Is the Ruger Custom Shop Precision Rifle Match Ready? A PRS Shooter's Take After 1,000 Rounds (2022 Look Back)

Channel fans and family, Ruger designed and built the Custom Shop Ruger Precision Rifle to be a kick-butt competition gun. But is it actually one? I don’t shoot run-and-gun rifle matches (yet), so I didn’t want to answer that with my own opinion. Instead I asked a friend who does: Aaron from Anarchy Outdoors, who shoots a lot of NRL and PRS matches and had been running one of these rifles in competition.

This is a look back at a video we published on October 17, 2022, a couple of weeks after Ruger officially announced the Custom Shop RPR in 6.5 Creedmoor. My own two-year long-term review of the Custom Shop RPR covers groups, steel and ownership. This one is different: it’s a competitor’s answer to two questions. Is the Custom Shop worth stepping up to over a regular RPR, and is it ready for PRS right out of the box?

Quick note: this is Aaron’s experience with his own rifle plus some match footage, not a new SlavGuns test and evaluation. Specs below are what Aaron said on camera, with a couple of details confirmed on Ruger’s own page.

TL;DR

Who’s talking: Aaron from Anarchy Outdoors, with about 1,000 rounds and four rifle matches on his Custom Shop RPR, plus five or six thousand rounds on a regular RPR.
His verdict: yes, you can take it out of the box and shoot competition with it without any issues, and he thinks the upgrades are a great value add.
What makes it match ready: APA muzzle brake, heavier .85 contour barrel, ARCA-style handguard, OEM TriggerTech trigger, and a fixed fire control weak spot.
His one nitpick: the trigger feels a little heavy to him, but he’s used to 11 ounce triggers.

Why a “production” rifle matters in PRS

Aaron explained the point of the whole thing. A lot of what Ruger put into this gun was meant to make it a PRS Production Division rifle. That division is built around factory rifles from large manufacturers that stay under a price cap, so you can’t just bolt a custom action onto it and call it production. The Custom Shop RPR is Ruger’s attempt to put the upgrades competitors usually buy afterward into the rifle at the factory.

Regular RPR vs Custom Shop, per Aaron

Aaron started with the regular Ruger Precision Rifle, and he was fair about it. It weighs about 12 pounds, comes with a .75 contour barrel, a standard AR-style grip and what he called Ruger’s “acceptably okay” muzzle brake. Nothing special, and that’s fine for what it is. Here’s what the Custom Shop changes:

1. APA muzzle brake

The Custom Shop RPR wears an APA muzzle brake. Aaron called APA one of the best muzzle brake companies on the market and said it’s one of the most used brakes in PRS competition. Less recoil means you can actually watch your impacts and correct.

2. Heavier .85 contour barrel

The barrel steps up to a .85 contour (Ruger lists it as .850″ at the muzzle). Aaron’s point: if you follow PRS, you’ve seen guys putting 1.2 contour barrels on their rifles, basically truck axles. The Custom Shop isn’t that heavy, but it’s a real step up from the standard RPR. A heavier barrel heats up slower, so you can shoot more rounds, and the extra weight helps soak up recoil so the gun stays flat while you shoot.

3. ARCA-style handguard

The handguard has an integrated ARCA-style rail on the bottom. At the time Ruger had started doing this on the 6.5 PRC and magnum RPRs, but not on the regular model. For competition, Aaron said it’s a must. You can run ARCA bipods, tripods and plates and slide them the whole length of the handguard, which he called invaluable on a stage. If you want to know what I hang on that rail, check my Adjustable Bag Rider review.

4. OEM TriggerTech trigger

Ruger fits an OEM trigger designed by TriggerTech for the Custom Shop. Aaron has several hundred rounds on it and called it a sweet trigger, and he’s helped TriggerTech with a bunch of their prototypes. He was never a fan of the standard RPR trigger. Per Aaron, the first stage adjusts from 16 to 32 ounces and the second stage from 20 to 44 ounces. He finds it a little heavy because he’s used to running 11 ounce triggers, but for the average shooter taking a rifle straight from the box into a match, he called it a glorious trigger. More on TriggerTech and the RPR in this TriggerTech RPR article.

5. The fixed fire control weak spot

Aaron pointed out a part of the fire control setup that tends to break on Gen 1 RPRs. On the Custom Shop, Ruger squared it off, and it looks very much like what’s on the magnum rifles. Anarchy Outdoors has videos on their own channel that go deep into this fire control upgrade and why it matters.

Ruger’s own page lists a few more competition touches that Aaron didn’t get into, like a barrier stop on the front of the magazine well and a Magpul MOE K2+ grip.

The match footage

The back half of the video is the Custom Shop RPR doing what it was built for: getting run at a PRS match. No talking, just the rifle on barricades and props. That’s the best answer to the question in the title.

Our take

I like that this answer came from someone who actually shoots matches and has put real rounds on both rifles. The upgrades aren’t random. Brake, barrel, handguard and trigger are the exact things most RPR owners end up buying anyway once they get serious, so having them done at the factory makes sense if you want a production-class gun. The honest catch is the trigger weight if you’re used to very light triggers, and the reality that a regular RPR plus upgrades is still a valid path. If you already own a regular RPR, start with our 5 easy Ruger Precision Rifle upgrades and the best RPR upgrades with Anarchy Outdoors.

Is the Ruger Custom Shop Precision Rifle Match Ready? A PRS Shooter’s Take After 1,000 Rounds (2022 Look Back)

TL;DR

Why a “production” rifle matters in PRS