Ruger Ranch or Preditor cut down to 16"? Preditor is less money and easier to find.

[raamaudio]

If I had the money I would own a Mini-30 conversion but just not in the cards right now so looking for a bolt gun and settled on the Ruger due to great value, really like the Ranch but it looks like the Preditor barrel is a slimmer profile so could even be a bit lighter cut down to 16".

Actually considering going down to 14.5 or a bit longer depending on which linear compensator I can make work on the barrel diameter. I have 1/2x28 and 5.8x24 in KAW and 5/8x24 in BRT which is a bit shorter.

On hand, lots of American Gunner, quite a bit of TNT, some ELD Black, looking to trade AG and TNT towards more ELD Black, want to be able to hunt reliably... Unless otherwise recommended by those here that know more than I do, which I am sure many if not most do

I prefer one ammo per gun type, full time RV, do not shoot much though pretty good at it, like to keep things simple thus not fumbling around if things ever go south......which I hope never happens of course!

Let me know what you think, know, etc...all ears and thankful for your help

Rick

[A5BLASTER]

I thought ruger already introduced a 16 inch suppressor ready grendel?

[raamaudio]

The Ranch which is much harder to find and costs more. I can get the longer Preditor barrel cut down and threaded for pretty low cost.

[grayfox]

thread it to the 5/8x24, not the 1/2", you need the barrel wall thickness for the .264 round.

you could also get a howa rifle or barreled action, if available they have a 16-20" youth profile (?I think?) or just cut down the 22", or use 20" as-is already threaded.
Personally I like the howa for smoother action-working. Had trouble with the AR mags in the Ruger, whether mfr stock or after-market.
Although, a guy on another thread may have found a fix for that..... if you stay with the ruger stock.
A5 and some others really like their CZ's...

edit to add: don't let the "less money" sweep you off your feet. you'll get what you pay for plain and simple.

[raamaudio]

I have looked into them all and like the AR magazine, cheap, I have a bunch of E-landers I polished the feed lips on and they work flawlessly so not afraid to figure out a way, or learn of one to make them work. IF, I could get at least 10 round good mags that were not insanely priced I would take a closer look into the CZ or Howa of course

I do not minding modifying a stock either, started modding things when I was 8, never stopped, up to building some pretty serious race cars, turned 69 recently so quite a bit of experience and can make accurate drawings to have parts made if needed. This needs to be a simpler project, shoot well, reliable, not weigh a ton, compact as I can reasonably make it and low cost....

I might of missed something on the Howa or CZ, any decent priced mods to fit 10 round, at least, magazines:

I have had a Ruger 308 in American Gunner and then the Scout rifle, both shot well but were very sloppy feeling in the bolt department, next it was a Tikka Superlight fluted barrel, dang it was nice, sold it to go to the 65G which is perfect for anything I will ever need a rifle for.

As in another post I was going to build(mostly have to have it built) Mini 30 into a 65G but it was going to cost more than double the budget so I built my first AR and a few more since. I want to have a decent bolt gun on hand for the day they are aiming for, take away out AR's

Thanks for your input, much appreciated, I will search the threads again, been awhile so may of forgot something important.

Rick

[raamaudio]

Can someone please measure the barrel diameter back 6 inches and perhaps 7.5 inches from the end on the Preditor?
I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!
Rick

[Blackblue]

Seems more cost effective and less hassle to just track a ranch down instead of dealing with getting one cut down and threaded.

[grayfox]

[raamaudio]

Thanks

I love to mod things but cannot spend a lot on this, my original idea was one 6.5 Grendel AR, ended up with 3, one over $2500 into it, parted it out but not sold much of it yet. I have an affinity towards Ruger even though I know their bolts are a bit sloppy if the gun shoots great I will get over it, after I smooth it out, etc....the very first gun I modded was a sporter version of a 10/22 that shot amazingly well, back in the early 70's.

I bought a KAW linear comp for the 16" Faxon Gunner barrel I want to also cut down to 14.5 but there is not enough meat to use a 5/8x24 so I bought a 1/2x28 for it. I have seen, somewhere, that size used on bigger diam bullets than the .264, by somebody that should know what they are doing so feel it is OK but I might test it with sandbags around it and a full face shield

I missed two good deals on the Predator and the only Ranch is on auction at over $600 so looking for another one at a lower price, my budget is shot right now, massively remodeling to very high end specs our full time RV and both our vehicles were down, I do my one repairs and only use quality parts....but still it adds up.

Either one I buy I still plan to cut the barrel to 14.5 or whatever the particular muzzle device I use to get just over 16". My buddy, has a buddy, has a machine shop, a nice one, will do it for low cost, at least that is what I am told.

Rick


---------

[Harpoon1]

Can someone please measure the barrel diameter back 6 inches and perhaps 7.5 inches from the end on the Preditor?
I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!
Rick

[raamaudio]

Great news, thanks!!!!

I just got an email from Ian at KAW about cutting down the .62..diameter of the 16" Faxon gunner and using their 1/2x28 Linear and he said it would be just fine.

.740 diameter of the Predator is no issues at all using the 5/8x28 KAW on it that I also have on hand as it measures .725

So, getting a lower cost, easier to find Predator and cutting it down to whatever I want, good trigger with a bit of tweaking, accurate barrel, smooth out the bolt and then see what I can do with the stock, run whatever and I hope E-lander as have ten mags by modding the springs and I will have polished feed lips, etc...I could end up with a very very good rifle for dirt cheap

IF I cannot get the stock to work out I will look at other stocks but not until I give the factory one a good deal of time to see what I can do with it, that is part of the challenge.


This is becoming great fun

Rick

[Rosecrans1]

My RAP is very accurate but you do have to tinker. I bought a used RAP stock I found on GB and changed out the bottom "plastic" and also played with the torque settings on mine and it made a huge difference in feeding plus some of my mags needed tension lessoned no matter what so that's when I posted about removing some spring length some time ago. I also found excessive oil on the action screws that needed removed and cleaned. After firing, the barrel would contact the stock after heating up which required some removal of plastic. (Hot or cold barrel, it free-floats now). This is very common on these Rugers regardless of caliber! Then I used epoxy to fill in the waffling under the barrel on the stock to make it more rigid which also helped. With the 22" barrel, it made for a heavy to carry gun topped with a Nikon 6 x 18 x 44 but that is where my RAP has stood for a few years now. It feeds well, it's very accurate and the factory stock is nice and firm with little flex.
All this plus a good barrel break-in and rounds down the throat turned what 90% of consumers buying one would have used as a tomato stake or a target hanger. I like my gun but I don't like this Ruger line period. No company should produce something that requires this much end-user work to get it to shoot and feed properly. For the 10% who don't mind working to make it as correct as possible, they work but the other offerings in bolt-action 6.5G are a better gun out of the box.

[grayfox]

[raamaudio]

I am reconsidering just which way to go and considering the 16.5" CZ and leaving the barrel alone. One question on it, how is the synthetic stock?
Decent, serviceable, etc or DIY mod a bit to make it OK? I know the trigger is easy to make into a very nice trigger, barrel needs cleaned well and broken in,
Action might need a bit of polishing, etc...

Also reconsidering the Howa but would have to have the barrel shortened and need to check on the trigger, etc....

Not sure what is going on, I have a lot of great parts listed, here and armslist, barely anything sold, very low interest, etc....