I've got one, and so do 5 other members of my weekly shooting group.

Not one of us has ever had the slightest problems with them.

And yes, they're accurate, or to put it more plainly, they're as accurate as the M16s we had when I was in the Army.

I’ve been very pleased with my Ruger AR 556…it’s the only complete factory built AR I own (all my other ARs are home built…I prefer mid-length gas)…it’s accurate enough for my needs and it reliably feeds every thing I put in it…I’m thinking 3500 (give or take) rounds with a bunch being Russian steel cased stuff.

Meh. Only rifles that's been worse by percentage of defects have been Colts.

We've sold a decent amount of them; over the years we've sent six or seven back, most on behalf of customers but also one that was defective right out of the box, originally intended for our display shelf. Numbers-wise, four were the basic AR-556 8500 model, including two for one customer (bought on the same day during a Black Friday sale several years ago -- defective upper receivers). The other 8500s involved a defective trigger and a bad bolt catch on one and something out of spec with the bolt (I guess; the entire BCG was replaced) on the other.

Of the others, one was one of their free-float models (d/n the exact model); the handguard left the factory with finish damage that was hard not to notice. I think there was also another AR556 that got sent back at a time when I was on vacation, but the details on that one I either never knew or have forgotten. The last one that I'm aware of goes a long ways back to their original piston AR SR-556, where it apparently wasn't cycling properly with most ammo. Don't know what was exactly wrong with that rifle (improper gassing?), since the customer was sent a NEW rifle to replace the defective one and was not offered any explanation as to what the problem was with the bad one. I also recall a customer complaining about his SR-556 takedown having problems years ago, but that could have easily been on him rather than the rifle since I remember him being something of a noob at the time.

Well after watching Hickok45's YT video and reading lots of good reviews, I decided to get the basic Ruger Model 8500 AR-556, it's on its way to me now.

Also got a case of 5.56mm for it

Looking forward to my first AR!

quote:

Looking forward to my first AR!

That looks strangely familiar …

Welcome to the sickness. I started with one and they have multiplied. I’d be embarrassed to say how many I have now.

The Ruger is decent for the price. I prefer the Smith in the same price range but Ruger makes a fine gun.

Get a chamber brush (the most important thing to clean in my opinion) and a bunch of mags. Magpul gen 3 are very good. For aluminum buy Okay brand mags.

I bought a very early SR556 when they first came out. @ 100 yards was horrible. 8moa groups using 69 grain FGMM'S. Sent it back to Ruger. They reface the entire upper and for what ever reason the safety. Once I got it back it consistently shot 5 shot 100yard groups under 1 moa. I'll put my problems down to teething problems since it was a very early SR556.NO PROBLEMS SINCE THEN.

I bought a Ruger AR556 several years ago from a buddy of mine. He bought it new and had some issues with it, so sent it back to Ruger. They replaced the bolt and returned it. My buddy never shot it after repair so I gave him $400.00 for it in nearly new condition.

Since then I have put a crap-load of ammo downrange with it without the slightest hiccup. I also added an aluminum quad rail up front, bipod, weapon light, and a red dot reflex sight co-witnessed with my irons. For WAY under $1,000.00, I have a very reliable AR with all the options I have any interest in! Yes, a new one is going to cost you a good bit more than $400.00 now, but still well within your budget, even if you added a bunch of stuff like I did.

Cheers!