Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

The History of Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., more commonly known as Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company headquartered in Southport, Connecticut. Founded in 1949 by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B. Ruger in a rented machine shop in Connecticut, the company has since become one of the largest firearm manufacturers in the world - shadowed only by Remington and perhaps Smith & Wesson.

Ruger is widely recognized for producing firearms that span a broad spectrum of uses such as bolt-action rifles and pistols, semi-automatic rifles, single-shot rifles, shotguns, and revolvers. As recognition of its quality products grew so did the public’s interest in investing in the company’s shares. Ruger went public in 1969 and grew exponentially since then, and it is on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:RGR) since 1990.

In 2020, Ruger made another big move with their acquisition of Marlin Firearms from Remington Outdoor Company.

For decades now both newbie and seasoned shooters have been consistently trusting Ruger’s guns for their excellent accuracy and superior long-term performance as evidenced by its continued success over all these years.

Today, Ruger’s most popular products include the Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle, the .22 rimfire semi-automatic pistol Ruger MK IV, the bolt-action Ruger American rifle, the tried and tested Ruger No.1, and, of course, the timeless Ruger Security-Six revolvers.

Ruger American Rifle (Weaver) Review

Ruger American Rifle Standard

Figure 1: Ruger American Rifle Standard (source: ruger.com)

Ruger American Rifle is a family of budget-level hunting and sporting bolt-action rifles, introduced in 2012. These rifles can be purchased with a factory-mounted Redfield Revolution riflescope if the buyer wishes so, making them a convenient and affordable option for those in need of a quality firearm at a wallet-friendly price.

The barrel is hammer-forged and has a blued black oxide finish, and the barrel length ranges from 409 mm (16.12 in) to 610 mm (24 in), while the overall length of the rifle ranges from 910 mm (36 in) to 1130 mm (44.5 in). The barrel is free-floating, which is largely thanks to the dual bedding block system called the “Power Bedding”. It is essentially two bedding blocks in a V shape molded into the stock, with front and back action screws fastened through the centers of these blocks, which in turn then also act as pillar beddings. Hunter variants of the Ruger American Rifle don’t have the Power Bedding.

Ruger American’s action, which is of the push-feed style, hosts a one-piece full-body bolt made entirely of steel. It has three locking lugs for added safety of the rifle, and it is hosted inside an enclosed receiver.

The receiver is made of a 4140 chrome-moly bar and it is drilled and tapped for scope mounts. To our knowledge, it used to be a common practice to receive Weaver bases when the American Rifle is purchased, although nowadays, the rifles from this family come with a pre-installed Picatinny rail. This is a welcome bonus since it is often easier and relatively cheaper to mount a scope on a Picatinny rail than it is on the factory-drilled receivers.

Because the Ruger American Rifle is the product of harsher monetary times and it was developed to give shooters a cheap alternative to the much pricier contemporaries at the market at the time, it has a somewhat dull-looking black composite polymer stock which is so often found on the rifles from that same era. It is, however, very ergonomic with multiple butt-stock choices available, and each model comes with a soft rubber recoil pad that successfully tames even some of the heavier calibers.

We also must not forget to mention the trigger. Anyone who is familiar with Savage’s AccuTrigger^TM will quickly recognize Ruger’s own version of it: the Ruger Marksman AdjustableTM trigger. This is a trigger system that allows the user to adjust the weight of the trigger pull between 1.2—2.3 kg (3—5 lb), and the best part is that they can do it on their own, without the help of the gunsmith. All they have to do is slightly manipulate the screw in front of the trigger assembly and voila – they get their preferred trigger pull weight.

Ruger Marksman Adjustable (RMA) is of course not a direct copy of the AccuTrigger, but it is visually strikingly similar to it, with one major difference. While Savage’s version blocks the sear to prevent the rifle from misfiring, RMA completely locks the trigger instead, and no matter what you do, the sear should not trip.

Ruger Marksman Adjustable Trigger

Figure 2: Ruger Marksman Adjustable trigger (source: ruger.com)

While the RMA certainly provides some level of safety, it should definitely not be used in place of the traditional safety slide. The latter is located on the rifle’s tang, and it is of the two-position style.

Ruger is famous for their 10/22 semi-automatic rifles, which are some of the most well-known firearms in the United States. If you've ever held one of these rifles, you probably recognize the round, rotating magazine they use. The American Rifle series also uses this design, but with a smaller capacity of only 4 rounds. There are also some variants that feature STANAG or AICS-style magazines.

There is a wide range of calibers that Ruger American Rifle can be chambered for, and the action length depends on it. There are two action lengths for the American – long-action and short-action.

Ruger American Rifle Calibers

The Ruger American Rifle models can be chambered for:

.204 Ruger
5.56mm NATO
.223 Rem.
.22-250 Rem.
.243 Win.
6mm Creedmoor
6.5mm Grendel
6.5mm Creedmoor
.270 Winchester
.30-06 Spring.
7mm-08 Rem.
7mm Rem. Mag.
.300 BLK
.308 Win.
.300 Win. Mag.
7.62 Soviet
.338 Win. Mag
.350 Legend
.450 Bushmaster

Ruger American Rifle Variants

There are several different variants of the Ruger American Rifle available today:

Ruger American Rifle Standard
Ruger American Rifle Predator
Ruger American Rifle Ranch
Ruger American Rifle Go Wild Camo I-M Brush Stock
Ruger American Rifle Hunter
Ruger American Rifle Compact
Ruger American Rifle Magnum
Ruger American Rifle All-Weather
Ruger American Rifle Redfield Riflescope
Ruger American Rifle Vortex Crossfire II Riflescope

The receiver of the Ruger American Rifle is drilled and tapped for scope mounts, but it used to be a common practice to receive Weaver bases with the purchased rifle.

