Wood Smoke II
New member
About a year ago I bought a lightly used Ruger American Predator .308 kind of on a whim with the primary intent of it being a test host for a .30 cal suppressor that I had not yet attached to anything other than a .223. Figured it’d be a good “see how I like it” .308 & suppressor combo without taking a deep dive into a higher quality, expensive rifle. Went ahead and scoped it with a new Nikon Monarch. Had it laser bore sighted, so I figured I’d be ready to go when I got time to go sight-in the new setup. Well, it sat in the safe until yesterday ...... almost a year! Took it out to some farm property yesterday. Fall weather here in north GA was awesome! Set up at a starting distance of 50 yards with regular factory Winchester 150gr psp’s thinking I’ll get dialed in & then move out to 100 yards & repeat. Y’all know the routine. My expectations with the Ruger were not for super tight sub MOA 3 shot groups. Just get some decent “deer rifle” groups, and then attached the suppressor to see what it does & how quieter it would be.
Ok, long story short is that pre-suppressor attached it was hitting way more than 2 ft. high and left. So much for the laser bore-sighting. Didn’t even start messing with the windage & elevation because it was evident that I needed to go back to rifle, mounts, rings, & boresight re-check for a do-over! We’ll get to that soon. Lastly, I did attach the suppressor just to “hear” it before wrapping up the failed sight-in session. Wow, it was a major difference! I actually took out my left ear plug and put a few more rounds through it. I guess I could call it very close if not “ear safe”. I’m pretty adamant about my own eye & ear protection and this was quite acceptable to my ears. At least this part of my test was successful.
Neat little rifle but the plastic flush mount clip is junk. Trigger was not impressive & that little pre-trigger thingy is annoying. Stock & recoil pad are ok. It’s a handy sized rifle, but I’m not really a fan of 18” barreled rifles. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t have some quirk such that I’ll never be able to get it nicely “on paper”.
Ok, long story short is that pre-suppressor attached it was hitting way more than 2 ft. high and left. So much for the laser bore-sighting. Didn’t even start messing with the windage & elevation because it was evident that I needed to go back to rifle, mounts, rings, & boresight re-check for a do-over! We’ll get to that soon. Lastly, I did attach the suppressor just to “hear” it before wrapping up the failed sight-in session. Wow, it was a major difference! I actually took out my left ear plug and put a few more rounds through it. I guess I could call it very close if not “ear safe”. I’m pretty adamant about my own eye & ear protection and this was quite acceptable to my ears. At least this part of my test was successful.
Neat little rifle but the plastic flush mount clip is junk. Trigger was not impressive & that little pre-trigger thingy is annoying. Stock & recoil pad are ok. It’s a handy sized rifle, but I’m not really a fan of 18” barreled rifles. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t have some quirk such that I’ll never be able to get it nicely “on paper”.
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