Sig 556

[strahd71]

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the Sig 556?
i have a Sig 220 and i love it

thanks

jake

 

[cgbills]

I have had one for almost two years now and love it. 3k+ plus rounds in it and only problem was when I first got it and shot it without cleaning, mistake. After those first 50 rounds and a cleaning, I cannot think of any other problems I have had with it. Cleaning is ay easier than with an AR; I am in the Army and have cleaned my share of M16s and M4s. The Dirtiest part of the SIG is the front of the op rod, but since that is SS you can use a wire brush on it no problem. The bolt and carrier don’t need much more than a wipe down. Also it is nice not to hear the spring sound in the buffer tube like an AR. The trigger is great too. The only real bad thing I can think of the 556 is the availability of parts is not as near wide spread as the ARs. There is some cross over parts like mags, but you do not have the modularity of the AR platform. The Sig 556 is at the $1k price point now and if I had the choice between a $1k SIG 556 or a $1k AR, I would pick the SIG in a heartbeat no questions. Some people say that the SIG is too heavy because of its gas system. To those people who say it is too heavy, I say it is not noticeable at all and if you think your rifle weighs too much, pick up some weights or put down the rifle. I am a minimalist when it comes to stuff on my rife, just an optic and BUIS at most. If you try to cram all the stuff on the SIG that some people do on their ARs, I can maybe see where the weight complaint comes from. Lastly the gas piston system on the SIG is more reliable than then the piston systems you see coming out on most ARs now; two big pluses are that it has an adjustable gas regulator and a beefy op rod. I cannot say enough good things about my SIG. If you are thinking about it, GET ONE!

Please note that this was not a bash ARs post, I love ARs and think they are an amazing weapons system. This post was just to say how much more I love my SIG 556 .

 

[Kollector03]

I am a late convert of the 556 as well. I waited to purchase one for ages until they started offering the 556-Classic as I did not care for the looks of the original hand guard. When I decided to purchase, Sig was offering the Buy a 556 and get a 522 free, so I though, heck, why not and get a free high end plinker for the kids. There may still be some of the free 522 packages around as I ordered one for a customer last month.

I do not think you would be disappointed with the 556. Excellent rifle and exceptionally accurate.

 

[cgbills]

here is how she sits now

Just waiting on my Vortex Viper pst 1-4x24 to fill the LaRue mount.

Before it wore an EOTech 512 and the SIG standard fore-end

 

[cgbills]

I am a late convert of the 556 as well. I waited to purchase one for ages until they started offering the 556-Classic as I did not care for the looks of the original hand guard. When I decided to purchase, Sig was offering the Buy a 556 and get a 522 free, so I though, heck, why not and get a free high end plinker for the kids. There may still be some of the free 522 packages around as I ordered one for a customer last month.

I do not think you would be disappointed with the 556. Excellent rifle and exceptionally accurate.

yes the original fore-end was pretty bad. Now mine sports the classic fore-end and the looks and feel have gone way up.

 

[Kollector03]

yes the original fore-end was pretty bad. Now mine sports the classic fore-end and the looks and feel have gone way up.

What kind of mag do you have in the 556 in your photo?

 

[strahd71]

hey thanks for the info guys!
its a tough decision kind of........... i mean a sig is a sig, i love sigs!
to me the question lays in the availability of parts

i'm hoping to make a purchase when tax time comes around

thanks

jake

 

[cgbills]

What kind of mag do you have in the 556 in your photo?

That is a Magpul P Mag with window.

When you say availability of parts, do you mean replacement parts for if something breaks?

 

[Bigum1969]

I have a SIG 556 (original model) and love it. I actually like the furniture it comes with.

It is a little front heavy compare to an AR, but that doesn't bother me.

 

[E5RANGER375]

feels very unbalanced to me. i will be selling/trading mine at the 1500.

 

[qwkdrwmgw]

I just picked up a 522 and love it, very accurate and balanced
sorry if i thread jacked

 

[CountryBoy19]

I was an early adopter, June 2007. I waited just long enough for them to get the initial bugs worked out. I love mine. It is a wonderful gun.

The original front handguard was terrible, but I took a band-saw and belt-sander to mine and it is a ton better, I really like it.

Never really had any problems with mine. I even took some underpowered reloads from a friend that wouldn't cycle his AR's, but it cycled the Sig just fine. 1 or 2 in every mag wouldn't cycle it on the standard gas setting, but on the adverse setting it never missed a beat.

When I first got it I cleaned it after 500, then I wanted to see just how long I could go before cleaning. I made it to about 3500 rounds before I even had to set it to the adverse gas setting, I made it to 6000 plus before I had my first failure on the adverse setting. Still milked another 1k plus out of it before I was having enough failures that I considered it to be mildly annoying, so I cleaned it. If a gun can go 7k rounds before it needs cleaned then it's pretty darn reliable. I've never seen an AR get even close to that mark.

If I could say one bad thing about the Sig it's that it is a bit hard on brass, and it throws it all over the place. Mine has 2 main spots it likes to throw it, I guess it depends on how it comes out and hits the side. It either goes about 20 degrees forward of right or 10 degrees rear of right. The bad thing is that it throws them about 30 feet, so by the time they get that far out there they're pretty scattered. IMHO, if that is the only complaint about a battle rifle then it's pretty dang good.

 

[hickuleas]

I have a few of the older swat models. Rifle is somewhat front heavy and the iron sights are a joke. Mine have been very reliable.

 

[strahd71]

its a tough call i think Sig is a geat company, i have a sig pistol and would buy another one. but the availability of parts for the AR is really a big deal too.

thanks for the info guys

jake

 

[cgbills]

If you like sig alot, look at their SIG 516 AR

 

[strahd71]

cgbills, i was thinking about that too. i wonder if it is standard, meaning is it modular and does it take all the standards parts that are available?

jake

 

[cgbills]

I am pretty sure it takes all standard parts available, that is part of the reason they produced it. I am sure there are some proprietary parts, gas system etc, but most will interchange with other ARs. Go over to the Sig forum and see what they say. I think the 516 looks pretty sweet