Interesting AAR with Freddie Blish training Ruger management &engineers using the Ruger AR-556

[The_Quartermaster]

Freddie Blish

Last week, 17-20 October, I taught four one day carbine classes for 27 Ruger engineers and management. There were six engineers and one supervisor on Monday, five engineers and one supervisor on Tuesday and Wednesday, with seven engineers and one supervisor on Thursday. They each shot nearly 300 rounds of Winchester 55gr .223 from a Ruger AR-556 new out of the box with iron sights only.

Each class we covered safety, proper handling, manipulation, balanced fighting stance, prone positions (military and Olympic), natural point of aim, natural respiratory pause, trigger control, external ballistics, 100, 200, 250, 300 yard zeros, mechanical offset, tactical and speed reloads.

Firing Drills included:
Zeroing 50/200
Mechanical Offset 5 to 25 yards
Headshots 5 to 25 yards
Tactical Reloads
Controlled Pairs
Speed Reloads
Hammer Pairs
Failure Drills
Stoppage Clearance (Type I, II, III)

NSRs (recoil management and sight tracking)
They were all very enthusiastic students and performed well. Some were dedicated shooters and some were novices, with the rest in between. They all appreciated constructive criticism about how to improve their shooting techniques and the rifle.

Observations:
Overall:
The AR-556 is a solid $800 carbine that proved extremely reliable in a one day (8-5) ~300 round class. It is very suitable and trustworthy as a personal or home defense carbine. Although minor improvements are needed.

The 16.1” Hammer Forged QPQ’d 1:8 twist 556 NATO chamber barrels were extremely accurate, with several shooters each day shooting 1/4” groups at 50 yards from prone supported.

The castle nuts were not staked needs to be rectified. - they are working to correct this minor, yet essential step of assembly.

A QD attachment point on the bottom of front sight post proved to be adequate for placing the Ruger Two Point slings (Made by Specter) with QD sling buckles. However, there was no QD attachment point on the receiver end plate or on the stock. - the engineers are correcting this.

The Frontsight posts on 1/3 of the carbines were extremely difficult to adjust. The engineers are checking this out further and will correct it.

Ruger polymer rear back up sight worked very well. However, whether the front sight not being properly aligned during staking or the rear sights are not being tightened to the same torque on each rifle, but two rifles each day would initially shoot 11” wide left of the target

On Monday we had one carbine have a hammer and trigger pin start walking. We quickly re-installed to finish the class.

Students all ran 30 round P-Mags (loaded with 28) with no stoppages.

It was great working individually who truly wanted to improve their product.

Here is some more info:

“The AR-556 is constructed from top-quality components, including forged 7075-T6 aluminum upper and lower receivers and a cold hammer-forged chrome-moly steel barrel with M4 feed ramp cuts. Chambered in 5.56 NATO, the AR-556's carbine-length, flat-top, M4 design is fully configured with a Ruger® Rapid Deploy folding rear sight, milled F-height gas block with post front sight, forward assist, dust cover, and brass deflector.”

“Medium contour cold hammer-forged barrel with ultra-precise rifling provides exceptional accuracy, longevity and easy cleaning. The 1:8" twist rate stabilizes bullets from 35 to 77 grains, and the 5.56 NATO chamber allows the use of both 5.56 NATO and .223 Rem. Ammunition. M4 feed ramps provide improved operational reliability, and the matte black oxide finish reduces glare and provides corrosion resistance. A Ruger® flash suppressor is provided, and the 1/2"-28 threaded barrel allows for standard muzzle accessories to be installed.”

This was a cut & paste from his personal Facebook account. It really is great to see them coming out and seeing with their own eyes some of the problems other students were having. And from my own personal experience there were three in my class alone that had the same model Ruger AR-15's that were crapping out on it's owners.

Now do PSA next, please.

 

[General Geoff]

Were they shooting the bog standard model 8500 AR556?

 

[The_Quartermaster]

Were they shooting the bog standard model 8500 AR556?

During that class he did? Yes. Mine, I only saw two models and didn't know there was another malfunction that was also another Ruger AR until after Erick wrote our class's AAR afterwards.