sig 556 or ar15

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kry_90

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so ive been looking to buy i rifle and im stuck in a fork in the road one road leads to the ar 15 the other to the sig 556
i plan on spending about 900 to 1200 on a rifle im a firm believer of you get what you paid for. (just ask my mail order bride :( jk)
i think its between a colt ar 15 and a sig 556
which i believe would run close to the same price new so thats not a issue
i like the fact that the sig has a gas piston system, comes with rails already on it, it has a charging handle, ambi saftey, and that it accepts ar 15 magazines
i like the fact that the ar 15 has more accesories than ill probably ever know of, easily available parts, weighs less than a sig and fully costomizable to what ever i want
i dont want to cover which ever rifle i buy with every accesory i can find just a scope, back up flip iron sights, a bipod
the rifle will be used for medium to long range. i have my shotgun for close range
and before i get lots of people ranting ar ar ar ar
i would like to hear actual reasons why people choose one over the other
remember when the m16 was first introduced people wanted nothing to do with it and were very biased
 
If you can get a Sig 556 NIB for under $1200, please let me know where...

The Sig is a good gun, but you are stating medium to long range. A light profile 16" barrel on a .223 is not well suited to long range, and is mediocre for medium range. If you really want long range, the analysis ends here and you should get an AR with a 20" or better yet 24" barrel.
 
well my definition of long range is 200yards
what can i say ive been i shotgunner for a very long time
 
I'd pick the Colt AR15 for two reasons:

#1 - the Sig 556 does not have a chromed bore.

#2 - I'm not a big fan of carbines. I like full length rifles.


But those are just my personal tastes.


The AR15 of today is not the quirky rifle issued in Vietnam. Most of the reliability issues have been resolved (turned out to be a combination of mainly three issues - bad ammo, magazines, and lack of maintenance). My AR is a modified Bushmaster 20" HBAR and it's been every bit as reliable as an AK, likewise for the AR I learned on - Dad's old late 70's A1 Colt.
 
welcome to thr, and congrats on wanting to get a black rifle, no matter what you get be sure you let us know. a report would be great and everyone loves some pics.

i say go for the ar for these reasons.
i like the fact that the ar 15 has more accesories than ill probably ever know of, easily available parts, weighs less than a sig and fully costomizable to what ever i want
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also they are proven, the sig 556 hasn't really been around that long to get a good following, and there just aren't enough reviews out there about them that give me the warm and fuzzies.

i personally choose the ar over any other black rifle for a few reasons, i am good with it, better with it than any other rifle, shooting it is second nature, i know how to run one and keep it running, and i have used one not only in the army for 5 years but even longer as a civilian.
 
I thought pretty hard about getting a Sig 556 Commando, and putting a UBR stock on it. I shoot a lot of AR15's, but thought it wouldn't be bad to branch out and try something else. What killed it for me was the extremely long and poor trigger reset on the Sig. Yes, it breaks nice, but it has the throw of an AK and the nebulous reset of a BHP.
 
well i have no rifle experience
so which ever i choose im sure id get good with it
 
trigger reset
by that do you mean it would affect how fast i can pull the trigger
 
so which ever i choose im sure id get good with it
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whatever you get,go to an apple seed with it.

another point that i forgot to mention is the fact that the gas impigmented system has been around for this long, the system works, and that is a main reason that i don't go the piston route, as well there are some folks in the training arena that i highly respect as people, warriors, and their opinions, they see many many many different weapon systems, and lots of rds down range every year, and they have stated that the piston guns have had issues in the past, not the sig in particular but piston ar's, which is another reason that i am hesitant.
 
gas piston adjustable sig. That can fulfill your .223 needs, then go on to other calibers and forget that you ever desired that round.

308 and 7.62 x 39 are MUCH more fun to shoot, and more effective in my book. I'm glad I have one AR15, but I don't desire any more that that. I have two 308's, wouldn't mind another or two, and one 7.62 x 39, wouldn't mind a few more of those either, but the .223 round isn't on my 'desireable' list.
 
Well if I knew where you were (it's not in your signature, and I never bother to check anyone's profile) I'd tell ya if you should decide to go with the AR, Town Gun Shop in Collinsville VA just got 10 Colt M4 Carbines, and they're on sale for $1,200 and change (his normal price is $1,700).
Got a RRA exactly like it as soon as the AWB expired, but if I could have gotten a Colt at that price at the time, I'd probably coughed up the extra $150 for it?

I've seen slightly better prices out there on the 'Net, but nobody seems to have any in stock.

'Course, since I don't know where you're located I'm not going to bother telling you all that!
 
If affects how much travel the trigger must undergo after firing before the trigger is staged on its second stage again. On the Sig 556, it must be let virtually all the way forward, then it must be pulled back through the pre-travel/second-stage, and then it's back at the engagement point. In other words, it acts like a long two-stage trigger on an AR15. This is good for some applications but not others.

To contrast, an AR15 military style trigger once reset is immediately at the engagement point (no additional take-up), and the good single-stage triggers such as the JP require very short reset distance with no add'l take-up.
 
a high-end AR is about the same or better than a sig 556.

remember when the m16 was first introduced people wanted nothing to do with it and were very biased
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remember that the M16 was designed in 1957 and it's still produced, the design have change a little (not much) but they have added a few extra feature, same with a ford car from 1903 or a 2009...

i vote for the AR because there are 10,000,000 extra stuff for them. and you can always change the upper and get a different setup or caliber with the push of 2 pins!

i like the fact that the sig has a gas piston system
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you can add a gas piston to an AR, but they work great without one!

comes with rails already on it
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Get a Flat-Top upper and they come with a nice rail too!

it has a charging handle
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charging handle? that's a standar feature in AR, plus you can get them in any size!

ambi saftey
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some ar come with ambi safety some don't, but you can always buy one and install it.

and that it accepts ar 15 magazines
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another standar feature of the AR ;)
 
oh really? lack of taper on the round preclude that, imho.
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Interesting theory, but in my three AR's I've never had a single failure or issue related to extraction. All the issues I've ever had were magazine related. Get good magazines, insert them properly, no issues. There are now many brands/models of good mags on the market.

lol, I would hardly call what comes on an AR a 'handle'.
The charging mechanism leaves much to be desired.
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The standard AR charging latch can be used with either hand pretty easily. I don't know any other system, except maybe the Galil's bent-up handle, that is equally ambidextrous.

I'm not a huge AR fan - I hate cleaning them (20 times more carbon residue than the piston designs), and I think the AR-18 mechanism fixes all the AR-15 problems - but they come in for a lot of unjustified criticism.
 
anymanusa said:
oh really? lack of taper on the round preclude that, imho.
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5K+ rounds, only two FTF; both due to cheap dud Remington UMC rounds which did not ignite. Not one failure-to-feed or failure-to-eject.

And I do have AK's, also with high round counts, to compare it to.
 
The Sig 556 is very front end heavy. I bought the 551 handguards and it is still not very well balanced. I might be looking at the Magpul UBR stock to even things out.
 
Interesting theory, but in my three AR's I've never had a single failure or issue related to extraction. All the issues I've ever had were magazine related. Get good magazines, insert them properly, no issues. There are now many brands/models of good mags on the market.
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You've not had any battlefield/dirt/grime/grit experience with either the ak or the ar, have you? I'm willing to bet the tapered chamber comes in really handy if you encounter dirty conditions and you don't have the 'luxury' of having a spotless weapon.

Btw, I have had a failure to extract on my AR.

what would you call this?
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I think z-mich called it a latch.

This is a handle:

fal_1.gif
 
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