This is embarrassing, but oh so true! I purchased a Ruger American Predator .350 Legend ($399) and put a Vortex 3-18x44 Strike Eagle ($299) scope on and Vortex 30mm aluminum rings. The setup is rock solid, scope is a little high, but my options were limited. Anyway, we take it out last weekend to get it dialed in and her first two shots at 100yds print 1.5", but way high with 145gr Win FMJ ammo. The last two groups she shot printed 0.75" and 1.00" with a .357 caliber bullet and could easily be covered with a silver dollar! This is the first centerfire rifle she has EVER shot. We ran out of daylight and left for home.

I came back the next day since I had it off and recreate the same setup, but switch to 180gr soft point Win ammo. I won't embarrass myself, but they were minute of dinner plate accurate. It has been a long while since I have shot anything due to some elbow surgery and a heavy work schedule. I noticed I was flinching right when I pulled the trigger. Once I pickup on it and paid close attention I was getting them back down to 1.5" pretty consistently.

I have to to give this rifle setup a lot of praise. Recoil on this caliber is pretty mild. The scope is more glass than what we need, but for $300 I could not pass it up over the $600 Leopold I wanted. The stock on the Ruger American works and I'll leave it at that. I have never been a fan of the synthetic budget guns as I have a strong taste for Sake rifles. The .350 Legend being a new caliber for this year is really difficult to find true ballistic data for other than what Winchester publishes which I believe is highly questionable. However, sometime in the future I'd like to ring this setup out to 200yds and a little beyond just to see what the capabilities are. Overall, very happy with it right now.

BTW...Ruger has their AR rifle and pistol platforms in the .350 Legend. If you need something hard hitting, but not quite the .450 Bushmaster or .458 SOCOM recoil, then I would take a look at the Legend.

One more thing...the rifle is already threaded for a suppressor. Happy Days!

Thanks for the report. I have been watching this cartridge to see how it will perform.

Good for you and her. It is a great bonding moment for you both. My son sometimes out shoots me with some of my guns.

The one thing I would recommend is to ditch the Picatinny rail that Ruger ships pre-mounted on the rifle and to mount the scope as low as possible. With the Pic rail, you just can't find a set of rings low enough. There aren't too many options for the American series from what I found, but according to Leupold, the same mount for Savage fits the Ruger American so there is something to research. I just ran out of time and budget. However, if you are going to mount a 50-56mm objective scope, you might want to keep the rail. With my 44mm Vortex I have 1/4"-3/8" clearance between the barrel and scope bell. On my setup, we ended up putting a riser on the buttstock about 1" thick to get your eye up to the proper height.

I've been toying with the idea of building an AR in this caliber. I finally go a chance to try the cartridge out the other day when a buddy bought a Ruger American for his son to deer hunt with, and asked me to zero it for him (The goal was for me to get the scope mounted and the gun zeroed on paper...his son then took it out and confirmed zero before hunting with it).

The gun was pretty utilitarian. The bolt throw was pretty sloppy, and the stock was nothing to write home about. The scope was a Vortex Copperhead 4-12. It was the first cheap Vortex scope I've used, and I must say I prefer my cheap Nikons for eye relief and clarity. That said, the gun shot very well for what it is, and put up nice groups. As a "gun guy" I prefer something a bit more refined, but I have to admit it's the perfect rifle for my buddy's intended purpose...an inexpensive deer gun that you can haul through the woods and put rounds on target.

The recoil was very manageable. Definitely more thump than my .357 Magnum, but a good deal less than my M1 Garand in .30-60 that I shot on the same outing. I'd put it in a similar range to the .44 magnum leverguns I've shot.

It's an interesting cartridge. I think I'll give it a couple of years, and if there's still a healthy market for it I'll probably jump in.