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A Marine Sniper’s Review of the Ruger Precision Rifle (RPR) January 2, 2016

As a former US Marine Sniper I still enjoy the science and craft required for long range shooting.  While my days of sniping are well behind me, shooting at 1000+ yards still gets my blood flowing.  I have numerous rifles chambered in everything from the .416 Ruger to 8mms, .308s, .270s. 300 WM etc.  Here is my review of the new RPR.  At the 2015 ShotShow Ruger released it’s newest rifle the Ruger Precision Rifle.  Chambered in the venerable .308 Winchester as well as the .243 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor the rifle was designed from the ground up for precision.  It shares numerous parts with the AR15 platform and comes with a 20MOA rail for long range shooting.  After some research I decided to purchase an RPR.  Imagine my surprise when I found that they were listed for $1,100!…some dealers were selling them for as little as $995! Considering this is a rifle that can shoot 1/2 MOA out of the box, I had to get one!  While I was raised as a sniper on the .308 (7.62×51 for you military types) I asked some of my sniper friends what they felt.  It was nearly unanimous opinion that the 6.5 Creedmoor was ballistically superior to the .308.  For a very short moment I felt like I was committing sacrilege by buying a 6.5 over the classic 7.62.  A little research showed that the 6.5 is a much better round.  High ballistic coefficient, and great sectional density.  While a medium velocity round at about 2700FPS for the 140 grain it still retains 18% more energy at 1,000 yards than the heavier 175 Grain .308!  It also drops less and has less drift.  Overall, the .308 is simply out matched by the 6.5 Creedmoor.  Congrats to Hornady on building a great long range round.

My 6.5 CM RPR arrived and I mounted Vortex PST 6×24 x 50 FFP glass with an MRAD reticle using some Vortex medium height Tactical 30mm Rings. Because no self respecting HOG would ever leave a firearm in stock form and risk ridicule from his brothers I added a JP Enterprises Muzzle Brake (the barrel is pre-threaded for either a can or a brake…nice feature) and a Bipod and Rubberized pistol grip with palm shelf.

I bought some Hornady Match ammo in 140 Grain AMAX and headed to the range over Christmas holiday.  The first 40 rounds or so were OK…shooting about 1 MOA. Not bad considering the barrel was not broken in. Brought my lovely wife to the range (she loves long range shooting and we are sharing the boom stick) and she was putting 1 MOA groups out to 300 yards.  Very good day at the range!  Recoil was very manageable even though the brake had not been installed.

Today I headed to our local range.  Conditions were cold.  15 degrees with a slight (5 mph) full value wind at 9 O’Clock.  I zeroed the RPR at 200 then spend some time just shooting groups.  After I a few sub MOA groups I felt pretty good with the rifle and moved on to long range.  The ammo had the ballistic info out to 500 yards so I just made the scope adjustments and proceeded to ring steel round after round for the next 20 rounds out to 500 yards.  I broke out my ballistic calculator..did a few calculations (Marine Corps Math…using all my fingers and toes) and then shot out to the longest gong to 812 yards.  From 400-800 the incline increased to about 15 degrees so that had to be accounted for.  I heard someone describe this rifle as “Boringly Accurate”.  I would say that is not an inaccurate statement.  That rifle, in the right hands, can flat out shoot!  Going to the max 812 yards that my range would allow was easy with the RPR.  Keep in mind that I have still put less than 120 rounds through this rifle.  It is still not completely broken in and I am not nearly as comfortable as I am with my 700SPS (over 3,000 rounds through it).

Here is my recommendation for those wanting to shoot long range.  BUY THIS RIFLE!…for the price you simply cannot beat the value. The features (threaded barrel, use of universal mags, AR parts, adjustable trigger (down to only 2.5 lbs however), Picatinny rails) make this a great rifle.  I would recommend the 6.5 and a brake.  Also, a great rifle requires great glass.  Do NOT buy this rifle and put cheap glass on it.  You will NOT get the benefit of the rifle.  While there are many great scope companies (Nightforce, Steiner, Leupold, Schmidt & Bender, Burris (they do have good ones))..for the price, I think Vortex is the way to go.  You can get 95% of the performance for 50% of the price.  They also have an unlimited, no questions asked, lifetime warranty!.  Simply cannot beat it.