How precise is the Ruger Precision Rimfire?

[learjet]

Hi all, been about a decade since my last post. A buddy has gotten me into rimfires, and i purchased a RPR to see how much id enjoy it. My friend is an Anschutz benchrest kinda guy, which doesnt really interest me much.

Ive been working with the RPR for a couple months now, ive shot a bunch of ammo types thru it. CenterX is the only ammo that will consistently net me 1moa at 50yd. Ive tried most of the match brands, and a few budget ammo types. CCI Std averages 1.2 MOA, after i bedded with foil tape and reduced the mag spring tension. Nothing else i try matters, ive had 3 scopes on it, an Athon, 12x Supersniper, and 24X Sightron SII. I cn shoot here at the farm any time i like, so all my testing is in light wind conditions. I feel im an honest 1/2 moa shooter off my bipod and sandsock, so i believe most of the accuracy problem is in the rifle or the ammo.

kinda gettin fed up i decided to drop my borescope down the barrel nd see how it looks...

doesnt look to precise to me lol! I have chambered a couple CF barrels at another friends machine shop, and we managed to cut them straight.

now i guess i need to decide if i want to deal with Ruger, install a custom barrel, or simply save this rifle for the grandkids, who love it, and dive in the deep end and buy a Vudoo or Kidd...

decisions decisions...

from reading here it sounds like all the mass produced rifles are a crap shoot, u pay less and take your chances.

nice to be back!

Lear

 

[Krob95]

I had one and it worked good enough to hit plates at 200 yards 60% of the time every time but it shot mediocre groups at best. Between that and it’s hard to be satisfied with a rifle like that when your buddy has a Annie 1727. I ended up selling it to a guy who wanted it for his son and am now on the quest for a vudoo lol

 

[littlepod]

I wouldn't drop a $ in it. It is what it is, and it has pretty poor aftermarket support in terms of getting a new chassis to grow with your future needs and such if you choose to shoot in NRL22 or PRS Rimfire matches. For what it is, it's a great $400 rifle with adjustability but I wouldn't go about putting in new barrels, triggers, because it ends up in a dead-end due to the lack of aftermarket support/chassis.

If you want to put any $, get a Tikka T1X, or a CZ 457 and go from there... at least those rifles don't lead you into a dead-end.

If you want to pay more $, get a Bergara B14R...

And then more $ = a Vudoo.

 

[salks]

I have one in .22 WMR. pretty unimpressed so far with accuracy. Was expecting more.

 

[ToddM]

First those pics don't look that bad for a factory barrel, second take a borescope with a HUGE bowl of salt. I could show you pictures of a Clark S&W41 barrel that would make a billy goat puke, and then the Eley Match target they shot with it at 50 yards indoors are multiple 10 shot groups are in the 5/8" range.

You really need to shoot it at 100 if you haven't already, with the SD variation in rimfire ammo, even higher dollar stuff, groups can open up a lot from 50 to 100 yards, more than just doubling your groups at 50, and you may find the ammo that gives the best groups at 50 isn't the best shooting at 100 either, I've seen that many times. That said, if you are getting 1 MOA groups at 100 yards from a $350 factory gun, even with spendy Center-x consider your money very well spent. Also some of the rougher factory rimfire barrels don't "settle down" and shoot their best groups for a few hundred even 1000 rounds.

Look over the Vudoo thread that has targets posted, most 100 yard groups are not better than 0.75 MOA, most of the 50 yard targets I see are 0.35-0.5. Not saying the vudoo won't do better, and certainly it's a much much better gun, but for $350 I'd be pretty damn pleased with 1" groups at 100. Guys spending $6000 on vudoo rigs are not shooting that much better.

 

[learjet]

what size plates you shooting at 200 krob? if the wind is reasonable i can hit my 8” 200 plate easy, 6” 70% of the time.

yep the chassis is limiting, but decent for the price. i hate to drop 2-3 bills into a barrel and really get no improvement. i need to pull the barrel and see if its practical to set the chamber back. i think the barrel depth in the receiver is set by a pin in the receiver and a slot in the barrel. my machinist buddy could extend the slot, but my guess is the collar that the barrel nut bottoms on would need to be turned down as well, and from the pix ive seen the collar isnt very thick. ill pull the barrel later in the week and see if its even an option, would be a fun project if i can source a decent reamer cheap locally.

ive got 2k rounds thru it easy, Federal HV shoos 1.5 moa at 100, the CCI shoots worse, probably 1.8 at 100. ToddM i think the barrel actually looks good, its how crooked the chamber is cut. with the BR talk of measuring rims, headspace, getting the bullets into the rifling im amazed mine shoots as well at it does with half the bullet in the rifling and half a good ways out. I can seat a round and see where only 2 of the lands engrave the bullet.

i dunno...but im not gonna throw much money at it.

id like a setup that will shoot 1moa all day, assuming calm winds, with ZERO crazy fliers, and using CCI std or similar priced ammo. am I asking the impossible? then i can learn how to read and correct for the wind

thx for the help guys!

