Hey guys I’ve been wanting a rifle in the Magpul Hunter stock for several years. No real intended purpose other than I like the look of the stock and want to get something in an 18-20in barrel configuration with a semi-heavy barrel. Ruger American Predator comes in 308 with an 18” barrel. Remington 700 SPS Tactical comes in 16” or 20” configuration. And Bergara B-14 has a special purpose model with 18” barrel.

Obviously the Ruger is significantly less expensive than the Bergara and Remington, by not quite half!  But I have a regular version in 243 and it shoots great but is definitely not as finely finished. And they just look cheap now with the barrel nut design to me.

I know Remington is still working out their bankruptcy bugs so I’m a little concerned about value for the money considering it’s nearly exactly the same price as the Bergara.

Bergara would probably be my first choice.

Have you seen the gen2 RAR Predator barrel? Spiral fluted, bronze cerakote. Threaded with a muzzle device. I have a gen2 Ranch 16" which is  a grey cerakote, with spiral fluting. Action is much improved IMO. Same gen1 adjustable trigger.

buddy has 3 of the Ruger American bolt guns. very impressed with all of them. Remington fell a long ways from where they once were in the rankings but that was also years ago so I cant speak to their quality as of late. innovate they do not. and I know nothing of bergera other than they started out as cheap rem clones that didn't suck and decided they were worth more than the real thing ( these days that's probably true) but I cant stomach their prices for a clone.

I have a 700 SPS Tactical. Not the prettiest and the hogue stock is trash but it is an absolute tac driver.

Heavy as shit. The chamber area of the barrel is so thick that you can eject spent brass immediately after firing and it is cold. The heat sink is incredible.

Ruger American :) get a timney trigger and ditch the accutrigger bs. Very accurate gun. Mines in 6.5 cm and it’s my deer rifle Attached File

I've never had a Ruger bolt gun, so there's that.

I had a 700 SPS .308 20" barrel.  It was okay.  5/8's MOA with 168 SMKs.  Finish is classic Remington garbage, I duracoated mine.  The Hogue stock is literally place holder throwaway.  You can't shoot of a bag without it flexing to rest on the barrel.  I replaced mine.  The barrel, action, and trigger were fine, but they just stopped after that to meet a price point.

I'm pretty sure the Bergara ships with a Greyboe-eque stock, might be a OEM Greyboe, and a really decent bottom metal.  Looks like a good value and you can swim in the 700 parts ecosystem.

I know you didn't mention it, but i have a lot of rifles. The two best factory rifles, out of the box, no upgrades, is Savage and Tikka. Savage, unfortunately, uses a lot of plastic. Turns a lot of people off. Not a lot of upper end aftermarkets for them either. Tikka, is awesome and very underrated. The aftermarket for them is getting better by the day. Both of these have reputations for shooting tight out of the box.

I have the Ruger American Hunter in 308. It is pretty much exactly what you are after out of the box if you don't mind a gray magpul hunter stock and is readily available.

For what it's worth Ice had 2 Ruger Americans and sold them both. The first was a 22-250 that had feeding problems. I tried 2 different mags Ruger sent me. The 2nd was a 7mm-08 that I had for maybe 6 months. Sometimes it wanted to hang up while feeding. I had to cycle it slow.
I have a few older Remingtons that are good.  I bought a new  .243 CDL back in January that is a laser. It's a really nice gun and would definitely buy it again.
The Bergara is based on a 700 action with a few differences. It's close enough that Ii consider them about the same.
No way I would EVER choose a RA over either. They are made to be a cheap rifle and to compete with a Savage Axis or Remington 770.  Their achilles heel is feeding. They used to be the same price as an Axis or 770 until Covid. I bought my 22-250 for $300. They were an ok gun for that. Not for what they cost now.

Ruger has the best in house hammer forged barrels. It's a new world.

Ruger American box mags suck and feed poorly as you have noticed. The Ruger Americans that use AICS mags or AR mags are the ones to buy. Those feed just fine. The Magpul Hunter stock can be had in versions that take either AICS or AR mags.

@mrmackey

What stock is that?

@ENGCPT Magpul

Recently purchased a Ruger American in .308.

I ditched the trigger for a Timney , and worked up a load. The rifle is impressively accurate for the $480 I paid.  Add another $180 for the trigger... still just over $600 for a crazy accurate gun.

I'm happy

I have a mid 1990s era Ruger 77 Mk II VT in .308.   I bought it for the medium weight 26” barrel, and the very good target trigger.  I put a composite stock on it and recently put a bedding block Hogue stock on it.  It’s been a solid 1/2 MOA rifle with 168 gr SMKs and a 3/4 MOA rifle with 165 gr game kings. It’s been my go to long range hunting rifle ever since.

It’s throated for shorter magazine length bullets and the Jack of bullet jump with the 165s and 168s contributes to the accuracy. The matte stainless barrel itself is hammer forged, very smooth and hard wearing, and very very stable,  Ruger did a superb job of stress relieving it.



I also have a Remington SPS tactical with the 20” heavy barrel.  As noted by others the Hogue pillar bedded stock is way too flexible and won’t perform well off a rest, let alone with a bipod or heavy sling pressure.  I replaced it with a Bell and Carlson bedding block stock.  I also dumped the crappy X trigger and replaced with with a Timney.  

The barrel isn’t the most accurate, but is very consistent and will put 10 shots inside 1 MOA in about a 2 minutes including the cold bore shot.  It’s self up for 168 gr SMKs as with the 20” barrel in 308 it’s really a 600 to maximum 800 yard rifle before the 168 SMKs go transonic and suffer stability issues.  It’s long thoated and will accept long heavy bullets that won’t fit the magazine.  That doesn’t help the accuracy with short 168 gr magazine length bullets with a secant ogive like the SMK.

It’s my go to 600 yards or less precision rifle.


I also have a Bergara B14 BMP. In .308, also with a 20” barrel.  It’s chassis is heavy, but it is also one of the earlier guns with the Remage barrel nut which makes barrel changes simple.  It is also long throared but shoots .4 MOA five shot groups routinely with bullets like the hybrid ogive 175 gr RDF. It’s my got to over 600 yard precison rifle.