Posted: 6/3/2019 4:59:27 PM EDT
The Ruger AC556 is the select-fire version of the the Mini-14 series of rifles that, had Bill Ruger introduced just a year or two earlier, might have been the firearm of choice during the Vietnam War rather than the AR-15 and M16. American Rifleman Television - Ruger AC556 |
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Quoted:
The Ruger AC556 is the select-fire version of the the Mini-14 series of rifles that, had Bill Ruger introduced just a year or two earlier, might have been the firearm of choice during the Vietnam War rather than the AR-15 and M16. That rifle is a shit show compared to the AR-15 in reliability, accuracy, ability to be field stripped & cleaned, and servicing. We won't even get into adding optics (even the fixed handle M16A1 mounted optics better than the AC556). |
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Quoted:
Son are you on drugs? That rifle is a shit show compared to the AR-15 in reliability, accuracy, ability to be field stripped & cleaned, and servicing. We won't even get into adding optics (even the fixed handle M16A1 mounted optics better than the AC556). Quoted:
Quoted:
The Ruger AC556 is the select-fire version of the the Mini-14 series of rifles that, had Bill Ruger introduced just a year or two earlier, might have been the firearm of choice during the Vietnam War rather than the AR-15 and M16. That rifle is a shit show compared to the AR-15 in reliability, accuracy, ability to be field stripped & cleaned, and servicing. We won't even get into adding optics (even the fixed handle M16A1 mounted optics better than the AC556). |
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Back before people knew how to make shorty AR's run properly, the short, FA Minis ran and ran.
Attached File |
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I have owned one of the blued, folding stock, short barrel "K" models for probably 15ish years exactly like the one posted above.
Overall its really not a bad gun and mine has actually been extremely reliable. I don't think its ever missed a beat in terms of going bang and ejecting spent brass nor have I ever replaced a part. Accuracy isn't anything to write home about but its also a 35+ year old machinegun still running the original barrel. The M16 in its current incarnation with all the product improvements over the past 50+ years is obviously a better weapon platform today and the AC which is stuck in a 1970s time capsule. If you were to compare a 1960s/1970s era M16 to an AC556 they are probably much closer in performance than you would expect. The AC runs cleaner given the gas doesnt get dumped directly into the action. You also have a much larger ejector port which is basically the entire top of the receiver. Clearing malfunctions is also going to be easier given the receiver and charging handle arrangement. From a reliability perspective on the short barrel variants, the AC would probably win compared to an early 1970s era short barrel M16. The M16 certainly wins from a shooting controllability perspective due to its inline recoil systems as well as ease of maintenance. The AC is much more difficult to take apart and there are small selector parts that can easily get lost/damaged during a basic field strip and reassembly. Accuracy the nod would go to the M16 as well. Sights between an A1 M16 and an AC556 are probably a wash. That said, if I was somehow teleported back in time to 1970 and dropped into a rice paddy in Vietnam where engagements were under 200 yards and could have either an original mid 1960s era M16 with all of its inherent issues or a stainless AC556, I am not 100% sure if I would pick the M16 of the era over an AC556. Obviously if somebody offered me a modern high quality M4 with electro optics, etc. I would take that in a heartbeat. I have always considered picking up another shorty AC556 in stainless as I always liked the way those guns looked and I regret selling a stainless Mini-14GB folder right as the AWB was expiring. Plus it would give me a matching big brother to my short barrel stainless Norrell converted 10/22. |
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Quoted:
The Ruger AC556 is the select-fire version of the the Mini-14 series of rifles that, had Bill Ruger introduced just a year or two earlier, might have been the firearm of choice during the Vietnam War rather than the AR-15 and M16.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2o7ETD5mVMI'll say this for the AC/Mini, it was from the era where Ruger designed their own stuff, and didn't just sit in Kel-Tec's/Walther's parking lots with binoculars. Ruger may be coming back from that dismal era though. |
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Quoted:
Wasn't the mini introduced in 1973? It would have needed to be 10 years earlier to have a shot. I'll say this for the AC/Mini, it was from the era where Ruger designed their own stuff, and didn't just sit in Kel-Tec's/Walther's parking lots with binoculars. Ruger may be coming back from that dismal era though. I was just quoting the video description. |
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An AC-556-F was the first machine gun I bought in 1991.
I got it from FJ Volmer out of an ad in Machine Gun News. Had it sent to the police supply gun store to do the paperwork and wait the 6 weeks for my "stamp" as we called it in those days, to clear. I ordered eight 30 rnd and six 20 rnd mags along with a new folding stock directly from Ruger. I paid $1250 plus the $200 tax in '91 and doubled my money a few years later when I sold it! 
I still have those magazines in the white boxes . |