Ruger SFAR 308 Win

Howdy y’all,

I recently purchased a Ruger SFAR. I have had to send it back twice to Ruger for warranty work within a month of owning it (yikes!). Ruger made good on the warranty work, first replacing the barrel and bolt carrier group and then replacing the adjustable gas block on the second return. I have shot multiple j- things through it, both factory and hand loads and accuracy has been lackluster, with only one hand load grouping one inch at 100 yards. Does anyone have suggestions as to an accurate load for this rifle, either cast (paper patch?) or jacketed?

"I have shot multiple j- things through it, both factory and hand loads and accuracy has been lackluster, with only one hand load grouping one inch at 100 yards."

Exactly what is meant by "lackluster" as in what was the load/ammo used? Sights? Number of shots in the "group" Range tested at? Position?

Also, how accurate (say with 10 shot groups at 100 yards) are we really expecting an SFAR to shoot? IMHO, if it will put 10 shots of Federal or Blackhills match 308W into 2" at 100 yards I'd call it an excellent shooter.

Larry,

Perhaps my expectations of accuracy from this rifle are a bit too high. It will group two inches at 100 yards with factory ammo. I did expect it to do better than one inch at 100 yards with Federal Gold 175 grain Sierra Matchkings, as well as my own hand loads with 168 grain match bullets. My son has an Adams Arms piston driven AR10 that will shoot that well and even better (and costs about $500 more), so I know such accuracy is possible from this general type of platform. I have taken the muzzle break off to take this out of the equation for the next trip to the range. Also, I plan to try it with the gas block set to zero (completely shut off) so that this will also be factored out. It will be interesting to see if these things make a difference.

I and my brother have put a few ar-10 together for the 308 platform with home built uppers with all of the upper end components, all three have been shooters doing 1/2 to 3/4 inch groups from a lead sled at 100 yds and maintaining that MOA to 600yds ,
A good load that has performed for us has been 46 gr. of Varget pushing a 155 gr palma match bullet from Sierra .

Understand that the SFAR is a considerable "lightened" AR frame. Thus, the expectation for it to perform as well as heavier frame ARs in 308W caliber may not be realistic.

Do you have the 20" barrel or the shorter one?

How rigid is the lightened and shortened upper and lower receiver on the SFAR? If the reduction in receiver size and weight was at the loss of rigidity of receivers, receiver flex could be a problem with accuracy of the system.

I dislike the AR 10 platform for the weight reasons. I just don't want to carry around a 10+ pound rifle.

I did put together two AR10s this past winter with cabon fiber handguards and buttstocks/receiver extensions. The 20" 260 rem weighs about 6.5 lbs without optics. The 16" .358 weighs a tad over 6 lbs sans optics.

Both are still unfired so I dont have any accuracy validation on either.

Both are full size frames although the .358 has a lightweight receiver and a lightened BCG.

ETA: I would not be happy with 2 MOA from any precision or semi-precision rifle. If it doesn't shoot better than that, down the road it goes. For a battle rifle, 2 or even 3 MOA is acceptable. I don't own any battle rifles. I like to precisely hit what I shoot at. If I miss, it was me, not the gun.

My Ruger SFAR is the 16" barrel version. The barrel is advertised to be a heavy barrel, as I recall.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1874Sharps

Howdy y’all,

I recently purchased a Ruger SFAR. I have had to send it back twice to Ruger for warranty work within a month of owning it (yikes!). Ruger made good on the warranty work, first replacing the barrel and bolt carrier group and then replacing the adjustable gas block on the second return. I have shot multiple j- things through it, both factory and hand loads and accuracy has been lackluster, with only one hand load grouping one inch at 100 yards. Does anyone have suggestions as to an accurate load for this rifle, either cast (paper patch?) or jacketed?

