Ruger American Ranch 6.5 Grendel feeding issue solution

[loclass]

I picked up a Ruger American Ranch over the winter and like many others have posted, I had quite a few issues with not being able to feed rounds reliably. After trying a number of different possible solutions I called Ruger to order the Mini 30 magwell for the ranch stock. My thinking was that since the Grendel is based on the x39 case, it would likely feed well from the mini 30 mag. Ruger was good enough to send the magwell insert for free after I explained the feeding issues I was having using the AR mag and what I wanted to try.

Fast forward to last week when I was finally able to try out a 5 round Ruger Mini 30 magazine and no more feeding issues. With the AR mag the last round always popped out of the mag and would jam the round every time. With the mini 30 mag every round feeds smoothly and doesn't require hard or fast cycling of the bolt.

[raamaudio]

Very cool

No how about a 10 mag round, or more if available

Please!

[Stinky Coyote]

mine in a chassis, so no conversion possible unless go back to factory stock, having said that, the last round feeds fine if you cycle it like you mean it, if you're just bench shooting and lazy feeding it will pop up as it comes off the follower different that rounds come off other rounds...once you know that you just always cycle these rifles like you're actually hunting and you're fine, hope that helps others

[Lemonaid]

mine in a chassis, so no conversion possible unless go back to factory stock, having said that, the last round feeds fine if you cycle it like you mean it, if you're just bench shooting and lazy feeding it will pop up as it comes off the follower different that rounds come off other rounds...once you know that you just always cycle these rifles like you're actually hunting and you're fine, hope that helps others

That works for me some of the time, but trying that will sometimes smash the bullet tip into the feed ramp or barrel extension and mess the bullet up.
My theory is that the follower is designed wrong or why is it only the last round that is a consistent problem? I have contemplated somehow attaching a dummy round to the follower as a work around. Putting a dummy round in as the first round in the stack works o.k.

[Harpoon1]

That works for me some of the time, but trying that will sometimes smash the bullet tip into the feed ramp or barrel extension and mess the bullet up.
My theory is that the follower is designed wrong or why is it only the last round that is a consistent problem? I have contemplated somehow attaching a dummy round to the follower as a work around. Putting a dummy round in as the first round in the stack works o.k.

[Lemonaid]

Harpoon1 I have got to try that! Two coils off the top or off the bottom? (I'm thinking bottom.)

[Rosecrans1]

Harpoon1 I have got to try that! Two coils off the top or off the bottom? (I'm thinking bottom.)

Bottom is best and worked for me and others. BUT do one first and try!!! Take a second only if one didn't work.

Switching the bottom PLASTIC on the RAP with another AR feeding RAP stock solved the major majority of my problems feeding along with less magazine tension. Before swapping bottom plastic on the Rugers, it's always best to also play with the torque settings of the action screws. Clean them up and play with the settings using a decent torque driver like the Fat Wrench, etc.
60 to 80 in/lbs is spec I believe but the tighter the action screws are, the worse the rifle feeds. Mine are at 55in/lbs with a good dab of medium loctite. Though it's just below factory specs, it has never budged and it feeds 100%. I know it's BS but this is what Ruger delivered to the consumer.

[Harpoon1]

Harpoon1 I have got to try that! Two coils off the top or off the bottom? (I'm thinking bottom.)

[Lemonaid]

Thanks all! I'll give it a try and report back.

[Stinky Coyote]

may have to try that spring cut trick, just to ease up on the cycling force required, if it helps last round not jump while pussyfooting it on the bench then great too...end of day it's the ruger american ranch not ruger american bench, just cycle them like you're on the ranch and you're good to go

[Lemonaid]

As suggested I cut one coil off and ran a dummy round through. Results were a bit improved but still bad. Then I cut off the next coil and VIOLA! Works great even with wimpy bolt manipulation. I ended up cutting in total one "Z" off.
Thanks for the great tip. Are there any known down sides of this mod? If not I am doing this to all my Grendel/Arc/PPC mags.

[Rosecrans1]

No down sides but..............only cut a mag spring if you have an issue with that magazine. If you haven't already, keep your mags loaded 100% for two to three weeks then try cycling them through your action. This takes any unneccesary cutting out of the equation.

[jbob]

My Ranch was doing the same thing, after reading your post I too called Ruger and explained my situation to them they sent me a Mini 30 mag well and a 5 round magazine. Changed everything out and....wala, it cycled flawlessly. Now just waiting on the snow and ice to e gone so I can get it to the range and start working up a load for it. Thanks loclass.

[JCart]