Semi-Auto Rifle Rust: SAR Stats, Recipe, Ammo & AK Compare

If one gun defines the middle of a wipe in Rust, it is the Semi-Automatic Rifle. Players just call it the SAR, and for good reason: it is the first real rifle most of us can craft, it feeds on the same cheap 5.56 as the AK, and unlike the automatics above it, there is no spray pattern to memorise. You point, you tap, and geared players start taking real damage. It is the bridge between the pistols and Thompson of day one and the assault rifle you are grinding toward.

The best way to understand the semi auto rifle in Rust is as the poor man’s AK. It does 40 damage a shot to the AK’s 50, holds 16 rounds instead of 30, and craves only a Workbench 2 rather than a Workbench 3. In exchange for those trade-offs it costs a fraction as much, it is far easier to shoot accurately, and it takes the exact same attachments the AK does. A holosight, a silencer, an 8x scope: they all bolt straight onto the SAR. That last point is the whole reason the gun scales into the mid game while a Thompson or a pistol does not.

This Semi-Auto Rifle Rust guide covers everything worth knowing: the real verified stats, the full crafting recipe and how to unlock it, where to loot one, all four 5.56 ammo types, the attachments that make it special, exactly how many shots it takes to kill, how it stacks up against the Thompson, LR-300 and AK, and what a spare recycles for. Every number here is checked against the Facepunch wiki, RustClash and Corrosion Hour, not guessed.

• What It Is
• SAR Stats
• How to Craft It
• How to Get One
• Attachments
• Ammo Types
• Shots to Kill
• How to Use It
• SAR vs AK vs LR-300
• Recycle Value
• Pro Tips
• FAQ

What Is the Semi-Auto Rifle in Rust?

The Semi-Automatic Rifle is Rust’s mid-tier workhorse rifle, a semi-auto 5.56 gun that sits above the Thompson and Custom SMG but below the automatic rifles. Its shortname in the game files is rifle.semiauto, and it is the first gun most players reach that feels like a proper rifle: accurate at range, hard hitting per shot, and fully modular. If the Thompson is your first bulk-fire gun, the SAR is your first precision one.

What makes it matter is where it lands on the cost curve. It needs only a Workbench 2, which most groups have up within the first day or two, and its blueprint is a cheap 60 scrap. Yet it hits for 40 a shot with a razor-tight aim cone, so a calm player landing taps will out-damage a panicking one spraying an AK. Because it is semi-automatic, your rate of fire is capped by how fast and accurately you can click, and that removes the single biggest skill barrier in Rust gunplay: the AK’s recoil pattern. There is nothing to learn. You just aim well.

The catch is raw ceiling. At 40 damage with a 343 RPM click cap, the SAR cannot match the sustained output of an AK or the fire rate of an LR-300 in a close-range brawl. It is outgunned in a spray fight. But it wins the fights it is designed for: measured, mid-range duels where the first two or three clean taps decide everything. That, plus its low cost and full attachment support, is why the SAR is one of the most-used guns in the entire game.

Semi-Auto Rifle Rust Stats

Here are the full, verified Rust SAR stats. Damage is per body shot with standard 5.56 Rifle Ammo; a headshot doubles it to 80.

The numbers to remember are the 0.25 degree aim cone and the Workbench 2 requirement. That aim cone is what separates the SAR from every cheaper gun: tapped shots go exactly where your sights are, so it reaches out further and more reliably than a Thompson ever will. And needing only a Workbench 2 means you can be running a modded, accurate rifle days before anyone on the server touches an AK.

How to Craft the Semi-Auto Rifle in Rust

The SAR is a Workbench 2 craft. You need two things: the blueprint unlocked, and the parts in your inventory. Only one of those parts is ever a real hurdle.

The recipe. One Semi-Automatic Rifle costs 450 Metal Fragments, 4 High Quality Metal, 1 Metal Spring and 1 Semi Automatic Body at a Workbench Level 2, and the craft takes 30 seconds (15 seconds at a Workbench 3). The fragments and HQM are ordinary mid-wipe materials. The two components, the Metal Spring and especially the Semi Automatic Body, are what gate the gun.

