sig 556 review

[gcrookston]

Sig Sauer 556 review

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First off, I really don't like new-"new" guns. I'll build them or have them built, but generally I stay within the lines of 1900-1975 Military and 1919-1969 Civilian and Target weapons. I do occasionally venture beyond these guidelines for special weapons.

I watched the development of the 416 and POF piston driven varients of the AR15, for no other reason than I've always liked AR's and have owned a few dozen over the years, from bone cold first generation SP1s, to Tack drivers like the Armalite M15-a4(t) and the Cobb .338. I also have an affinity for HK 93's and 91's...

So when Sig announced they were finally going to give the US a version of 550 series rifles in 5.56, I got interested, having had the opportunity a few years ago to shoot a 550 and found it then "dreamy". A half minute weapon with a full fun capacity.

For months I watched hundreds of advertised specials above the $1,299.00 suggested MSRP for the base model and read everything I could find about it.

Came the annual sale of Speciality Arms II two weeks ago, and that was wholey unfair. I was there for some laser grips. Not only did they have the 556 in stock and well below MSRP, they also had a very nice little Winchester 50 in 20g. at well below blue book, and I've been wanting one of these. Sumunabreaches. I recommend you all go to the sale next year, but leave your wallet at home...

Friday I walked into Coal Creek Armory, Knoxville. They had what I needed. Basically they had a vintage ANIB S&W model 41 with the 7" barrel I prefer on this model, at a horribly reasonable price. But what they really had was a Valdada IOR 2.5x10 scope in a sunweathered box. For those of you that don't know these scopes, go find one. I've several... Seems they always come in sunweathered boxes marked down and down...

These are great scopes. Nil parallax and about 4" eye relief. I'll put them up against a Leupold or Ziess costing 2 times as much any day... and they had the Harris bipod and ARMS rail adaptor I needed (I already had some ARMS #22 rings that fit quite nicely on the 30mm IOR tube).

So, today, after mounting the scope on the Sig 556 and taking the puny little holosight that came with the rifle on my Ruger MkIII slabside, off to the range on 171 I went.

With no spotter, it took me an enormous amount of rounds to get to paper... I almost gave up. The ground was wet and I'm used to Colorado where dust clouds allow you to make easy adjustments and I had no spotter.

I took LC 77 and 98 M193 ball for the sight-in task. Once I got zeroed on paper, I bore snaked and switched to BlackHills 52 gr. BTHP. I missed bringing some lube and solvent (they were sitting by my workbench when I got home...)

I shot 10 / 5 round groups @ 100 yards. Call it barrel break-in.

Mean average was 3.5 MOA. without flyers on the 1st round (which seems to be consistant), I was 1.0 MOA.

What do I think of this rifle?

The trigger has a crisp 2 stage pickup (which I prefer), of about 4#, and is near match quality.

The rifle never failed in cycling and was flawless in function.

The furniture of this gun is terrible (I'd read and now confirm this; so nothing new). The fore arm at best is "cheesy" the AR type telescoping butt stock is atrocious. All the plastic on this gun won't let you get on it and hold it down true to the target.

Summary: Combat and plinking gun... 5 of 5 stars.

It has a Commercial Tube, magpul doesn't make the PRS for this, but when they do, I'll slap one on there after and get a more steady forearm like they offer on the SWAT version of this rifle. I think I can get it down to less than a MOA weapon, but I wasn't able to get on the gun with any security and I blame the cheap plastic bits that kept wabbling around no matter how I tried to get hold of this gun... Shame on Sig for this. 1 of 5 stars for cutting corners. Shame and Shame on them for surrounding such an excellent weapon with all this plast 3rd world crap... Imagine a Ferrari fitted with 35mph donut spares; well that would be the idea on this weapon.

I believe this can be a great rifle with excellent accurracy. Just throw away the furniture.

 

[aloharover]

Awesome review.

It has a Commercial Tube, magpul doesn't make the PRS for this

I believe the 556 receiver is the standard thread in which case you just get an A2 receiver extension, buffer, and spring.

The military-vs-commercial extension tube for the adjustable stocks is for the CTR and similar, not the PRS.

HTH

 

[MarshallDodge]

I really like the trigger on the 556 and would agree about the furniture.

 

[TL1234]

Imagine a Ferrari fitted with 35mph donut spares; well that would be the idea on this weapon.

That is the funniest thing I've read on THR for awhile.

Nice review.

 

[geojap]

I agree with your assessments. I really, really love my Sig 556. In my opinion, these are the pros and cons.

Pros:
1. The rifle itself (receiver, bolt/carrier, trigger group, barrel and gas system) works like a dream.
2. It is an absolute pleasure to shoot.
3. It is quite accurate for a semi-auto. I was getting consistent 1"-1.5" groups at 100 yards with 62 gr Barnaul ammo. In a 30 round mag, typically 24 shots would be inside a 1.25" circle at 100 yards.
4. Fit and finish is quite nice on mine.
5. The gas system works very, very well. It is easy to clean and highly reliable so far.

Cons:
1. Furniture is functional, but it could be much more refined, which is what I would really expect from SigSauer. They should have at least given the option to purchase 551 handguards.
2. Upper/lower retaining pin should be a push pin, not the odd double screw pin.
3. Respectable iron sights should have been included, of course.

The cons really are things that I can upgrade on the rifle, so they aren't show stoppers or something that keeps the rifle from shooting well. Sig gave a high level of attention and effort to everything on the rifle that was needed for it to shoot very well from a bench. It seems everything else which is non-essential to the shooting function wasn't given as much attention and effort.

I held off buying the 556 because I heard about the initial QC problems. Those problems seemed to work themselves out so I went ahead and got one about a month ago. It is in the 5700 serial number range and it's just fine with no issues. I think it is a darned good buy, considering that it is such a nice rifle.