Really enjoying this series, thanks for your efforts. Most RU-vid rifle videos just show rifle and some groups. Your series shows small-scale engineering to improve the rifle in a logical and sound manner, which is a refreshing change. It seems like rifle stock improvements are next. Cheers from Australia.
Thank you for your interest and compliments. I have more videos in the works; hopefully in another week or two. Right now, the barrel is off the receiver, waiting for time on the lathe.
Thank you for the nice compliment. I have more in the works but, unfortunately, work keeps getting in the way. Haha. Please stay tuned because I think you'll find the next few RAR videos to be very interesting.
I am on tenterhooks to see what if any improvements in accuracy have been achieved by the modifications since I just got a Ruger American Rimfire one week ago. Learning a lot about the mechanics of this platform. Hopefully more videos are available before I get enough ammo and actually get to shoot it. Great series! Thank you.
Well John, you left a lot of us "hangin" ..... can't wait to see what effects all your endeavors had on this rifle. I just purchased the Ruger American in .22 Magnum, but have yet to fire it for and check mine accuracy. I especially liked the action block work and the lapping on the lathe. Just a thought .... take a 1" diameter rod and nest it into that front block with a plastic compression gauge strip in between and see if there's any gap after you tighten it down. I use the same trick to align my scope rings parallel to one another, but to need for the feeler gauge, they basically "self align" when tightened.
Great series and I look forward to your others on this rifle. I've had one for just over 2 years now and my son used it, and a 10/22 for 4H and YHEC competitions. I was lucky that my RAR really liked the CCI Minimag 36gr and 40gr rounds and was able to get a benchrested 1/2 inch or less group with the occasional zinger. Your videos have given me ideas on things to improve on and to look for to polish things out. I've never really liked the action on this rifle and felt that it needed some smoothing. Also, I really like the Undercoating idea. I really wished I'd thought of that before. Slipping was one of the issues a few of the kids had in our group when they were shooting while wearing their stay dry team shirts. We were putting grip tape on the stocks to help. Best way we could describe the issue we were having with our shirts and the slick stock came from one of the other coaches. It's like having sex on silk sheets. Hard to do, but still fun while you're doing it.
Thank you; for taking the time and great effort to show the work and progression of the upgrades and fitment repairs. I’m learning much. My RAR seems to shoot accurate but I’m sure there can always be improvements. In my case the shooter. I seem to get 1/2inch groups at 50 even with bulk ammo. So I am thankful. Please keep up the good work your doing.
Thank you for your kind words. Sounds like your RAR is a great shooter; I wish mine shot as well. Stay tuned! I have a few more videos to publish before I complete this series.
Hi, Liking your videos on the RAR! Thanks for the time you've spent recording, editing and sharing your excellent ideas If I may suggest, you might want to check how the barreled receiver fits against the blocks when it is all assembled and tightened. There's 3 things I use to check for how parts fit together/where there is contact. a) old fashioned is to use soot/carbon. Take an oil lamp, and extend the wick so that there is black smoke above the flame. Hold the part so that it's in the soot from the black smoke and covered with soot. Put the parts together, and where there is contact, the soot will be cleaned off. I think Mr. Browning used this when custom fitting parts, it's an old method. b) smear a light layer of lipstick from a lipstick tube on the part. When the parts are assembled and disassembled, you'll be able to tell where there was contact. c) Use engineer/marking/layout blue dye on a part, then assemble and disassemble to see where there was contact. What I did was to take the barreled action off the stock, take out the mounting blocks, smear a little lipstick on them and see how they fit. For the front block, I put a 5mm allen wrench in the hole and wiggled it out of the stock. The rear block looked like there was a little more contact on the side with the bolt than the other side. There was a "low" area where the lipstick didn't transfer. The front block looks like it was designed more for ease of manufacturing and assembly than accuracy. The stock insert/block has 2 raised blocks. The blocks are 90* to each other and 45* from horizontal. On the front of the action there are two slots the raised blocks go into. The facing of the raised blocks and the slots are the only contact points. The stock insert won't bottom out by design. The slots on the front of the action where the raised blocks fit are longer than the blocks. There is no real "stop" where things fit together. Also, on my RAR, each block is about 0.020" narrower than the slot. So there is fore and aft "slop". There is a little side to side play too, but that might be taken up when the securing bolt is tightened. As far as the how well the raised blocks fit into the slots, that's something I'll look at later using the soot method which might work better than the lipstick. If I had a milling machine, I might be inclined to work out a way to machine down the raised blocks so the front insert block would rest with more surface area and tightly against the front action area. But then, still the blocks are about 0.020" narrower than the slots they sit in. Just my idea, my opinion, I'm not saying this is something anyone should try and if you do, it's your decision and don't hold me responsible. Weld the front block (and only the front block) to the action or JB Weld it? It would be interesting to see if the accuracy would be better. You could still replace the pinned in barrel. Might be heck getting the action off the stock hahaha But tight is what you get when glass bedding a rifle. What do you think?
