Any Ruger SR556 carbine owners out there?

Welcome to FTF. Good pick on the optic. Be prepared for a lot of suggestions.

 

Wow that's a nice budget. I'd skip the Ruger though, you can get much better. Are you sold on a piston AR?

 

Just about every major ar maker out there makes a far superior product than the sr556. I used to have one. Run, run far and fast. Most ar15 are easy to work on. The ruger sr is not ruger has everything roll pinned in place andthey are one use only. If anything goes wrong you cannot diy it.

They are incredibly heavy and clunky. Its a product that a bunch of guys read on forums what everyone seemed to want so they loaded it down with a ton of third party stuff and none of it really works as a whole.

I would look to rra, bcm, colt, noveske, daniel defense, pof, psa, hell even a freekin dpms before i got another ruger sr556

As for optic its personal taste. My pref is for acogs and 1-4 power scopes over holo sights but thats just me.

I just ordered myself a bcm midlength lightweight with magpul acsl stock moe handguards and a acog ta31fg with larue qd mount and with you budget lines i still got aroumd 1200-1300 left...

 

Well, I have shot a lot of ARs and am pretty familiar with them from the Army, where I carried an M-16 for 4 years. (Finally went to a 45 as my personal weapon when I made Captain.)

I went with the Ruger SR556E. Best handling AR I have used or handled. I like the "E" model for the minimalist front end and the nice price. Got an EOTech XPS2-0 red dot for it, and the Troy fold-down battlesights.

There seems to be some hostility to the SR556 on this forum for some reason. On other gun forums it seems to be very well thought of.

 

I think im the only one that is really hostile towards it. I just felt like i got ripped off and was grateful to get rid of it for a decent trade.

Everyone else just thinks there are better rifles for cheaper.

 

Yours is one of the opinions that make me pay attention. I've held one of them, and, bad as it sounds? I'd have rather had the Hi-Point.

 

I've only handled the Ruger in the gun shop. Way too front heavy for me. And I also respect Jon's first hand experience, he tells it straight and it would be smart to listen before jumping in with the SR-556.

I have seen a lot of positive SR-556 reviews in the gun rags but when's the last time they ever criticise anything! As much as I normally like Ruger, they botched their AR.

 

I was able to handle one recently as well. Everything I have read is correct. I was not impressed in the slightest. But then again I had just finished banging away on a BCM and DD.

I never made it past how front heavy it was except to laugh when I flipped the price tag over so it could be read. Crazy.

Optics: I like the micro Aimpoints but have never had a problem w/ my XPS. It really depends on what ranges you will be shooting at.

 

The junk has to go somewhere. Just depends whether you want to clean a bcg or a piston block...

They dont last any longer as they wear and tear isnt in the gas tube or piston its in the muzzle and chamber. Type of gas system has nothing to do with it.

The downside of a piston is greatly increased weight usually unbalancing the rifle unless something is shaved on the front or added to the rear. Thats the case with sr556 while it functions fine, no thought was given to the weight and balance of the rifle.

My preference is the newer gas tube design (pistons are only new in ar15s) less parts less weight. But thats digressing into a philosophy of use arena.

So your salesman was a little right some folks like cleaning the gas block better

 

Write this down on a business card size piece of paper and put it in your wallet for future reference, 99% of the guys behind the counter are clueless.

I have a piston and multiple DIs. I prefer the DIs and rarely get the piston AR out of the safe. Cleaner? No. Heavier? Yes. More expensive? Almost double what I paid for any of the DIs.

 

I looked for years, did all the research, read all the reviews and hung out on all the ar sites. Talked to dozens of gunshop employees and handled everything I could, shot some buddies AR's and got their opinions, everyone has an opinion ya know. I looked at piston vs DI, and decided on DI. DI has a track record that speaks for itself, I'll buy a piston when I can legally own an SBR in Michigan. My choices came down to Noveske, BCM, DANIEL DEFENSE, and LMT.
I ended up with an LMT CQB MRP, we bought the wife an LMT basic, I chose the LMT because I hadn't read one bad word about the weapon or the company, I really liked the monolithic rail, the sopmod stock, and the ergo grip standard! Any one of the companies mentioned above will serve you well. Money wasn't an issue when buying something that may someday save mine or a family members life, I have not one single bit of remorse and am happy I didn't skimp on this purchase.

I wish you luck!

Fetep

 

^^^^that had paragraphs when I typed it;-)

 

There's really only a handful of viable options.

No need to spend $3500 on an AR15. Pick up a BCM 16" LW upper then order a BCM complete lower to put it on. Attach a BattleComp 1.0 and top it off w/ a set of Troy BUIS and an Aimpoint H1. I do recommend a Magpul STR stock and a 13" Troy Alpha. Other than that purchase ammunition, PMags, electronic ear pro, and some nice shooting glasses. Also find a local carbine class to attend so you're not "that guy".

 

im doing that right now. i chose bcm midlength lightweight with bcm bolt carrier group with acog ta31fg magpul moe handguards magpul acsl stock and a magpul mbus rear backup sight.

simple not too pricey for what ya get when you need something that is going to work.

it really comes down to personal preference. go handle a bunch in stores and such see what appeals. then you will have a better grasp of the features you want.

as for optics top three are aimpoint trijicon and eotech. then there are various 1-4x more traditional type scopes. or just a good set of iron sights.

after all Simo Häyhä made the vast majority of his sniper shots with iron sights

personally i think colt and bcm are the top choices for a basic ohsht no frills gun that will run no matter what. anyway you just need to go out and do some window shopping for a bit so you know the options that are out there and have a better idea of what you like.

all of us can sit here and say what we would pick that may not fit your likes

 

The BCM LW midlength is a great choice, I also just got one. In fact quite a few of us here have bought BCM in the last year or two.

 

I carried an M-16 in the Army, and was responsible for second tier maintenance of the M-16 rifle for a number of years. In my opinion the piston operating system is a clear advance over the conventional choice. A lot of the fellows criticize piston rifles because the weight distribution is different from an M-16. Surprise -- you get a different operating system and the rifle changes slightly. Almost everyone, except for the folks in this thread, acknowledge that a piston operating system runs cleaner, and more importantly, runs more reliably than a conventional AR/M-16 platform. Saying that "the junk has to go somewhere" and then dismissing the overall cleaner operation of the piston OS is simply inaccurate. Nowhere but here have I ever heard the claim made that the AR system runs as clean as the piston system. Because it does not.

The AR platform is fine, battle tested and all that. But it is the product of the late 1950s. The guys in Vietnam found out just how dirty the M-16 shoots, and its overall high maintenance requirements. Ruger knows a thing or two about building firearms, and they went with the piston design for a reason--it is better. The piston system on the SR556 is a clear advance and makes for a better rifle. My $.02.