Ruger released an update to the company’s SR-556 Takedown rifle. The new Takedown gun replaces the quad rail forend with a KeyMod model. The result is a gun that is 1/2 a pound lighter. The original gun weighed 7.6 pounds while the new gun weighs only 7.1 pounds. Additionally, the front end of the rifle is thinner, which may make it easier for some shooters to hold.

I recently had a SR-556 Takedown for review and found the gun was a bit front end heavy. I like the idea of going to an alternative accessory rail like the KeyMod to lighten the load and shift the gun balance farther back.

The Takedown gun is designed to allow the barrel to be removed by pulling down on a tab and twisting the barrel to unlock it. Broken down in this way, the gun can be stored in a smaller package than just removing the upper from the lower. Additionally, a shooter can install a 300 BLK barrel and run a .30 caliber cartridge from the same package.

Concerns about maintaining zero with an optic when removing the barrel are reasonable. If you are shooting with the iron sights, all of the adjustments are made to the front sight, which is attached to the barrel. In my testing, I found the iron sights kept zero when swapping barrels back and forth.