Ruger American bolt problems

[Eric B.]

I own a Ruger Precision Rifle and a Ruger American Predator, both in 6.5 CM.

BOTH rifles bolts are NOT locked with a cartridge in the chamber and on safe. This has caused me no problems with the RPR in competitions BUT when hunting with the RAP I have lost two cartridges when the bolt inadvertently opened when caught by brush without my knowledge.

Ruger says "Send the rifle in and we will look at it." I told them that ALL Ruger American rifles have this problem and sending my RAP in will not fix it. It is a DESIGN problem. Sad that Ruger won't address it with a fix.

So I plan to sell this very accurate RAP with its Boyd's Classic laminated stock and Timney trigger and get a Browning X-Bolt in 6.5 CM.
Browning X-Bolts DO lock when loaded and on safe!

 

[huntsman22]

Ruger addressed this stuff, by building a budget rifle without all the bells and whistles, solely by the cheap-o price. Things like locking bolts, threaded barrels, quality stocks all cost money. Evidently you didn't want to pay for such features, or you would have shopped accordingly, to start with. The losing cartridges while hunting is an easy fix yourself. Carry on an uncocked action, and learn to pay attention to your firearm. Or lay lots of blame on the manufacturer (or ANY others), other than yourself. There is always crying about it on the internet, which in your case, is the call to make....

 

[spife7980]

I like being able to work the bolt while the safety is on. Not a design problem for me, its just the design.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Or AI which gives you all options.
Not safe, safe with bolt able to move and safe with bolt locked
But at the cost of like 20 of the Ruger American rifles.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Or AI which gives you all options.
Not safe, safe with bolt able to move and safe with bolt locked
But at the cost of like 20 of the Ruger American rifles.

Or a 1898 Mauser. Can still be found for Ruger American prices.

 

[BurnOut]

Sounds like the product is performing as designed... and if the design doesn't fit your needs, that's not a product problem, but a product selection problem.

It'd be kinda like complaining that the hammer that you purchased doesn't loosen bolts very effectively; well, duh... that's not what it was designed to do. There's nothing wrong with the Ruger American design... it just sounds like it doesn't fit your use case.

 

[plidenbrock]

If you're a Ruger fan why not something from the M77 Hawkeye line? It's essentially a copy of the Mauser design, and it fully locks bolt and striker on safe. It's designed for rugged hunting applications, and is equal or cheaper than the x-bolt line.

Or even better, the Howa 1500 line. Three position safety does lock the bolt, maybe slightly more cost, but fully your Ruger's equal in accuracy potential and better options for personlization, too.

I agree with BurnOut, it seems like it might be a selection prob. The rifle is doing its thing, there doesn't seem to be very much Ruger can do.

 

[wade2big]

Yep. No problem found. Remington rifles are the same. My Curtis axiom is the same. I would bet most are.