Ruger SR556 or Colt 6940

[AU_88]

I am thinking about putting one of these on layaway locally... Which one and why? Thanks!

[~48_South~]

I like the SR556, Ive put a lot of rounds down range out of my 556c and the thing is a dream. Its probably my favorite AR to shoot out of the ones I have and thats running against a LMT LM8,and a KAC SR-15. I shoot more accurately with the SR556 than the LMT or the KAC and so does everyone else who shoots them. I decided to just let the SR556 run dirty to see how long before I would get a malfunction and though I havent been shooting much since the whole scare thing I am probably at around 1300 rounds without so much as a drop of lube, and I run the rifle hot and fast. The only thing with the 556 is the early models had an issue with carrier tilt which Ruger has since corrected. The factory trigger on the Ruger also felt a bit heavy compared to what I remember my other AR's feeling like but first thing I did on everyone of them was change them all out for timney's and geissele's . I havent owned a Colt in years but I am sure they are fine rifles,better than my SR556 doubtful but your mileage may vary.

[2006Blackpearl931]

I agree with 48 south. Ruger 100%. I have shot the dog doo out of my SR556 and have never had a hiccup.

[Johnny Rotten]

I'm a Colt fan, my 14yr son has a LE6940 he's had his for 3+yrs  and I have several uppers for my lower one just so happens to be a cut down 14.5" 6940 upper, either gun is exceptional, just the colt is better :cool: LOL just kidding guys!!! but it is :stir:

I know the LE version has been discontinued to us but there are NIB ones out there, the most recent roll mark is SP or possible M4.

Sounds like your buying it from Wal-Mart I think they're selling for around $1400, I bought my sons gun when they first came out from outpost armory for $1600

 

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Edited May 16, 2013 by Johnny Rotten

[AU_88]

It sounds like I really can't go wrong with either... I guess I will have to decide when I get there.

[trevorst]

I would skip both and get a Daniel Defense, save for a Larue or roll my own; between those two I would take the Colt and never look back.  The SR's I have shot, all shot very smooth but were embarrassing at the 100m and 200m ranges; granted my sample size is very small as I only know 2 people with them and they were very early samples.  By embarrassing neither one broke 2" at  100m with black hills ammo off a bench and the fact they was shooting with friends who had some pretty high end varmint AR's exacerbated the perception of its inaccuracy.  The one friend was happy with his, the other sent his off to Ruger where it was returned a few weeks later with a note that said it was perfectly fine.  He sold his post Newtown.

 

They both are fine rifles, the SR with its piston will probably run with less need for cleaning, the Colt will probably shoot circles around it (from an accuracy standpoint) as long as its wet, it will require more attention to detail on the cleaning side.

Edited May 17, 2013 by trevorst

[whitewolf001]

I know a guy with one for sale NIB for $1100.

[~48_South~]

I would skip both and get a Daniel Defense, save for a Larue or roll my own; between those two I would take the Colt and never look back.  The SR's I have shot, all shot very smooth but were embarrassing at the 100m and 200m ranges; granted my sample size is very small as I only know 2 people with them and they were very early samples.  By embarrassing neither one broke 2" at  100m with black hills ammo off a bench and the fact they was shooting with friends who had some pretty high end varmint AR's exacerbated the perception of its inaccuracy.  The one friend was happy with his, the other sent his off to Ruger where it was returned a few weeks later with a note that said it was perfectly fine.  He sold his post Newtown.

 

They both are fine rifles, the SR with its piston will probably run with less need for cleaning, the Colt will probably shoot circles around it (from an accuracy standpoint) as long as its wet, it will require more attention to detail on the cleaning side.

 

 Thats interesting mine shoots right at 1.25 MOA with 55gr PMC, and it blisters everything I have put it against in the same category in the accuracy dept shooting the same round. As a matter of fact if you google SR556 accuracy the whole page is pretty much nothing but people raving about how accurate of a rifle it is, gunblast did a review on it and said they are getting .5 MOA with Black Hils 69gr as a matter of fact out of the 8 different brands of ammo tested only 2 shot over 1.3 MOA for him(SS109 2.2MOA and 55gr winchester 2.9 MOA) and 3 different brands shot sub MOA,one of which was a .8 and the other two were shooting .5 and after putting several thousand rounds through mine I cant help but to agree with his findings,though I will admit I have never shot match ammo out of mine or tried a bunch of different rounds to see what it likes best. Not saying something wasnt wrong with the examples you shot but I definitely dont think its the norm for this rifle.

