Why I passed on the Ruger SR556

When I was in the market for a new gas piston AR15 I did about a month of serious research. I quickly learned that the gas piston craze was in full effect and that I had a wide range of options.

I could go with a top-tier mil-spec (or as close to mil-spec as a piston AR can get) piston AR.

I could go with a mid-tier gas piston AR15.

I could go with a gas piston retrofit kit.    

One of the hottest gas piston AR15’s on the market right now is the Ruger SR556 & SR556c (compact). It was definitely on my short list and for the record, I love Ruger firearms. My father taught me to shoot with his old Ruger 10/22 back when I was just a little boy back in the early 1980’s. 

In addition, as soon as I asked what gas piston AR15 I should buy, I would often get folks telling me to get the SR556 with no real explanation why? If you tell me its the best bang for the buck, I am the kind of guy that needs you to back it up with facts. $1500 is alot of money to just spend it on some anonymous guys fact-less opinion.

I really wanted to love the Ruger SR556 but sadly, as I looked deeper into the SR556 details and features, I began to find certain things that made it a deal breaker for me personally.

To be fair, just because I did not want to buy a Ruger SR556, that does not mean that it is not a great gun. No gun is perfect for every person so you just have to figure out what your own deal breakers are. Here are some of my personal deal breakers that I found on the Ruger SR556.

1.       Gun Store prices, brand new? At the time of this blog posting it’s about $1500 not including tax and background check fees as of mid-2010. Lately, I have seen used ones for a few hundred less. My budget was $1000. With budget cuts at my day job and with another baby on the way, every penny counted for me.

2.       The SR556 is somewhat front heavy at 7.94 lbs empty. Add a light and vertical grip and optic and even the die-hard fans admit it is a significantly front heavy gun. The newest model SR556c has been trimmed down slightly to 7.40 lbs but you can’t remove/change the flash hider which is a whole other issue.

3.       The hand guards. The proprietary Troy rail system touches the barrel making the quad rail extremely hot. It has been reported that it gets so hot that the Troy rail covers have actually melted and popped off by themselves. Of course you can always wear gloves but I don’t like to wear gloves if I don’t have to. I live in the desert so gloves just aren’t comfortable.

The Troy hang guards are held on with “roll pins”. Roll pins are not as strong as a taper pin or even a straight pin. While roll pins work, it makes disassembly hard and after pounding roll pins out of aluminum more than 2-3 times, you will find that the pins no longer grip and can work their way out overtime.

You cannot go with any other handguard other than the Troy 10” handguards. If you like the thinner profile, lighter weight LaRue free floats handguards or Magpul MOE handgaurds, you are out of luck.

Here is a statement taken directly from the Ruger website FAQ section…

How do I access the transfer rod on my SR-556?
You don't need to. They are made to outlast the barrel. The transfer rod is coated with Nickel-Teflon®, and the return spring is made of stainless steel. Our testing has shown that even without cleaning or lubrication, the transfer rod and spring will outlast the barrel.

4.       The bolt is built with an unshrouded firing pin aka commercial not mil-spec. Whats the difference between unshrouded & shrouded? It allows for wear on the firing pin, this can also lead to the firing pin retaining pin getting bent and possibly failing. This is why none of the top tier makers build their bolts unshrouded. I don’t know why Ruger chose this older design for their BCG? At this time I do not know of any aftermarket shrouded gas piston BCG that you can swap in place of the Ruger BCG?

5.       There is no warranty stated on the Ruger website? Does it have a 1 year warranty? Is it a lifetime warranty? There are AR15 makers that clearly offer a lifetime warranty. I am sure Ruger has a great warranty but they do not post it on their website for some reason? This was not a huge factor for me but still a factor none the less in the grand scheme of things.

6.       The new SR556c was designed to address the weight issues that were reported back to Ruger with the original 16” SR556. So in response, they fluted the barrel and reduced the barrel length to a true 16”s by milling the muzzle break/flash hider into the barrel. While this did lighten and shorted the rifle, it created new issues.

Now you can’t remove and change your muzzle break/flash hider. What if you wanted to run a specific suppressor? You cant. I would rather Ruger had just left the standard 16” barrel with a 28x1/2” threaded muzzle since the SR556c is only about 5 ounces lighter than the original.

7.       It has a 1:9 twist rifling. 1:9 rifling twist is not an issue to me since I only shoot 62 to 69gr lighter weight ammo inside of 300 yards. Heavier 75gr ammo is suited for longer distance shooting which my self-defense AR15 is not intended to be used for. My AR is a close range rifle. My issue with 1:9 twist on the SR556 is that if I am going to pay $1500+ for an AR15 I’d rather have it come with the mil-spec 1:7 twist.

So as you can see I found a lot of deal breakers for me personally. In my opinion, If I am going to spend $1500+ on a gas piston AR15 then it is going to have to fit me and my criteria a little better. The SR556 has some stiff competition since there are other gas piston AR15’s to choose from like the Stag model 8 and the S&W M&P15PS that are lighter, better balanced, cost less and have less overall negatives on my list.

If you own a Ruger SR556/SR556c and you are happy with it and it runs reliable for you…I am 100% happy for you and support you all the way. This is just my own opinion that some may agree with or may not agree with. I feel it’s always good to educate yourself on the pro’s as well as the con’s of any product. I still think the Ruger SR556 is a SEXY gun and I would love to own one if I could get one for a really good low price.

My blog allows for me to give my honest opinion and this is just my opinion based on the facts that I found. If some of my facts are not accurate then please point them out and I will stand corrected.

I hope this was helpful? Stay Safe.