Ruger deserves credit for coming through the AR door with a gas-piston design. While the principal advantages of a gas-piston operating system no combustion gases entering the receiver and fouling up the works, and cooler operation for enhanced reliability and component life—are most pronounced in a combat environment, they also offer significant benefits to high-volume civilian shooters. Shortly after the introduction of the SR-556, I had the pleasure of expending lots of .223 Rem. ammo on a North Dakota prairie dog shoot put on by Ruger. In thousands of rounds fired over a three-day period—during which my rifle was never cleaned or even lubed—the SR-556 never missed a beat, and even more surprisingly, never lost its impressive, minute-of-P-dog precision. That’s about as close to a combat environment as guys like us will ever see, and the experience sold me on the merits of gas-piston-operated ARs.
The SR-762 is fitted with a chrome-lined, 16.12-inch barrel, which is cold-hammer-forged from 41V45 chrome-moly-vanadium steel and 6-grove rifled at a right hand twist rate of 1:10”. Between the gas block and the muzzle, the barrel appears to be of medium profile, but a closer inspection reveals that aft of the gas block it steps up in diameter considerably and wears a set of deep flutes to promote cooling. A Mini-14 style flash hider is threaded onto the business end with 5/8” x 24 threads that will accommodate almost any .30 caliber suppressor.
The SR-762 is, of course, built on the larger AR-10 size receivers, which are both dimensionally larger and heavier than their AR-15 platform counterparts. With most of its included goodies installed—two 3-inch/7-slot rail sections, two finger-groove rail covers, Ruger folding adjustable iron sights and one 20-round Magpul P-Mag—the SR-762 tipped the scales at 9 lbs. 3.4 oz., almost 10 oz. heavier than its advertised weight of 8.6 pounds. Two more 20-round P-Mags, one more finger-groove rail cover and a soft-sided, padded case come as standard equipment with the SR-762.
