Field Tested: Ruger’s New American Gen 2 Rifle

Updated: August 3, 2024 BY Mike Dickerson

Aoudad taken with Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle and Leupold VX-5HD scope. — The author used Ruger’s new American Gen 2 Rifle, in 6.5 Creedmoor, to take this nice aoudad ram in remote west Texas.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Performance in the Field
Upgraded Design on the Gen 2
New Spiral-Fluted Barrel
New Modular Stock
Adjustable Trigger
Range Results
Final Thoughts on the American Gen 2
Accuracy Table
Specifications for the American Gen 2 Rifle

The rugged desert mountains of west Texas are, as novelist Cormac McCarthy put it, no country for old men. I was often reminded of that during two and a half days of hunting for a free-ranging aoudad ram on a big, remote west Texas ranch. I was there to test the Ruger American Gen 2 rifle, a newly updated and improved version of one of America’s most popular affordable hunting rifles.

Aoudad, or Barbary sheep, thrive in rough, rocky country. The habitat on the ranch I hunted consists of steep hills covered in cacti, Spanish daggers, tall grass, and even taller brush. Everything in that country stings, stabs or bites, and every step over loose rock is an ankle-twisting opportunity. That terrain makes it challenging to stalk quietly. Aoudad run in herds, have excellent senses and are quick to flee when they detect you. I had already attempted multiple stalks that ended nearly before they began.

Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle with Harris bipod, west Texas. — The Ruger American Gen 2 rifle has an all-new look and many enhancements over the original American rifle.

Performance in the Field

Finally, after a one-mile stalk on day three, a nice ram stood broadside 200 yards away. I knew the rifle would do its part if I did mine – my last 100-yard zeroing shot had precisely centered the target bullseye. Tall brush dictated a standing shot, so I rested the forend of the American Gen 2, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, on shooting sticks. I whispered to Paul Pluff, of Ruger, to hand me his sticks, as well. I stuck those beneath the buttstock, dialed in a small amount of correction on a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15×44 scope, and touched off a round.

The 143-gr. bullet was well-placed, but the ram didn’t immediately go down. He meandered slowly in and out of the brush, bleeding heavily, as the other aoudad in his band fled. He clearly wasn’t going anywhere, but he refused to drop, so I put a couple of more shots into him. The bullets impacted where they were supposed to, but the ram hadn’t read the script. He finally laid down at 253 yards, and I rolled him with a final shot. Aoudad are impressively tough animals.

Rifle with Leupold VX-5HD scope. — For range testing and a hunt, the author used a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15×44 scope mounted in Talley rings on the factory-installed Picatinny rail.

Upgraded Design on the Gen 2

That hunt provided a good test of the American Gen 2 rifle. The gun looks considerably different than first-generation American rifles, but Ruger’s improvements are more than skin-deep. The action, for example, still employs a one-piece, three-lug, CNC-machined stainless bolt, but it cycles more smoothly than bolts on first-generation rifles I’ve shot. Gone is the characteristic “zip-zip” sound the early bolts made when cycling. The bolt still has a short, 70-degree bolt throw to provide ample clearance for mounting scopes. It comes with a generously sized bolt knob, and the handle is threaded (5/16-24) so you can easily replace the knob with one you prefer.

Ruger also upgraded the safety of the American Gen 2. Earlier models used a two-position safety that did not lock the bolt down. That could be an issue when moving through thick cover, as the bolt handle could snag and inadvertently open the action. The Gen 2 rifle sports a three-position, tang-mounted safety. In the middle position, you can safely cycle rounds through the action with the safety engaged. In the rearmost engaged position, the bolt locks down. Ruger makes it easy to see what position the safety is in thanks to two white lines ahead of the safety switch. If you see two lines, the safety is in the rearmost, locked-down position. One white line indicates it’s the middle position. If no line is visible, the safety is off and the rifle is ready to fire.

Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle, spiral fluted barrel, removable radial muzzle brake. — The new rifle has a cold hammer-forged, spiral-fluted barrel with a removable radial muzzle brake.

New Spiral-Fluted Barrel

The American Gen 2 barreled action is still mated to the stock via Ruger’s patented Power Bedding integral bedding block system, which free floats the barrel. The cold hammer-forged, medium-contour barrel measures 20 inches in length. Unlike original American rifles, the barrel is deeply spiral fluted to shed weight from the gun. Without optics, the rifle weighs just 6.5 pounds. With scope and rings installed, I measured the weight of my test rifle at 7 lbs., 13 oz., which is light enough for most hunting purposes.

In 6.5 Creedmoor, the barrel’s five-groove rifling has a 1:8 RH rate of twist. The muzzle is equipped with a radial muzzle brake that isn’t needed for this chambering but is a welcome addition to rifles in chamberings that produce heavy recoil. The muzzle is threaded (5/8-24) so you can add a suppressor or different muzzle brake. The barrel, muzzle brake, receiver and bolt handle are all protected from the elements with a gun metal gray Cerakote finish.

Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle, modular stock with replacable combs and spacers, rubber recoil pad. — The new modular synthetic stock of the American Gen 2 rifle allows for a custom fit with a variety of comb risers and spacers.

New Modular Stock

The American Gen 2 features an entirely new, modular synthetic stock design that I much prefer over the original. Deep inletting on the forend provides a solid grip with the fingers of the supporting hand. A low, removable black comb allows for proper eye alignment with a rifle scope. In addition to a generously sized and effective soft rubber recoil pad, the stock has a removable spacer to adjust the length of pull from 13.75 inches to 12 inches for a custom fit. Additional combs and spacers in varying sizes are available from Ruger.

The dark gray stock has a textured black-and-gray splatter finish that nicely complements the dark gray Cerakote finish on the barrel and action. It also provides a good grip in inclement weather. I found that the stock forend has a slight amount of flex, but it’s stiffer than stocks found on many comparably priced rifles.

Adjustable Trigger

The American Gen 2 comes with Ruger’s Marksman Adjustable trigger, which is supposed to be adjustable within a range of 3-5 lbs. It’s a pretty good trigger for a factory rifle in this price category, but in my experience, the trigger shows some slight variation from rifle to rifle. I have handled some that had a bit of creep, but the triggers on my test rifle and the rifle I used on the hunt did not. Both broke cleanly and crisply. The average trigger pull weight on the test gun was 3 lbs., 9 oz. That’s not bad, but it’s a little heavier than I prefer. Notably, some aftermarket trigger springs can drop the trigger pull weight down to about 2 lbs.

Disassembling the rifle to adjust the trigger can be challenging depending on which rifle you get. Ruger says the guns initially shipped with two different versions of the AI-style magazine well. The early version, which I received, requires you to remove the magazine release latch to access the rear action screw. That can be a pain, so I left the trigger at its factory setting for testing. The latest version of the magazine well has a notch that allows you to access the rear action screw with a 3/16-inch ball end hex wrench, simplifying the process.

Magazine styles and capacities for American Gen 2 rifles vary by chambering. The polymer magazine for 6.5 Creedmoor-chambered rifles holds three rounds. Magazines for some chamberings will hold as many as 10 rounds.

AI-style adjustable magazine, Federal Barnes TSX ammunition. — Magazine styles and capacities vary by chambering. In 6.5 Creedmoor, the rifle comes with a three-round AI-style polymer magazine.

Range Results

When testing the American Gen 2 at the range, I mounted the same Leupold VX-5HD 3-15×44 rifle scope model that I hunted with on the gun’s factory-installed one-piece Picatinny rail using Talley scope rings. I measured the velocities of five different factory 6.5 Creedmoor loads using the new Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph, and the results were as expected. All loads ran a bit slower out of the rifle’s 20-inch barrel, with variations from factory-stated numbers ranging from 109 fps to 170 fps slower.

I have always found Ruger American rifles to be quite accurate, and the American Gen 2 was no exception. The rifle delivered good 100-yard accuracy results with four of the five tested loads. The sole exception was 125-grain copper load that the rifle did not like. That load printed 1.72-inch average groups. If you take that round out of the equation, average group size for the other four loads, using a variety of bullet weights, was 0.99 inches. A 127-grain Barnes Vor-Tx Long Range load turned in the best performance. It produced average groups measuring 0.75 inches and a best group of 0.61 inches. I’m confident that groups would shrink a little more with a lighter trigger pull weight.

Ruger American Gen 2 Rifle with upgraded three-positiono safety. — Ruger has upgraded the safety on the American Gen 2 rifle to a three-position safety that locks the bolt down in the rear position but allows you to safely cycle rounds through the action in the middle, engaged position.

Final Thoughts on the American Gen 2

The American Gen 2 rifle was initially introduced in 6.5 Creedmoor and 308 Win. chamberings, but Ruger quickly added more choices to the lineup. These include 223 Rem., 204 Ruger, 243 Rem., 7mm-08 Rem. and 450 Bushmaster. Ruger says additional chamberings will join the lineup this year, including 350 Legend, 400 Legend, 6mm ARC, 6.5 Grendel, 6mm Creedmoor, 30-06 Springfield, 270 Win., 300 Win. Mag., 6.5 PRC, 7mm PRC and 22 ARC.

Ruger has delivered a lot of value for the money with the American Gen 2 rifle. The gun has an MSRP of just $729, which is considerably less than many similarly appointed rifles. That price tag is only $130 more than a standard first-generation American — and it’s $60 less than a first-gen rifle with a Go Wild camo stock. Considering the features and accuracy you will get with the American Gen 2, that’s a real bargain.