Preface

I guess you could say I’ve always been a Ruger fan, the very first centerfire rifles I bought were from the 75 year old manufacturer. Back then, I couldn’t have known how many Ruger rifles would come my way. And in the many years since I have found many virtues in Ruger’s firearms. Today we are taking a look at the new Ruger American Gen 2, a modestly priced rifle made for the American shooting public. The Gen 2 Ruger American builds on the reputation of the incredibly popular Ruger American, which has become a mainstay with firearms enthusiasts and gun shops.

I bring you this review today, because I quite enjoyed the Gen 1 Ruger American. So I purchased the new Gen 2 to see how they compare, and if the upgrade is worth your time. Some of this review will be comparing the rifle to its predecessor, as well as comparing it to other competitors rifles. The market that the Ruger American is after, is incredibly competitive. Price is a big factor, as is performance and reliability. Let’s start down the bore…

Ruger American Gen 2

Specifications

Caliber	308 Winchester
Barrel Length	20 Inches
Barrel Twist	1:10
Stock	Gen 2 American Gray Splatter polymer
Overall Length	41.25 inches
Length of Pull	12-13.75 inches
Capacity	3 Round included
Magazine	AICS pattern
Barrel	5 Groove Spiral Fluted
Weight	6.2 pounds
Material	Alloy Steel
Finish	Gun metal gray Cerakote
Sight option	Picatinny scope rail
Muzzle thread	⅝-24 threaded with radial brake
MSRP	$729.00

The Ruger American Gen 2 rifle is based on the American action, a steel action with a three-lug bolt. The oversized bolt-body in my opinion gives the action its smooth stroke, and it is guided by the bolt stop which does double duty keeping the bolt clocked properly. Its bolt-handle is oversized and threaded 5/16-24 to allow changing it should you desire. The large round bolt-knob gives great purchase while running the bolt.

For a trigger, the American uses Ruger’s Marksman trigger which can be adjusted from 3 to 5 pounds. As usual, there is a blade safety on the trigger, something I am not particularly fond of. On the action-tang, there is a three position safety. With a bolt-lock safe position, as well as safe with bolt operation, and the firing position.

Caliber Options

One of the many appealing options of this rifle is the spectrum of caliber options. Nearly any sized cartridge can be put into the American action. According to Ruger’s website, these are the current options:

22 ARC	.243 Win	.270 Winchester
6mm ARC	6mm Creedmoor	30-06 Springfield
6.5 Grendel	6.5 Creedmoor	6.5 PRC
223 Remington	308 Winchester	7mm PRC
204 Ruger	7mm-08 Remington	300 Win. Magnum
350 Legend	450 Bushmaster	400 Legend

There are three distinct Gen 2 American models, the Standard we have here, the Ranch model that uses shorter barrels and a Cobalt Cerakote/FDE color, and the Predator model that uses a longer barrel and Bronze Cerakote on green color.

All the above options made it challenging to pick one, as several of them are my fave’s. But I ended up going 308 Winchester simply because it’s such an easy choice and quickly comparable to other rifles.

All models of the Gen 2 American rifle come with the spiral fluted barrel, and comes with a threaded muzzle should you wish to change the muzzle device. I would certainly take advantage of this feature to see how the rifle shot suppressed. Getting the brake off was easy with provided flats, and I appreciated that it hadn’t been torqued on by the same guy who did my Gen 1.

The polymer stock feels like an upgrade from the Gen 1. It feels a bit harder and less flexible, which was one of my complaints about the Gen 1. While there is still some flex in the stock, at a price point like this it’s tough to ask for more. Interestingly, the magwell area of the stock is interchangeable. This allows the same basic stock to be used, and simply change out the magwell depending on the cartridge feeding needs.

Apart from the handsome finish, the stock also features an elevated comb. This was very welcome, as it allowed perfect alignment of my eye with the scope once mounted. At the tail-end, you find a very soft rubber recoil-pad. I imagine this is very nice on the larger long-actions, as well as the short-action’s like mine. I also like the way they set the rear sling-stud at an angle, the natural angle it would pull from on the sling.

