Looks like Sig Sauer is entering the AR market with a rifle to compete directly with all the other M4orgery’s. Steve over at the The firearm log as the skinny on the new Sig 516 so be sure to head over there and check it out. It remains to be seen whether or not the 516 will be available for civilian purchase or not but I’ve got an email out to Sig Sauer to see what they have to say.
As for me, I’ll be back to blogging in two or three weeks soon as I get married and get back from vacation. I’ve already got a few articles I wanna do (stock options, optics test result etc), so stay tuned.
Sorry for the lack of posting (my wedding is coming up so the future wifey has been keeping me busy), but check this out. Advanced Armament Corp released the Ti-RANT 9mm(tm) last week, and yesterday on the AACBlog they had an edition of “The Skinny with Mers” on the Ti-RANT:
They’ve posted a few of these video’s over the last few months, and if you haven’t checked these out you really should. If you’re at all a geek at heart (like me) or like quiet guns these are really cool (and educational…i guess).
I emailed Sig Sauer last week to check and see what the MSRP of the new Sig 556 SBR was. They where nice enough to email me back today and let me know that unfortunately, it turns out they don’t have an MSRP for it since they don’t sell them directly . So I guess if your one of the lucky distributors that’s getting the SBR’s you can set your own price. Sucks for us joe public but hey, you can always build your own for ALOT cheaper
I do wanna give Sig Customer Service some kudos, everytime I’ve dealt with them they’ve been helpful and they almost always answer my crazy/annoying questions.
Via Gizmodo via a bunch of other places, the XM-25 is heading to Iraq and Afghanistan for “testing”. AssociatedContent also has more details up over here. There’s some detail’s now on how the 25mm round actually determines how far its traveled:
As the 25-millimetre round is fired, the gunsight sends a radio signal to a chip inside the bullet, telling it the precise distance to the target. A spiral groove inside the barrel makes the bullet rotate as it travels, and as it also contains a magnetic transducer, this rotation through the Earth’s magnetic field generates an alternating current. A patent granted to the bullet’s maker, Alliant Techsystems, reveals that the chip uses fluctuations in this current to count each revolution and, as it knows the distance covered in one spin, it can calculate how far it has travelled.
Of course theres the whole…..its a gun with a computer and computers like to break thing.
Looks like Sig Sauer is shipping factory SBR’d Sig 556’s now. SayUncle posted this listing of Manchester Firing Line on the subguns.com classifieds. The price listed in the add is $3,495 but they offered to pay the transfer tax on the first 25 rifles sold. I emailed Sig Sauer on Thursday for more detail’s and to see what the MSRP on these little guys is supposed to be. I haven’t heard back yet but I bet those prices are a bit inflated. I mean, its basically a Sig P556 with a Classic folding stock.
The P556 has definitely been popular with the SBR crowd so its good too see that Sig Sauer is paying attention and grabbing some of this pie by jumping into the NFA market. There have been a few post’s on the SigArms556 forum about people with P556 SBR’s that have had customer service issues (Sig basically coming back saying theiy voided they’re warranty), but hopefully this won’t make the situtation worst. Either way, if you’re a Sig fan and you like SBR’s (and who doesn’t)…this is very cool. The only down side other than the price that I can see ? Well…..from the pictures in the add it look’s like they used the Classic lower….so …yea…you get stuck with that Classic folding stock. Still, its a fully factory warrantied Sig 556 SBR !
The first ever available FACTORY MANUFACTURED SIG 556 SBR’S
JLM/Manchester Firing Line Range in NH is the first in the country to offer this exciting new NFA firearm.
The rifle features a Swiss collapsible and folding stock, the forearm is a quad-rail, rear sight is 100-300 meter diopter sight, factory hard case, one 30 round magazine (will accept AR/M16 magazines). Eotech optics and single point tactical slings available at additional cost. Visa/Mastercard accepted.
First 25 guns sold, JLM will pay the $200 transfer tax.
I’ve taken a look now at the LMT CQB Defender and the LWRCi M6A2. I was still going to take a look at some FAL’s and AK’s but you know what…I’m not to worried about those, so the next post will go through what Sig is doing right and should keep doing and where they can maybe do some improvements to gain more traction with the regular AR crowd.
But I should warn you first, there are three things you should know moving forward.
I’m still pretty green when it comes to the gun world, so my opinions are still from a “new” perspective…I don’t have any pre-instilled prejudices (I like AR’s as much as I like AK’s as much as I like Sig’s)…and I might jack up terminology or get some things completely wrong.