 

I just noticed gunblast was doing their test on the 556c(14.5") which happens to be the same model I have which seems to be less common than the standard 556e model,so maybe the 556c models hold way better accuracy than the E's I dont know. Well just found another review from gunblast running a standard SR 556, and while it didnt achieve as good of groups with match ammo as the 556c it never shot over 1.75 MOA with any round tested and still had 3 brands shooting sub MOA so I dont know once again.

Edited May 17, 2013 by ~48_South~

[sigrug17]

I have a few AR's, one being the Ruger SR556 with over 3k rounds thru it.  It really depends on which version of the SR556 you want.  If its the SR556 and not the C or E model,  then you're going to have a 'heavy' rifle.  (usually a bit front heavy with the barrel and handguard, 8+ lbs.)  the other is you have to decide if you want a piston or gas AR. 

 

SR556 will have the 1:9 twist barrel and the Colt will probably have the 1:7 twist barrel. (Colt you'll usually pay a little bit more for the name, but both right now are usually that way {ie. Colt and Ruger})

 

Both are good rifles, so you'll have to decide on what your going to do with it. 

Edited July 3, 2013 by sigrug17

[trevorst]

It very well could have been the small sample size, if they all were shooting 2" groups then the internet would tell that tale.  The troubling part was the friend who sent his back to Ruger (to say it was shooting 2" was an exaggeration it was on the upper end of the 2" range and that was with multiple shooters off a bench); to send it back and say its fine nothing to see here irked me somewhat.

 

Different rifles shoot different bullets well.... maybe that one sample doesnt like a 69gr bullet.

 

Comparative story I sent a DD M4V4 back because it ejected the shells at 5 oclock instead of 3 o clock lol (hey I'm left handed...).  Instead of calling me crazy it was back in a week ejecting shells at 3 oclock and an apology :)

[Johnny Rotten]

I know a guy with one for sale NIB for $1100.

If it's a 6940 that's a deal, I paid $900 for my upper

[~48_South~]

It very well could have been the small sample size, if they all were shooting 2" groups then the internet would tell that tale.  The troubling part was the friend who sent his back to Ruger (to say it was shooting 2" was an exaggeration it was on the upper end of the 2" range and that was with multiple shooters off a bench); to send it back and say its fine nothing to see here irked me somewhat.

 

Different rifles shoot different bullets well.... maybe that one sample doesnt like a 69gr bullet.

 

Comparative story I sent a DD M4V4 back because it ejected the shells at 5 oclock instead of 3 o clock lol (hey I'm left handed...).  Instead of calling me crazy it was back in a week ejecting shells at 3 oclock and an apology :)

Yeah Im curious if it was an early example and had the carrier tilt going on I imagine it can have a effect on accuracy but Im not expert on the issue, and if that were the case maybe at the time Ruger didnt know of the problem ofcourse I could be way wrong and they may just have horrible customer service(hope thats not the case) they arent cheap rifles, I think my 556c set me back $1500 so they should definitely take care of the customer if they are having an issue.

 

Also as stated a couple post above the Ruger is a front heavy rifle,even my sr556c feels significantly more front heavy than my kac and lmt, however the last time I held the sr556e it felt like it balanced great,not to mention it can be had for several hundred less than the 556c.

Edited May 17, 2013 by ~48_South~

[trevorst]

These were in fact very early samples, we were all very excited to try them out. I had a Sig 556 that we referred to as "the barn gun" because after many thousands of rounds that's about all you could hit with it, I was considering replacing it with the sr. I have used Ruger cs before without issue (10/22 breakdown with severe feeding issues that they fixed pretty timely).

[whitewolf001]

If it's a 6940 that's a deal, I paid $900 for my upper

My apologies, that's for the SR556. Still a good price for either of them since they're both in the same price range.