Ruger American Vertical Grip

[BLJ]

I looked for a long time to try and figure out a good way of modifying a Ruger American stock to have a vertical grip. I found a thread on Rimfire Central where a man had modified a factory stock using basically just the bedding blocks. Thumbhole, high roll over cheek piece, and wide fore end. A very bench friendly stock, but a lot heavier than I wanted and way more woodworking skills than I had.
But, I got enough of an idea from that to be able to come up with what I wanted to do. I wanted as light as possible and a vertical grip. Very basic but very functional. Just like me. I only added about 7 ounces to the factory stock by adding the grip and I now have something that is way more comfortable to shoot.
Pictures to follow.

 

[BLJ]

More pictures……

 

[BLJ]

And a few more of how it turned out.

 

[BLJ]

This was the first one I did. On the second one, I kept the width at a full 1.5” at it was more comfortable than the narrowed down vertical part of the grip. Live and learn. I’ll post a link the JB Weld epoxy I used. Any questions or comments, fire away. Thanks.

 

[Loper]

This was the first one I did. On the second one, I kept the width at a full 1.5” at it was more comfortable than the narrowed down vertical part of the grip. Live and learn. I’ll post a link the JB Weld epoxy I used. Any questions or comments, fire away. Thanks.

Thanks for the write up and the detailed photos!

 

[BLJ]

No problem. When I finally decided to do this I made sure to take pictures. I had a really difficult time finding info on something like this.
I needed something way better than the spotter style grip, didn’t weigh a lot, and I didn’t want to spend the money for a chassis. So I came up with this. It’s worked so far.

 

[BLJ]

Factory Predator stock on the left and modified Ranch stock on the right.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Looks pretty nice man. Not sure how much time/money you invested, and Magpul makes something similar for Ruger American for $299.

Boyd’s sells a varmint stock for the RA with vertical pistol grip for $193.

 

[BLJ]

I had a Magpul. Even the grip angle on it wasn’t very comfortable for me. And it weighed about 3.5#
I looked at the Pro Varmint and considered it for a while. But in the end it was going to be around 2.75#. And by the time I bought the stock for $200 and the bottom metal for the AI mags, I was almost $350.
With the factory stock, I had to buy the JB Weld and that was about it. 4 wood screws and a scrap piece of 2x. I think I probably had around 10 hours in it. And it’s a pound lighter than the Boyd’s and 2 pounds lighter than the Magpul. And it fits me a lot better.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I had a Magpul. Even the grip angle on it wasn’t very comfortable for me. And it weighed about 3.5#
I looked at the Pro Varmint and considered it for a while. But in the end it was going to be around 2.75#. And by the time I bought the stock for $200 and the bottom metal for the AI mags, I was almost $350.
With the factory stock, I had to buy the JB Weld and that was about it. 4 wood screws and a scrap piece of 2x. I think I probably had around 10 hours in it. And it’s a pound lighter than the Boyd’s and 2 pounds lighter than the Magpul. And it fits me a lot better.

Roger that and well done man

 

[BLJ]

Thank you. Cheap and bored is quite the recipe sometimes.