Ruger Explorer Reviews

Great fit for my 10yo son.

Nothing comes to mind.

Easy to operate for a 10yo child. Accurate enough to hit small plinking targets at 10-30 feet. Nice design. Good build quality. Have only fired 100-200 or so rounds so far.

Very easy to cock. Relatively light weight for a break barrel. Accuracy. Got a one inch spread with six shots at 30 feet with open sights, using RWS Diabolo Basics. It's described as a youth rifle, but the specifications matched everything I was looking for. Perfect for indoor shooting,

Nothing,

You might have to remove the rear sight to mount a scope.

Perfect for kids and adults a like, very accurate and light weight.

Nothing, maybe a scope.

Best for the kids.

Solid build and good ergonomics for 8 - 12 year old. I bought this to help my 6 year old granddaughter become interested in shooting sports. It's still too big for her to properly shoulder. I placed a red dot on the rail to help her more easily sight, but if you can't put your cheek on the stock and the butt to your shoulder and still reach the trigger, then it doesn't fit you. That's no fault of the rifle, but a caution to buyers who think this is the solution to getting your child started earlier than they are really ready (physically or mentally mature). I used a little tune in a tube to quiet the twang. It does seem reasonably insensitive to recoil, At ten yards, the spread is dime-sized using Crosman Premier domed pellets from the carton. Trigger pull is very long and not crisp. You just keep pressing and suddenly it fires. Cocking is easy, but my 6 year old granddaughter couldn't manage it by herself. Your mileage may very based on the size of the child.

I've purchased both the Ruger Explorer and the Umarex Embark. I would rank the Explorer overall above the Embark in build quality except the Embark's hooded sight is slightly better.

Light, easy to cock, good accuracy, quiet. Purchased for my 8 year old son for 10-20 yard target shooting and plinking in the backyard. He has no problem cocking it despite being kind of skinny. We have several pellets for it, and so far hes liking RWS Diabolo Basic 7.0 grain. Not quite sure why exactly, because I know others we have also shoot well, but those are what he seems to always go for. I challenged him to hit 5 out of 5 bullseyes (1" on my custom target), which he did pretty surprisingly quickly. This was from 10 yards, bench rested, and with a red dot sight. I can do better with the gun. Were putting a BugBuster scope on it now that hes met the challenge, so were excited to see what he can do with that. I imagine that he’ll be calling out “bullseye!” and looking at me with a smirk much more often now. We also enjoy cutting cans in half as I shoot next to him. He’s made several final shots to separate the can halves so that tells me the gun isn’t limiting him.

Trigger pull is long, but manageable with practice. However, I’m not sure how much better could be expected at this gun’s price point and intended audience.

This was the second gun I purchased for him, the first one was a disappointing mostly-plastic Gamo Cadet Youth SP that I bought from another vendor. I also considered the Umarex Embark, which is the same as this but with different sights and stock color. We noticed a significant reduction in volume after about 200 shots break-in period. This is a great value for a youth gun!

Size, pretty light, easy enough for a 6-year-old to load, pretty accurate, auto safety

It's not very powerful, Daisy multi-pump BB gun is obviously more powerful with just 5-7 pumps. Trigger pull is LONG but not too stiff.

I use JSB 7.9 gr lead pellets in a pellet pen (so my boy doesn't touch them), some of the alloy pellets got stuck in the barrel...

The price, the size, almost too easy to cock. I wish I had bought this for my stepson a long time ago. I got him the Umarex Morph first and this gun is much easier for him to operate. He weighs about 50 pounds and can cock this gun easily. The trigger is also very light.

The trigger creep is long but at this price point its not an issue because there is no real competition size-wise.

This is THE gun for your entry level shooter after they have mastered the red rider.

I just received the Ruger Explorer. I ordered it for grandchildren ages 9 to 13 years. While I haven't shot it yet, the fit, finish, sights, size, cocking energy required and design look excellent. It will be perfect for adolescent age kids to learn shooting.

right size for small shooters,light weight,easy to cock, tough

make fibre optics little tougher.

excellent for learning your kids to shoot. grandpaw, you cant get better for your grandson or daughter. this gun is tough, 3000 shots and still going.

easy to cock very light and portable

very hard to keep the gun sighted in

good for beginners

Well built, easy to cock, looks cool, nice fiber sights, seems pretty accurate

I gave it 4 stars in accuracy but don't let that deter you. For the money it's a great value.

Looking down the barrel is awkward. I'm a small frame woman and I find it not as comfortable as some other rifles.

Looks great,feels great and shoots great.

Nothing at all.

It's quieter than most - good for the suburbs.

Accurate out of the box, quiet, inexpensive and light weight.

