The Ruger American Rifle’s 24-inch barrel length on this rifle is ideal for portability in the field and squeezing out more game-anchoring bullet velocity.
Several months ago I got invited on a Texas writers’ hunt to try out a couple of new Ruger rifles and chase some Oryx. It would be a good test for the 6.5 PRC cartridge as well as the Ruger rifle shooting it.
For the yet uninitiated, the Scimitar-Horned Oryx is a sub-Saharan African antelope that was extirpated in the wild and classified as extinct in 2000. Luckily, some Texas ranchers had the foresight to import a few “Scimitars” in the mid 1980s and release them into the wild. Like a duck to water, these oryx flourished in their new Texas habitat. Today, the Scimitar-Horned Oryx population in the Lone Star State is pushing an estimated 15,000. A mature male Scimitar Oryx weighs about 450 pounds, putting it squarely between a big whitetail buck and a spike elk in size. I would later learn before the hunt was over these Oryx are tough, tenacious of life and can soak up some lead. They can be deadly, too. Those rapier-like horns are wicked on predators and humans that get in their way. Gemsbuck are notorious for goring hunters who venture too close, too quickly after being shot.
“Yep, those Scimitar shine like a diamond in a goat’s ass,” my guide David Callaway proclaimed as he nodded toward three white objects over a mile distant in the low mesquite scrub. Bumping along the ranch road, it was easy to spot our quarry’s white form contrasting against the green, high Texas desert scrub. This was my introduction to the Scimitar-Horned Oryx, but the new Ruger rifle resting on the seat beside me was pretty familiar.
The first evening we hunted I was able to stalk within rifle shot of a sizable heard, but passed an opportunity when the shot wasn’t perfect. Before it was all over, it took three days of hard hunting to put an animal down.
Wasn’t my first rodeo
Over the previous several months I shot a twin to this rifle chambered in 6.5 PRC sitting beside me, and I’ve put a lot of rounds through it back home in Tennessee. This Ruger American with its burnt bronze barreled action hits a sweet spot from a ballistic standpoint. Its barrel length of 24 inches provided just the right amount of space to produce acceptable velocities for the hot new cartridge in a hunting rig.
This wasn’t my introduction to the cartridge, either. This was the tenth 6.5 PRC I have had considerable experience shooting. Along the way I’ve more than filled a 5-gallon buck with 6.5 PRC once-fired Hornady brass in my quest to see how these rifles would perform.
My introduction to the new cartridge was with a GA Precision light-weight rig, but my baptism in the cartridge came at a several-day writer event that Ruger sponsored a few years ago at the FTW Ranch.
At the premier long-range training facility, I was able to burn a lot of PRC ammo (both 6.5 and .300) in the Ruger Hawkeye Target and Ruger Precision Rifle models as I honed my distance shooting skills. The 6.5 PRC out of a 26-inch barrel proved its worth out to nearly a mile. My most distant hits on that outing were at 1,750 yards, just three strides shy of a mile.
We got a peek at a new Ruger that hadn’t been released yet for the cartridge, a Hawkeye Hunter with a 22-inch tube. It’s a handy rig, but the barrel’s a bit shorter than I feel is required to get adequate velocity from this round. The newest Ruger in 6.5 PRC accomplishes just that.
New Cartridge, Another New Rifle
The hot, relatively new 6.5 Precision Rifle Cartridge (PRC) is still raising eyebrows in the shooting world, even though it’s been around for about five years. Based on the 300 Ruger Compact Magnum case, this beltless magnum has been billed as the “big brother” to the 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s also designed to cram its fat, stubby case into the confines of a medium-length bolt-action. These are the same actions used for 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Winchester rifles. The biggest difference is the 6.5 PRC’s bolt face, which harnesses the 0.532-inch cartridge rim, which is the same as a .300 Win. Mag.
To get an idea of where the 6.5 PRC fits among cartridges sharing its bore diameter, the .264 Win. Mag. compares to the 6.5 PRC. Companies such as Remington, Winchester and HSM offer 140-grain bullets with published velocities around 3,030 fps from a 26-inch barrel. Handloading can safely push the same weight bullets to 3,050 fps mark from a 24-inch barrel according to Speer’s latest loading manual. The 6.5 Creedmoor shooting the same 140-grain bullet and barrel length is capable of 2,779 fps at the top end, and in an apples-to-apples comparison the .260 Remington tops out at 2,731 fps. At the low end of performance for the same bullet and barrel length, the 6.5 Grendel has a maximum velocity of 2,338 fps, which granted, isn’t the ideal bullet weight for the Grendel.
By my estimation and velocity data, this puts the 6.5 PRC much closer to the .264 Win. Mag. in performance than its little brother, the 6.5 Creedmoor. The 6.5 PRC is nearly identical in performance to the 6.5 Remington Magnum that was released to the market back in 1965. This cartridge nearly died out since it was offered in the then-new Model 600 and 660 carbines. At the top of the velocity heap, the 26 Nosler drives 140-grain bullets about 30 fps shy of the 3,300 mark, and the 6.5 Weatherby send ‘em down range at a toasty 3,350 fps.
Early in my 6.5 PRC experience, I borrowed a rifle from GA Precision to see what all the excitement was about. GAP’s founder, George Gardner, collaborated with Hornady on the 6.5 PRC’s development. He’s also had quite a bit of success with the 6.5 SAUM over the past few years, which has a slight powder capacity edge on the non-wildcat 6.5 PRC.
