Kent Goldings
.357 mag
Late last year, I was watching an episode of "Meat Eater" on YouTube where he was hunting black bear in Alaska. It put me in mind to hunt some of the local Black Bears that scare city folk so much, they established a early bear season in September.
Looking at my arsenal of rifles, the clear choice is my Ruger American 308. The dearth of 308 ammo being a problem, I set to developing a 308 bear load with what I had on hand. My progress has been slow and I haven't had any very satisfactory results. The accuracy of the loads I've put together have ranged from mediocre to downright bad. One load was described by the range officer as "being shot from a World War 2 rifle with a worn-out barrel."
This process has made me remanence out a rifle that I've been shooting for nearly 6.5 years.
I bought the Rifle in August, 2014 with dear season in mind.
You can see the rifle here in stock configuration with branded cheek bad and a trashy Barska Scope I has on hand.
I soon replaced the scope with the excellent and economical Nikon Prostaff 4-9x40 Duplex that it wore for the next few years. The scope still serves dependably on my Ruger American Rand 7.62x39. It's all the scope you really need to hunt around here.
At that time, I was satisfied with the 1.5 MOA w/factory ammo it delivered. But, I had a hard time fighting the recoil. The rifle was light and although the bedding system was superior to other plastic stocks at the time, I though it felt flimsy. The plastic was a little flexible and the comb was a little low.
But, It served as a good deer rifle in this configuration for a three seasons.
Keep in mind, the American stock has gone though technical revisions since I purchased this gun. My newer American Ranch is much more ridged and actually free floated.
In 2017, I upgraded the stock to a Boyd's light Thumbhole.
Now, the stock looked great and felt great to shoot. But, the lack of bedding was a step back in accuracy. I even put the factory stock back on the go hunting that fall.
For much of the next year I did not spend much time with the rifle. The 308 is expensive to shoot often and It seemed to fill the hunting role well. It sat in the gun safe, happy to be a capable veteran.
Then, in Spring 2019, got the bug to shoot 1,000 yards. The accuracy of the 308 in that configuration was not there. Of course, I've come to realize that it was probably the limitations of the 308 cartridge itself I was fighting.
But, I set about with some new accessories.
Gone was the Prostaff 4-9x14 Duplex. Replacing it is a Nikon Prostaff 5 4-14x40 BDC. I also added a Witt Machine camp-on muzzle brake and replaced the Boyd's stock with a Magpul American Hunter. With the new stock, the average group sizes shrank. This was enough to get me out the 1,000 yards for the first time.
The downside is the added weight for hunting is a bit of a hassle.
It was my American Ranch 7.62x39 that went last season.
Which brings me to today. For the last few weeks, I've been fighting with the old 308 to find a good bear load. I was beginning to suspect that something was serious wrong with the rifle. So, I brought some Federal Match Ammo and shot some great groups at 100 yards.
This has reawakened my affection for this rifle. However, can it still be considered a "Budget" rifle?
Looking at my arsenal of rifles, the clear choice is my Ruger American 308. The dearth of 308 ammo being a problem, I set to developing a 308 bear load with what I had on hand. My progress has been slow and I haven't had any very satisfactory results. The accuracy of the loads I've put together have ranged from mediocre to downright bad. One load was described by the range officer as "being shot from a World War 2 rifle with a worn-out barrel."
This process has made me remanence out a rifle that I've been shooting for nearly 6.5 years.
I bought the Rifle in August, 2014 with dear season in mind.
You can see the rifle here in stock configuration with branded cheek bad and a trashy Barska Scope I has on hand.
I soon replaced the scope with the excellent and economical Nikon Prostaff 4-9x40 Duplex that it wore for the next few years. The scope still serves dependably on my Ruger American Rand 7.62x39. It's all the scope you really need to hunt around here.
At that time, I was satisfied with the 1.5 MOA w/factory ammo it delivered. But, I had a hard time fighting the recoil. The rifle was light and although the bedding system was superior to other plastic stocks at the time, I though it felt flimsy. The plastic was a little flexible and the comb was a little low.
But, It served as a good deer rifle in this configuration for a three seasons.
Keep in mind, the American stock has gone though technical revisions since I purchased this gun. My newer American Ranch is much more ridged and actually free floated.
In 2017, I upgraded the stock to a Boyd's light Thumbhole.
Now, the stock looked great and felt great to shoot. But, the lack of bedding was a step back in accuracy. I even put the factory stock back on the go hunting that fall.
For much of the next year I did not spend much time with the rifle. The 308 is expensive to shoot often and It seemed to fill the hunting role well. It sat in the gun safe, happy to be a capable veteran.
Then, in Spring 2019, got the bug to shoot 1,000 yards. The accuracy of the 308 in that configuration was not there. Of course, I've come to realize that it was probably the limitations of the 308 cartridge itself I was fighting.
But, I set about with some new accessories.
Gone was the Prostaff 4-9x14 Duplex. Replacing it is a Nikon Prostaff 5 4-14x40 BDC. I also added a Witt Machine camp-on muzzle brake and replaced the Boyd's stock with a Magpul American Hunter. With the new stock, the average group sizes shrank. This was enough to get me out the 1,000 yards for the first time.
The downside is the added weight for hunting is a bit of a hassle.
It was my American Ranch 7.62x39 that went last season.
Which brings me to today. For the last few weeks, I've been fighting with the old 308 to find a good bear load. I was beginning to suspect that something was serious wrong with the rifle. So, I brought some Federal Match Ammo and shot some great groups at 100 yards.
This has reawakened my affection for this rifle. However, can it still be considered a "Budget" rifle?
