Review: Sig 556R - Not what I expected

[03A3]

No steel cased ammo allowed!! They pretty much sealed the fate of that gun. Yes they will sell some to a few people who don't know what they're getting into, but the informed people will turn their back on it.
I can't imagine why they took this stance on steel cased ammo. This is basically an AK.
Just when you think you've heard it all. Unbelieveable.

 

[sig1473]

I handled a couple of SIG 556Rs at the 1500 and yes they are very sloppy. I wasn't about ready to drop $1100(I bought an EMP instead). And yes the Red Dots are made in China. Another thing that turned me off was that they don't offer any open sights for it yet! I think Sig literally "jumped the gun" way too soon on these

I own a very early SIG 556 and couldn't be happier. It has all swiss-made internals and there is no peening from the bolt carrier group that is being commonly seen with the newer ones. It has the M4 style stock, not the crappy side folder. It has the old-school 4 screw rail system that seems to be not misaligned. My BUIS is an ARMS 40L with my front sight being a MI HK style gas block sight. These sights are dead on. I must have lucked out by getting a very, very, very early one.

 

[03A3]

Now I hear that Sig says to not use a common steel AK mag, due to the locking lugs of the mag wearing the receiver.
You're supposed to use polymer mags only.

 

[Clay]

even the poly mags have steel locking lugs......... at least the good ones do. The only mags I know of with plastic lugs are Tapco, and probably some cheap commercial mags.

 

[MilitaryArms]

Now I hear that Sig says to not use a common steel AK mag, due to the locking lugs of the mag wearing the receiver.
You're supposed to use polymer mags only.

Sig apparently has no clue what is going on with their rifle.

People calling in this week about problems with the rifle were being told that they can't shoot steel cased ammo or it would void the warranty.

The people get riled up about it on the internet, and now the customer service reps "talked to an engineer" and they've decided it won't void your warranty, but it may not work.

I know steel mags will damage the lower receiver, I posted about that on my blog:

Military Arms Blog: What has happened to Sig?

Even military surplus polymer mags have steel reinforcements on the locking toe and in the lips. The all steel mags will erode the lower and cause the already bad mag wobble to quickly worsen under firing. This is probably true of the steel reinforced polymer mags too since they have exposed steel on the locking toe.

The rifle is a mess.

 

[03A3]

This is very unfortunate. I really wanted to see this turn out to be a good rifle. Sig needs to needs to wake up and get back on track.
What's troubling is the same thing is going on with Remington, Marlin etal.
A large portion of our domestic firearms manufacturing is going to pot.