Ruger AR556 first impressions

[smokinjoe]

I am different than most I really like mine at 50 it shoots 1/2" groups 100yds 1" groups I did F/F the barrel and put a good trigger in it and a nice scope but it eats every kind of ammo I put to it. I hope Ruger makes it right for you but like I said I have no complaints out of mine yet with 1000's of rounds through it.

[Jewell]

I am different than most I really like mine at 50 it shoots 1/2" groups 100yds 1" groups I did F/F the barrel and put a good trigger in it and a nice scope but it eats every kind of ammo I put to it. I hope Ruger makes it right for you but like I said I have no complaints out of mine yet with 1000's of rounds through it.

As far as Ruger goes, I have little doubt that they won't make this right. I figured there were others in this group that probably owned this rifle, so I made this post hoping to hear if this was a normal thing, or a rare occurrence. I'm guessing the later. Yeah, it sucks, but s*** happens.

I also fully expected that the minute I mentioned this rifle, it'd get trashed here. It is what it is. I wanted a rifle that I could throw in my truck, use as a loaner, and always have on hand to do sone plinking on a rainy day. The Colt OEM was what I originally wanted, but I couldn't find any in stock. The 6920 was close to $300 more at my LGS, so I also getting another one of those.

Sure, I would have liked a chrome lined barrel, or really any kind of treatment for that matter, but I seriously doubt I'll even use this one enough to ever shoot out the barrel anyhow.

The M&P sport fit the bill, but I preferred the Rugers 1/8 barrel over the M&P's 1/9. Plus the M&P was $70 more at my LGS so that is why I went this route.

There's a lot of people that think there's no place for these rifles...I wonder if these are the same people that drive Land Rovers to pick up groceries?

Anyhow, I'm not here to debate that. For $600 I'm certainly not betting my life on it, but it'll almost certainly do what I need it to.

[Tokarev]

I have one. The gas key is adequately staked and the gun worked fine as-is out of the box.

Keep in mind this gun was created to meet a pricepoint and fill a demand in an entry-level AR market. Ruger wasn't going after the DD/Colt/BCM crowd with this gun but rather the DPMS Sportical/S&W Sport crowd. I think they did okay in that regard.

With that said I would have rather seen a lighter profile barrel with a mid-length gas system. I think that would have further set the Ruger apart from the other budget guns on the market. But maybe the "entry level" crowd doesn't know the difference, or even care, about things like that.

Anyway, none of this matters now because I replaced the BCG with a GI-type and replaced the factory Ruger heavy barrel with a pencil profile from Ballistic Advantage. It completely changed the feel of the gun. And I was able to sell the Ruger barrel on another forum and recoup some of the BA purchase price.

[Iraqgunz]

If they do anything other than say, that's completely normal. I will be shocked.

I contacted Ruger yesterday. They had me email them some pictures, so I'm just waiting to hear back from them.

[Joe Mamma]

As far as Ruger goes, I have little doubt that they won't make this right. I figured there were others in this group that probably owned this rifle, so I made this post hoping to hear if this was a normal thing, or a rare occurrence. I'm guessing the later. Yeah, it sucks, but s*** happens.

I also fully expected that the minute I mentioned this rifle, it'd get trashed here. It is what it is. I wanted a rifle that I could throw in my truck, use as a loaner, and always have on hand to do sone plinking on a rainy day. The Colt OEM was what I originally wanted, but I couldn't find any in stock. The 6920 was close to $300 more at my LGS, so I also getting another one of those.

Sure, I would have liked a chrome lined barrel, or really any kind of treatment for that matter, but I seriously doubt I'll even use this one enough to ever shoot out the barrel anyhow.

The M&P sport fit the bill, but I preferred the Rugers 1/8 barrel over the M&P's 1/9. Plus the M&P was $70 more at my LGS so that is why I went this route.

There's a lot of people that think there's no place for these rifles...I wonder if these are the same people that drive Land Rovers to pick up groceries?

Anyhow, I'm not here to debate that. For $600 I'm certainly not betting my life on it, but it'll almost certainly do what I need it to.

Personally, I do not have a problem with the quality of Taiwanese threaded fasteners like the YFS gas key screws in your pic. The Taiwanese actually make a lot very high quality metal products. I've used multiple bolt carriers with those exact screws and have not had a problem.

But the absence of proper gas key staking is a problem in my opinion.

Please let us know what Ruger says about the staking.

Joe Mamma

[Jewell]

Personally, I do not have a problem with the quality of Taiwanese threaded fasteners like the YFS gas key screws in your pic. The Taiwanese actually make a lot very high quality metal products. I've used multiple bolt carriers with those exact screws and have not had a problem.

But the absence of proper gas key staking is a problem in my opinion.

Please let us know what Ruger says about the staking.

Joe Mamma

For the time being I threw an extra bcg I had in there, and to be honest, I'll probably just keep it there and throw this Ruger one in with all the other extra parts I've accumulated through the years.

[Jewell]

I have one. The gas key is adequately staked and the gun worked fine as-is out of the box.

Keep in mind this gun was created to meet a pricepoint and fill a demand in an entry-level AR market. Ruger wasn't going after the DD/Colt/BCM crowd with this gun but rather the DPMS Sportical/S&W Sport crowd. I think they did okay in that regard.

With that said I would have rather seen a lighter profile barrel with a mid-length gas system. I think that would have further set the Ruger apart from the other budget guns on the market. But maybe the "entry level" crowd doesn't know the difference, or even care, about things like that.

Anyway, none of this matters now because I replaced the BCG with a GI-type and replaced the factory Ruger heavy barrel with a pencil profile from Ballistic Advantage. It completely changed the feel of the gun. And I was able to sell the Ruger barrel on another forum and recoup some of the BA purchase price.

Completely agree. Sure, there's a lot of things that could be better...then again, it's a $600 rifle.

[Tokarev]

Completely agree. Sure, there's a lot of things that could be better...then again, it's a $600 rifle.

Yep. Good gun for the unwashed masses. Also a good builder/spare/beater for the boat/loan to your brother-in-law.

Curious to see what Ruger says about the carrier key screws. That looks like something that got missed by QC. Hopefully they'll replace the carrier or otherwise get it sorted.

[smokinjoe]

My gas key staked looks ok to me.

[sundance435]

My gas key staked looks ok to me.

That's pretty terrible staking, compared to the BCM and Colt BCG's I have. There should be carrier key material pushing against the screws to the point where the screws themselves are somewhat deformed by the key material pushing inward, which is the whole reason for staking in the first place. One of the four "stakes" in your picture looks like it might be okay, but that's it. Again, I get that this is a $600 gun and the days are not long past where a $600 AR would have no staking at all.