Ruger American Gen 2 Setup

As a hunter at heart, I wanted to set this rifle up the same way I would to hunt these wild Rocky Mountains. The Gen 2 American would be a great rifle for the kind of hunting I do, so I picked out some great accessories for it.

A Riflescope

A good hunting rifle needs a good scope. The wide open mountains where I hunt and shoot definitely need something suitable for long-range shooting. I like semi-compact scopes like 3-12X or 3-18X for my hunting rifles. But because I could, I picked a higher magnification scope. The Maven Optics RS3 is a 30mm scope with a 5-30X magnification spread, and it fit the space on the Ruger American perfectly. I used a set of Warne scope rings that set the height perfectly on the pic rail of the receiver.

A Suppressor

The radial brake on the muzzle of the Ruger American rifles works well to reduce recoil. But there are a few things I don’t like about it; for starters its way too damn loud. Aside from the noise, radial brakes often kick up dirt and debris when you shoot. Both of these issues can be addressed by adding a suppressor, and it will make you more popular among your shooting friends and women of culture.

Because the Ruger American Gen 2 rifles are pretty light, I wanted to add a suppressor that would keep it that way. For that purpose I installed my Banish Backcountry suppressor, it’s lightweight titanium construction and compact size matched the Ruger handsomely.

Additional Accessories

I prefer to shoot from a supported position, so most of my rifles have a bipod installed. And this little Ruger would get the same treatment. For simplicity I installed one of my Harris 3-9 bipods, its a well-known option that I use frequently so it was an easy choice.

Because I like to shoot extensively, I also figured I would get some extra magazines for the rifle. Since Ruger did me the favor of making the American Gen 2 accept AICS magazines, I could select from a variety of options from 3 to 10 round capacity.

Other than a good sling, this rifle was ready for field shooting. By pure luck I happened to visit a public range that day, something I prefer to avoid. But it gave me an easy opportunity to boresight the rifle using my tool-less method, and zeroing the rifle with just a couple shots.

Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle on the Range

With targets hung at one hundred yards, I snuggled-up behind the rifle and settled my eye through the scope. I’d already loaded the magazine with a fine selection of Hornady Precision Hunter 178 grain ammunition. I touched off the first few rounds, and made a scope adjustment to bring my impact and aim-points together. After a few more rounds, and shooting a few groups, I felt it was close enough to call for now.

First Impressions: Running the bolt on the Ruger American Gen 2 felt great, but I did notice that the very first few rounds I really had to run the bolt like I meant it. Whether it was the ejector tension or something else, it seemed to not like being pussy-footed into battery. This issue went away with additional shooting. I also found that the magazine fit quite tight, which is good for a hunting rifle, but bad when your trying to hurry up the next magazine into place. I’m sure with practice this will get better. The trigger felt great, whatever the factory setting is works just fine for my shooting needs.

From there, we would venture into the high country where I spend most of my time. The snow covered mountains where deer, elk and moose wander is the best place to practice in my opinion. Practicing where I hunt helps familiarize with real world shooting, and better preps us for hunting season. And that is where we would put the little Ruger American through its testing.

Shooting long-range with the Ruger American was fantastic. Hitting 1 MOA sized targets at distances like 730 yards was easily repeatable, and brought a smile to my face. Using a drop chart I’d calculated prior allowed me to make deadly accurate shots at various real-world long-range hunting distances. From 450 yards and in, it seemed we couldn’t miss while shooting the DTM match ammunition.

Shootability

I already mentioned the little issue I had closing the bolt too slow, that issue seemed to be mostly related to break-in. The three-lug bolt of the American has a shorter bolt throw than some of its competitors, which makes it easier to run. I really liked the round bolt-knob and saw no reason to change it to something different, but it’s nice to know you can.

The new three position safety worked great, though I don’t often use them. I did think that there is a good positive click between settings, though it was also easy to think you un-safed the rifle and still have one more click to go.

