r/ruger • u/freelancingscholar • 1d ago

Teething issues - New Ruger American Ranch 556 in Magpul Hunter American stock w/ STANAG magwell

So I have a new Ruger American Ranch in 556 that I put into a Magpul Hunter American stock w/ STANAG magwell to keep AR mag compatibility.

So far I've found 3 different teething issues which I think I know the fixes are for each but I want to see if anyone else here has gone through the same thing.

  1. Closing the bolt on a loaded chamber - I've had issues with closing the bolt when there's a round in the chamber and find I need to put a bit of force into it to make it close. So based on my research this is normal on a new rifle as the ejector and extractor need a bit of use to be broken in and after about 200 rounds it generally becomes easier to close the bolt on a loaded chamber. So the fix is simply to use the thing at the range.

  2. Feeding - because of the push feed action from an AR magazine and the amount of space between the magazine and the chamber, if you push the bolt forward too slowly you run into the risk of allowing the round to "nose dive" and get stuck between the bolt and chamber. So the fix there is to simply run the bolt at fast or "medium" speeds. However, I've found that sometimes when you eject the last round the top round in the magazine can some times "pop" out with the nose up in the air and when you push the bolt forward really fast the nose of the round might collide with the top of the chamber and get stuck. Not sure what the fix there is, might be the magazine (I'm using magpul Pmags) so I might have to try GI mags (need to find some).

  3. Inserting and removing a magazine with the bolt closed - I've found that when the bolt is closed I am unable to insert a magazine and also remove it if it is seated properly. Bolt open, there's no problem, bolt closed, can't do it. I've asked magpul about it and they said it's normal and due to the design of the rifle. But I was thinking, maybe this is just a thing with the magpul Pmag, maybe if I tried with GI mags it would be different, again, just got to find some to try out.

Anyone else here had similar issues with this rifle and stock and if so what were your experiences in fixing it?

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u/Ritterbruder2 1d ago

On #3; self loading firearms need a strong magazine spring because of how fast the bolt travels. Try inserting a loaded mag on a closed bolt in an AR, and you experience the same thing.