Ruger SFAR 308 first impressions

[tnbndr]

If you research it enough to find out what works, I'd be interested in your findings even though I have no current plans to change out my stock

I reached out to B5 Precision Stocks as suggested by rpol98 above.
They replied "I would recommend our Medium Precision Stock" .
I am going to shoot and sight this in with the factory stock and decide from there what I want to do.

 

[Steves1911]

I'll have to double check in the am but I'm pretty sure the sfar sports a rifle length buffer tube. It's certainly not a carbine length tube. I found out today a breek arms Warhammer won't work. It fits but upon firing there is contact and the charging hand gets knocked back. Looks like the channel for the gas key isn't quite long enough for the sfar bolt carrier.

 

[rpol98]

I'll have to double check in the am but I'm pretty sure the sfar sports a rifle length buffer tube. It's certainly not a carbine length tube. I found out today a breek arms Warhammer won't work. It fits but upon firing there is contact and the charging hand gets knocked back. Looks like the channel for the gas key isn't quite long enough for the sfar bolt carrier.

can't be a rifle buffer tube if it's coming with the MOE-SL collapsible stock.

https://www.ruger.com/products/sfar/models.html

 

[rpol98]

I reached out to B5 Precision Stocks as suggested by rpol98 above.
They replied "I would recommend our Medium Precision Stock" .
I am going to shoot and sight this in with the factory stock and decide from there what I want to do.

the "medium" is for the AR-15 M4, i.e., to clear charging handle travel associated with 5.56-length.
https://b5systems.com/precision-stock-ar15/

the "short" is for the AR-10, to clear CH travel associated with 308-length, citing the venerable M110 (aka KAC SR-25, Mother of all AR-10's).
https://b5systems.com/precision-stock-ar10/

at least that's what their website says. The rep probably heard you say "AR-15" over-and-over again, didn't pick up on the context?

the "long" is for the LAW-folder AR-15.


well, I don't even have an SFAR, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.

 

[Steves1911]

can't be a rifle buffer tube if it's coming with the MOE-SL collapsible stock.

https://www.ruger.com/products/sfar/models.html

I think it is...the stock doesn't collapse all the way to the receiver like on a carbine. You can still see about an inch of buffer tube even with stock at its most forward position. It's definitely longer than my carbine buffer tubes.

 

[30378wbymag]

You certainly put more effort into reading the SFAR manual than I did, not that it is a bad thing.

I don't know why the SFAR would be any more susceptible to cooking off rounds than any other AR platform, which I think have a relatively low risk of occurrence. I'm not a dump multiple 20/30 round magazines kind of guy but obviously others have done it with other AR platforms, and I have yet to hear any first accounts of cooking off a round in an AR. That doesn't make me an expert though.

I shot 5 round groups at the range in about 2 minutes and then let the SFAR cool with the chamber empty and bolt open. Overheating the barrel is hard on your equipment and not good for accuracy. If nothing else, letting a round sit in a hot chamber for a while is likely to change the powder temperature and have the potential to increase pressure. I think if you use your equipment in any kind of reasonable fashion such as what you've described, you don't have to worry about it. The Ruger instruction to unload the firearm and chamber when you're done shooting sounds like good advice though for a number of reasons.

WOW can't believe they have a disclaimer for "cook off" I've shot M60's that got so hot you could hardly handle it and nary a cook off. Looks like the attorneys had a field day trying to plan for every contingency... Don't think you could get it that hot with a 20 round mag dump, meaning you'd have to work at it!!!

Hope they come out with a 6.5 needmore, what an awesome big brother to my 6.5 Grendel! All I need is another AR platform rifle

 

[rpol98]

I think it is...the stock doesn't collapse all the way to the receiver like on a carbine. You can still see about an inch of buffer tube even with stock at its most forward position. It's definitely longer than my carbine buffer tubes.

might be something like the A5 buffer tube, about 3/4" longer than the M4 buffer tube. thought I saw something somewhere about "proprietary".

