A ruger American was never intended to be a competitor in the Camp Perry match. It is designed to be a hunting tool. Spending 700 bucks to get quarter groups instead of 50 cent size groups makes no sense. If you can group 5 shots in a dinner pate at 300 yards that is minute of coyote. I bet it is better than that with the ammo you have

that is a good point if you shoot 2 inches and under with the power points you would be 6 and under at 300 yards and that will do what you need it to in almost every hunting situation

when I tried Federal blue box I was right about 2 inches and I said if this was just for hunting that would be all I needed , at the time I was building a target gun so it wasn't what I wanted, I also wanted to relaod and shoot a lot more than shooting factroy ammo would have allowed , I ended up developing a load for the target gun , I do use hunting bullets because I want to be able to hunt with it also and only have one load.
I ended up with 2 loads because of bullet availability I have 165 and 180gr BTSP
I don't worry about changing the load in my deer rifles I just keep the load the same as what my target gun uses and it works sub 2 inch in the hunting rifles and I like what those 180s do to deer , the 165 worked also have limited deer with those.

Great advice and much appreciated!
I have had this rifle 5 years and I have killed a few deer with it, but they have all been under 50 yard shots. I have been shooting 4-5 rounds the last several evenings at 30 yards. Obviously, I will extend the range when I am satisfied with my groups. I'm zeroing at about 1" low. Any other help is much appreciated.

Sight it in dead on at a hundred yards no further than your shooting. Then just put the cross hair where you want the bullet to go. If you want to shoot to 300 sight in at 300. Then shoot a few at closer distance. you really need to shoot targets at the distances you expect to shoot when hunting.

My opinion, and it's worth what you paid for it...

For .308 and whitetails I would stick to 150 grain offerings. A 150 grain bullet should do all you ever need it to do within reasonable ranges. If I were shooting far, or going after elk or something big, then I would look at 180's.

Of course availability will dictate what you buy too.

Just my $.02

Mike

Federal 180 gr. Pointed soft points. This is the only ammo my Winchester model 100 .308 likes.

I 2nd this. Whitetails are small and a 100gr out of our 243 leaves nice holes and always give a pass through. Nothing moves more than a stumbled few steps if that. Now the holes are small than with the 7mm08 and 139 gr but the results are the same. 180 in a 308 are running slower and the added weight us not needed on Indiana and KY Whitetails.

I have the same rifle with a Leupold on it. I’m shooting Barnes 150gr TTSX. Not sure what you consider “ok groups” but off a bench in a vice where all I’m responsible for is squeezing the trigger, I’m getting a 3 shot group you could cover with a 50 cent piece at 100. That’s good enough for deer hunting in my opinion. We put all our rifles in vices to make sure if there’s a miss it’s the operators fault.

don't set your scope to max power , you see your wiggle and you try and compensate for it

some of my best groups have come 2 power at 200 yards holding the center of a stationary steel plate

seeing the micro detail like 12 power at 30 yards but you end up using fine motor movement to adjust and you don;t want to do that you want to set your body and break the shot body relaxed and pointing at the target.

focus on breathing , break the trigger at the bottom of your breath , used to be we taught exhale till your sight is on the target hold and squeeze

but the only way to be consistent and really get those groups other than a machine rest is control every factor and air all the way out is how you make sure you have the same breath in you every time

exhale , look , if your not where you need to be move , breath , exhale check , when your where you want to be when you look your done moving break the trigger.

middle of the index finger on the trigger no other part of the index finger touches the gun
solid cheek weld , goose neck out and drop all the way out is as close to the same as you get

if your cheek down solid on the stock leaves you looking at the top edge of the bolt , you need a cheek riser , a bag or build it up with sleeping pad and horse tape it needs to be firm and the right height that when you close your eyes goose neck out , drop the cheek weld you open your eyes centered on the scope

hold the trigger back after the shot till the recoil is over

for 308 I sight in at 200 yards to be perfect on , this puts me about 2 high at 100 and 3 low at 250 that covers the range that I would shoot

If you never shoot past 100 then sight in for 100
if you do shoot past 100 everything is low when sighted in for 100 yards to be right on
the same load that is 2 high at 100 on at 200 and 3 low at 250 is now on at 100 , 3 inches low at 200 and 8 inches low at 250
neither is wrong but one works the arc differently

what ever you set as your end range shoot every 50 yards to your range so if you decide 250 is the farthest you would shoot , then shoot at 50 100 150 200 250 and keep your data

Very good information,thank you!

Great information!
What kind of vices do you use?

I honestly don’t know what is on the table, but all you do is set the gun in and use the dials for elevation and windage, then just break the trigger. No skill involved in that part of it, lol. Like it said, it just to make sure the rifles are dead on at 100. Our best shooting rifle is a Ruger MKII in .280. You have to actually walk down and look at the target to make sure you hit the target the last two shots…all three holes are touching.

Harrison it's a heck of a drive but if you make it down around Clark County Indiana 35 min north of Louisville you can shoot on my 500 yard range out back off a lead slead and get lined out.

if you get a chance go to an Appleseed shoot , you get a lot of good practice and instruction for the typically 60 dollar weekend event cost.
take a 22lr and a brick of ammo and I think you will find it a good use of your time and money.

https://appleseedinfo.org/

That is a very nice offer, thank you so much! I'm going to keep working on it, but I will definitely keep you in mind, thanks again.

Once you are on paper at 30 yards, don't waste one more bullet sighting you, and your gun in. You will learn nothing.
Move out to 100 yards. You and your scope will suffer less from parallax at 100 yards than at 30 yards.
At thirty yards, I am hard pressed to shoot a one hole group with a gun which regularly will do that at 100 yards.

Marty B said:
Without reloading your only choice is to try as many different brands as you can find.

Then when you find one that suits you, lay in a lifetime supply.

Make sure it has the same lot# printed on the end of the box.

Again, great advice!
How do you guys feel about putting Loctite on the scope bases and mounts?

Just a drop of blue. Wheelers fat wrench is nice to get the to the correct foot lbs

You plan on lapping your rings and locking lugs right?

Haven’t read all the replies, but my opinion is that you only need 150 grain bullets for whitetails. Most pointed bullets should do well. I like plain vanilla Rem CoreLokts when not shooting my reloads. Premium priced bullets are not necessary and I don’t think they group any better. I often load flat base Sierra Gamekings.