Ruger American Rifle Compact with Weaver rail

Figure 3: The receiver of Ruger Amerian Rifle Compact with a Weaver rail (Source: https://gun.deals/product/ruger-american-30-06-springfield-22-blued-barrel-copper-mica-stock-4-round-bolt-action-rifle)

Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

Rifles That Have One-Piece Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

The necessary condition for rifles to have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable is that the mounting surfaces of these rifles match in every dimension. This means that any rifle with Weaver bases will have one-piece scope mounts interchangeable with Ruger American Rifle which has the same scope mounting solution.

Rifles That Have Two-Piece Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

The situation with two-piece scope mounts is the same as with the one-piece scope mounts when it comes to rifles that are equipped with Weaver bases.

Any rifle with Weaver bases will have two-piece scope mounts interchangeable with the Ruger American Rifle which has the same mounting solution.

Best Scope Mounts for Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

Fixed Scope Mounts for Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

Henneberger is a German company known for the quality and reliability of its products. If you are looking for a fixed scope mount to mount on a weaver base on your Ruger American Rifle (Weaver), then we recommend these Henneberger’s 30 mm Weaver rings. They are made of aluminum and come with a 30-year warranty.

Detachable Repeatable Scope Mounts for Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

When it comes to flexibility, detachable repeatable scope mounts are the way to go. Being able to easily attach and detach an optic without any tools and retaining zero at the same time can be a great advantage. If this is what you’re looking for, you might want to consider this aluminum INNOMOUNT scope mounting solution of German quality for your Ruger American Rifle with Weaver bases.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu

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Vector Optics Tactical Dual Offset Picatinny Rail

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Vector Optics Long Picatinny Riser Rail

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INNOmount for Weaver/Picatinny, Picatinny rail

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INNOMOUNT Fixed Mount for Weaver/Picatinny, Picatinny rail

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INNOmount ZERO for Weaver/Picatinny, Picatinny rail

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Vector Optics Low Profile Offset Picatinny Rail

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INNOMOUNT for Weaver/Picatinny, Picatinny rail, 200 mm

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VIDEO

Introduction

In recent years we can observe that a trend of Picatinny rail has become widespread and global. It is driven by the NATO standardized rails, more commonly known as the Picatinny rail standard. Picatinny rail being the New Jersey Arsenal that developed it in 1995.

These mounting options are revolutionary. The biggest and best advantage being that the Picatinny rail can be used its entire length and not bordered to a few pre-designed slots like for example the Weaver rail standard was before.

The other main advantage is the ease of use and interchangeability. If a product is meant for a Picatinny rail design it will fit all Picatinny-rails, no matter the manufacturer or date of production.

Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Picatinny Rail and Weaver rail profile

Design

The Picatinny rail is almost exclusively crafted from a single piece of metal (in some cases aluminum). In this manner, the axis of the Picatinny rail is perfectly straight and aligned with the axis of the firearm. Therefore the rifle scope which is mounted onto this kind of configuration is certainly aligned with the rifle / gun and the trajectory of the ammunition.

Weaver rail design on the other hand is usually manufactured in two separate pieces, greatly increasing the possibilities for the axis to be crooked, overlapping, and out of line.

It is always harder to align two separate pieces to a third line than it is to align one piece to another. In this way, the lapping of two mounting rings on a single-piece Picatinny rail is no longer required.

The single-piece rail will assure that both rings are perfectly aligned to each other and that no unwished stress is transferred to the riflescope.

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

The Picatinny rail itself is an evolutionary step forward from the older Weaver rail. The main difference between Picatinny rail and Weaver rail is the spacing of the slots. Picatinny rail design has them evenly placed exactly 5.23 mm from one slot to the other, 3 mm deep. For this reason, the mounting options are repeatable and the same as other firearms using the Picatinny rail standard.

Interchangeability was a major driving force in the development of the new standard as different NATO armies need to be compatible with each other.

Weaver rail has 3.8mm wide slots and these slots can be placed anywhere on the Weaver rail and in any number that the producer wished.

Advantages of Picatinny design

A big advantage for using the Picatinny rail design is the ever-present recoil stop. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the rail is not very technically demanding and can be done without the use of state-of-the-art machines which greatly reduces the cost of the finished product, making it very affordable.

The Picatinny rail is easy to mount and usually, this type of configuration does not transfer negative stresses and forces from the fired weapon to the rifle scope.

In addition, the Picatinny rail with its very long useable surface works well for mounting longer rifle scopes or to achieve optimum eye relief.

The durability and toughness are other big pluses for this solution.

Manufacturers of Popular Models

A majority of the Picatinny rings are fixed, but a number of best rated European manufacturers (EAW, MAK,..) have, in recent years, put a lot of effort into the development of detachable ring with100% repeatability, with which it becomes easy to remove the scope from the weapon without the use of tools.

No re-zeroing is needed with such mount options, but these models tend to be expensive.

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Picatinny rail and weaver rail share one more thing. It is possible to use the Weaver ring and the Picatinny ring on the Picatinny-rails, but it is usually impossible to use the Picatinny ring on the Weaver base. The reason being the above-mentioned positioning and spacing of the slots.

Picatinny mounts have a 5mm recoil stop that goes into the rail slot and since
Weaver rail only has 3.8mm wide slots such rings do not fit on Weaver rails.

Due to this reason, the Picatinny-rails are popular and prevailing on the market in recent years and eventually, these options will completely oust the Weaver rail from the market.

Ruger American Rifle (Weaver)

The History of Sturm, Ruger & Co.