{"id":223,"date":"2009-09-24T16:30:45","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T21:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/?p=223"},"modified":"2020-01-04T19:01:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:01:40","slug":"tactical-rifle-ruger-sr-556","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/2009\/09\/tactical-rifle-ruger-sr-556\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Rifle: Ruger SR-556"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The last time I wrote about the AR-15 rifle platform my biggest design complaint was the Direct Gas Impingement (DGI) action. \u00a0This has been a feature since the very first generation of the weapon adopted by the military over 45 years ago. \u00a0DGI contributes to the platform’s simplicity and lightness, but also has some undesirable consequences: Every time the gun fires it blasts hot propellant gasses back into the bolt carrier, baking a layer of carbon onto everything in the receiver. \u00a0Decades of military service have proven that well-made AR-15’s can withstand this abuse and continue to function reliably with just basic cleaning and lubrication. \u00a0But for obsessive owners who like to keep their guns in more immaculate condition this dirty design can be quite irritating.<\/p>\n

When I bought my first AR-15 following the 2004 expiration of the federal “Assault Weapons”\u00a0Ban I openly wondered why no manufacturer had produced a piston-driven variant of the gun, especially given the huge market for America’s favorite tactical rifle. \u00a0Since then I tracked the gradual emergence of AR-15 piston actions, first as retrofit kits, then as new uppers and complete guns. \u00a0There was a great deal of concern about the long-term reliability of converted actions, mostly because the AR-15 bolt carrier wasn’t designed to be hammered with a piston, and its geometry seemed prone to an adverse effect called “bolt carrier tilt.” \u00a0Some manufacturers, most notably LWRC, built a new action from scratch to mitigate these concerns. \u00a0However LWRC’s piston uppers were always very hard to acquire, and even today they command huge premiums.<\/p>\n

In mid 2009 Ruger entered the AR-15 market for the first time, and they did so with a proprietary piston action. \u00a0The SR-556<\/a> now represents the best value in piston-driven AR-15s. \u00a0I sold my old DGI AR-15<\/a> to somebody less fastidious than me and last month managed to pick up a new SR-556 for just under $1500.<\/p>\n

The SR-556 comes standard with a number of desirable upgrades over basic AR-15s. \u00a0Among them:<\/p>\n