My rifle also has about .02" of fore/aft play before the action screws are tightened and it bothers me that there is no recoil lug or stop against which the barreled action can be repeatedly assembled to and to know that it isn't moving during use. I've considered some approaches to glass bedding but haven't done anything, yet. Bedding would also improve all the variations in the contact area between the two metal blocks and the barreled action. I have done some other interesting tests, which I really want to publish with further videos; I just need to buckle down and finish the darned vid's. Thank you for your reply.
@@dauntlessendeavors1000 Thanks for your reply. I hope you don't mind, but looking in the Ruger American Rimfire owners manual I found some information. On page 24, Ruger offers some things to try to get better accuracy. Then, it states "If everything is tight, the bore is clean, the scope is properly aligned and secure but the accuracy problem persists, DO NOT alter the stock bedding in any way. Do not scrape away wood or polymer and do not bed with "glass", plastic, epoxy etc. Once a rifle stock has been altered, it cannot be reworked by our Customer Service Department. If you still have an accuracy problem, write a brief letter to our Customer Service Department in Mayodan, NC and describe the nature of the problem based on the use of factory-loaded cartridges - no reloads. You will receive a prompt response from us and in indicated, detailed instructions with regard to the return of the rifle" This shows me that Ruger knows there are accuracy problems with some of their guns and they are willing to examine and work on the rifle. That they specifically mention altering the stock/bedding means to me that they have seen others try that to correct a problem, but it mostly doesn't help inaccuracy problems. It looks like sending an inaccurate rifle to them to will be the easiest thing to do to fix that problem. There will be costs for shipping and when I've had Ruger do a repair on another problem, their service price was very reasonable. Still, if you are considering the accurizing yourself, if the bedding doesn't work out, you could try a different stock (Maybe a Boyd's?). Just an idea, I don't know if this would work and I don't suggest to others to try this or that it would help positively . . . One area I saw that might prevent fore and back movement as the gun is assembled is to add support to the front of the back stock assembly screw. At the back of the removable magazine release housing assembly, it's not square. There is a half round molded "cut out" to accommodate the back screw. If you stop the video at 2:40, you are holding it in your hand and the half rounded cut out area is on the left. If you take the receiver/action off and push the back screw up the hole, you'll see how much of a void/gap is there. I think that gap might not be helpful to accuracy. If something was there to assure positive contact between the screw and the back of the magazine release housing assembly, the receiver/action would anchored better I think. It could be a fitted thin sleeve the back screw would pass through. Good luck!
I have noticed the plastic stock is very flexible and easily pushed into the barrel. You may want to remove some stock material from inside. Also I have heard about the foil tape bedding. Never seen a video about it, I am guessing putting some layers of aluminum hvac tape between the blocks and the action, thus using the soft aluminum as a crush washer to even out the contact as the screws are tightened...
You are absolutely right about the flexible stock. In an upcoming video, I discuss this. I thought my barrel was free-floating but found out that it isn't, just from the weight of the rifle resting on the forearm. I hadn't heard about the foil-bedding technique before. Thanks for sharing.
I just did the same on a Savage .17 WSM stock by wrapping a 3/4"copper pipe with 80 grit fabric backed paper and free floated mine. That worked like a champ.
There is more than one way to skin a cat. Prussian Blue does have its uses but it can be very messy, too. I've often joked that one dab could turn your entire body blue. It tends to get everywhere.
That is a reasonable question. Perhaps I am to blame for the semantics of calling them "action blocks". I don't know Ruger's terminology for them. I can also only guess as to why Ruger designed the RAR this way. Thanks for watching.
Great series John. My shooting with a RAR in 22LR produces similar accuracy to yours prior to all the extra work you’ve shown on this series. I bought it because it shares magazines with the 10/22, which you observed in the first episode of this series. Knowing what I know now and lacking your machining skills, I would have paid more for a higher quality rifle with better out-of-the-box accuracy.
My RAR 22lr won't shoot 40 gr mini mags worth a damn. All my 22 rifles will, however, shoot the 36 gr HP mini mags MUCH better than the 40 gr solids. Just curious why you didn't first find the ammo that your particular rifle shoots well and go from there?
Hi Paul, Thanks for your comments. I agree with you that testing various brands and types of 22LR ammo is prudent. However, given the current ammo shortage, I can only shoot what I have. Have a great day.
Keep going. And please show us some more groups as you go. You know what? One theory that I have regarding my RSRs lack of accuracy is that the 22" Barrel is just too long and the bullets are decelerating before they leave the muzzle., as 22 inches is just too long for average yield 22 ammo. What do you think?