Nothing.

This is a great backyard rifle that won't rile the neighbors.

It's a nice light almost well made gun.

Normally I don't complain about a trigger, but this one is definitely the worst one I have ever dealt with. it's definitely rough feeling and a very hard let off as well as more creep in it than you find in an alley behind an x-rated movie theater.

Not too bad for a youth gun but I have seen better.

The price. The very light weight. The brightness of the fiber optic sights. The rubber butt pad to keep it from slipping if you lean it against a wall. The ease of cocking and loading. The excellent stock offers a good cheek weld with the supplied sights. It was also very easy to disassemble and lube and tune without a spring compressor. If you have experience doing trigger jobs, this is a very easy trigger group to work over. It is VERY quiet. Decent accuracy and very smooth firing cycle. An almost ideal rifle for a smaller shooter who is on a budget.

It has a very heavy and long trigger pull. Sights are somewhat fragile. Accuracy is only decent, not stellar, but what do you expect at this price.

I bought this rifle because I wanted something very lightweight and compact to plink with in my back yard. I have many high-end air rifles that are better shooters, but they are also A)Expensive B)Loud, and C) Too long and heavy for my girlfriend to shoot. This little rifle is a blast to handle because it is so light and easy to cock. the factory trigger pull is way too long and is probably around 6-8 lbs. With a basic trigger lube/tune I was able to get the pull to ~2 lbs. and eliminate most of the sear creep. The advertised velocity is not exaggerated. The only things holding this rifle back are the trigger and the somewhat limited accuracy. I am getting groups of around 2 inches at 20 yards using the open sights from a sitting position. I can outshoot this rifle for sure. Crosman premier 7.9's and crosman wadcutters have been the most consistent so far, but maybe I will find a pellet that the rifle likes better, or maybe the rifle will settle down after a few hundred more pellets. In its price range, this is a good buy. I am not aware of any other rifles in its class that have good triggers or are more accurate. For double the money, one can have a daisy 953 or an IZH-60/61, which will both be much more accurate but not as easy for smaller shooters to handle. The rifle is capable of hits on tin-cans out to about 25 yards every time, so it's really only a trigger-job away from being a very sweet backyard or basement plinker.

The Ruger name. This is a present for my Nephew. Excellent design for the Youth but did fit snugly in my hands. Different, rugged and accurate. I wish this was available when all I had was a Daisy 96.

Nothing, I bought it for the unique design.

Best looking rifle for Today's Youth.

as a 6 ft 150lb adult with big hands, it felt smallish but comfortable in my hands over all ,right out of the box i really enjoyed it.

i agree, the trigger is a little odd at first,but after over 1k rounds i dont notice it as much

great choice as a kids beginner, not too bad for an adult. mine is a great shooter "right out of the box" i would definately buy another one.

Good accuracy, Low enough velocity to use indoors with a pellet trap.

The stock, it is too high to line up the open sights. Offer the same gun with a wood sporter stock with correct ergonomics for the open sights. The gun was returned since I planned to shoot the gun on an indoor range and cannot use a scope I also didn't want to take a band saw to the stock to make it fit.

This would be a great gun if the stock was ergonomically correct for the open sights. It would work fine with a scope. ...2 stars for the poor stock design.

Price, sights,cocking effort,non beartrap barrel.

Safety location. Trigger length/feel. I also removed material at the bottom of the grip to add comfort for my pinky finger. (hey, it's a youth model)

I bought this for fun....it is! I'll start by saying the price is right. The gun is accurate. The sights are easily adjusted and the fiber optics makes targeting easy and fun. The trigger is LONG... but you get used to the almost two stage feel of it. The safety is awkward to use, but they made the gun ambi so... (I'm a lefty((not politics))). The most fun I've had is rapid fire shooting. Being that this gun has a non beartrap cocking, (once cocked the barrel hangs loose) one can use your index finger of the holding hand to hold the barrel open while inserting the pellet and then just flip the nose of the gun while removing the safety and bring the gun up to fire. When done smoothly the rate of fire is fast and FUN! The best I did was to shoot ten cans in one minute!!! TEN!!!! Try THAT with ANY other breakbarrel. Mitchrx7

Outstanding youth pellet rifle for kids just learning. The barrel is super easy to break, it's nice and short and the fiber optic sights are very bright. We have found this to be very accurate once the sights are adjusted. The ergonomics are wonderful for kids but adults can shoot it comfortably too.

They should have put a L and R on the sight adjustment knobs instead of numbering.

The review on this rifle that says a "6'2" 200lb man can't break the barrel" on this is ridiculous. My skinny little 7 year old daughter can do it with little effort.