1. Unlock the blueprint. The SAR is not known by default. Put one on a research table with 60 scrap to learn it, or unlock it on the Workbench 2 tech tree. Sixty scrap is cheap for a rifle that lasts the whole wipe.
2. Get a Semi Automatic Body. This is a component, not something you smelt. You loot Semi Automatic Bodies from crates, barrels and dead scientists, or recycle other semi-auto guns to recover them. On most wipes this is the single part you are waiting on.
3. Get a Metal Spring. Springs come from recycling road signs, gears, sewing kits and other components, and are looted from the same crates. You want a small stockpile of them for rifles and other high-tier crafts.
4. Gather fragments and HQM. 450 Metal Fragments and 4 High Quality Metal is a modest ask by the time you have a Workbench 2. HQM comes from smelting High Quality Metal Ore in a furnace.
5. Craft it. With the blueprint learned and all four parts in hand, queue the SAR at any Workbench 2. Thirty seconds later you have a rifle.

How to Get a Semi-Auto Rifle in Rust

There are two routes to a SAR, and which one you take depends on how far into the wipe you are.

Craft it (the reliable way). Once you have a Workbench 2, the blueprint learned and a Semi Automatic Body, you can make a SAR whenever you have the mats. This is how most players hold one: as a repeatable craft you rebuild after every death, since the only scarce input is the body component.

Loot it (the fast way). The SAR drops from a wide range of sources, so you can find one long before you can craft one. It appears in Military Crates, Elite Tier Crates, the Locked Crate, supply drops and treasure boxes, and it drops off scientists at monuments like Military Tunnels, Launch Site and the oil rigs. Supply drops in particular have a high chance to contain one. If you are running monuments on wipe day, a looted SAR is often your first rifle.

Semi-Auto Rifle Attachments

This is the SAR’s real edge, and the single biggest reason to run it over any cheaper gun. The Semi-Automatic Rifle takes the full rifle attachment suite, the same mods the AK and LR-300 use. No pistol takes a scope. The Thompson takes almost nothing. The SAR takes everything.

• Holosight or Simple Handmade Sight. A cleaner sight picture than iron sights for mid-range tapping. The holosight is the standard PvP choice.
• 8x Zoom Scope or Variable Zoom Scope. This is the big one. A scope turns the SAR into a genuine budget marksman rifle, letting you tap targets at ranges where an AK would be spraying blind.
• Silencer (Military, Oil Filter or Soda Can). Hides your muzzle flash and muffles the shot so you do not light up the map every time you fire. It costs a little damage and velocity, which matters less on a tap gun.
• Extended Magazine. Raises the SAR from 16 rounds to 20, a meaningful bump on a gun where a slow reload can get you killed.
• Muzzle Boost. More fire rate for a little extra recoil, useful when you need to click faster up close.
• Weapon Lasersight. Tightens hip-fire spread for close-quarters fights, where you may not have time to aim down sights.

Semi-Auto Rifle Ammo Types

The SAR fires the same four 5.56 rounds as every other rifle in Rust, which is a big part of its value: a SAR and an AK share the same ammo box. Damage below is per body shot from the SAR.

• 5.56 Rifle Ammo (standard). 40 damage, about 229 DPS. The default round: cheapest to craft, most accurate, and what you run for almost all PvP.
• HV 5.56. Same 40 damage but a noticeably faster bullet, so it has a flatter drop and needs less lead at distance. The best round for a scoped SAR reaching out past 50 metres.
• Incendiary 5.56. Around 45 damage, the highest per shot, and it sets small fires and lights up your target. The trade is a bright tracer that gives your position away and slightly faster gun wear.
• Explosive 5.56. A soft-raiding round, not a PvP one. It does roughly 19 damage per shot to a wooden door and wears the gun and any silencer down fast. It is weak against players. For real raiding, see the explosive ammo guide.

Semi-Auto Rifle Shots to Kill

The question every player wants answered is how many taps it takes to drop someone. Here are the breakpoints against an unarmoured target.

Against a naked, unarmoured player with 100 health, the SAR kills in 3 body shots (40 each) or 2 headshots (80 each). Hits to the arms and legs do reduced damage, so a limb spray can take four or more. Because the gun is single-tap and extremely accurate, those breakpoints are very achievable: one measured click per target beats mashing the button every time.

It is worth being clear about raiding too: the SAR is a PvP gun, not a raiding tool. Standard 5.56 does almost nothing to a door, and while explosive 5.56 can chew through twig and wood it is slow and expensive for anything sturdier. For real raiding you want explosives; check the raid cost calculator before you waste anything.

How to Use the Semi-Auto Rifle

The SAR rewards discipline. Its whole identity is accuracy, so the way you win with it is by fighting at the range where accuracy matters most and single, clean taps beat volume of fire.

