7 replies to this topic

[DoubleDelta]

Is anybody shooting these in 3gun? I played with one at the gunshop and was not impressed. The trigger was worse than a cop glock, the bottom of the forend slid back and forth a quarter inch and the ergos were nowhere near as nice as an AR. The mag release was to far forward and the bolt release was a bit of a challenge at first. I was also suprised that with all that plastic it felt heavier than my AR, but not as front-heavy.

Has anyone shot one and found redeeming characteristics in this rifle? How is accuracy? Reliability? I am trying to wrap my head around why these rifles fetch so much.

[ken hebert]

Oh Eeeeeeeerik... You are being paged.

[aessu]

For competition use, AR over sig anyday. My experience is from friend's 552 commando though. But the characteristics of recoil are closer to AK than AR.

Edited by aessu, 06 March 2010 - 06:57 PM.

[calishootr]

a friend bought one, thought it was coolthat the price dropped from some 2200 bucks(out here on th west coast) to a 'mere' 1400 bucks...the shop even tossed in a cheesy red dot sight for it(because the model he got has the front sight tower but only a rail on the rear receiver) and to liven sales up i guess sig is giving a 300 dollar rebate till the end of march...

impressions...with all the plastic on it, it moves...ALOT, forward and back and if you twist the forearm, it will cant as your gripping it, trigger, like was said...pretty funky w gobs of pre and over travel and pretty heavy, cant reach the mag release without letting go of your grip...but it went bang everytime he pulled the trigger w/ factory ammo...the piston system give a 'softer' felt recoil, aftermarket parts??? next to none, save for a couple places making an after market rear to bolt on...past that...zip...nada....I'll stick to my AR platform thank you

[DoubleDelta]

Does it accept NATO mags? If it only used a proprietary mag, that would suck.

[ajg308]

DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! I have two personal friends that bought these and both will never buy a sig again. They were so disatisfied with SIG that they both took losses on the guns to get rid of them. Both guns would not shoot better than 2 moa no matter the load that was tried. Average was about 3 moa. After getting frustrated, one of the guys called SIG and wanted to know what to do. They told him it was a battle rifle and 2 moa was within saami spec, so pound sand. He took the 556 and traded for a Rock River.

Stick with the AR.

[ronswin]

I have an early model Sig 556 that I have used in a few 3-gun matches and it does have it's advantages and definite disadvantages, especially when compared to competition AR-15 rifles. The triggers have to be the worst as it's long travel and kinda spongy (the letoff can be adjusted from pounds to almost ounces though), the standard 556 is too barrel heavy due to the gas piston and stainless tube. The Patrol 556 version has a shorter gas tube and it feels like a heavy M-4 piston carbine as it's almost two pounds lighter. The 556 uses NATO M-16/ AR-15 magazines and is basically a Swiss AK-47 internally in function and design (read overbuilt). I've had groups around 1.5 MOA (benched with 1-4X DMS scope) and Prvi Partizan 62 grain ammo. I just purchased a Sig 556 Swat Patrol model that I intend to use this year in matches. The Sig 556 rifles are in my opinion are overpriced for what I've seen lately and I only bought the Swat Patrol model recently because of a Sig rebate (and a very good markdown from a dealer).

[Bear1142]

Why, yes....yes I do use a Sig 556 for a 3-gun rifle. Yes, just like any rifle the Sig has some quirks, but they are easily overcome.

After some tweaking my Sig 556 shoots as soft and handles as well as any competition AR I've ever used. With my 69gr. match handloads the Rifle shoots sub-moa out to 400 yards and others have seen and can verify these results. I've dialed my trigger down to about a crisp two pound break, but there is still plenty of take-up and over-travel present. Sig is working on developing a single-stage drop in trigger as an accessory, but I'm not sure what the status of the new trigger system is at this moment.

Here are a few things that I did that will help make your Sig perform a little better.

Stocks- Find a AR stock that has some weight to it like the Magpul M93's or the UBR. The 556 tends to be a little muzzle heavy due the gas piston system and because of this all the operating parts and weight are more towards the front of the rifle. That lightweight stock and empty buffer tube does nothing for balancing the rifle. I prefer to use the older Magpul M93 stock. Having a heavy stock will balance the rifle out and make it less nose heavy, although it will increase the overall weight of the rifle.

Magazine release- Yes the magazine release button is just out of reach without shifting your grip, but it's an easy fix. I installed an Arrendondo extended release button. I can now reach and activate the button without shifting my grip.

Triggers- The Sig trigger can be adjusted for weight of trigger pull. Using the set screw under the pistol grip will allow you to adjust the pull weight of the trigger. Mine is set around 2 lbs. Unfortunately, there is no pre or over-travel adjustment, but Sig is working on this.

Handguards- I replaced my polymer handguards with a Troy Industries railed handguard. The handguard attaches to the upper reciever and to the gas block. Although it does not free float the barrel, my experience has been that having the aluminum handguard attached to the steel receiver and the steel gas block has helped increase the rigidity of the whole barrel/gas block system. I noticed an immediate improvement in accuracy after installing the Troy railed handguards.

Compensator- While this may go without saying, put on a good quality compensator. When I was initially approached by Sig about shooting the rifle, I wasn't very enthusiastic about the prospect. At the time I was shooting another well known piston rifle system and it performed great, but even with as much as I tweaked it, I could never get it as soft and a standard AR. I installed a Titan comp and prepared to be underwhelmed. I couldn't have been more wrong. I was stunned at how well the 556 with the Titan shot. I handed the rifle to another well known GM 3-gun shooter and asked him for his thoughts. He fired a 30 round magazine, turned to me and said, "Dude, don't tell anybody about this!" It handled that well. A good comp should really improve the handling characteristics of the 556.

Other than these few things, my 556 is stock. I figured that I get all the accuracy of an AR and all the reliability of an AK. What's not to like! So I agreed to shoot it and I'll be using it again this season starting at SMM3G in a couple of weeks. If you happen to see me and want to give it a test drive, come on over, you're more than welcome to try it for yourself.

Erik

Edited by Bear1142, 08 March 2010 - 10:31 AM.