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

id like a setup that will shoot 1moa all day, assuming calm winds, with ZERO crazy fliers, and using CCI std or similar priced ammo. am I asking the impossible?

Not impossible. But improbable; especially at that price point. It's hard to get a 22 LR to do anything "all day". They tend to get moody.

 

[captainmorgan460]

I bought one used for a bolt 22 for kids to learn. $200 and 10/22 mag compatibility was hard to pass. It was setup with a red dot on a pic rail for a long time. They kind of graduated from it and I got a wild hair a couple winters ago and mounted a VX3i LRP on it and shot for groups. Best ammo was Fed UM at about 0.5"-0.6" at 50 yards. I was disappointed and put the red dot back on it.

I have a 22 WMR Ruger American (bought used again) and it'll hold 0.75" at 100 yards with the 30 grain CCI mini-mag HP's. Nice little prairie dog gun if the wind isn't too high.

I think for the money the tupperware stock version is a good deal (less so since the tikka's came on the scene). I haven't seen the RPR's have much better accuracy. If I'm not mistaken it's really close to the same receiver and barrel setup.

 

[hlee]

Hi all, been about a decade since my last post. A buddy has gotten me into rimfires, and i purchased a RPR to see how much id enjoy it. My friend is an Anschutz benchrest kinda guy, which doesnt really interest me much.

Ive been working with the RPR for a couple months now, ive shot a bunch of ammo types thru it. CenterX is the only ammo that will consistently net me 1moa at 50yd. Ive tried most of the match brands, and a few budget ammo types. CCI Std averages 1.2 MOA, after i bedded with foil tape and reduced the mag spring tension. Nothing else i try matters, ive had 3 scopes on it, an Athon, 12x Supersniper, and 24X Sightron SII. I cn shoot here at the farm any time i like, so all my testing is in light wind conditions. I feel im an honest 1/2 moa shooter off my bipod and sandsock, so i believe most of the accuracy problem is in the rifle or the ammo.

kinda gettin fed up i decided to drop my borescope down the barrel nd see how it looks...

View attachment 7257690View attachment 7257691View attachment 7257692View attachment 7257693View attachment 7257694View attachment 7257695


doesnt look to precise to me lol! I have chambered a couple CF barrels at another friends machine shop, and we managed to cut them straight.

now i guess i need to decide if i want to deal with Ruger, install a custom barrel, or simply save this rifle for the grandkids, who love it, and dive in the deep end and buy a Vudoo or Kidd...

decisions decisions...

from reading here it sounds like all the mass produced rifles are a crap shoot, u pay less and take your chances.

nice to be back!

Lear

I’ve got a Kidd and it’s a 1moa gun at 50y with centerX. That’s good enough to clean all the stages at the local prs style rimfire match (even the 50y Kyle with the 1/4” spinner). I haven’t put all of the stages together yet, but it’s not because of the rifle.

 

[Krob95]

what size plates you shooting at 200 krob? if the wind is reasonable i can hit my 8” 200 plate easy, 6” 70% of the time.

so I want to say 6” or 8”. I do not remember off the top of my head as the match was in September of last year lol it was afternoon with a decent breeze left to right. I just shot like I didn’t care and managed to hit 4/5. Dropped the 4th shot. Center X ammo. I will say that the little RPRR did me ok for the two matches I went to and definitely got me hooked on buying better, higher quality rifles, especially after seeing the vudoos and an OG 40X with a TT

 

[OLD308]

I’ve got 02 RP Rimfire rifles. Outstanding value for training. Staple in my classes due to low cost and versatility.
No matter how much money and time you spend on them, they will never be a Clark’s Custom, Kidd, Volquartson, or Vudoo. I own one of each (Vudoo ETA end of month).

For what it is, it’s a great value for my class purposes. Precision? Maybe for a novice.

 

[vaguru]

I guess I have the exception. My RPR will average .6385" for 4 consecutive 5 shot groups at 100 yds. Pics attached. Also attached is its best 50 yd group. The "normal" 50 yd group runs right around .275" for 5 shot groups. This with CCI SV, apparently an exceptional lot. Chrono results are 1108fps with 18fps ES. These were shot under very good conditions, very light breeze with readable mirage.

