One of my ‘tennis kids’ came by today to borrow my 100 yard range and reloading gear (which was already set up). He knows how to reload and is a careful young man. Today he had a Ruger AR and no ammo. I had some retired mixed brass, which was good, but not what I use these days, so I gave him that and some powder I probably will never use, and a box of Sierra 63 gr SMP bullets. Everything he loaded, powder charge wise, shot really well. I don’t have an AR and really don’t want one (Uncle Sam took back the one they gave me decades ago), but I have to say that I did like this one. Short and compact and not heavy at all. No plastic, unlike the Matty Mattel I once had.

So...deep down inside, I kinda want one. Must resist......

Ruger has been doing good work for a very long time. I am not surprised at your findings.

And kudos for going above and beyond for a young man interested in loading and shooting!

I have a Ruger AR556. It's a good shooting rifle. I like mine. Makes a nice truck gun for quick deployment on pigs, coons, nutria, and surly jack rabbits that are asking for it.

I have come to think of my tennis kids as grandkids. I’ve been teaching tennis for free for over 10 years, so there are many semi-grandkids. And, as with grandkids, I have my favorites, and this young man is one of them. I wish he was a blood grandson. I told the wife today that if I ever just happen to drop dead, give all my reloading stuff to this kid. And I told him that if he hears that I have “checked out”, go see the wife and she knows to give it to him.

My actual grandkids would have no use for reloading gear, or an interest in learning how to use it.

This kid shoots a lot of pigs. He’s been using a 300 Wby Mag, but can’t afford to feed it, so he’s scaling down. I told him to not expect a big hog to just fall over like when he uses the big gun, so placement becomes important. And, I am expecting some feedback on bullet performance. We loaded him to about 2750 on MV, though I didn’t adjust that for barrel length.

Resistance is futile

If you like the AR556

You ll like SR 556 better

Tight Fit ,, Piston ,,, precise

That's awesome of you? How old is this kid? Sounds like he has a good solid foundation and you are a big part of that.....

it IS Christmas after all

And the difference in price is about $1,300.

I didn't care for the SR556, too much added weight (and cost) without a whole lot of benefit, for me.

SR reviews are pretty mediocre on some sites, good on others. I've never shot one.

Overall I like Ruger products.

Agree on weight

They are 2 different platforms

One cool feature of the 556 is the D-ring just simply unscrews for hand guard removal.

I bought the Ruger 556 MPR with the free-float handguard. Came with a Sig Romeo 5 red dot, Great shooting, fun gun. Took it to the lease this week and shot 120 rounds in one outing. Now my wife wants one too!