Ruger Precision Rifle Review

By John Johnston

Long range shooting and hunting have definitely got manufacturers scrambling to get a piece of the pie. There are so many different genres that bleed over into others that manufacturers have a difficult time focusing their efforts, that is until now. Jon Mather, a design engineer for Ruger and long range shooter, approached Mike Fifer, the CEO of Ruger, with the idea of a dedicated long range rifle, and thus the Ruger Precision Rifle was conceived. Mike Fifer demanded that the rifle be capable of five shots in one inch or better at 100 yards. When you pick up a Ruger Precision Rifle for the first time you will immediately appreciate the thought and complicated design work that went into this new rifle. I actually got to fondle and shoot one last May while at the FTW Ranch. The Ruger design team had been to the ranch to wring out the Precision rifle and left one for writers to check out. It was difficult to honor the verbal "do not disclose" agreement. The best I could do was to get one of the first shipped to me for T & E. I have had a Ruger Precision Rifle for about sixty days, and the rifle truly amazes me.

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Full length view of the new Ruger Precision Rifle.


To describe this new rifle in detail would take a very long article, but I will give you the highlights. Starting at the .75 inch muzzle, which is threaded for a muzzle brake or suppressor and has a protective cap, the barrel tapers to 1 inch at the action. The barrel is hammer forged with 5R rifling and is 24 inches long on the 6.5 Creedmoor. 5R rifling seems to be very popular in the industry and rightfully so. It keeps fouling down, reduces the time of barrel break in and makes cleaning far easier. I hope to see Ruger using it for other models. The barrel attaches to the action with an AR type barrel nut and floats inside a Samson Evolution 15 inch forearm. This has the Key Mod attachment slots, and Ruger furnishes one Picatinny attachment for accessories.

For the heart of this rifle Ruger used their American rifle action, which has proven to have great accuracy since it came out in 2012. The bolt is the same but has some extra millwork to allow for magazine feeding. The AR type safety is on the right side. The magazine release extends down on the rear of the magazine housing. Ruger wanted shooters to be able to use all types of magazines. In order to accomplish this design, they had to split the action housing to perform the necessary machining. For the shooter this means easy access to the trigger group.
The trigger is the American style but can be easily adjusted down to 2.25 pounds with a tool that is conveniently stored in a cap attached to the end of the bolt. My trigger was 2.25 pounds out of the box.

Since the shooter has to pull the bolt out for cleaning, Ruger decided to fold the stock at the rear of the bolt. You push a button and the butt folds to the left side and you can lock it in that position. This does make it wider than most AR cases will accept, plus it may not fit your work vise. When the bolt is removed you will notice a plastic cap that houses the trigger adjustment tool. You will need to make sure your cleaning rod is long enough to get your brush all the way through the barrel. This will take a pretty long cleaning rod for the .243, which has a 26 inch barrel.

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As you can see, the bolt is rather long with the added extension. Also, note the mil cuts on the bolt to accommodate the use of a magazine.