Ruger found, however, that it couldnвЂ™t just scale down the M14 a substantial number of engineering changes were necessary to create a reliable rifle. Of course, the Mini-14 was a semi-auto chambered for the. military rifle-though it was being replaced by the M16-in the late 1960s when Ruger began work on the Mini-14.

From the beginning, the Mini-14 was intended to look like a scaled-down version of the M14 rifle, which was still the standard U.S. вЂњThe Mini-14 proved less expensive than the M16 and was less вЂњaggressiveвЂќ in appearance, an important consideration with many law enforcement agenciesвЂ¦вЂќДЇirst, however, I need to say a bit about the AC-556вЂ™s progenitor, the Ruger Mini-14 carbine ( Click here to read a review of the Mini-14). Ruger did offer an earlier select-fire weapon, though, that was more successful in the law enforcement market-the AC-556.

Based on my tests of this SMG, it was a sound design, but since it was strictly a military and LE item, the limited market was already committed to the HK MP5. In the mid-1990s, for example, Ruger introduced the MP9 submachine gun, which was only in production for a couple of years. The companyвЂ™s primary military and law enforcement sales have been of handguns, though Ruger has made short forays into the tactical long gun market. Ruger has traditionally concentrated on the civilian market and, to some extent, the military and law enforcement market.

Stainless steel assault rifle