 

[AirCapitalOutdoors]

I guess I have the exception. My RPR will average .6385" for 4 consecutive 5 shot groups at 100 yds. Pics attached. Also attached is its best 50 yd group. The "normal" 50 yd group runs right around .275" for 5 shot groups. This with CCI SV, apparently an exceptional lot. Chrono results are 1108fps with 18fps ES. These were shot under very good conditions, very light breeze with readable mirage.
View attachment 7258156View attachment 7258157View attachment 7258158View attachment 7258159View attachment 7258160

I would definitely can consider that an exception. It seems like the RPR's suffer from bore bit sharpness. Some barrels are cut using a clean, sharp bit and some are cut with a dull bit. Those at the front find great accuracy, while those at the latter suffer with terrible consistency.

When you ask about the RPR's in Facebook groups, you get a very diverse array of input. It seems like the RPR's are a dice roll. You could get a gem, or you could get a pile.

When I first started shooting NRL22 matches, I purchased an RPR for a base class rig, in order to familiarize myself with how the events worked. I spent a great deal of time behind that rifle testing ammo. I went from 3 cent Geco up to 35 cent Lapua Midas-X. No matter what I ran, the groups never performed better than 1/2" at 50 and 1.5" at 100. Eley Force performed the best at 50, but destabilised and spread to over 2" ctc at 100.

CCI SV grouped good, but the accuracy from box to box was insanely inconsistent. When measuring over a chrono, it explained a great deal. A lot of variance...

Today that little RPR is a loaner rifle for new shooters and rarely gets used.

 

[vaguru]

I forgot to mention that my bore scope view of the barrel looks at least as bad as the ones posted. This barrel didn't start to "shoot" until 500 rds went down range and really came in at about 1,000 rds. Nothing done to rifle except adjust trigger and torque action screws to 40 in/lbs.

 

[AirCapitalOutdoors]

I forgot to mention that my bore scope view of the barrel looks at least as bad as the ones posted. This barrel didn't start to "shoot" until 500 rds went down range and really came in at about 1,000 rds. Nothing done to rifle except adjust trigger and torque action screws to 40 in/lbs.

I never made it that far with mine. Maybe 400-500 rounds. Seems like it requires a great deal of conditioning before it settles in.

 

[Codiekfx400]

A Cz 457 would be a great fit for you. They make a chassis rifle for the 457.

 

[Funcpottr]

I have been able to shoot mine sub moa with eley club and a few others (more$). My favorite for fun competition is sk standard plus - not really tight but fairly consistent. If you need bench accuracy then why would you leave the bench? If you are shooting precision tactical then it would seem best to find a rifle that fits you and your budget so you can spend too many hours shooting too many rounds and look forward to doing it again.

 

[heartburn]

Mine is not in factory form, but I also mod the girlfriend's rifle and the kid's rifles. I like to tinker and mod stuff. The RPRR can be frustrating but I believe it can be an MOA rifle that is a fun plinker, range toy and even competitive in NRL22 and other precision rimfire disciplines based on reports of NRL22 comps. Mine has had a barrel replaced, grip replaced, foil tape bedding for the goofy mag block and also has a replacement trigger I received as part of the Timney beta.

The factory trigger with some stoning work, spring(s) replacements, possible some side play shimming can be very good. My replacement barrel was a bit of a disappointment based on the performance from the factory barrel but I have no targets or data to backup that the replacement was a minimal improvement. Also be sure to test ammo with the thread protector on and off, I had one of the rifles that performed significantly better with the thread protector removed and eventually replaced with a thread protector from a savage rifle.

I did have to figure out how to shoot the RPRR, I prefer a high cheek and really dig into it, with the RPRR I found that doing this caused the "wrist" of the chassis where the buttstock portion is to twist slightly, this caused me to lower the cheek a bit and give a lighter cheek rest. I also found that the angle of the pistol grip caused me to torque the rifle a bit when firing, I replaced with a less angled grip and still nothing, finally replaced with a vertical grip and this improved and changed my hand placement for trigger engagement. I continue to shoot mine, and I really enjoy shooting it. It is not my most accurate rifle, but it is very fun to shoot and the kid loves to shoot it.

Targets are all 50 yard targets, I do not have any 100 yard targets available. Based on memory I think the RPRR creeps further from MOA @ 100 than what is shown in these targets. I could post some cherry picked groups and state that I shoot sub MOA, but I like the 6x5 format for showing what the rifle actually does. The most recent targets where shot @ about 53* F and a constant 12mph @ 187*S wind with gusts to about 21mph.