Was at a gun show today and one of the vendors had 2 AC556 1 with a folding stock and one with a regular stock.Pretty good looking guns, was wondering if anyone has any experience with these models.The gun would be blast to shoot especially the full auto mode.Just not sure if my pockets are deep enough to add one to the stable.
Ruger AC556
- Thread starter kpr
- Start date
mattsbox99
Hunter
They are as fun as it gets to shoot!
four70nitro
Single-Sixer
almost 30 years ago our local police department sold the four Thompsons they had and bought four AC556K's, folding stock, short barrel -- they were an absolute scream to shoot. I especially enjoyed the 3-shot burst feature.
chet15
Hawkeye
four70nitro said:
But I bet the Tommy Guns were a lot more fun! Would do anything the AC could do, and anyway..the AC is based off a long range .223 cartridge compared to the short range .45 ACP which would seem to be more suited for police applications.
Did your police department used to wear suits, ties and nice hats as well...you know...see them most of the time carrying violin cases?
Chet15
four70nitro
Single-Sixer
The Thompsons were a LOT of fun to shoot. Loading that big drum magazine was kind of a pain in the butt, but shooting them was really a lot of fun. They owned the Thompsons for years, but I don't think they ever carried them anywhere except out to the range every couple of years to shoot them and then back into storage.....
Dave
Dave
four70nitro
Single-Sixer
The Rugers were surprisingly accurate -- considering they were a selective fire weapon. I watched one of the guys shoot at a ground squirrel about 90 yards down-range while in the 3-shot burst mode. He hit that little-bitty ground squirrel with two of the three shots fired, off-hand, using the factory sights.
Dave
Dave
chet15
Hawkeye
four70nitro said:
Wow! Almost unbelieveable! You'd think after the first shot the first round would have caused enough muzzle jump to throw the 2nd round a lot higher than the first....and at 90 yards that muzzle jump would be exponentially increased. And with open sights?
:lol:
Sorry, I've done a lot of shooting at 100 yards with open sights, but I'd have to say if the story is true there must have been a huge amount of luck involved.
So you saw entry and exit holes of two .223 rounds in that ground squirrel?
Don't mean to sound overly sarcastic here, but ????
Chet15
FergusonTO35
Hunter
I wonder when the AC-556 was discontinued?
four70nitro
Single-Sixer
Chet,
Had I not witnessed it myself I would agree that it sounds like a wild story. I think the shooter was as surprised as anyone that he managed to hit the ground squirrel at 90 yards with open sights, but the fact is that he did hit it. We were all so surprised that we stopped shooting and went down range to inspect the "victim" and we all were amazed to find two entry and two exit wounds on the critter. Since we were shooting ball ammo the exit wounds were not very large as they might have been with softpoints or hollowpoints.....and when you think about an animal that is only 6-8 inches tall and about twice the diameter of your thumb there isn't much there to hit in the first place.
The animal was standing on his hind legs - reaching up and pulling the grass with seeds on it down to where he could eat the seeds at the time the shot(s) were made. One of the three hit him through the pelvis region and a second hit him through the top of his shoulders/base of his throat. No idea where the third round hit, or actually which two of the three shots fired hit the ground squirrel, except that two of them did.
I understand your skepticism, but believe it or not, it won't change the truth of the situation.
Dave
Had I not witnessed it myself I would agree that it sounds like a wild story. I think the shooter was as surprised as anyone that he managed to hit the ground squirrel at 90 yards with open sights, but the fact is that he did hit it. We were all so surprised that we stopped shooting and went down range to inspect the "victim" and we all were amazed to find two entry and two exit wounds on the critter. Since we were shooting ball ammo the exit wounds were not very large as they might have been with softpoints or hollowpoints.....and when you think about an animal that is only 6-8 inches tall and about twice the diameter of your thumb there isn't much there to hit in the first place.
The animal was standing on his hind legs - reaching up and pulling the grass with seeds on it down to where he could eat the seeds at the time the shot(s) were made. One of the three hit him through the pelvis region and a second hit him through the top of his shoulders/base of his throat. No idea where the third round hit, or actually which two of the three shots fired hit the ground squirrel, except that two of them did.
I understand your skepticism, but believe it or not, it won't change the truth of the situation.
Dave
four70nitro
Single-Sixer
The other thing I found fascinating about the 3-shot burst mode on the AC 556K's was that when you pulled the trigger if you got back off of it quickly you may only get one shot, or two shots off. If you pulled the trigger and managed to only get one shot off then the next time you pulled the trigger you would get the balance of the 3-shots, or two shots on the second pull. If you got two shots off with the first pull you would get the third shot off with the second pull of the trigger. It always had to complete three shots before it would reset for another 3-shot burst. I always wondered what the mechanism looked like and how it knew how many shots had been fired so it knew how many more to fire before re-setting for the next 3-shot burst.
Dave
Dave
mexicanjoe
Single-Sixer
OK guys here is one to make your mouth water... In the early 90's yours truly was employed by a certain Sheriffs Office in Texas. I was informed I could carry a folding stock mini 14, a madsen full auto. a Steyr Aug, a Fn Fnc carrbine , but dont ask the Sheriff for his auto Thompson M-1!! You bet I took the mini!!!! We could carry what ever sidearm we qualified with. Naturally I had a 1911, carried a Mossberg 12 ga. and all the ammo I could carry. Sometimes help was 45n minutes away.... Those were the days..........
chet15
Hawkeye
FergusonTO35 said:
I've never heard it was discontinued. But Ruger doesn't make very many of them, that's for sure. Probably keep a fairly large supply of them on hand so they don't have to make them very often.
Chet15
FergusonTO35
Hunter
I wouldn't think it would be profitable to continue making the AC in any quantity now that the civilian market is completely closed, the M4 completely dominates law enforcement, and post sample AC's are dirt cheap and plentiful- in fact worth alot more as a demilled parts kit than as a live gun. Mebbe they are sitting on a warehouse full of AC's they can't sell.
The 3 shot burst feature works like a cam with lobes on it. If you hold the trigger back for the entire 3 round burst it will complete the cycle and re-set for another 3 round burst. If you let up on the trigger before it completes the cycle the next pull will finish the cycle and the re set itself. So, the first time you fire a 3 round burst you could get a 1, 2, or 3 shots. It all depends if the shooter before you short cycled the trigger or not.four70nitro said:
