Ruger SR-762 Review: Part 3 - External and Operational Features

Ruger SR-762 Rifle Review
Part 3 - External & Operational Features
February 10, 2014

In this part of my review, I take a close look at the external and operational features of the Ruger SR-762 Rifle. These next four photos show the rifle with a DPMS 20-round magazine and bipod installed. The bipod does not come with the rifle and is shown in these photos to help support the rifle. Basically, the SR-762 is an AR-10 styled rifle in a flat top configuration. The finish on the rifle is either a black hardcoat anodized on the aluminum components or a manganese phosphate finish on the steel components.

Figure 1

The rifle is chambered in 7.62 NATO / 308 WIN and comes with a set of Samson metallic flip-up sights (more details later). Ruger chose to use their smooth sided adaptable handguard which is similar to that used on their SR-556E and SR-556VT rifles and this handguard has a slim feel which seems to be a growing trend in the market and has become a personal preference of mine.

Figure 2

The rifle comes with Ruger's standard M4-style 6-position polymer buttstock and a Hogue Monogrip pistol grip which happens to be another one of my favorite grips.

Figure 3

Figure 4

These next four photos are the same from Part 2 and give a good look at the plan views of the SR-762 rifle.

Figure 5

Without sights and magazine, the SR-762 measures 7.37" in height. Including the flip-up sights, the overall height would match the specification height of 8.0". The overall length of the rifle measured 34.95" with the buttstock fully collapsed and 38.38" with the buttstock fully extended.

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

The SR-762 weighed in at 8.46 pounds without sights, handguard accessories and magazine, which was just under the 8.60 pounds stated in the specifications.

Figure 9

With all the accessories and a full 20-round magazine, the rifle weighed in at 10.56 pounds. If you choose to add an optical sight, you can count on adding about another pound to the setup.

Figure 10

These next photos give you a breakdown of the accessory weights.

Figure 11 Figure 12

Figure 13 - Magazine Empty Figure 14 - Magazine Full 168gr BTHP

Ruger's initial offering (I say initial in hopes of other variants in the future) of the SR-762 comes with a 16.12" length chrome-lined cold hammer forged barrel made from 41V45 chrome-moly-vanadium steel. Using a cleaning rod, I measured 18.00" from the bolt face to the end of the flash hider and 16.31" from the bolt face to the end of the barrel.

Figure 15

In an effort to reduce mass at the front end of the rifle and to allow increased cooling surface area of the barrel, the portion of the barrel under the handguard is fluted at 6 positions radially around the barrel. You can see one of the flutes by looking through the cutouts in the handguard shown in the photo below.

Figure 16

The barrel portion forward of the gas block measures about 0.70" in diameter. The diameter under the handguard seems to be about 0.85" in diameter. The photo below gives you a good look at the front end of the rifle showing the front sight, gas block, barrel and flash hider.

Figure 17

Ruger included their standard flash suppressor on this rifle and it seems that there has been a change to their standard. Their .30 caliber flash suppressor now includes a set of 3/4" wrench flats to allow for an easier removal. I'm glad to see Ruger make this change and I hope they did the same on their .22 caliber suppressors as well.

Figure 18

Ruger also included a crush washer under the flash suppressor. Based on this rifle, it didn't seem like there was much effort put into precisely clocking the suppressor features with the top of the barrel. Since the suppressor has a uniform shape around the circumference, perfectly clocking is not required to achieve maximum performance.

Figure 19

The exposed barrel length forward of the gas block measures about 3.55". The gas block includes a 6-slot Picatinny rail section measuring about 3.2" on the upper surface.

Figure 20

The top of the barrel is stamped with the caliber and twist rifling twist rate, "7.62 NATO / 308 WIN 1-10". The 1-10 twist rate will allow you to shoot longer/heavier bullets and you should be able to shoot the 175/178 grain bullets without issue.

Figure 21

The gas block houses a multi-port gas regulator and gas piston. The regulator is retained from rotating by the small spring clip that rests in a detent in the regulator. In the photo below, you can also see the head of the regulator retention pin.

Figure 22

The hole in the bottom of the gas block appears to be a staking hole to stake the rear gas block pin to prevent the pin from ever working it's way out of the gas block.

Figure 23

The bottom of the barrel has Ruger's typical statement "BEFORE USING READ INSTRUCTION MANUAL" and their name and manufacturing location "RUGER NEWPORT, NH U. S. A."

Figure 24

The tail of the regulator pin has a dimple so you can use a bullet tip to press the pin to start the pin moving. For the "as received" clean rifle, I was able to press the head of the pin with my thumbnail to start the pin moving.

Figure 25

The top of the gas block has an arrow which points at the gas regulator. In the photo, the gas regulator is set at position "2". Also notice in the photo below that the handguard makes firm contact with the gas block. The barrel is not free floated.

Figure 26

You can use a cartridge or other object to rotate/adjust the regulator. It was possible, but difficult to rotate the regulator using my fingers only.

Figure 27

The regulator has five distinct positions. The position "0" does not let any gas pass from the barrel to the piston. In this position, the rifle will function like a single shot and you will have to manually clear and recharge the chamber after each shot. Positions 1, 2 and 3 allow for gas to pass from the barrel to the piston and diameter of the gas port increases with each number. The position identified by the "arrow" is used for removal of the gas regulator.

Figure28 Figure 29 Figure 30 Figure 31 Figure 32
Ruger SR-762 Review

Ruger chose to use the same basic handguard as their SR-556E and SR-556VT rifles which has a simple slim profile and includes an integral upper Picatinny rail. This handguard is made from aluminum and has a black anodized finish with the Ruger logo and "RUGER" stenciled on the right side near the receiver.

Figure 33

The SR-762 comes with two 3 inch sections of Picatinny rail which can be incorporated at various positions along the handguard at the 3, 6 & 9 o'clock locations. The rifle also comes with three 5.75" rail covers. The photo below shows the rails and covers installed.

Figure 34

The top slots in the Picatinny rail on the handguard are marked in a white lettering with the typical markings (i.e. T20, T22, etc.). The handguard measured 1.75" in width.

Figure 35

The height of the handguard measured 2.40" to the top of the rail. The overall length of the handguard was ~10.94". Each side and the bottom of the handguard is drilled and tapped with holes to allow mounting the short 3" rail sections at up to 4 different locations along the rail. You can also use these holes to mount the rail covers that come with the rifle.

Figure 36

At the rear bottom of the handguard, you can see the two handguard mounting screws that tighten the handguard against the barrel nut. After trying to look down the handguard and studying the Owner's Manual, it appears the barrel nut is a custom nut designed to support this handguard.

Figure 37

Since I didn't remove the handguard and the Owner's Manual states that the handguard "must be factory fitted", I had to speculate based on studying the external geometry and manual that the rear bushing that goes between the upper receiver rail and handguard rail is also used to help pin the two parts together. The two roll pins appear to serve the pinning purpose.

Figure 38

For me, the real differences between the SR-762 and SR-556 rifles becomes evident when you start looking at the size of the upper and lower receivers. The first thing that stands out is that you have a 16 slot upper rail on the SR-762 compared to a 13 slot upper rail on the SR-556. Clearly you need additional receiver length to accommodate the 7.62 NATO / 308 WIN caliber. This extra rail length on the upper receiver should allow more flexibility when mounting optics to achieve proper eye relief.

Figure 39

Ruger has produced a full featured AR style rifle by including a forward assist, case deflector and ejection port cover into the upper receiver. Both the upper and lower receivers are forged from 7075-T6 aluminum and hard coat anodized like most other quality AR style rifles. You can see the forging marks on both the upper and lower receivers. Ruger did a quality job cleaning up the receiver forgings to create very smooth and blended surfaces. The lower receiver also includes a full mag fence which seems to be the standard for todays modern AR styled rifles. The full fence helps to prevent accidental pressing the magazine release button located on the right side of the lower receiver.

Figure 40

The lower receiver includes an integral trigger guard with a straight/flat profile. The Hogue® Monogrip® is hollow to allow for storing various items such as batteries provided you purchase the correct Hogue Cargo accessories.

Figure 41

With the ejection port cover open and with the bolt closed, you can see the Ruger logo located on the chrome-plated bolt carrier.

Figure 42

The ejection port cover latches in the closed position just like you would expect on an AR styled rifle.

Figure 43

The photo below shows looking into the upper receiver through the ejection port with the bolt open.

Figure 44

This next photo shows a 20-round magazine loaded and inserted into the rifle. If you look carefully in this photo, you can see the M4 styled feed ramps in the upper receiver and barrel extension.

Figure 45

The controls on the left side of the lower receiver are the bolt release and two position safety. Like most other lower receivers, the left side markings include the manufacturer logo, name, model number, manufacturing location, serial number and Safe/Fire markings. The SR-762 comes with one of my favorite grips, the Hogue® Monogrip®. This grip has a rubber texture and stippling which provides for a no-slip grip. Ruger has these Hogue grips custom made with the Ruger logo on each side of the grip.

Figure 46

Although longer than a typical AR-15 style handle, the charging handle appears to be similar in style and operation to a normal AR charging handle. Note that the photo below does not show the handle fully rearward.

Figure 47

The trigger pull measured 8.65 pounds based on the average of 10 pulls using a Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Gauge. This pull weight falls on the high end of the standard 5.5 to 9.5 pounds for an M4 rifle (ref. TM 9-1005-319-23&P). The trigger pull starts out with immediate resistance and has some creep until it breaks fairly crisp. After it breaks, there is a slight amount of overtravel. If I were planning to use this rifle primarily for engaging longer range targets, I would probably be in search for an aftermarket trigger to get the pull weight down to a range of 3 to 5 pounds. If my plan for this rifle were to be primarily shorter range targets where I'm on the move, this pull weight would be livable.

Figure 48

The SR-762 has a flared magazine well to allow for quick magazine changes.

Figure 49

Figure 50

The Ruger SR-762 comes with a 6-position Mil-Spec buffer tube and M4 styled buttstock. These photos below show the buttstock in the fully extended configuration. In this position, the rifle has a maximum length of pull of about 14.9".

Figure 51

Other than the addition of the Ruger logo, the buttstock is very simple. The two features to point out are the sling attachment ring at the toe and the slot to attach a web sling if desired.

Figure 52

Figure 53

The rifle comes with a quality set of Sampson Flip-Up Front and Rear Sights.

Figure 54

The Ruger website shows these sights with the Sampson name actually on the sights. I believe Ruger must have worked out a deal with Sampson so that only the Ruger logo is now shown on the sights. The below lists the features of these sights from the Sampson website.

All sights are made from 6061 aluminum mil-spec hardcoat anodized for durability.
All of the sights lock in both deployed and folded positions. Sight locks in the up deployed position. Sight is held in place in the folded position by some type of detent system, but the sight can be easily deployed without pressing any button.
The spring mechanism is quite durable and is completely concealed to prevent fouling from dirt.
The dual aperture rear BUIS has a conventional large and small aperture.
The sight deploys with the large aperture.

The front post can be adjusted for elevation with the adjustment tool provided by Ruger.

Figure 55 Figure 56

The rear sight comes with two aperture diameters and can be adjusted for windage.

Figure 57 Figure 58
Ruger SR-762 Review

These next two photos give you a fair idea of the sight picture with each aperture. In reality, your eye will be much closer to the rear sight which exposes the full front sight and a wider field of view when looking through the aperture.

Figure 59 Figure 60

I added a full set of photos for the sights just to make the review complete and give you a better idea of what you are getting. MSRP on this pair of sights is about $205 from Sampson and clearly adds cost to the rifle. I feel sure that Ruger's buying power allows them to include these sights in this rifle package at a savings to the consumer and the addition of these sights allows you to have a fully shoot-able battle rifle.

Figure 61 Figure 62 Figure 63 Figure 64

Figure 65 Figure 66 Figure 67 Figure 68

Figure 69

The Ruger SR-762 I received came with three 20-round DPMS magazines. The Ruger website and many original press release articles show and state the rife comes with three Magpul 20-round PMAGs. Since the original press release, it seems that Ruger feels these metal magazines provide better reliability in this rifle. For me, reliability and durability are the key factors when it comes to magazines and if Ruger has completed enough testing to determine that these metal magazines are more reliable, then these are the ones I want to own.

Figure 70

Figure 71 Figure 72 Figure 73 Figure 74

Figure 75 Figure 76

This next photo shows the magazine loaded with some 168gr BTHP Match ammunition.

Figure 77

Thoughts

After doing a detailed study of the external and operational features of the Ruger SR-762, I can honestly say the rifle exhibits quality craftsmanship. This AR-10 styled rifle has all the features you would expect on an AR styled battle rifle. The only aspect that stands out is that the trigger pull is on the high end of an acceptable range for an M4 style rifle according to military specification. I like the addition of the Sampson sights and love the Hogue grips. For my preference, I wish Ruger had included a forward sling swivel stud on the front lower portion of the handguard, but that is an easy and cheap feature to add myself.

For more detailed photos and commentary, make sure you check out the other parts of this review and feel free to leave comments on my Reader's Comments page. The following links are provided to help you see other parts of this review.

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