Does anyone know why Ruger is no longer producing the SR-556VT...?
I know that there was a recall, but it didn't seem serious enough to warrant a recall.

Poor sales?

Couldn't compete? To little too late is my guess. Why try and get out of your comfort zone?

I have one. It is an excellent shooter.

I think this is the correct answer.

How is yours set up? Do you have any pictures?

It looks like Ruger has stopped production of all their various piston guns in favor of the new SR556TD.

I can only assume the idea is to standardize production around one modular upper receiver. Hopefully this means other calibers, different profiles, etc will soon be available.



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I took a look at the Ruger website. The 556TD looks interesting.

Melvin, did you get a chance to review it, yet?

I have  been able to  mess with  one although I'm  not sure how my sample compares to  the  one shown on  the website  I see the TD has a published weight that's  less than the standard model  I assume this means production guns will have  a  fairly  light profile barrel  

Really, the TD looks about the same as the other guns in the line with the  same gas parts, etc. The difference comes in with the  barrel using interrupted  threads on the breech  end and a spring loaded  locking block near the  muzzle. This system is pretty much copied off what Steyr did with the  AUG 40 years ago.

I'll  try to  get  a  few pics up in a new thread here shortly .

The video of the 556TD says the barrel has a head spaced barrel extension attached to it, so each barrel carries its own head spacing. The AUG splits the head spacing between the barrel and the receiver....barrel has the chamber and the receiver has the bolt locking lugs. If a lug gets messed up on the AUG, it's a problem. The 556TD just replaces the barrel and it's fixed.

I also see a ring or something in front of the lugs. Is that some kind of tensioning spacer or spring or something? That might be how they are returning to zero.

If this is wrong, correct me. I only saw the video and it's been a while since I handled an AUG.

Please note that I said "pretty much" and not "exact" when I compared the AUG with the TD.  

The Ruger does have a complete barrel and extension that fits into grooves/lugs inside the upper receiver assembly so the entire affair comes out. Along these same lines the gas piston parts stay with the barrel's gas block while the transfer rod stays with the upper assembly.

On the bottom of the gas block is a lug that interfaces with a spring-loaded lug in the end of the forend.

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Here is a close-up of the lugs on the barrel. These interface with correspondening lugs inside the upper receiver assembly.



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