When Did Ruger Update The Mini 14

Ruger AC556 was Nib Ruger'south attempt at a select-fire Mini-14 inspired sentinel rifle. (Photo: David Doremus)

Who hasn't looked at a Mini-fourteen or Mini-30 rifle and idea, human this baby would exist a blast on full-auto? Well, it would seem great minds recall alike because Sturm Ruger did just that back in the 1990s when they fabricated a little-known variant congenital around this concept. The gun was the Ruger AC556, and it'south what is lovingly referred to in the full auto circles as a "buzzsaw".

Pattern

Ruger started work on the variant in 1978, specifically targeting government sales. In the back of his mind, Bill Ruger had e'er believed the Mini-fourteen could have competed as a valid war machine rifle (a sentiment shared by Colonel Jeff Cooper) if it simply had the right features.  Taking the standard Mini-14 layout equally an example, with its CNC fabricated chrome-molybdenum steel barrel and breech and all-encompassing use of music-wire coil springs, Ruger made a few changes.

Ruger AC556K. Note the selector switch by the rear sight.

Ruger AC556 trigger grouping.

First, the AC556 has a completely different receiver, not to mention fire control group. The receivers had to be slightly longer to fit the select-fire mode switch at its rear office. This selector moves from regular semi-automobile fire, to 3-circular burst, to full machine with a flick of the punch. It was located to the right-mitt side of the rear sight, with all the way back being rock and gyre. The gun still maintained its standard Mini-fourteen/30 safety lever in the trigger guard.

The fixed-piston gas arrangement was beefed upwardly a little, every bit it, in its time, was one of the few select-burn five.56mm 'rod' guns on the market. The end of the barrel held a NATO standard flash hider that doubled every bit a grenade launcher for rifle grenades and recoil damper. On the front sight ring was a bayonet mount that could take the same M-vii pocketknife style blade equally carried by the M16 rifle. Not all versions came with the bayonet option and those that did would be marked (GB) for 'regime bayonet'.

Markings on a Mini-14 GB.

This is why you see the police force intended Mini-14GB out there, but that is some other article.

Two variants

Ruger Police itemize showing AC556 rifle.

The gun was produced in two flavors for commandos looking for different things. The first gun, the standard AC-556, has a 7.3-pound empty weight (7.8 loaded with a 20-round mag), and was 38.75-inches overall with an 18.five-inch barrel.

Ruger AC556 standard model.

Ruger AC556F with folding stock.

The second was the AC-556K, a chopped down version. Slightly heavier at seven.9-pounds loaded, it was much shorter at just 33.5-inches with its folding stock open up, and right at 24 with it folded neatly out of the style. The fact that it had a 10-inch barrel helped a lot. These take besides been referred to in some publications as Air conditioning-556F models (for folder).

Ruger AC556K-64 01E rifle.

Both guns had 1:ten rifling with six grooves and could fire at 700 rounds per minute. This meant yous could empty a 30-round mag in the time information technology took to say, "That'due south pretty doggone fast."

Ruger KAC556.

Stainless sub-variants of each were differentiated past adding another '1000' to the front of the model to where a stainless AC-556K would exist a KAK-556K. Articulate as mud?

Getting i for your ain

Bodily AC566s will be marked as such. Besides, notation some other view of the selector switch on the right.

Introduced in 1986 equally the private sale of Form III full-machine firearms was existence fabricated illegal by the Hughes Amendment, the company marketed these guns but to police and military customers. As a 'budget' alternative to Colt-made M16 rifles, the gun caught on with some agencies and the visitor had enough sales to keep the line open up for well-nigh ii decades. The fact that the gun wasn't an "evil-looking black rifle" made information technology a good choice for departments with epitome issues or a finicky local government. It wasn't until 1999 that the visitor pulled the plug on these neat little rippers.

On the transferable NFA market, these guns start at about $6,000 and move very speedily higher from there.

A word of warning though: due to incorrect cleaning, users oft fabricated these guns not-functional. Specifically, owners can break their AC556s by putting the trigger group dorsum into the gun after the wrong disassembly.  The selector must be in the upright or semi-auto position when inserting the trigger group.  If not, it will bend role of the grouping and the gun will have to be repaired.

Government deal AC556s.

The AC556 manual is one of the few to contain data on how to load a grenade launcher…

And this can be a problem because Ruger stopped working on these guns in 2009 and no longer supports them in any way. About ninety percent of the internals swap out for regular Mini-14 parts, but odds are those aren't the ones you broke.

A few dealers specialize in these guns including David Spiwak who even has a copy of the 27-folio manual for the AC556 up on his site in pdf form.

Of grade, you tin can always get lucky.  Law enforcement agencies accept a tendency to get rid of 'one-time' guns regardless of how much range time they have gotten as administrations change periodically and leap cleaning commences.

A pair (yes, pair) of functioning (yes, they really worked) AC556s were sold through the US Government's sale system final month for a full of $ane,165.l. The agency that endemic them, the Muhlenberg Township, PA PD stated, "The rifles were caused from some other agency. Past use information is not available." The transferable guns were NFA and had their 3-round burst and total auto selector switches operable, which are certain to make whatever Grade 3 dealer lucked into them very happy.

Ruger AC556K with operator's manual.

Heck, if nosotros knew who he was and had a LE demo alphabetic character; we'd offer him $1,165.51 for the pair right NOW.

Source: https://www.guns.com/news/2014/03/10/ruger-ac556-totally-legal-totally-full-auto-mini-14-video

Posted by: mundobabodest1940.blogspot.com

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