Old man, Ruger did his own thing - did not bend to the wispy ephemera of so-called popular opinion. He was a traditionalist in as many ways as an innovator, but he insisted on having things his way. A lot of people questioned that and thought he could have done better by reacting more to what people thought they wanted. He seemed to have done pretty well in spite of the criticism.
Not following every fickle whim of the populous did not seem to harm him in terms of business, but I doubt there are many who could stand up to that standard today, so what we get is what the most eager to buy the next new thing thinks is cool.
I don't see a point in threading every barrel until we can get a suppressor without the current expense and hassle, so eliminate that cost. Fluting? I'm not convinced it does ANYONE any good, let alone the average yuck crashing through the woods looking for deer, so eliminate that cost.
That stock,... Is there some rule now that everything MUST be as ugly as possible? Not to sound vain, but man, black plastic is ugly enough for me. It works for most of what I need to do, so I can live with that level of ugly. Ugly by intentional design is worse than pretty by intentional design. It looks like a blasted running shoe. Maybe it's comfy though, I don't know.
Whenever the marketing guys overwhelm the engineers, you get products like that. It’s an unfortunate fact that sales often trump design but that’s the reality of the real world.
A fluted barrel does allow for a slight reduction in weight with a heavy profile and it stiffens the barrel in theory. However, those spiral flutes are pure marketing.
I don’t know what the obsession is with muzzle devices, but they need to go. And I agree threaded barrels are silly when, so few rifles end up with suppressors. If you’re going to spend the money and hassle to get a suppressor, you can certainly get that barrel threaded in the process, the rest of us don’t need threads on a barrel that will never see a suppressor. Again, a concession to the “cool” image more than a useful feature.
Ugly stocks seem to fall into that marketing strategy of appealing to younger buyers that don’t really know what they want, they just want to be cool, whatever someone tells them is currently “cool”.
Now that’s the bad, let’s get to the good. More offerings in short actions are a good thing. A detachable magazine that can be either a nearly flush magazine or extended as the user sees fit – is a positive feature. A three position safety is a nice feature.
Picatinny rails seem to have become the standard these days, not sure they are needed on every rifle but at least there’s a scope mounting option from the factory. I preferred the older Ruger integral rings that attached directly to the receiver but apparently those are no longer “cool”.
I will not label the American as a “budget” rifle but it’s not on the upper end of the spectrum by a long shot. The Ruger American series pack a lot of value into an affordable package. This has always been Ruger’s forte.
