, and then I was ready to mount up a riflescope. Continue Reading Here…