Thanks to a fellow INGOer I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend a week with the Ruger SFAR .308.
The rifle was brand new and he wanted the barrel broke in. I was itching to try one out so it worked out good for both of us. But due to that, this review doesn’t have much shooting only 20 rounds and a lot of field stripping / cleaning.
Initial thoughts…
This thing is LIGHT! And NIMBLE! Fit and finish seemed up to par. Immediately fell in love with it. Couldn’t believe it chambers the potent 308 in such a handy package.
So I take it down for initial cleaning. Something I notice is there are a lot of holes I’m not used to seeing
I’m very curious about the R&D phase of this rifle, what worked / what didn’t. But I’m willing to bet these vents are everywhere for good reason.
The bolt carrier group is interesting and seems well made albeit with several unique features to make eating .308 possible in the shorter footprint. I’m told Ruger is using a special alloy of steel to get enough strength in the bolt itself. From my understanding of firearms design and machining this does make me wonder how fine of a line they are walking to get the SFAR this small.
However they all have to pass a proof load much hotter than commercial ammo, and I’ve seen several reviews with hundreds of rounds down the pipe.... also this one DIDN’T blow up … so I’m willing to bet the rifle is plenty strong enough for the average shooter.
But you wouldn’t catch me using bubbas ziplock bag of reloads with the SFAR.
I took it to the range and started my break in of cleaning every shot, up to 15 shots. Rifle was quite tight fitting initially, and wore in nicely towards the end of the session. Bore progressively got easier to clean as the break in process continued. I dialed the optic as I was shooting so that it would be zeroed for him when I was done.
Shooting the 16" barrel w/ 2 port break was LOUD but quite pleasant with less recoil than expected. Trigger was decent, not too heavy. At 50 yards the rounds were all clustered nicely within about 1.25 inch. I don’t expect these to sub minute rifles. Other reviews I saw were around 2-3moa. To me this is acceptable given the portable nature of this rifle. If I wanted a sub minute 308 I would just get a 12 pound bull barrel bolt gun.
The SFAR has an adjustable gas block. I never needed to mess with it. But several others have needed to. Which brings us to my only complaint. The factory gas block / handguard combo doesn’t leave enough clearance and I suspect they may “whip” each other during firing which could be why accuracy is what it is.
The good news is that both the handguard and gas block are swappable with standard AR 15 components. Charging handles are also swappable with AR15s as well.
All in all I was very happy with this rifle and it’s a steal for $1000 compared to its POF competitor. It ruined my expectations of legacy AR10 designs and has set a new standard expectation of what a .308 can be! It was a game changer for me and likely this experience will cause me to buy one myself.
What’s INGOs thoughts and experiences with the SFAR?
ruger.com
The rifle was brand new and he wanted the barrel broke in. I was itching to try one out so it worked out good for both of us. But due to that, this review doesn’t have much shooting only 20 rounds and a lot of field stripping / cleaning.
Initial thoughts…
This thing is LIGHT! And NIMBLE! Fit and finish seemed up to par. Immediately fell in love with it. Couldn’t believe it chambers the potent 308 in such a handy package.
So I take it down for initial cleaning. Something I notice is there are a lot of holes I’m not used to seeing
I’m very curious about the R&D phase of this rifle, what worked / what didn’t. But I’m willing to bet these vents are everywhere for good reason.
The bolt carrier group is interesting and seems well made albeit with several unique features to make eating .308 possible in the shorter footprint. I’m told Ruger is using a special alloy of steel to get enough strength in the bolt itself. From my understanding of firearms design and machining this does make me wonder how fine of a line they are walking to get the SFAR this small.
However they all have to pass a proof load much hotter than commercial ammo, and I’ve seen several reviews with hundreds of rounds down the pipe.... also this one DIDN’T blow up … so I’m willing to bet the rifle is plenty strong enough for the average shooter.
But you wouldn’t catch me using bubbas ziplock bag of reloads with the SFAR.
I took it to the range and started my break in of cleaning every shot, up to 15 shots. Rifle was quite tight fitting initially, and wore in nicely towards the end of the session. Bore progressively got easier to clean as the break in process continued. I dialed the optic as I was shooting so that it would be zeroed for him when I was done.
Shooting the 16" barrel w/ 2 port break was LOUD but quite pleasant with less recoil than expected. Trigger was decent, not too heavy. At 50 yards the rounds were all clustered nicely within about 1.25 inch. I don’t expect these to sub minute rifles. Other reviews I saw were around 2-3moa. To me this is acceptable given the portable nature of this rifle. If I wanted a sub minute 308 I would just get a 12 pound bull barrel bolt gun.
The SFAR has an adjustable gas block. I never needed to mess with it. But several others have needed to. Which brings us to my only complaint. The factory gas block / handguard combo doesn’t leave enough clearance and I suspect they may “whip” each other during firing which could be why accuracy is what it is.
The good news is that both the handguard and gas block are swappable with standard AR 15 components. Charging handles are also swappable with AR15s as well.
All in all I was very happy with this rifle and it’s a steal for $1000 compared to its POF competitor. It ruined my expectations of legacy AR10 designs and has set a new standard expectation of what a .308 can be! It was a game changer for me and likely this experience will cause me to buy one myself.
What’s INGOs thoughts and experiences with the SFAR?
Ruger® SFAR™ Autoloading Rifle Models
ruger.com
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