 

[C-130 Dude]

I read an article on your rifle. The DI setup is a big plus. I was surprised that the charging handles are the same size as a AR15. My ar10's have considerably larger charging handles and no way interchangeable.

Mine are gas guns, but have no problem cycling 60,000 + psi rounds without any flaws. I only have 20 and 24 inch to help out the 308 win FPS. This 24 has a forward weight bias that you don't have. 2.5 pound trigger and SS match barrel 8X32 with 60mm objective. It's my low light specialty pig gun. View attachment 400745

Nice pew! Running an adjustable gas block???

 

[Chas1]

Nice looking rig and seems reasonably priced. Thanks for the review.

 

[gvjm]

How is your velocity with that 16" gun?

 

[squirrelslayer]

I think it is...the stock doesn't collapse all the way to the receiver like on a carbine. You can still see about an inch of buffer tube even with stock at its most forward position. It's definitely longer than my carbine buffer tubes.

A rifle buffer tube doesn't have the detents for an adjustable stock. It's just a round tube.

 

[carolusworld]

First 3 shoots out of my 20" sfar. Norma Bondstrike 180gr.
Was hoping to turn this into an iowa deer rifle by reboring out to 358 win. But Barrel was hardened in some manner after manufacture. Barrel extension is proprietary so my factory barrel will have to be replaced with a custom barrel and salvage the barrel extension. Hopeful ruger or someone else makes the extension available as I'd also like a 22-250 or 243 for my coyote truck gun.

 

[tnbndr]

For what it is worth I was told by the gun shop I purchased the rifle at that the 16" is a carbine buffer tube and the 20" is rifle buffer tube.

 

[Pro2A]

I recently picked up a new Ruger SFAR 16 inch barrel 308 and am posting some first impressions for anyone else who might be considering one. As background, I picked it up for a woods gun for western MT that would have the capability to take deer, black bear and maybe elk that roam beyond the back yard. Because it is also grizzly country, I wanted a semi-auto for potential defense situations. I wanted something different than the long range first focal plane scope setups in the safe.

I mounted a Sig Sauer Tango MSR 1x10 on the SFAR and took it to the range for the first time yesterday. I shot Norma 150 gr factory fmj target ammo and my own hand loads of 150 gr sst over 44.5 gr Varget. The barrel break-in went much easier than I expected with less copper fouling than I've experienced with my Bartlein barrel equipped rifles. The SFAR's 100 yd accuracy met my expectations with the factory ammo averaging about 1.5 MAO and my hand loads performing a little better at just over 1 MOA. The rifle cycled properly with no problems with the adjustable gas block on the #2 setting. Unsuppressed, the SD for my handloads was running in single digits.

After 25 rounds +/- I switched over to using a Dominus suppressor with the gas block on the #1 setting. The rifle continued to function flawlessly with my handloads. My SD increased with the suppressor and my muzzle velocity went up 40 fps. My groups improved slightly and tended toward two touching with the third flyer making the overall result still about 1 MOA.

I expected to hate the rifle's stock trigger. It has some short initial pretravel that I don't like but then breaks crisply with a trigger pull that doesn't feel heavy. I'm picky about my triggers so I will still change it out for a Trigger tech but the factory trigger is good enough that I'll wait for them to go on sale so I don't spend 1/4 the price of the rifle on an aftermarket trigger.

The rifle looks very much like an AR15 and nobody at the range thought it was a AR10. With the smaller receiver it won't take my AR10 bore guide for cleaning. I used a 300 BO bore guide instead but it was looser than a normal bore guide fit up.

Overall, I am happy that the rifle/ scope combination seems to meet my goals for a fairly light and compact woods autoloader.

Curious if you considered shooting on the "0" gas setting (OFF) to eliminate the action motion for accuracy? I run several straight pull ARs with gas blocks adjusted to OFF or even without the gas port/block/tube, finding less noise and slightly improved accuracy, easier brass retention, etc. Looking at picking up the SFAR, but in 20" to better take advantage of the .308 ballistics. W-a-a-y past storming structures, suppressive fire not required, so the bolt action and extra 4" are preferred.