Introduction
The Ruger Precision rifle 6.5 Creedmoor 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. This rifle seems to almost clone the aesthetics of the extremely popular AR 15. Using the same pistol grip, and similar operation for the safety. Today’s test model also includes a folding butt stock for shortening the footprint of the rifle when transporting.
A twenty-four inch hammer forged barrel uses 5R rifling which if you ask the internet is the only good kind of rifling. Long-range shooters prefer things like the one-in-eight twist barrel as it is ideal for launching the heavy for caliber bullets. Weighing in at ten and a half pounds, the rifle is about forty-five inches long unless you fold it, in which case it is thirty-five inches long.
Check out my review of the Ruger RPR .22LR as well
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. There we saw several RPR’s including Doug Koenig who did extremely well shooting with significantly more expensive competitors, taking home the top Production Rifle trophy.
After all this time I figured it was time for me to open up to the Ruger, so I took the opportunity when it came. Opening up the box, I found the all black rifle complete with a magazine, bipod and a few other items. It 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. Quickly 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.
More Ruger Precision Rifle features
Bolt manipulation of the Ruger Precision Rifle 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. 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.
Among the features that seal the deal for me is the trigger pull. While I don’t consider myself a trigger snob, I do enjoy a perfect trigger whenever I can. Ruger’s 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.
Shop ruger Precision Rifles here
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.
This RPR runs on 308 sized P-Mags, and it came with a ten-round magazine. After some range time I would try the twenty-round ones as well, just in case you ever needed to do some long strings of fire.
Including a 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. Cut into the muzzle of the barrel are 5/8-24 threads. 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…
FIRST SHOTS
Running the bolt forward on a cartridge felt smooth and controlled. I could often feel the slightest bind as the bolt closed the last few degrees. Almost like the extractor was having trouble snapping over the cartridge rims. As I brought the reticle to rest on my point of aim, I took up the slack in the trigger and gave it a steady press.
Repeating the process another four times and made a nice little vertically strung group. I have noticed this tendency during this cold time of year. Particularly when both rifle and ammo are below freezing temperatures.
As the bore warms and each round is chambered into a progressively warmer chamber. Velocity increases slightly and brings the point of impact up a touch with each shot. Horizontal dispersion was minimal, and the overall group size was just under an inch.
That’s not too shabby using what most would consider plinking ammo, and the results were even better when shooting 140-grain match ammunition. I pushed the RPR out to half a mile to see how it performed. As I suspected, it was easy impacts. Recoil on the rifle wasn’t terrible, allowing me to spot my impacts at those extended ranges.
Suppressed
Shooting this rifle go without seeing how it does with a suppressor wasn’t an option to me. To that end, I pulled out my Yankee Hill Machine Nitro N20 suppressor. During my range time I noticed only a small change in point of impact. Likely due to the light weight of the Nitro.
It was beautiful to shoot in the open country of the mountains and listen to the long journey of the bullets. They hissed through the sky before they thumped into the target. I think the RPR deserves a good suppressor, it makes a great little rifle even better.
POSSIBLE DOWNSIDES?
At first, I wondered why they made it a 24-inch barrel versus a 26-inch barrel. After running around with this thing, I understand why. If I had the ability to order the RPR from the factory, I would have done so with a shorter barrel length that was more like 20 inches.
Adding a folding stock is great for reducing the length of the rifle, at least when you are trying to transport it. But another one of my complaints has to do with the folding mechanism, mainly that it only locks in the shooting position.
While it’s not a deal-breaker for me, it would be really easy to get something pinched in the pivot point. Especially when the stock inevitably comes swinging back as you try and maneuver it.
The magazine release was also a touch tough for my taste. It was easy to falsely engage the magazine on this rifle to where it looked like it was in. Making you think it was secure, but was not really secured.
Ruger’s magazine release also seemed to require a touch more force than I would expect for such a simple and common motion. This is likely something that can be adjusted or corrected by the user, so don’t worry too much about it.
MY CONCLUSION
As I suspected, the Ruger Precision Rifle 6.5 Creedmoor is just what I thought it would be – a great-shooting production rifle with an entry-level price tag but professional results. Sure, it’s not as nice as the custom precision rifles out there.
And you can feel that it has been mass-produced. But nonetheless, the rifle performs very well in its capacity. It gives the user accurate shots, a familiar manual of arms, and pleasing aesthetics.
Above and beyond that, there are countless ways to customize and improve the rifle with excellent aftermarket support. I have some nice rifles in my safe. I wouldn’t trade any of them for a Ruger RPR, but I wouldn’t mind having a couple RPRs in the safe to give them company.
-CBM