I’m not into creating a Sig 551/2 clone so my idea’s for where i think Sig should take the design might differ from yours. I do love the look of the Sig 551/2 series…they’re very beautiful rifles..but I like the tacticool blackgun ’s…too many video games i guess. If you’ve got a Sig 556 that’s wearing some 551/2 furniture that you wanna talk about..drop me a line I’d love for you to do a post.
I’m new, im human, and I will get shit wrong. Just drop me a line in the comments and I’ll make sure I fix anything I get wrong
LMT theres nothing to say that hasn’t already been said about these guys. Lewis Machine & Tool has been at since the early 80’s cranking out components and gear and these guys know their stuff. Karl Lewis (one of the founders I assume) designed the Monolithic Rail Platform (MRP) himself to try get in on the action/demand for quick change barrel systems. LMT’s MRP fits both the standard length and is also available in a CQB length. The MRP is basically combo upper receiver rail and quad rail system. That’s one chunk of aluminum for both the receiver and the free floating rail my friends.
LMT CQB Defender 16
LMT’s piston driven CQB MRP Defender Model Piston 16 , sporting their monolithic rail is definitely the new “hotness” (at least in my opinion). Since it sports the MRP it integrates the quick change barrel system and much like the LWRC M6A2 you’ve got barrel’s lengths in 10.5in, 14.5in, 16in, and 18in available. You’ve also got your choice of chambering in either 5.56 or 6.8 SPC and apparently also in .204 Ruger. The 5.56 and 6.8SPC rigs have a 1:7 twist, I looked through the instruction manual but couldn’t find anything that mentioned what the twist of the .204 setup was (didn’t find much of a mention of the .204 option at all).
The LMT CQB Defender comes out of the box sporting LMT Front & Rear site as well as their excellent 6 position SOPMOD stock. Going by the stock images it also look like it comes with some Tango Down rail covers (at least the look similar). However, there MSRP on these guys is $1995. If you can find a complete one of these guys expect to pay more of course in today inflated market. Theres been a lot written about the this rifle lately so I’ll keep it to the minimum, lets tally up the score the LMT shall we ?
It’s a gas operated piston AR-15
Like the M6A2, parts are easy to come by (well relatively speaking anyway) and generally you know if it fits one AR it will fit this one.
It’s also available in .223/5.56 , 6.8SPC, and .204 Ruger
Sports their industry leading MRP and quick change barrel system
Theoretically since its gas-piston operated it should be just as reliable as the Sig 556 (I’m assuming that carrier tilt issues are finally get resolved in the AR world).
Manufactured by a company that’s been in business for well over 20 years (granted the LMT Defender is still kinda new).
So there you have it…the Sig 556 is doing awesome its getting more popular and Sig certainly doesn’t seem to be having any problems selling these guys. But the LWRC M6A2 and the LMT CQB Defender are the two rifles that I think are preventing Sig from gaining even more market share.
Today’s been one of those days. I’m trying to get the castle nut off my Sig so I can install the Magpul ASAP but the damn thing isn’t budging. I really don’t feel like jacking up my upper/lower so I’m done cranking on it with the spanner wrench, and I don’t have a spare tube or castle nut handy so I don’t feel like cutting it off right now either. I’ll apply some heat and if that fail’s…i’ll let it soak is some Breakfree over night…after that…i dunno…but my Vltor EMod assembly will be here next week.
I must have angered the Black gun gods this week…will need to make a proper sacrifice to get back in their good graces.
PS – Sig better not have lok-tited this guy.
[UPDATED]
Finally got it, guess the breakfree clp soaked in enough to break it lose.
This has been floating around (SayUncle)all over(TheFirearmsBlog) since it aired but I couldn’t help reposting it. It’s too funny not to post again. So…. quick Rabid Chipmunk is coming at you AR, AK or Sig556 !?!
Couple a notes:
1. Recommeding a Glock for a buy is a fail on principal (yeah im kind of a glock hater)
2. Actually in the case of rapid zombie chipmunk’s I’d probably opt for a Tactical 500
3. Anyone spy a Sig on the wall in the scene at ImpactGuns ?
4. Have you sold any blackguns for profit this year ?
Steve from The firearm blog had a post today about an experience one of his readers had shooting 9mm NATO through a gun not rated for it. I just wanna remind everyone, you need to know what you can and can not shoot out of your gun. Don’t forget this also applies to rifles…AR’s chambered for 5.56 can also shoot .223 but that’s not usually the case the otherway around (might work but your gonna screw yourself in the long run). Luckily, the Sig 556 is called the …well…556 so yea you can shoot both 5.56 and .223 through it. For anything else, check your manual.
Wikipedia.org has nice pages on both .223 and 5.56 and their history, if your a gun geek its kinda interesting…just saying…they’ve got schematics…and who doesn’t love schematics.
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