Cool NYPD photo, odd gun, ac556? SBR GB?

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

Here’s a photo I came across of some NYPD swat officers, one of them has a mini, looks similar to an AC556 but the barrel is a bit longer and I don’t see the fire selector switch. Did Ruger ever offer a semi auto SBR version of the GB with the gas block front sight for law enforcement ?? What am I looking at in this pic??

 

[slimshady]

A quick search yields a few more pics of that or a similar rifle being used by NYPD. Looks like the Ruger was their standard issue rifle before they transitioned to the M4 after 9/11.

The full size seem to be a mix of regular and GB models. I would assume their ESU/SWAT officers would have the AC556 version. All the pictures are too small and grainy to get a detailed look.

Never heard of an SBR factory mini but since that is the first one I've seen I would say they didn't catalog them otherwise it would be more widely distributed among LE and show up more.

Anyway I see a few possibilities. A prestigious org like NYPD wants to buy thousands of your rifle/MGs you market to LE agencies, you give them what they want. Not only to make that sale, but all the other agencies who want to be as cool as they are will want them too. They want some uncataloged shorty semi autos for issue to normal cops, why not? At the manufacturing stage you just substitute a gas block and bbl assembly on the regular mini 14 line and drop it into a folder stock. Minimal cost.

Or you're a bored NYPD armorer with some time on your hands, some AC556 spare parts, and a "wouldn't it be cool if..." thought process.

Or?

 

[KickStand]

I wonder if that’s pinned FH. If so, it might be right at 16”, as the barrel is longer than the K models of 13”.
I haven’t seen anything like this from Ruger though.
The French had a contract with Ruger and were able to make their version of the mini-14/ac-556 under license too. They have a couple of small changes but are generally the same.


Interesting!

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

I wonder if that’s pinned FH. If so, it might be right at 16”, as the barrel is longer than the K models of 13”.
I haven’t seen anything like this from Ruger though.
The French had a contract with Ruger and were able to make their version of the mini-14/ac-556 under license too. They have a couple of small changes but are generally the same.


Interesting!

I’ve seen the French guns in photos. There are some good photos of them in use on Google images. This rifle appears to be a bit shorter than 16”, the new tactical model minis have 16” barrels, this gun appears to be shorter, around 14.5”, though it’s possible the FH is pinned to 16”, I tend to doubt it.

If these guns were made specifically under contract for the NYPD there would be no need to circumvent the NFA laws in this way when providing firearms for a law enforcement agency.

Im guessing this is a special order rifle made for the NYPD. They must have wanted it with a short barrel and folding stock to keep it compact given the tight quarters of many NYC apartment buildings etc.

My best guess is that with a barrel that short Ruger felt it made more sense to utilize the AC556 gas block front sight instead of mounting the sight to the barrel…

Here’s a pic of the newer 16” tactical model for comparison

 

[KickStand]

If they did a contract for a short barreled mini 14, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just use the K barrels. At this time period, Ruger had a stock of old ac-556 parts too. That’s why I’m guessing it’s a pinned FH but I could be wrong.
It appears the barrel is around 15” though (give it take) but it’s definitely longer than the K barrel.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see these guns on the market one day. If so, it’ll shed a lot more light on them.

 

[slimshady]

I found an auction for a GB model once owned by the NYPD chief. Description says NYPD marked guns are rare because they were destroyed except for a few bought by the upper brass.

 

[MitchWerbellsGhost87]

If they did a contract for a short barreled mini 14, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just use the K barrels. At this time period, Ruger had a stock of old ac-556 parts too. That’s why I’m guessing it’s a pinned FH but I could be wrong.
It appears the barrel is around 15” though (give it take) but it’s definitely longer than the K barrel.
Who knows, maybe we’ll see these guns on the market one day. If so, it’ll shed a lot more light on them.

Definitely longer than the K Barrel for sure but not as long as the 16” tactical. My best guess is also 14-15, but I can’t imagine any law enforcement agency receiving rifles with pinned muzzle devices to keep them from being NFA, I don’t think law enforcement agencies have to worry much about this? I don’t know what the procedure is for them to acquire NFA firearms etc but I can say that every single one of the patrol carbines in the local police cruisers here is an M4 (not sure if they’re select fire or not) with a short 11.5” barrel with a suppressor, so it doesn’t seem like NFA is much of a concern for law enforcement agencies, so I don’t see why they would even have to worry about pinning the FH to reach that 16” requirement… besides maybe less paperwork for the big wigs to do… regardless, this is a damn cool gun, I like that barrel length a lot!

 

[slimshady]

LE simply order whatever they want and it is transferred to them tax free. Never heard of ATF doing anything but rubber stamping them through until recently when they started cracking down on some departments abusing the dealer sample letters to get their friends obviously non LE things like an MG34 or STG44.

 

[KickStand]

LE simply order whatever they want and it is transferred to them tax free. Never heard of ATF doing anything but rubber stamping them through until recently when they started cracking down on some departments abusing the dealer sample letters to get their friends obviously non LE things like an MG34 or STG44.

Definitely longer than the K Barrel for sure but not as long as the 16” tactical. My best guess is also 14-15, but I can’t imagine any law enforcement agency receiving rifles with pinned muzzle devices to keep them from being NFA, I don’t think law enforcement agencies have to worry much about this? I don’t know what the procedure is for them to acquire NFA firearms etc but I can say that every single one of the patrol carbines in the local police cruisers here is an M4 (not sure if they’re select fire or not) with a short 11.5” barrel with a suppressor, so it doesn’t seem like NFA is much of a concern for law enforcement agencies, so I don’t see why they would even have to worry about pinning the FH to reach that 16” requirement… besides maybe less paperwork for the big wigs to do… regardless, this is a damn cool gun, I like that barrel length a lot!

My counter to those statements would be “Why wouldn’t they just get AC-556K’s then?”


I don’t think we’ll truly know until more information comes out about them. We’re just guessing but some good ideas regardless.

 

[slimshady]

NYPD went with Glock 19s because they didn't trust their cops with 17 rds. You don't issue MGs to anyone but SWAT. Uniforms get semi only and probably only in emergencies. FBI did the same thing with their mp5s using the semi only "FBI trigger group".