# Ruger Ranch rifle 6.8 SPC



## Forever444 (Feb 17, 2011)

I am considering purchasing a Ruger Mini-14 Ranch rifle in 6.8 SPC for my next mid-range deer/varmint rifle. Does anyone have any experience with this rifle?


----------



## Rugergundog (May 21, 2008)

Known to be inaccurate


----------



## Forever444 (Feb 17, 2011)

By inacurrate you mean?
Not being a smarta** in any way. If it gets a good 2inch group with a scope at 100yds I'm good.


----------



## dead short (Sep 15, 2009)

Maybe. For the $700 plus optics you'll have into it you can do better than that rifle. Do you need the semi-auto??? If so I saw a DPMS Panther Arms AR-15 6.8 SPC A3, New in box, on the internet for $869, and a Stag Arms STAG-15 5L 6.8mm SPC M4A3 6.8 NIB for $895.

Unless they have significantly inproved their barrel quality on the rifles I wouldn't get one. The rifle I had was junk. Unfortunately when you finally decide to sell it cause it doesn't group well for a varmint type cartridge, everyone else knows about the problems and you lose money. I would never normally get rid of a gun, but when I bought my ruger I sold a Ithaca 16 ga Featherlight to get the cash for it. Worst trade to date. It cost more than the guy gave me for the shotgun, then, and when I went to sell it got less than I paid for it.


----------



## hunt-n-fool (Oct 10, 2006)

I had a rock river 6.8, 16in barrel carbine with the RRA match trigger.

It shot great with reloads, i never used factory, I got less than an inch group for 3 shots @ 100yards. RRA are better known for their accuracy than is Ruger. Not bad mouthing it, just stating my experience.


----------



## jaywkr (Apr 7, 2008)

I have one but haven't shot it yet. I just put a Redfield scope on it. Here's a pretty good article.
http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-RanchRifle68.htm
This site is geared more towards the AR platform but there is some good info on the round itself.
http://68forums.com/forums/forum.php


----------



## dead short (Sep 15, 2009)

If they've improved the barrels it would be a decent gun for a guy that didn't want to dump almost a grand into an AR platform. Functionally it was fine, with factory mags. Just the accuracy was bad. Also, the after market mags I bought all had to, one by one, be filed, bent, tightened, loosened, any number of things to get it to fully fire a whole magazine without a misfeed. The Ruger mags worked great.


----------



## Jim..47 (May 5, 2009)

I know a man who has worked with the dept. of corrections and the mini-14 is of course what they use. He claims about a 3-4inch spread. Noit what I call accurate. I would rather have a single shot then a completly inaccurate auto, at least I know the 1st shot would be good.


----------



## Hoppe's no.10 (Sep 16, 2007)

Forever444 said:


> I am considering purchasing a Ruger Mini-14 Ranch rifle in 6.8 SPC for my next mid-range deer/varmint rifle. Does anyone have any experience with this rifle?





Rugergundog said:


> Known to be inaccurate





Forever444 said:


> By inacurrate you mean?
> Not being a smarta** in any way. If it gets a good 2inch group with a scope at 100yds I'm good.





dead short said:


> If they've improved the barrels it would be a decent gun for a guy that didn't want to dump almost a grand into an AR platform. Functionally it was fine, with factory mags. Just the accuracy was bad. Also, the after market mags I bought all had to, one by one, be filed, bent, tightened, loosened, any number of things to get it to fully fire a whole magazine without a misfeed. The Ruger mags worked great.





Jim..47 said:


> I know a man who has worked with the dept. of corrections and the mini-14 is of course what they use. He claims about a 3-4inch spread. Noit what I call accurate. I would rather have a single shot then a completly inaccurate auto, at least I know the 1st shot would be good.


All of the above pretty well sum up my experiences with the two Mini-14s I've owned albeit years ago - a lot of fun to shoot, they look :coolgleam but mid-range varmint accuracy :sad: The Mini-14 - as it comes from the factory - was never meant to be an accurate, varmint rifle - mid-range or otherwise. It was, instead, meant to be a relatively inexpensive defensive/tactical rifle of limited range that took advantage of the then burgeoning market for this sort of rifle. Because of its caliber many shooters, IMO, try and turn it into something it was never meant or designed to be. In fact a few years after the Mini-14 first came out _Shotgun News_ and similar publications were heavy with ads from outfits that offered "accurizing" services - trigger jobs, bull barrels, stock bedding, bolt lapping and the like. They evidently saw a market for this sort of thing - making a :coolgleam but not very accurate rifle accurate. Sooner or later you will undoubtedly get a reply from someone who writes: I killed (huge numbers - fill in the blank) ) ...of coyotes at (huge distances - fill in the blank) with my Mini-14 right out of the box. Well....I once had a guy tell me you cannot kill a moose coming out of the water with a .270 - he claimed he tried it and could see the bullets deflect off the matted wet hair of the animals chest! And ditto on MagShorts magazine problems. Long since lost track of all the "high capacity" non-Ruger mags I sent back to Brownells, MidwayUSA etc. And I most certainly agree with Jim - buy an accurate single shot or bolt action rifle that was designed with accuracy in mind.

Hope this helps.

Hoppe's no.10


----------



## Jim..47 (May 5, 2009)

This conversation reminds of my first reloading experiences. I had thought gte the maximum verlocity you could at any cost of accuracy. After loading up some junk/inaccurate rounds and thinking about actually hitting my deer I soon sought out the ultimate in accuracy at the cost of whatever accuarcy was needed. Bullets that don't hit their target accomplish nothing.


----------



## Flash (Jan 17, 2006)

meaning this post is also kind of off topic...
1. I thought that the mini 14 and the Ranch rifle were 2 different models. 
2. I have a Ranch Rifle and it is spot on with open sights at 50 yards. Meaning for defensive purposes (urban enviornments) it is exactly what I wanted/needed. I only use Ruger magazines.
3. For longer range economical varmit rifles, I personally looked at Savage bolt actions.


----------

