Ruger SR556C at 10,000 Rounds. A Photo Essay.
At long last, I have finally reached the 10,000 round mark with my Ruger SR556C piston driven carbine. This has taken me quite awhile (much longer than anticipated) but I finally did it.
The rifle was purchased new when this model was first released back in 2010. I shot it regularly after I bought it and it took me about a year to get past the initial 5,000 rounds.
I cleaned and maintained the gun on a routine basis for the first 5,000 rounds. It was cleaned and oiled after every major range session and kept fairly wet between cleanings. After the initial 5,000 rounds, I gave the gun a more detailed cleaning and started a thread called "Ruger SR556C at 5,000 rounds - A photo essay." The thread was posted here to show interested parties what the gun looked like after the 5,000 rounds and can be seen here: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...-A-Photo-Essay
As can be seen from the original thread, the gun looked pretty good internally and I noted nothing alarming at that time.
Once I had the carbine cleaned and oiled, I decided to continue shooting it but without any routine cleaning. I still added oil to the bolt and carrier when things got a little dry but there wasn't any sort of set plan or schedule. I just added a few drops of whatever oil was handy when I noticed things were getting a little "raspy."
The gun has been used for pretty much every legal purpose at this point. I've shot it in 3gun competitions, various carbine classes and used the upper on a select-fire lower. I've shot slow fire for group and I've shot it fast in range drills. I've gotten it plenty hot and plenty dirty. Still, I never really abused the gun by intentionally throwing it in the dirt or mud or anything like that but I've not babied it, either.
As noted in the 5,000 round thread, the carbine has proven itself to be reliable with brass cased ammo but has given me some issues with cheap steel cased Russian ammo. Silver Bear and Wolf will leave a case stuck in the chamber almost religiously. Interestingly, Hornady's steel cased training ammo works fine as does 75gr WOLF and the old Golden Tiger 56gr stuff. I recently had a bolt override malfunction with an old Sanchez GI mag using Federal Fusion, but it only happened once and I reused that same mag afterward with no other issues.
The carbine has been used mostly on the #2 (middle) gas setting but I did notice that the gun was starting to eject to about the 2:30 or 3:00 position, so I turned the regulator to the #1 (small) setting. This worked most of the time but the gun would occasionally short stroke--especially when fired in unconventional prone or any position that didn't place my shoulder squarely behind the stock--so I switched it back to the #2 setting. Had I not messed with the gas setting at all, I doubt I would have ever had any issue.
Total parts replaced at 10,000 rounds:
Firing pin--tip flattened on original
Firing pin retainer--original was slightly bent and misshapen
Ejection port cover--broken
Extractor spring--precautionary measure
Magazine release--precautionary measure. The original was working fine but I noticed the shaft was slightly loose on the bar that interfaces with the magazine.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos.
Up first are some general photos of the rifle in the dirty condition:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psgp4w4cnp.jpg
Note that the dust cover detent is gone. It had been loose on the dust cover for awhile but finally gave up the ghost at about 8,500 rounds.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pscohyxhyk.jpg
Finish is worn off the face of the Geissele trigger. This has been in the rifle pretty much since Day One.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psojiap3vi.jpg
Finish worn off the face of the mag release button.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psp78csx7j.jpg
Note the finish wear on the bottom of the bolt catch.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps7428pxb9.jpg
Gas erosion "flash cuts" inside the flash hider. This is common on AR15 birdcage flash hiders.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pskhhymgwa.jpg
And now some photos of the forend and gas parts.
Note the purplish hue from carbon fouling along the length of the forend.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps8ozxd0cc.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psx50ftnp6.jpg
This is a difficult area to photograph but there are two distinct little bumps of carbon on top of the barrel underneath the gas block. The Ruger vents gas underneath the block onto the top of the barrel. The little bumps aren't as big as I've seen them and it is my belief that, once they get to a certain point, the vented gas actually blows away anything above a certain height/size.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psuwamv9eg.jpg
Note the gas leakage around the gas regulator.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psmr5n0o6z.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psbef7d6np.jpg
