Range Report: SIG 556 Classic Tactical Combat Rifle

I finally had a chance to shoot the new SIG 556 so I thought I'd share my reactions.  In sum, it's probably no surprise to hear me say she's fun to shoot.  I only ran through 140 rounds (which is nearly the shooting equivalent of the blink of an eye with this particular firearm and 30 rounds magazines), but here's a few initial thoughts.

For such a small round (comparatively), she barks!  I was surprised at how loud she was.  Granted, it was at an indoor concrete "bunker," but still, with these little bitty rounds, I figured it would be more akin to a .22 than to my .45.  The best part wasn't the report of the powder, but this cool sound from what I think was the actual lead traveling at 2800 fps -- sort of like the whistle you would imagine hearing if a tiny, supersonic jet flew past your head.  It gave me the sensation that I was sending lead MILES AND MILES down range.

I'm not a fan of the hooded front site and rear diopter.  In fact, I was sort of wishing I had skipped that option all together and applied the savings to a solid optic.  The front site is too large to feel like you are aiming with any real precision.  As for the diopter, it was hard to move by hand while trying to site in, and I couldn't even drift it far enough to make the necessary correction.  Out of the box, she was about 6 inches to the left and 2 inches low at 20 meters.  I'm already planning the optics package to remedy the situation.  I knew I would eventually go optics when I bought her, but figured I would keep the diopter so I would at least have the option.  Now, I can't really see myself ever relying on that diopter again, so I may as well remove it and sell it.

I had one "mechanical" issue while firing.  I've since learned that it was most likely due to a bad brass casing in a round I discharged.  The gun jammed at about round sixty.  When we examined her, we found a round sticking halfway into the breech.  I was able to dislodge it and much to my surprise, this is what I found:

The lower is the round that was stuck in the breech.  The upper is the reason why.  Apparently, after the upper fired, the extractor basically ripped the top of the brass off, leaving the rest of it sitting in the breech while the lower round tried to load on top of it.  You can't tell just by looking, but the lower round is actually bent.  The gun cycled so hard that when it shoved the new round into the half-casing, it bent the new round.  If you try to roll it, it wobbles across the countertop.  Other than that little failure (which was pretty frightening at the time), the rifle shot flawlessly.

In all, it feels pretty good to shoot.  I will admit that it does feel a little heavy after 90 rounds or so.  That said, there's is only enough recoil to let you know that you're shooting a real rifle, so it's easy to stay on target and keep sending rounds as fast as your trigger finger allows.  I'm ready to put another 400 rounds through her at some real distance.  Of course, I'm going to need a decent optic first.

Well, it's been a while so there's LOTS to catch up on ...

First order of business -- new additions to the family.  In my last post, I discussed my desire to take Tanner's up on an offer that seemed too good to pass up.  I think the day after I made that post, I came home with this:

Yep, that's a SIG 556 Classic battle rifle with a rotary diopter rear site.  The price on these things fell about 40% in the past 8 months.  The biggest reasons for the price drop seem to be (1) the rifle is about 1.5 lbs heavier than a standard AR-15 (8 lbs total), it lacks the standard AR-15 quad rails, upon which accessories (such as vertical shooting handle, tactical lights, etc.) can be easily added, and (3) it was way overpriced to begin with (the former pre-drop price was nearly double that of a decent, entry level AR-15).  I personally find the styling and enhanced AK-47 shooting action too cool to resist, though will eventually be looking to add a standard AR-15 to my collection as well.

In other news, I also finally broke down and purchased a full-sized gun safe.  I opted for the Browning Theftguard.  A stock photo with someone else's collection is shown here:

Now I can stop storing my rifles under the bed and my ammo and other gear in the closet.  Cyn is happy.

Since my last post, I shot an official IDPA classifier.  It wasn't as fun as an IDPA fun match (where you can shoot moving targets, from cars, etc...) but it's a good test of skill and is plenty entertaining.  The classifier is designed to test a standard IDPA skill set (reloading, shooting from different distances, from both hands, moving frontward and back, etc...) while using a pre-determined set of stages to help differentiate your skill level and give you a standard measure upon which to improve.

I was pleased to classify as "Marksman," but a little disappointed that I could have classified at the next level ("Sharpshooter") if I had made up about 13 more points by slowing down a little early in the match and focusing a little more on accuracy.  My scores can be seen here.

Finally, I added a Storm Lake match barrel and an Apex Tactical forward set sear and trigger kit to the S&W M&P 9mm I use for IDPA shoots.  Here's what she looks like now:

That's enough for now.  I'll be back later to post range reports from both the SIG 556 and the M&P with the new barrel and trigger.  As a preview, I'll say for now that I am really happy with both.