---

I'm new here, and thank you for the information. Could you please elaborate in more detail on the reasons for your barrel/BCG replacement, and your gas block issues? Was it machining, materials, build issues? I would appreciate any details you can provide. Thank you

ReconGuy,

First let me say welcome to the forum, it is good to have you. I bought my Ruger SFAR brand new and took it out to shoot and sight in with a new Leupold scope on it. It started to misfire within twenty rounds and accuracy was horrible (about four inches at 100 yards). The primers of the spent rounds had outward dimpled primers like a herniated belly button and some were actually blown out. I found the small discs of primers inside the bolt. That is why it started to misfire. I sent it back to Ruger and they replaced the barrel and BCG. I took it back out to the range and it functioned as advertised, although accuracy was only around 2 MOA at 100 yards. I then went to adjust the gas block to turn it down one click from "3" to setting "2" and found the gas block was locked up tight. I called Ruger and they said the rifle would have to be returned once more because the gas block could not be simply replaced, but had to be fit to the barrel. That is how all they warranty issues went. I will say that I love Ruger products and have a number of them and have always been very happy with them. The SFAR I bought has had a most inauspicious beginning.

Gentlemen:

I took the SFAR out today and shot it without the muzzle break on the end of the barrel and also turned off the gas block (setting "0") to see if this would have any effect on accuracy. I must say Ruger designed a most effective muzzle break, as the recoil without it on the barrel was significantly and surprisingly higher. I shot a variety of loads through it and saw a pattern develop. With both factory and hand loads most of the time two of three shots (usually the first two of three shots fired) impacted within an inch or less of each other and then the third shot was a flyer, opening the group up to 2" to 2 1 /2". I cannot come up with a good theory as to why this is happening. The front
"forestock" is free-floated from the factory. I suppose I can check all the screws to see if it is on there good and tight, but outside of this, I am not sure where go from here. I do not shoot much AR guns because I enjoy the old stuff a bit more and therein lies the bulk of my experience. Do any of you have any ideas?

Sounds like the barrel is heating up and throwing shots. Shoot some three shot groups or a 5 shot group letting the barrel cool between shots.

1874Sharps,
Thank you for the info. I wonder what was going on in that chamber to cause such an issue?

Regarding your groups: I had a similar thing happen with an M-14 Crazy Horse SEI was working on. I could shoot a 10 shot group in which 5 shots would be sub moa in one spot, and 5 shots would be sub moa about 4" low and right of the other 5. I sent it to Ron and their group was the same... couldn't figure it out. I think he ended up discussing it with a gentleman at Camp Perry and discovered that the barrel was shifting slightly in the receiver every shot. So, every other shot went directly into group A, and every other shot wet directly into group B - both groups moa. This rifle was built on a Springfield receiver, a new LRB receiver fixed it. Just a thought, but whenever I get shifting shot patterns now, I always analyze by shooting higher round groups. Just a thought...

3 shots don't really tell you anything. I'd shoot a 10 round group, marking where each shot goes (1 through 10). Then you might be able to get an idea as to why it is not doing well.

I take several shots to foul the barrel and warm it up a little before I shoot a group or target. I do keep track of what goes on with the first 5 as well. The first round rarely goes into the same group as the next 4 or 5. Sometimes it is off by a little, sometimes more.

Here is an example. (200yd group, cast 210gn, .308win)

Attachment 307879

Gentlemen:

I took the SFAR back out to the range today and made a stunning discovery. I reinstalled the muzzle break on the barrel and as I did I thought of the Browning BOSS system that Browning came out with decades ago. Browning devised this adjustable muzzle break system so that the break could be adjusted up and down the end of the barrel over around a 3/4" range. This allowed a shooter to find the "sweet spot" to optimize accuracy for a given load. Therefore, I reinstalled the muzzle break on the SFAR about 1/4" from the original position. Everything else remained the same.

I shot the same loads today but this time I got five shot groups around an inch at 100 yards, with the best load coming in under one inch. Amazing what a difference such a seemingly small adjustment made! I hope this information will be helpful for the rest of you, especially those who may be grappling with an SFAR accuracy issue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1874Sharps

I reinstalled the muzzle break on the SFAR about 1/4" from the original position.

---

I assumed that it's just threaded onto the muzzle on 5/8 x 24 threads. How did you make the 1/4" adjustment? Did you just leave it unscrewed a few threads?

Yes, the threads are standard 5/8X24 inch and there is a longer threaded length than the minimum required for the brake and lock nut. I just realized I have been misspelling “brake” in my posts!