Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles RUGER SFAR - 1st outing

Hey All..Shot for first time yesterday...16" BBL... Leupold VX6 3x18 ADM MFG Mount...new Starline brass Fed 210 Match primer..Nosler 155gr Match Bullet @2.795"
42.0 gr T A C...starting load from Nosler #9....took 6 shots at the 25 yd bench to zero....then moved to 100yd range....
Next 5 shots...see target...
am a happy campfire loony...manual says 200 round breakin...functioned fine so far...finished firing the 25 i loaded...pete in central texas

I looked up the Ruger SFAR. It looks pretty compact for a .308. Let us know how it carries in the field. i know DPMS did something similar a few years ago. I haven't heard much about it since.

kwg

Damn, nice shooting.

Very interesting. I've always wished Ruger would offer their hammer forged barrels as blanks.

Nice. How is the Ruger trigger?

HEY STRS...the trigger is the biggest surprise....it is SUPERB....yeah its two stage...but after very little take up the break is rivals any of my Geiselle triggers..!!!
Y'all need to acquire one PRONTO....
Pete in central texas

I just sold a Rock River LAR-8 A4. It was extremely accurate, but was a beast at almost 11 pounds loaded. The SFAR is a much more reasonable 6.8 pounds empty. I would certainly look hard at the Ruger if I am going to replace the A4.

Thanks for the info.

Second trip out to the range with mine and I was testing some loads with 168 BTHP with IMR4895. Mine is also a 16" SFAR. Numbers show the average velocity and SD for the 5 shot groups. At 43 grains, I was seeing pressure signs and stopped there.



One issue I had was the gas block locking up. I am shooting suppressed with a SilencerCo Hybrid-46. I started out on gas block position #1 which was fine for Hornady American Gunner 155 gr factory loads. I started to have some feeding issues with the handloads as the charge weights went up. I tried to switch the gas block to #2, but it was locked up. The last two groups has some horizontal stringing and that may be contributed to me getting off the gun to single load rounds. When I got home, I was able to dissemble the gas block, clean it up and get it turning again. May try some anti seize on it. I have another round of loads to test.

The trigger is nice enough that I don't think I will replace it yet.

The top target was 150 grain ballistic tips that I handload with RL-15 for a bolt action, and probably bone headed of me to try them. It is not a max load, but was overpressure for the SFAR. I had 3 popped primers, but what was crazy was the velocities were 2970 fps which is higher than I got from a 20" bolt action in the past. I need to chrono that load in my current 24" Rem 700.

As far as carrying it in the field, seems just like a 16" AR-15. I usually use a AR-15 in 6.8spc for deer hunting here in KY, but could easily see myself swaping out for the SFAR. I would not want to carry a AR-10 in the field.

Have to make a correction to my last post.

Was going through the ammo locker tonight and realized that the Ballistic Tips I tried in the SFAR were actually factory Nosler 125 gr Ballistic Tips and not hand loads. These had previously clocked 2990 in a 20” barrel and 2970 out of the 16” SFAR barrel.

Ought to make a great hog shooter! I’ll have to check one out at my LGS.

I want one!

2970 fps would be darned hot from a 20" tube.

That's a damn hot load (over book max, and Nosler uses a 24" barrel) and he wants to give it a try in another rifle, after it "popped primers" in his AR?? Ok.

Your loads show a lot of double grouping there. Stating the obvious, but it would benefit you to adjust your oal..

Actually made a correction to my post that was missed. The 150 grain Ballistic tips were actually 125 grain Ballistic tip factory loads. Both the 125 and 150 grain BT loads shot fine in a bolt action with no pressure signs. Just have not clocked them in the current bolt action.

Made a trip to the range today to check IMR 4895 loads again, but they were not showing much potential.

The rifle does like the factory Hornady American Gunner 155 grain BTHPs. These are slow at 2482 fps, but seem to be accurate. The bottom load is H4895. Both groups were just under 3/4"



I have a hodgepodge of 155 grain bullets that I am going to test next.

What magazines do they use?

Looks like a pretty good shooter.

Factory trigger is pretty good, still, just dropped a trigger tech diamond in. Sploosh! 1.75#.