nother review soon

[stormy_clothing]

till then

[Average Joe American]

I recently did alot of homework on piston AR's (about a months worth) because I really wanted a piston AR.

The Ruger was high on my list of potential AR's but in the end there were too many deal breakers for me personally. It is a great gun but its not for everyone.

1.) I hated the fact that you cannot field strip the tranfer rod and return spring that is built into the Troy handguards. Doing so voids the warranty! WTF Ruger??? I like to fully field strip, inspect and clean my gun at the end of a long day shooting it.

2.) While I like Troy, I like the thinner profile LaRue free float handguards better. I can never swap out the Troy handguards because they are specially designed specifically for the SR556. I also would like to be able to go light and put on some Magpul MOE handguards but you cant on the Ruger.

3.) The engineers at Ruger designed the Troy quad rails in a way that they actually make direct contact with the barrel. Again WTF? This allows the hot barrel to heat up the handguards. Many folks have already complained that their handguard covers have melted and popped off.

4.) The Handguards are mounted to the gun with "roll pins"! Again WTF Ruger? Roll pins do work but they are not anywhere as strong as taper pins or straight pins or good old fashioned bolts!!! They are a biotch to get out and after 3 or 4 times they start to loose their spring effect from what I have read.

5.) The BCG is designed with a non-shrouded firing pin and is milled lighter like the old commercial BCG. Many makers know that the M16 style BCG is the best way to go. They are slightly heavier and cycle slightly slower which makes it feed more reliable than a faster cycling BCG. The reason why the military switched over to a shrouded firing pin is because the hammer could get hung up on the firing pin lip causing the firing pin retaining pin to get bent. Bent parts are never a good thing. I am sure it was a rare event but I still have a choice and I dont want it.

6.) The standard SR556 with the mid length 10" aluminum quad rail is kinda front heavy. Not a fan of heavy or unbalanced. Now the SR556c is lighter and shorter (with the fluted barrel and integrated flash hider which is awesome) but now you cant swap out the flash hider! I'd rather them just leave the threaded flash hider and a flute a 16" barrel.

7.) For me $1500 was a tough sell after learning about all the issues I just mentioned. The price was just too high especially after learning about other piston rifles out there with better features at a lower price.

8.) And finally, what is the warranty on the Ruger SR556? I couldnt find it posted anywhere on their website? Is it one year? Is it a lifetime? Do they have one at all? Why isnt it posted on their website? My guess is 1 year. There are other mid tier/affordable piston AR's that offer a lifetime warranty. Ruger should do the same.

Thats my 2 cents on why I passed on the RugerSR556. No disrespect if you own one. They are great guns but like I said, they are not for every single person who is in the market for a piston AR.



The CMMG piston AR has its own weakness's like only offering it in a carbine length...but no where near as many as the Ruger.

[stormy_clothing]

You can get the CMMG in a mid length - you either have to find a stocking dealer or order it from cmmg - they are going to offer a rifle length at some point soon.

[Average Joe American]

Oh my bad. I didnt know there was a mid length gas piston CMMG Ar available? I thought they were all carbine length? Thats good news then.