WrongHanded
Member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2017
- Messages
- 4,771
Well I got a new rifle. And as Ruger only offers a left handed version of the Guide Gun in .375 Ruger, that's what I got.
Out of the box this rifle feels solid and appears to be very well made. A practical design with not much more than what I wanted. Durability, simplicity, weather resistant, chambered in a powerful cartridge and lefty compatible. In case anyone was curious, it's for dragging through the woods as Grizzly protection. (The mountains are calling, and I must go.)
At less than 8.5lbs (without scope) it's not too heavy for that, and without a scope there's not much sticking out to get snagged. However, the Express sights, whilst quick and low profile, don't encourage great precision.
I didn't get the micrometer out to measure the front sight, but it's about 3/32" in diameter. My math puts that around 2.75" @ 25yds, 5.5" @ 50yds, and 11.0" @ 100yds. And of course the sight radius is rather short. But as I said they're fast, low snag, and intuitive to use.
To date, I've put only 25 rounds through it, because this ammo is far more expensive than I had realized prior to ordering the rifle. I just wanted to get an idea of what it was going to do and where it was hitting.
Checking out the POI from the bench at 25yds, I found 3 loads all hit behind the front dot. This held true at 50yds. The three loads were Hornady 270gr SP-RP, Hornady 300gr DGS, and Buffalo Bore 270gr Lehigh Solid. The 270grs both seemed to have similar POI, while the 300gr was lower, but still covered by the front sight.
Beyond that, the combination of the sights and my abilities resulted in rather poor groups for a rifle at 25yds (where I was shooting paper, sitting with my forearm of the bench). The 300gr DGS produced a 1.5" 3 shot group. The 270gr BB load was 1-5/16", and the 270gr Hornady was right at 1". None of that is good rifle grouping, but better than I typically do with a handgun, certainly far more powerful. That's good enough for my current purposes. But a scope will be introduced in the future, as will the supplied factory scope rings.
Shooting outside at 50yds, I found the 300gr DGS was dropping more than anticipated. I was missing the 12" gong low, and punched a hole through the relatively thin (1/8") angle iron with one shot. Another actually broke it off and I found it a few feet away (it was only tacked on however). The angle was only an inch from the bottom of the gong though, because I built the hanger without thinking of how I was going to hang the gong. My point is, it's not a large space.
Our session got cut short, but I did shoot 5 rounds of the 270gr Hornady. The first one hit the gong from 50 yards and knock the whole thing over in a fairly spectacular way. I still shot it again because it was angled on a slope and provided a reasonable target. After that one ricochetted up slope I put the last 3 towards a clay farther up the hill at around 80-90yards. Two of those came close, and the last one hit it. So 270gr looks like a good option for consistency and POI, and the message I'm getting is to put the dot where I want the bullet to hit.
Recoil from a 270gr bullet at approximately 2,700fps, or a 300gr at over 2,500fps wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. The recoil pad really makes a difference. Infact my cheek hurt more than my shoulder by the end of both range sessions. And I've had worse bruises from walking into doors. This was without the muzzle break, and instead using the supplied muzzle weight. I like having something to protect the crown of the barrel when I can, because I go off trail a lot. Infact due to the spring melt, just getting to the shooting area was an adventure of cuts and scrapes and banging the rifle on stuff. I did add one more 1/2" spacer to the length of pull. That means 2 of the 3 are installed. Same as my GSR.
Speaking of my GSR, as both are built on the M77 Hawkeye action. The only real difference being the action length and that the Guide has a 3 shot internal magazine. Though it can take +1.
I'll be reloading for it eventually, because the cartridge really isn't cheap. But between dry fire and my previous and continuing experience with the GSR, I think familiarity isn't going to be an issue.
I did notice that the express mounts on the barrel had rather sharp corners. I actually cut myself on the front mount, so I filed those corners down just slightly. Otherwise, fit and finish looks to be very good. The trigger is by no means light, but neither is it heavy, and has no noticeable creep. The bolt is smooth and trouble free. The stainless steel magazine floorplate latches positively with plenty of contact area. This is my first experience with this style of internal magazine, but it's very easy to load. It took my a while to get used to the 3 position safety on my GSR, but it's committed to muscle memory now and thus not a problem on the Guide Gun. The laminated stock is dense and feels solid. Walnut and blued steel may be more attractive to the eye, but to those such as myself who feel function is beautiful, this is a good looking gun.
I decided I would not scope this rifle and keep it to irons only. And as I made that decision, I knew I was lying to myself. Whilst the express sights cover the requirements of close up defense, more precision is an option I'd prefer to have. So I will be installing the supplied rings and a Leupold FX-II UltraLight 2.5x20mm scope. My plan is to zero at 25 yards, and then remove the quick detach rings. That way I'll have the option to use it in the future for load workup or other applications, hopefully with minimal zeroing. And as the 270gr loads seem to have similar ballistic trajectories to a 180gr .30-06 out to 200-300yds, that will likely work out fairly well.
