Ruger AR 556: First impressions.

My Ruger AR 556.

Tonight I finally took my new Ruger AR-556. I got it a couple of weeks ago but I haven't fired it until now. I had planned on shooting it last week, but a freak spring snowstorm ruined those plans. I finally got around to shooting it tonight at the local indoor range. I had a great time at the range and also shot my .22 rifle, my CZ PO7 and my friend's Glock. We put a ton of rounds down range in a fairly short period of time and had a great time.

As you may know Ruger's AR-556 is their budget entry level AR. It's chambered in .556 and comes with iron sights and one PMAG (Gen2). It's got a 1-8 barrel twist and an adjustable stock. All of those are pretty standard and the price I paid was competitive with the Smith and Wesson M&P Sport (mine was cheaper locally, but your price may vary. I've seen it as high as $700 or as low as $600 for a new one at local stores with better prices online). 

I was firing a mix of .223 and .556, all of it Federal American Eagle. I did have some trouble with loading the first magazine. It jammed up on me but I think that was user error, not a problem with the gun. I don't think I let the charging handle go quick enough and with enough force and that caused the malfunction. I was able to clear it easily and was able to load it after that.I also gave the rifle just a basic cleaning before taking it to the range when it probably needed a full cleaning. I tossed the round and after that it shot fine. I had zero misfeeds after that and no jams. 

It seems fairly accurate. I admit to being a below average shot but it seemed any errors in my grouping were due to that, not because the rifle was inaccurate. I thought I was going to have to adjust my sights but they were dead on right away, so that was nice. I just used my iron sights and considering it was my first time shooting an AR, I think my grouping was ok. I have always been a much better shot with rifles than I am with handguns. I will say that I was shooting consistently low, but that is probably due to my own aim issues and not the gun.

There's always one round that's away from the others... 

Some other more general observations for my first time with an AR, it's so nice having 30 round capacity mags. I'm used to my 16 round CZ mags, so many times it felt like I should have been out but I really had many more shots. I was using Magpul PMAG's and one MFT magazine. They seemed to work fine. I was slightly worried with the MFT magazine as I bought it on a whim but even though it's clearly not as nice as the PMAG's it did the job fine.

Recoil was very manageable. It's obviously more than my .22 which basically doesn't have recoil but it's a lot less then my big .303 and .308 bolt guns. The trigger pull felt fine to me when compared to my other guns, but from what I understand the Ruger trigger isn't the best. I probably won't waste money upgrading the trigger, but with only my other weapons to compare it to, I'm not sure if it's bad or not compared to other AR's. 

If there is one thing I don't like it's the handguard. I had heard that the handguard wasn't the greatest but I confirmed it. It gets pretty hot, which is expected, and it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. If I replace anything on the AR-556 it would be the handguard.

Between me and my range buddy we fired around 160 rounds through the gun and had no malfunctions and issues other than the first round. It's too early to have a final verdict on the gun, but so far I liked it and considering I didn't pay too much for it, I'm happy with it. For a first AR, it feels like a decent value and it's pretty fun.

Without having shot the Ruger's competitors, I can't say if I recommend it over the the M&P Sport, the DPMS or any of the other entry level AR's. Given the features the Ruger has and the fact that I had almost zero problems other than the first round, I think I can say that I'm happy with it.  I plan on taking it back to the range a couple more times this spring and over the summer and perhaps sometime this fall I will write a more in depth review.