Fight at 15 to 50 metres. Too close and a Thompson or SMG will out-spray you; too far and bullet drop and damage falloff hand the edge to a bolt action. In the middle band, the SAR’s tight aim cone and per-shot damage are king. Peek, tap, and reset behind cover between shots rather than standing still to trade.

Tap, do not spam. The gun fires as fast as you click, but accuracy and recoil recovery fall apart if you mash. Space your shots out just enough to let the sights settle, and you will land a far higher percentage than someone clicking as fast as they can.

Scope it once you can. A holosight is fine, but an 8x scope is what unlocks the SAR’s ceiling, turning it into a cheap marksman rifle for peeking compounds and roofs. Pair it with HV 5.56 for the flattest trajectory.

Semi-Auto Rifle vs Thompson vs LR-300 vs AK

The SAR sits in the middle of the rifle ladder, and knowing exactly where helps you decide when to craft one and when to move on.

SAR vs Thompson. The Thompson is the step below: cheaper, WB1, higher fire rate but far less accuracy, less range and hardly any attachments. The Thompson wins the close brawl; the SAR wins everything past about 15 metres and scales with mods. Once you have a Workbench 2 and a Semi Automatic Body, the SAR is the upgrade.

SAR vs LR-300. Both do 40 damage, but the LR-300 is a smooth automatic with a 30 round mag, softer recoil than the AK and a Workbench 3 requirement. It is a straight upgrade in a spray fight, at a real jump in cost and tier. The SAR’s advantages are that it is cheaper, arrives a full workbench earlier, and its lack of a spray pattern makes it more forgiving for less mechanically confident players.

SAR vs AK. This is the one everyone asks. The AK-47 is the endgame king: 50 damage, full-auto, 30 rounds, at Workbench 3, with a recoil pattern you must learn. The SAR trades all of that for being cheaper, easier and available sooner. A skilled AK player beats a skilled SAR player in most fights, but a SAR in steady hands will absolutely drop a careless AK user. Run the SAR until you can reliably afford and control an AK, then keep a SAR around as a cheap, accurate backup. They share 5.56, so the switch costs you nothing in ammo.

Semi-Auto Rifle Recycle Value

A spare SAR is well worth recycling, because unlike a cheap gun it hands back real materials and, more importantly, a shot at both of its components.

A recycled SAR returns roughly 270 Metal Fragments and 2 High Quality Metal, plus a 60% chance at each of the Metal Spring and the Semi Automatic Body at a standard monument recycler. The fragments and HQM are guaranteed; the two components are a coin flip each. Since the Semi Automatic Body is the part that gates the whole gun, getting one back is a genuine win, so never drop a spare SAR on the ground when a recycler will give you most of it back.

Semi-Auto Rifle Pro Tips

1. Research it the first time you get one. At 60 scrap the blueprint is cheap, and once learned you can rebuild the SAR for the rest of the wipe.
2. Tap, never spam. Space your shots so the sights settle. A slower, accurate SAR player beats a frantic one every time.
3. Aim for the head. Two headshots kill a naked and it is your only fast kill against armour. The SAR is a precision gun; use it precisely.
4. Put a scope on it. An 8x or holosight is what unlocks the gun’s range. A scoped SAR is a budget marksman rifle no pistol or Thompson can match.
5. Fight at 15 to 50 metres. That is the band where its accuracy and per-shot damage win. Avoid point-blank sprays and extreme long range.
6. Hoard Semi Automatic Bodies. The body is the real bottleneck, not the fragments. Recycle spare semi-auto guns and loot crates to keep a couple banked.
7. Stockpile 5.56 early. It carries straight up to the LR-300, AK and M249, so nothing you farm now is wasted later.
8. It all wipes anyway. Your SAR, its blueprint and your base reset on the monthly force wipe, so use the gun aggressively and rebuild.

Semi-Auto Rifle Rust FAQ

Sources and Further Reading

• Item data, damage, ammo and recipe: Facepunch Wiki, Semi-Automatic Rifle
• Stats, DPS, attachments and recycling: RustClash, Semi-Automatic Rifle
• Crafting data and role: Corrosion Hour, Semi-Automatic Rifle
• The gun below it on the ladder: whenisforcewiperust.com, Thompson Guide
• The endgame rifle to aim for: whenisforcewiperust.com, Assault Rifle (AK) Guide
• How blueprints and research work: whenisforcewiperust.com, Rust Blueprints Guide
• Every gun compared: whenisforcewiperust.com, Rust Weapons Guide
• The game itself: Facepunch Studios