After my initial introduction to shooting the 6.5 PRC GA Precision rifle, which is a $4,700 custom rig, I anxiously awaited for other manufacturers to join the game. When Ruger released their Hawkeye Long Range Target (LRT) rifle in 6.5 PRC, I was quick to make a call. This rifle didn’t disappoint, as I was able to sub-1/4 MOA 5-shot groups at 100, and a few weeks later was pounding steel targets at a mile at FTW Ranch. When Ruger representatives shared with the few writers present that a trim 22-inch barreled version was coming during the summer, I was excited to do more than fire a few rounds from the pre-production Hawkeye Hunter they had on hand. One of the pre-production Hawkeye Hunters in 6.5 PRC was shipped back home to Tennessee and I spent some time getting it ready for a fall bear hunt.
My gun locker is home to six different 6.5 PRC rifles, and I’ve shot and tested a half dozen more. Like most other cartridges, size matters… or barrel length to be more specific. The Ruger American Rifle’s 24-inch barrel length on this rifle is an ideal compromise between velocity loss and portability in the field.
To give you an idea of the difference in velocity between barrel lengths, a Hornady 143-grain ELDX tops 3,000 fps from a 26-inch tube, specifically a Ruger Hawkeye Target. The Ruger Hawkeye Hunter’s 22-inch barrel has an average velocity of 2,808 fps from the gun I chronographed. That 200 fps velocity loss in those four inches matters at longer ranges. The American Rifle’s 24-inch barrel hits the sweet spot and averages just a hair over 2,900 fps.
After Several handloads
I’ve loaded more than a dozen different bullets and a half dozen different powders in 6.5 PRC, so I went straight to a couple of proven loads to feed the Ruger American.
It wasn’t until I tried RL25 with Hornady’s 143-grain ELDXs that everything started coming together. I loaded, shot and chronographed to find a node in a ladder test to find a velocity that seemed to be consistent. Swapping over to Reloader 25 proved beneficial when I found a load of 59.5 grains shrank groups to 1/2-MOA for five-shot groups, and averaged 3,066 fps.
Gun Details
Ruger’s American Rifle with Go Wild Camo chambered in 6.5 PRC features a medium-contour barrel that’s tamed with a factory muzzle brake that significantly reduces felt recoil in the light 7.1-pound rifle.
The barrel is free-floated, cold hammer-forged stainless steel with 1:8 twist 5R Rifling at minimum bore and groove dimensions, minimum headspace and centralized chamber. A 5/8-24 TPI direct-thread suppressor spins on nicely. The American Rifle’s trigger is their Marksman Adjustable that can be adjusted between 3 and 5 pounds.
This rifle wears a 0 MOA Picatinny rail secured with four No. 8-40 screws.
A synthetic stock features a soft rubber buttpad to help mitigate recoil. The stock is camouflaged in an attractive Go Wild Camo.
The one-piece, three-lug bolt with 70° throw provides ample scope clearance and utilizes a full diameter bolt body and dual cocking cams for smooth, easy cycling from the shoulder.
All Ruger American’s feature Power Bedding, an integral bedding block system that positively locates the receiver and free-floats the barrel for outstanding accuracy. Even though this rifle resides in Ruger’s “budget” category of firearms, it’s no slouch where accuracy is concerned. I seem to hang onto the American Rifles I test owing to their consistent ½ MOA accuracy. The only criticism I have for the American, including this rifle being reviewed, is the less-than-ideal bolt manipulation. It’s gritty, from the factory. I’ve learned how to slick up the bolt actuation, though, and it works smoothly after break-in.
Sling swivel studs ride fore and aft, and it ships with one 3-round magazine. I’ve learned while carrying it afield that the 3-round magazine, plus one in the chamber, is the most comfortable to carry for extended periods.
Paydirt!
After four unsuccessful stalks over three days it was time to take a food and siesta break. About 4:30 on day three, we headed back out along endless, dusty two-tracks in search of game. The wind picked up, too, gusting to 25 mph. As we bounced along three mature bulls appeared in a break in the scrub about 300 yards from the truck. Callaway and I rolled out of the truck while American Rifleman Senior Executive Editor, Kelly Young took the steering wheel to guide the truck on down the track. The ruse worked and the trio stayed put.
We closed the distance to 260 yards and I set up for a shot. In between gusts, I settled the crosshairs on what appeared to be the biggest of the three. The first shot hammered the bull’s shoulder, but he didn’t go down. They moved enough to become obscured by brush, so we jumped up and trotted in their direction. We cut another 80 yards distance, I sat down again and rested the rifle on the shooting sticks. The bull was moving away, so I took the shot presented and put one into his hip.
Still on his feet after two solid hits, I racked the bolt, fed another round and sent it. It found its mark on his shoulder and the bull went down for good. After the high fives and photos it took a winch to hoist the beast into the back of Callaway’s pickup.
Steve Jones’ Backcountry Hunts out of Carlsbad, NM, has hosted this fabulous fair-chase hunt for a most interesting antelope. I never saw a fence more than 4 feet tall during the entire hunt. Petersen’s Hunting Magazine Publisher Kevin Steele, the aforementioned Kelly Young and Ruger’s Paul Pluff all scored on mature bulls, too. Oryx meat is delicious, too. I made it a point bring home every scrap of meat I could. Check them out at backcountryhunts.com.
Ruger’s American Rifle chambered in 6.5 PRC is an accurate and effective rifle on big game. Check out what may be the ideal rifle in this relatively new caliber.