Ruger’s Marksman trigger felt just like I expected it to, and for a rifle at this price point I wouldn’t complain. I mentioned I don’t like blade safeties, mainly because of aesthetics, but I found this trigger and I immediately got along. It felt crisp and predictable, allowing me to shoot some pretty good groups.

The stock has a nice feel to it, the texture is nice for gripping it. And yet it seems the stock is thin enough in all the right places to get a good grip even with smaller hands. My kids were all quite comfortable behind the rifle, which is an easy test metric.

I did notice that my MDT 10 Round magazine seemed to rub the bottom of the bolt while reloading. It never interfered with operation, but perhaps another 10-round option wouldn’t rub.

Reliability

It seems the second generation Ruger American continues the reliable operation established by the first generation rifle. During our testing, the rifle never malfunctioned. It fed flawlessly from the factory magazine as well as from several aftermarket mags. Cycling a variety of ammunition types without issue, with clean and smooth ejection.

I expect that long-term testing of this rifle will show continued reliability. With a rifle priced around $600 or less, you can expect there will be some plastic parts which some of us feel are less durable. However it feels like the Ruger American Gen 2 rifle has a healthy balance of good materials where it matters. And I expect this rifle will last me a long time.

Ergonomics

Ruger engineers really got it right when designing this stock. The grip angle is comfortable making the rifle easily manipulated. The grooves in the fore-end are great for holding onto the rifle, and one-handed carrying. The bolt-throw and controls of the rifle are all easily accessible and function smoothly. I couldn’t find anything I didn’t like about the ergonomics.

Accuracy

Hornady 178 gr PH	Hornady Black 155 gr	DTM 175 gr Match
0.923 MOA Average	0.944 MOA Average	0.597 MOA Average

Only accurate rifles interest me, and in my experience I’ve had some very accurate Ruger rifles. You can read more about my other Ruger experiences here. The Ruger American Gen 2 fit in with my excellent past experiences, the rifle performed very well right out of the box.

The above accuracy results are a pretty good average, though there were plenty of better than average groups. I’d expect if you handloaded for this rifle it would be easy to tune them to what this rifle likes. And doing so, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this rifle shot 1/2 MOA groups regularly.

Value Proposition

I often mention my secret fascination for inexpensive rifles that shoot like very expensive rifles. This little Ruger definitely gives me those vibes, much like other Ruger rifles this one seems to punch above its weight.

You’ll have a hard time escaping the feel of a six-hundred dollar gun, but as the hits keep coming you won’t care. You really get a great functioning and sweet shooting rifle for that price. Ruger has done well in this realm of firearms, and it seems the American Gen 2 rifle has upped their game a little bit more.

With new features like the safety and trigger, the Gen 2 may or may not be worth upgrading for you. If your Gen 1 shoots good, roll with it. I do prefer the handsome looks of the second generation myself.

Recommendations

I mentioned this rifle market is incredibly competitive, for just a little more you can get some nice rifles. And there are certainly cheaper options as well. There are some great Bergara rifles that are around the same price, and bring Remington 700 compatibility which is very nice. Mossberg and Savage both make cheaper rifles that can perform well, but based on my experience with them I would choose the American over those even at their lower price. And for a hundred or two more dollars you can get into a Tikka T3, which is also a fantastic rifle.

If the cost dictates your choice then go the way you must. The Gen 1 American’s can often be had for less, as can the other brands I mentioned. If you’ve got your sights set on this rifle I can strongly recommend it.

Conclusion

The Ruger American Gen 2 rifle turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be. A great little hunting rifle with features and price that appeal to the heartland hunters of America. There are few things you’d need a bolt-action rifle for that this rifle wouldn’t do quite well. I would feel more than comfortable taking this rifle on a backcountry elk hunt here in these mountains. And that is what matters most to me; would I take it hunting.

Thanks for reading along this far, make sure to follow us for more information on this and other great firearms.

-CBM

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