And I think I'm hooked.

I purchased an MSAR STG-556 from a member here for a really great price, and it came with pretty much everything I needed except an optic. I slapped a cheapo red dot on it to go check it out at the range, and ermagerd, this thing was a ton of fun to shoot.

Haven't decided what optic I'm going to use on it yet, but I have an old Aimpoint Pro that needed a new home, so that'll do for a placeholder for now.

I've been reading up on the MSAR rifles, and the reviews have been about fifty-fifty, with some loving their rifles and some hating them. From my experience at the range, I think I got one of the good ones.

The manual of arms was a bit weird at first, but I think I like this platform better than my ARs for the purpose of conducting reloads and whatnot.

Takedown and cleaning was a snap, and I was pleasantly surprised by the simplicity and elegance of the inner workings of the rifle.

Any other happy MSAR owners out there?

If it's the E4 that takes AR mags call Ratworx and get the steel mag release upgrade if it does not have it already.
Bought mine in 07 and got a mag stuck in it, finally got it out and was told it was the plastic mag catch that caused it.
Took it with me to the 1st annual bullpup shoot and Chris swapped it out for me in like 2 seconds behind the firing line at no charge.

It has been going strong since then with all kinds of ammo through it including wolf and has never choked once.

Was about to sell it when the Tavor came out but I got it in my hands and my E4 felt better.

Not entirely sure what version this one is, but it takes Steyr AUG mags. Half my mags are MSAR and the other half are Steyr, all of them work great.

The more I shoot this thing, the more I like it.

Keep a close eye on it.

& buy your parts now if you can find any at all.



Not many anymore & the few that are tend to be very vocal & say things like "300 rounds thru it without any problems, I love it"

So, a single day's shooting then? ;)

@OP - there are still some happy MSAR owners out there, but the problems over time, or for some out of the box, are well documented.
Get spare parts if you come across them, and shoot it.
If you run into 'unfixable' issues (e.g. lack of spare parts) down the road, consider you can pick up used or new genuine Steyr A3s and occasionally A3 M1s at a pretty good price if you shop around, and the rate of reported issues goes way down..not to zero, but enough to be nearly negligible, especially in comparison.

Hope you got a good one!

Or you're Beerswimmer and put about two dozen cases through it...

I have an MSAR and I'm pleased with it but I used it to gain entry to the club and have a couple of Augs.
I did break an extractor and that ended steel cased ammo in the MSAR. I had a slow down using steel cased ammo in my aug so now it's brass only.

That's my thinking on this purchase. It was a relatively inexpensive way to dip my foot in the pool to see if I like it.

Will most likely be purchasing a Steyr AUG in the near future, which will allow me to take advantage of the mags I already have.

Am also giving serious consideration to the Tavor SAR, but I want to shoot one and see how it stacks up against the AUG.

Have over 1000 rounds through mine (MSAR)... Love it.
The trigger isn't the best, though.

Love my TAVOR, too.
I recently replaced the permanently mounted Mepro sight with a short rail piece, so I can swap optics.
I also put in a Super Sabra trigger pack.
(This pic is before the rail conversion... Has an Aimpoint on it at the moment.)

I've had a couple MSARs for several, many years (8+ years?) and have not had failures with either. Admittedly I have not shot them in over a year but I bring 'em out from time to time.

What parts fail that you think should be purchased? Isn't Ratworx still selling replacements?

Have two STG556 bullpups. About 3500 rounds thru them and no problems. Happy with both them.

It's a shame that MSAR failed. There was so much potential...

Enjoy your rifle OP.

Had my E4 for 2 years now, topped it with a Burris AR332.  No problems except a broken case and the MSAR mags I got with the rifle do not work. Have a little over 1000 rounds of 5.56 surplus and some reloads.  ( no steel cased ammo)

I bought my MSAR STG556 back in 2009.  I have not had any problems with it, other than the fact that it does not like that steel cased brown bear ammo.



I bought a couple of the Ratworx upgrades for it.

I have two E4's and love them both.  One had the fantastic (and limited) 2020 trigger packs.  My only regret was that I did not buy two trigger packs when they were still available.  The one with the 2020 trigger had the  barrel cut down to 13" and a Noveske KX3 Flaming Pig perm-attached.  It also has one of Sven's Talon scope mount with a Trijicon Accupoint installed.  Love this bull pup.  I eats every kind of ammo I feed it "except" steel cased.  Have about 6,000 to 6,500 through it so far.  My second E4 has an AAC Ranger suppressor dedicated to it and wears a Trijicon ACOG for the optic.  That one is just as reliable but only has about 5,000 rounds through it.

I haven't shot either one much lately because I just finished SBR'ing an UZI Pro which is too much fun to put down.  When the newness of the UZI wears off I will get back to the MSAR's.

I've had two Gen II's and now I'm down to one. I've never had any issues with either of them but I just don't shoot them much at all anymore. It's my last bullpup and sadly I may be moving on from bullpups altogether. Blame it on my NFA stuff.

Sighted in the Aimpoint Pro today at 25M, and while I didn't have time to shoot as much as I wanted, I had a lot of fun printing clover leaves once I got it dialed in.

This rifle rocks, and I like it!