Rheinmetall / Steyr RS556

[Slippers]

The article says 4.2 kilograms with 16" barrel and a loaded magazine. That's about 9.25 lbs. Not bad, considering the piston system, monolithic receiver, and quick change barrel.

[call_me_ski]

Digging the monolithic rail, missed that the first time. This would be the first piston AR type weapon I felt I needed. HK can keep their heavy ass MR556 crap that isn't even a 416.

This one is listed a full pound heavier than the MR556 which in turn heavier than the hk 416. I am keen to believe that the weight listed for the Steyr includes the optic. It is the only way I could see the weight approach that of the MR762. EDIT: JUST SAW THE WEIGHT IS WITH A LOADED MAG (MAKES MORE SENSE)

The M4carbine.net community typically puts a premium on tested and well vetted systems. It is hard to think of a rifle from the last 15 years that has more street cred than the HK 416. If you narrow it to ar15 rifles with an external piston the HK is the only real game in town to the .mil world. What makes the new Steyr so attractive? I guess we will have to see how everything shakes out.

Given that Rheinmetall is Germany's largest defense contractor I bet that there are some people at HK taking this very seriously. Especially given the government's recent crusade against HK. Hk did just win the French rifle tender, which I imagine will be a bigger award than the German contract so they should be fine in the short term.

[SamM]

The M4carbine.net community typically puts a premium on tested and well vetted systems. It is hard to think of a rifle from the last 15 years that has more street cred than the HK 416. If you narrow it to ar15 rifles with an external piston the HK is the only real game in town to the .mil world. What makes the new Steyr so attractive? I guess we will have to see how everything shakes out.

It's made by Steyr, it has the proven AUG gas piston and the easily removable AUG barrel systems. What other AR does that? None!

HK has to be thinking, oh no, what do we do now! Steyr needs to be thinking, how do we get the weight down! For the military, it is what it is. They are driven by forces that many times do not make sense. Add in political reasoning, appropriations, weapons trials, testing, back scratching, kickbacks, etc... and everything goes out the window. Who knows what will happen there.

For the civilian market. This rifle looks very attractive because it introduces a new manufacturer into the game. Always a good thing! It adds to a proven platform, a gas system that everyone knows works. My question would be, where is the weight? My bet is that the weight of the rifle really doesn't matter in the civilian market. The stock looks heavy, the optic looks heavy and I guarantee the barrel IS heavy. My AUG barrel is out getting rethreaded and recontoured right now. It has goofy threads and it's heavy. Too heavy. Just like the AUG and every AR rifle out there, things can be changed. It's not easy to change much on the AUG but the AR is a much different platform. The aftermarket has already taken care of the AR platform. One more thing that probably outweighs all this... it's exotic! Everybody loves exotic weapons. That's why we're all here.

SamM

[mig1nc]

Well, if you figure about a pound for the optics and about a pound for the mag you are down a reasonable weight for a sixteen inch piston gun.

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[Slater]

Promo shot:

[interfan]

What has me interested is the 4 position gas regulator. It has a "silencer" setting, which is missing and needed for the AUG. Hopefully there will be some sort of crossover into the AUG for this feature.

[SamM]

What has me interested is the 4 position gas regulator. It has a "silencer" setting, which is missing and needed for the AUG. Hopefully there will be some sort of crossover into the AUG for this feature.

A crossover gas regulator with a silencer setting would be great to have for my AUG. Looking forward to seeing that happen. This would be a nice rifle to compliment my Steyr collection. A few days ago, I contacted Steyr Arms and inquired about the RS556 but no answer yet. I know they are busy with Shot right now. I'll post if I get a reply.

SamM

[Slippers]

The RS556 was not on display at Shot, unfortunately.

[interfan]

The RS556 was not on display at Shot, unfortunately.

Steyr also had no comments on a new gas regulator either from the Austrian engineer that was there.

[STG77]

What has me interested is the 4 position gas regulator. It has a "silencer" setting, which is missing and needed for the AUG. Hopefully there will be some sort of crossover into the AUG for this feature.

There's an AUG specific gas regulator with suppressor setting. They're extremely rare to find. Maybe less than ten inside the USA.