Hi all,

Just tested out my Ruger American compact in 7mm-08 today. I got the compact because I wanted the 18" barrel but swapped the stock for a factory FDE stock in the regular (short action) size.

Long story short, the thing was literally throwing bullets all over the paper with ONE exception: Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. I am not a new shooter, I've sighted in and shot plenty of rifles successfully.

Ok, a few more details.

Stock screws were tightened alternately and torqued to 65 inch pounds, per the manual. Scope rail is a Warne Mountain Tech, screws torqued to 25 inch pounds with a tiny dab of loctite blue on each one. Rings are Burris XTR Signature, with inserts oriented to the bore sight.

Ammo:
Fed Fusion 140gr
Nosler BT 120gr
Privi 140gr (as close to cheap FMJ as I can get)
Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertip
Hornady Superformance 139gr

I fired 3 shots of Privi at 50 yards, first two shots were right on top of each other, about 2 inches to the left of center, and elevation was fine (I was very proud of my bore sighting job!). The third shot was a little further away. Whatever, I wasn't trying that hard.

I clean the barrel with a few patches of MPro 7 and then some copper solvent. Nothing major, took 5 minutes. I saw no blue on the patches so no need for any break-in (points for Ruger!)

Then I move to 100 yards. I load up 3 rounds of Federal Fusion. POI is pretty different, about 3 inches away. Two shots land pretty close, the third is 6 inches away. I know I didn't pull it, and if I did, not that bad. I try a few more Fed Fusion. It's all over the place. I check the stock, etc, everything looks solid.

Same story with all the other rounds. POI is pretty different across them all. I've never seen this before. My typical experience is different ammo might have a slight shift in POI and ultimate grouping, but not super different.

The ONE exception is the Winchester Ballistic Silvertip. No fliers, the stuff all lands MOA, the POI, though, again, 4 inches from the others.

So... what the heck? Again, I'm not new to this game, although I'm certainly not the world's foremost expert. The fact that I got the Winchester group later in my testing suggests that it wasn't just flinching or shooter fatigue. I alternated between the Winchester and other rounds and the results were consistent. The Winchester grouped, the rest was like a firehouse (relatively speaking). I'd say 4 to 6 MOA for the rest.

There is one thing I noticed. I had my LabRadar set up and the Winchester was the second slowest at about 2600fps. The Privi was the slowest at just under 2600. Those two seemed to group the best. Could it be a twist rate issue?

I know this is a budget rifle, I'm not looking for magic, but I'm also not looking for a gun that can only shoot one kind of ammo (and that stuff ain't cheap!)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you!
-Stooxie

Does it pass the dollar bill test?  Both factory stocks I put my RAP into were warped enough that they pressed against the barrel.  You can hog them out with a dowel wrapped in 80 grit or with a Dremel.

These are the groups I get with a 6.5CM Predator.  Four Hornady factory loads, all to POA at 100 yards.  The center group was cold bore.  The other groups were fired with no chance to let the barrel cool aside from the time it takes it to load four rounds into a magazine.

With the factory compact stock it definitely was not free floating. With the FDE stock it was much better, it appeared to be centered in the channel.

I believe the reports that these rifles will shoot, hence my asking. I guess I can try torquing the bolts down again.

I have a RA Ranch in 5.56 and the thing shoots great, I was amazed. Interestingly, it does NOT sit straight in the stock, it seems to be pressed up against the left, which seems to be common.

-Stooxie