Sig 556

[Up1911Fan]

Does anyone have any time with a 556? Thinking about adding a 556 SBR to the collection later this year. Thought's?

[abu fitna]

I was quite a fan of the Sig 55x platform, particularly the 552. Used this overseas for quite a number of years, and domestically for a good number of schools.

The idea of having everything I liked and STANAG compatibility too caused me to rush out and get one for the personal safe. Unfortunately, this was not the Swiss rifle I had loved.

The SIG 556 is simply a poor copy. The receiver fit is very sloppy, the remade stock is terribly made and breaks immediately, and the diopter sight unit is a terrible imitation of the truly wonderful original.

There has to date been no satisfactory solution for these issues, although I know some folks have tried.

A terrible disappointment, and one that has soured me on what once was very fond memories.

[Up1911Fan]

Thanks, maybe I should just go with a 551-A1. I want to do an SBR other than an AR or AK.

[Trooper224]

Agreed. I'm a fan of the 550 series so was excited about the introduction of the 556. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Fortunately I got to spend time with one before spending my own money. Overall the quality is sorely lacking in the build and any resemblance to the original is only skin deep. The only use I can see for it is to appeal to those in the mall ninja crowd who want something cool to show their bros.

[BJJ]

Didn't Erik Lund use a 556 for 3 gun when he was sponsored by Sig? Maybe he had one that was souped up but that guy is an awesome shooter.

[TGS]

I think they're extremely nice to shoot for slow-fire accuracy work. The trigger is very pleasing.

Beyond that, I'd avoid them like the plague. I say that as someone who grew up always wanting a 551. They're simply a very, very poor copy of the actual 550 series weapons. There are plenty of youtube videos showing how the rails are curved (including the one on top of the receiver) when held against a straight-edge.

[MVS]

I was quite a fan of the Sig 55x platform, particularly the 552. Used this overseas for quite a number of years, and domestically for a good number of schools.

The idea of having everything I liked and STANAG compatibility too caused me to rush out and get one for the personal safe. Unfortunately, this was not the Swiss rifle I had loved.

The SIG 556 is simply a poor copy. The receiver fit is very sloppy, the remade stock is terribly made and breaks immediately, and the diopter sight unit is a terrible imitation of the truly wonderful original.

There has to date been no satisfactory solution for these issues, although I know some folks have tried.

A terrible disappointment, and one that has soured me on what once was very fond memories.

Judging from this and other similar comments I guess that I am glad that I never handled one of the originals. As it is I am more than happy with my 556. Granted, I only have 4500 rounds through it, not exactly torture testing.

[Up1911Fan]

Judging from this and other similar comments I guess that I am glad that I never handled one of the originals. As it is I am more than happy with my 556. Granted, I only have 4500 rounds through it, not exactly torture testing.

That's good to hear, where in MI are you?

[MVS]

That's good to hear, where in MI are you?

Berrien County. Southwest corner. Just North of that hated Notre Dame.:)

[Dan_S]

Judging from this and other similar comments I guess that I am glad that I never handled one of the originals. As it is I am more than happy with my 556. Granted, I only have 4500 rounds through it, not exactly torture testing.

A quick inspection of the 556 proved very unsatisfactory to me, and that was with no prior 55x experience.

[MVS]

A quick inspection of the 556 proved very unsatisfactory to me, and that was with no prior 55x experience.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that for me it was basically replacing the AK, not the AR. I find a lot of guns unsatisfactory that others don't, and vice versa it would seem. I have no skin in the game. The gun does what I want it to.

[Randy Harris]

It may also depend on what generation of 556 they have.

The earlier ones were by all accounts AWFUL. I frankly had no interest in a half sig/half AR abomination with a weird folding stock that was half way between an M4 stock and a sig 550 stock so I passed on getting one. I openly wondered why in the world sig did not just build the 550 series (or as close as they could to it) here and be done with it. So I passed on getting one until 2012. By then the word was that the problems had been ironed out and while the guns were not quite up to Swiss 550 fit and finish (but then again the New Hampshire made SIG pistols aren't either.....) they supposedly were solid now. So I figured I'd get one and if it had issues I could always sell it.

I bought one that was NEW in August of 2012. In fact it was not yet available and they were waiting on a new shipment from Sig. So it was not one that was an older gun that had sat on a shelf waiting ot be purchased. It was manufactured in early Aug 2012. I received it and everything seemed to be in working order. I took it out, shot it, zeroed the sights and then began letting my students in classes shoot it. It was shot wih all manner of ammo from Federal match to Wolf and Tula steel case ammo. It went right at 1300 rounds before I ever cleaned it, lubed it , or did ANYTHING to it....still waiting to see if it would crap out like the older ones had. But after all of this, Not ONE single malfunction. NONE. There are not a whole lot of guns out there that will go 1300 rounds run bone dry and dirty without a hiccup , especially when multiple different people of different levels of skill are handling it. After it got to right at 1300 I cleaned it, lubed it and have been using it ever since. Now 2 years later I'm still waiting for malfunction #1.

The one thing I did was also get the Sig 550 Lower receiver to also have the option of running Sig 550 series mags in it. I like the 2 20 rounders clipped together in the gun in the Sneaky Bag just for a little more compactness and I'm cool with the "rock and lock" mag system from many a year working with AKs . In the mean time, based on the performance of that one, I also got a 556P (waiting for the SBR papers to come back) and to date it has been malfunction free also. So maybe I just got lucky...twice...but for ME the later generation ones have been 100% performers. YMMV .

[_JD_]

I have a 556R (7.62x39)of later manufacture and I can't say I'm unhappy with it. It works. Tossed an ACOG on it and some circle 10 mags and it's OK. I'm eventually going to replace the stock with a DDLES stock adapter. I have the model with the quad rail and if I have one complaint it's that it's front heavy.

Sent via Tapatalk and still using real words.

[LittleLebowski]

I think that the Gen2 556R makes sense but I see no reason for the 556 over a good AR.

[Dan_S]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that for me it was basically replacing the AK, not the AR. I find a lot of guns unsatisfactory that others don't, and vice versa it would seem. I have no skin in the game. The gun does what I want it to.


I don't have any skin in the game either since I've not spent a cent of my own money on any SIG products.

I don't think it has anything to do with what type of weapons you're familiar with, as I'm pretty familiar with quite a variety of AK-variants as well as M4 variants, and it doesn't change the fact that I still thought the SIG was a sloppily put together gun.