Will be meeting with my local Class III dealer in a week or so and interested in subject carbine and curious what the going market price is these days?? Don't see many of them, but my dealer did tell me that legal owner can send back to Ruger for repairs if needed and they do very good work on them. All input appreciated.

I bought one about 25 years ago for $800. I'm also curious about what the price is these days. I have no idea.

Spoke with my dealer today and prices vary from 5 to 7,000.00 depending on condition. He highly recommends the Ruger due to the no hassle service by Ruger. Claims they are one of the most trouble free of all out there for the dollar spent. You can also do a search and see some available and they are in that price range.

I own a Ruger AC556. Love it. Try subguns.com classified section to see going prices. Last I looked $7K would be low but with the recession etc who knows?
Peter.

Priced 6 grand to about 6800.00 on gunbroker. Even at that price not many move. Yes, they are a good value for the money spent but they don't have the "cool" factor like M16's or MP44 etc. The MAC's for 3000.00 - 3500.00 are the sellers. Cheap full auto play-things that are easy to sell for what you paid. Even the knock-off Uzi's sell pretty well for 4 grand...but the Israeli made ones sit for their much higher price tag. Lots of other cheaper made full auto's on there too for 4-5 grand. Priced right cool factor guns are the sellers. I have an early stainless mini w/ the GB barrel and wood stock and like it alot...but I can't afford to feed a full auto version the way I play.

I have owned all four versions of the Ruger AC 556, the standard blue, the folding stock blue, the standard stainless, and the folding stock stainless. I will never own another. All of mine failed in short order, and all were brand new when I bought them (through a police department, which transferred them to me back when that was legal).

The part of the ACC system which failed on each was the selector assembly which gives the options of semi-auto, full-auto and 3-shot burst.

At the times I had mine, Ruger would not sell ANY parts made specifically for the AC556 to ANY civilian as a matter of firm policy. Apparently that policy has now changed, according to what I read here.

As a result, I lost any desire to fiddle with and keep them; looking around for parts was a major PITA. Sold my last one 5 years ago for $500 to "Machine Gun Mike" of Bend, Oregon vicinity. I know he resold it for multiples of that, but I don't care. I don't like unreliable firearms.

Same reason I eventually sold my Maremont M-60 which I had also owned since new. (Got it in the original packing (box, plastic bag, and foil pouch, each unopened, with the spare barrel, glove, and comic book included.) It never failed me, but its reputation for breakage was so poor, parts prices become so high, and sale value rose so much, I finally just put it on the counter, took the money and ran...I had only paid a bit over $2,000 for mine new and, obviously, I sold it for a great deal more than that.

For a home defense gun I'd prefer either a Thompson or a Sten(ch) gun, both of which I have owned, or possibly an M-3 like the one I had in the 1950s and which never even burped, let alone failed.. For anything longer range, I'd not want a full-auto.

YMMV, obviously.

I am not in that market, had enough of them in Vietnam.

The M-16 still seems to hold value, and the only thing out there that is easier to work on would be the AK.

Ruger seems to have a running contest with their products. Whether any will actually be sold before the first recall is announced.

Rich