Sport 2 or Ruger 556?

[YoungBlood]

So I am going to head to the store to get my first evil murderous black rifle, but which one?
They have the s&w sport 2 and the ruger AR-556 for the same price, what do y'all say?

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[No_Regerts]

Sport 2

 

[Kruel J]

Ruger.

 

[etrain16]

Glock


Wait...I meant Ruger or Sport - really, either one would be a great choice. I've owned AR's from both and neither have disappointed. If I had to nail it down for myself, I'd probably go Ruger.

 

[YoungBlood]

Looks like Ill flip for it, cant really find a whole lot of differences on the web and they both seem to be durable enough for what I's going to use it for.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

I have a Ruger 556 and everything fits together tightly. The Ruger has some propriety parts that are good and bad. The screw off D ring is nice for changing the handguard, but the unique A2 sight post gets in the way of some aftermarket parts. The grip comfortable to hold like a Magpul or Ergo. The flip up rear sight only has one large dioptor, but you are going to use a read dot anyway so no biggie. See if they have a Magpul edition in stock since sooner or later you will want to change out everything0

 

[Gene Rojas]

I own both a Ruger SR-556 and a S&W M&P-15T- both are great ARs.

Geno

 

[nwslopoke]

I had my first AR 4 years before I modified it. I bought other ARs for that. I believe the Sport 2 has a longer reputation and uses mil spec parts. A small but real headache later when you want to modify it and the gas block or buttock is commercial.

 

[2ndtimer]

Can't go wrong with either. I prefer the 1 in 8" twist of the Ruger over the 1 in 9" twist of the S&W Sport 2. ( I have one of the original Sports with the 1 in 8" twist 5R rifled melonite barrels, but no dust cover or forward assist. I really like mine, did change out the furniture for Mag Pul desert earth, just to be different). CDNN has the asic Ruger for $499 right now. Hard to beat that deal.

 

[Siglvr]

How did this thread make it 9 posts without anyone saying "BOTH!".

They are both excellent choices. If it was me, I'd go with the company that used the best protectant (which ever could take the salt spray test the best) on the barrel. I think that may be the Smith and Wesson. They use to claim it was chome lined, now they say it's Armornite® Finish. Not sure what that is but I do know that Black Oxide does very little to keep rust off your stuff, so I'd pass on the Ruger.

Armornite mystery

Black Nitride, Melonite, SBN and QPQ - FREE Ballistic calculator

 

[MrMillspecer]

Either one. With Smiths upcoming name change they could end up being collector's.

Or is it mind control ?

 

[Caveman Jim]

A friend saw an ad for a Ruger 5.56 for $475!!!!

 

[CountryGent]

I've had good results with the Ruger AR-556 for a basic AR. I don't have any experience with the Sport 2 though.

 

[MrMillspecer]

I do know a guy that torture tested his 3 different brand ARs running them until they choked.

And the Smith won.

 

[MilitantBEEMER]

Have experience with the Ruger and it is a solid rifle. Would like to have a Sport II just because. Good luck and welcome to your new addiction

 

[JRuby]

I have not had one problem with my ar556 I like it a lot. I don't know how much longer as a company S&W will be around there are rumors that they are changing their name. Hopefully they will continue to support their products.

 

[11Charlie]

No experience with the ruger but they have good reviews on line and from folks I trust here on NWFA.

I personally have a sport and it is flawless. shoots anything with out a problem. My advice would be to go hold them both and choose the one that feels the best to you.

 

[3MTA3]

I agree with the consensus that you can't go wrong with either. I don't own the S&W, but do own the Ruger so I'll talk about it. The Ruger is MilSpec with the exception of 3 parts, and in all three cases I think it's an improvement. If you don't like any of them they can be replaced with MilSpec parts:

• The Delta ring: Ruger's delta ring is polycarbonite and unscrews to access the handguards as opposed to retracting. It can be replaced with MilSpec parts if you want and I thought I would, but instead found it to be durable and easier to use.
  
  
• The Front Sight: It's machined from billet aluminum and a very high quality part. It has anti-reflective steps machined into the shooter side of the A frame to reduce glare. It also has a built in QD socket and comes with a standard QD sling attachment. It will also has a bayonet lug to make sure politicians are afraid of it. My only reservation is that it's aluminum and not sure how it will hold up to heating and cooling cycles over time (different expansion rates for the barrel and sight materials) and if the QD socket will wear out prematurely. That said it's still my favorite F post sight and Ruger will fix it for free if it fails.
  
  
• The Barrel: Same as everybody else who isn't running a 14.5" chrome lined 4150 CMV CHF barrel in M4 or SOCOM profile, it's not MilSpec. Don't get sucked into the "I need the same barrel they put on an M240 machine gun" hype. Not only don't you need it, the barrel profile will turn your AR into a nose heavy pig that will ruin your shooting experience and could get you killed if you need it to defend yourself.
  
  The barrel of the Ruger is 4140 CHF and is unlined. It's just fine and military rifles including the M1A have been using it forever. Mine cleans up just fine. Where the barrel shines is it's perfect profile - it's heavy enough to soak up a fair amount of heat, but light enough with proper weight distribution to give this rifle a superb balance. If they would nitride treat it it would be the perfect barrel.

The rifle is my truck/get home gun so I need to be able to rely on it. As with all my other AR's it needs to pass an initial test before I feel it is ready: I mag M197 - first ten shots slow, then increasing fast until empty, 1 mag M855 at a fast rate, 2 mags alternating M197 with M855 at a fast rate. The Ruger ate it up without a single misfire, and a friend who had my 6 that day in a reactive battle against pop cans at CQB distances out to a hundred yards put over 500 rounds through without a single FTF, jam, or other anomaly. Internally everything was still pretty clean afterwards.

What I changed on mine:

• Rear sight: I bought mine used and the Ruger folding sight had been replaced by a UTG non-folder. I replaced it with my favorite Troy folder.
  
  
• Furniture: It came with cool looking but non functional stuff. I replaced it with a MagPul MOE hand guard, a MIAD grip I use on everything,and even though I liked the minimalist stock it came with it was black and I like FDE.
  
  
• I replaced the perfectly good Ruger bird cage flash hider with a Smith Vortex because it's what I use on all my other rifles and when I get around to buying a CAN it will screw right on.

I don't know if this rifle is better or worse than the S&W, but I do know I can trust it to get the job done. I don't know about accuracy since it wears a 1x prismatic scope so can't tell you if it's good for range queen duty. I'd probably be just as happy and confident with the S&W, but can say that the fantastic customer support and lifetime warranty from Ruger does make a difference.

 

[3MTA3]

No experience with the ruger but they have good reviews on line and from folks I trust here on NWFA.

I personally have a sport and it is flawless. shoots anything with out a problem. My advice would be to go hold them both and choose the one that feels the best to you.

And that's the real answer. Move them like you are using them and check the balance, especially if they have whatever optics you plan to use on them.

 

[MrMillspecer]

The girl at the counter will give you a straight answer.