So color me impressed! Left handed bolt actions aren't terribly common, especially in designs that stray from the standard hunting rifle patterns. I'm becoming a real fan of what Ruger has to offer.
Out of the box this rifle feels solid and appears to be very well made. A practical design with not much more than what I wanted. Durability, simplicity, weather resistant, chambered in a powerful cartridge and lefty compatible. In case anyone was curious, it's for dragging through the woods as Grizzly protection. (The mountains are calling, and I must go.)
At less than 8.5lbs (without scope) it's not too heavy for that, and without a scope there's not much sticking out to get snagged. However, the Express sights, whilst quick and low profile, don't encourage great precision.
I didn't get the micrometer out to measure the front sight, but it's about 3/32" in diameter. My math puts that around 2.75" @ 25yds, 5.5" @ 50yds, and 11.0" @ 100yds. And of course the sight radius is rather short. But as I said they're fast, low snag, and intuitive to use.
To date, I've put only 25 rounds through it, because this ammo is far more expensive than I had realized prior to ordering the rifle. I just wanted to get an idea of what it was going to do and where it was hitting.
Checking out the POI from the bench at 25yds, I found 3 loads all hit behind the front dot. This held true at 50yds. The three loads were Hornady 270gr SP-RP, Hornady 300gr DGS, and Buffalo Bore 270gr Lehigh Solid. The 270grs both seemed to have similar POI, while the 300gr was lower, but still covered by the front sight.
Beyond that, the combination of the sights and my abilities resulted in rather poor groups for a rifle at 25yds (where I was shooting paper, sitting with my forearm of the bench). The 300gr DGS produced a 1.5" 3 shot group. The 270gr BB load was 1-5/16", and the 270gr Hornady was right at 1". None of that is good rifle grouping, but better than I typically do with a handgun, certainly far more powerful. That's good enough for my current purposes. But a scope will be introduced in the future, as will the supplied factory scope rings.
Shooting outside at 50yds, I found the 300gr DGS was dropping more than anticipated. I was missing the 12" gong low, and punched a hole through the relatively thin (1/8") angle iron with one shot. Another actually broke it off and I found it a few feet away (it was only tacked on however). The angle was only an inch from the bottom of the gong though, because I built the hanger without thinking of how I was going to hang the gong. My point is, it's not a large space.
Our session got cut short, but I did shoot 5 rounds of the 270gr Hornady. The first one hit the gong from 50 yards and knock the whole thing over in a fairly spectacular way. I still shot it again because it was angled on a slope and provided a reasonable target. After that one ricochetted up slope I put the last 3 towards a clay farther up the hill at around 80-90yards. Two of those came close, and the last one hit it. So 270gr looks like a good option for consistency and POI, and the message I'm getting is to put the dot where I want the bullet to hit.
Recoil from a 270gr bullet at approximately 2,700fps, or a 300gr at over 2,500fps wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. The recoil pad really makes a difference. Infact my cheek hurt more than my shoulder by the end of both range sessions. And I've had worse bruises from walking into doors. This was without the muzzle break, and instead using the supplied muzzle weight. I like having something to protect the crown of the barrel when I can, because I go off trail a lot. Infact due to the spring melt, just getting to the shooting area was an adventure of cuts and scrapes and banging the rifle on stuff. I did add one more 1/2" spacer to the length of pull. That means 2 of the 3 are installed. Same as my GSR.
Speaking of my GSR, as both are built on the M77 Hawkeye action. The only real difference being the action length and that the Guide has a 3 shot internal magazine. Though it can take +1.
I'll be reloading for it eventually, because the cartridge really isn't cheap. But between dry fire and my previous and continuing experience with the GSR, I think familiarity isn't going to be an issue.
I did notice that the express mounts on the barrel had rather sharp corners. I actually cut myself on the front mount, so I filed those corners down just slightly. Otherwise, fit and finish looks to be very good. The trigger is by no means light, but neither is it heavy, and has no noticeable creep. The bolt is smooth and trouble free. The stainless steel magazine floorplate latches positively with plenty of contact area. This is my first experience with this style of internal magazine, but it's very easy to load. It took my a while to get used to the 3 position safety on my GSR, but it's committed to muscle memory now and thus not a problem on the Guide Gun. The laminated stock is dense and feels solid. Walnut and blued steel may be more attractive to the eye, but to those such as myself who feel function is beautiful, this is a good looking gun.
I decided I would not scope this rifle and keep it to irons only. And as I made that decision, I knew I was lying to myself. Whilst the express sights cover the requirements of close up defense, more precision is an option I'd prefer to have. So I will be installing the supplied rings and a Leupold FX-II UltraLight 2.5x20mm scope. My plan is to zero at 25 yards, and then remove the quick detach rings. That way I'll have the option to use it in the future for load workup or other applications, hopefully with minimal zeroing. And as the 270gr loads seem to have similar ballistic trajectories to a 180gr .30-06 out to 200-300yds, that will likely work out fairly well.
So color me impressed! Left handed bolt actions aren't terribly common, especially in designs that stray from the standard hunting rifle patterns. I'm becoming a real fan of what Ruger has to offer.
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