I am fortunate to be among the first people to get hands on the brand new and just-announced Ruger American Ranch Rifle in 350 Legend. While this is not a full-on review, I will touch on some of the features of this new gun and give an overview of the 350 Legend chambering.
The rifle itself is quite interesting in that it accepts AR-15 magazines. The gun ships with one, but it seems to feed pretty reliably with the FMJ variant of Winchester’s new 350 Legend ammo line.
The 350 Legend itself was developed for use in the Midwest, where the 450 Bushmaster reigns supreme for our great tradition of deer hunting with straight wall cartridges. The 450 Bushmaster is a huge and powerful round that can sling bullets as heavy as 400 grains and can deliver performance that nearly equals the time-honored .45-70. Needless to say, the 450 BM is an exceedingly powerful and high-recoil round that is not much fun to shoot.
In addition to being large and powerful, the 450 Bushmaster is also quite expensive. The amount of raw material needed to produce ammunition keeps the cost high, which makes practice difficult. The 350 Legend has addressed this with many low-cost options including practice ammo running about $10 a box.
Ruger’s rifle here has only seen a few rounds, but I’m looking forward to testing it completely in the weeks to come. I will be taking an in-depth look at the 350 Legend and what it offers Midwestern hunters and shooters all over the country.
The Ranch Rifle comes threaded for a suppressor, and the 350 Legend should work with most 9mm cans. That means the hunter wouldn’t need an additional suppressor for hunting should they already have one for their 9mm.
The 450 Bushmaster has difficulty being suppressed, as it’s too powerful for most .45 ACP pistol suppressors.
Overall I’m pleased with this gun so far. I will give you a longer full review to come and more content on the new 350 Legend. Keep an eye out for heavy subsonic ammo, more dedicated rifles, and handloading equipment in the months to come.
