Ruger Compact #4

June 2010

Late in 2009 I opted for the new 6.8MM SPC in the Ruger Compact Blue/Walnut instead of a 260. Like all the other compacts I've messed with, it's awsome.

With the 260 being out of production in the blue/walnut that version of the compact had faded from my list of "needs". Then early May of 2010 one of my distributors popped up with like 28 of them. 2009 models on sale at 2007 prices. That's just cruel. To add insult to injury, the distributor also had a stainless/synthetic 243 Ultra Light with a 20" barrel (also out of production).

So when the 2 rifles arrived it was the whole "kid at Christmas" thing all over again.

I mentioned in the article about the 6.8MM that I had tracked down and installed a used Simmons ProHunter in 6-18X40. I coninued my search and found a spare. The spare is now installed on the new 260. The Ultra Light 243 whispers to me everytime I walk by it in the shop. I already have 3 243's so I'm doing my best to ignore it.

As expected, I followed the same break-in procedure on the new 260, at least the cleaning and polishing part anyway. As of this writing, the gun and fresh reloads are waiting for me to take them to the bench for the break-in side of the equation.

Of course the brass, dies and bullets all arrived about the same time the gun showed up. So yet another rifle will probably never see factory ammo.

I assembled the break in rounds with 95 grain Hornady V-Max bullets pushed by Hodgdon Varget. I can't wait to get out and start shooting.

UPDATE: Got to shoot the new rifle on June 10th. Shot from a good bench at 100 yards. High humidity and hot out. I fired 7 - 3 shot strings. Cleaning between each string and trying to cool the barrel. The 1st 9 shots were great then "tweaking" the scope things kind of went south. I'm blaming barrel heat but the next trip will tell the real story. Could be that I was just getting tired of the recoil. There was plenty of that even with a 95 grain bullet but then a T-shirt isn't a lot of padding either.

If the groups come back I will have 1 more reason to be Pro Ruger (like I need another). The 2nd 2 groups were pretty impressive at least to me. I haven't even worked on the trigger yet but it has some creep in it that will have to go.

You can read all my Ruger Compact Info here.

Last Modified: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:32 AM