I made the mistake of thinking that the 556 line was of the same quality as the Swiss Arms rifles. The 556 is a commercial rifle, there is nothing “mil-spec” about it. I have made a personal decision to sell both my Sigs for the simple reason they run proprietary parts that one must obtain from Sig. If I had a bolt go down or lost a spring I need to be able to replace that part with a spare myself. If you research the various gun boards there are plenty of issues with these rifles the latest being carrier wear. I have $3200 in my 556 and 556P for that kind of money these guns should not exhibit the kind of problems they have been having. If you just want something different than everyone else at the range then the 556 should serve its intended purpose but if you are considering it as a personal defense weapon I would look elsewhere.
I bought my first 556 back in '07 when they first came out and still used genuine Swiss internals. I bought it new from a local dealer for $1290. First thing I did was to trash the “fish gill” factory hand guards (they had a broken retainer tab WTF) and replace them with Swiss Arms SG551 hand guards. They were $89 plus shipping from Canada. I then ditched the CAA AR stock for a Mag Pul CTR. Sig gave me the run around on getting me the latest factory grip, the one with the build out that filled in the gap between the grip and trigger guard. I wanted to buy one from them but they wouldn’t budge instead they insisted that I ship them my complete rifle and they would change out the grip on mine free of charge. I passed and bought one from a guy off Sigforums. The last thing I have added to the rifle was the Swiss Arms front take down pin. No need for two screw drivers for one pin.
I then bought a 556P with the intention of building an SBR out of it but have left it (NIB) locked in the safe as I have changed my mind.
I jumped on the “gas piston” band wagon and bought a SIG556 this summer.
Here is what I learned about the SIG556
It was too heavy once you mount your vfg, light, and optics.
Needed better iron sights ( depending on model you buy )
The stock AR style non folding butt was junk and needed replacing.
The polymer handguard was crap and had too much play.
She was too picky with ammo. Anything under 62gr would not cycle the bolt far enough to chamber the next round.
Not nearly reliable as an AK.
Not at all modular like the AR.
Parts are too damn expensive.
Field stripping & reassembly is a B… unless you buy more aftermarket parts.
I can go on and on.
Needless to say 1 month after buying her I sold her.
Im not saying they are all bad. After getting used to AR’s and AK’s the 556 was like a redheaded bastard child with neither platforms better qualities. Thats just my bad experience, some obviously love theirs. If you are used to AR’s just get a fine tuned quality AR and dont worry about the SIG. Same for the AK platform.
Otherwise take a close look at the newer generation XCRs and try to shoot anything your interested in before you buy. Personally besides AK’s my buddys XCR is the nicest gas piston rig I have shot ( have yet to try POF, Addex or LWRCI ).
I’ve owned 3 556 rifles and a 556 pistol (now SBR’d). They have all run flawlessly with any kind of ammo I could throw at them. I’ve owned close to a dozen AK’s from cheap century models on up to 3 of Krebs’ top notch KTRs. The 556 is as reliable as the AK in my experience. It has WAY better ergos though.
The only real knock against it is that it is a little heavy / a little front biased in the weight dept. But that is due to having the robust operating system and all of that forward weight kills muzzle hop. It is the quickest on follow up shots of 25+ AK/AR/Carbines I’ve owned.
There are two things you can do to make the forward weight bias a very small issue. One is to swap to the 551 style hand guards which take weight off. And two is to avoid putting and RAS hand guards on it or any crap on the rails you may have up front.
The only rifle I kept when I sold off my collection was the 556 SBR. The rifle I’m likely to add back first when I rebuild my collection will likely be another 556 model. They are solid.
i checked out the sig at cabeles 2 years ago & wasn’t impressed. last spring at my gunshop the owner showed me his with a CTR & 551 style handguards. had to have one so i put down the cash & waited 14 weeks & sig shipped a classic in its place. the love affair was short live, forend rattled,folding stock was a piece of shit. only improvement was the back up emergency sight. is it a 1500.00 rifle? hell no! more like 1200.00 in the classic configuration. luckily had a friend who wanted it more than me. i’d still like to find one in the older configuration.sold my pet ak & parts to an ar build to fund this mistake. first thing i did when i sold it was to get on gunbroker & buy another ssr-85c2 & more sabre defense parts for another build.
This is my experience as well. The rifle is rock solid, not perfect but what is? 100% reliable and can take much more neglect than any AR. I was not a believer at first, but the 556 Classic is a great rifle. And as quoted above…keep the junk off the front end and stick with 551 hangguards.
I didn’t look twice at the Sig when it first came out. I got a classic a few months ago and love it. I haven’t found any ammo it chokes on. Its as reliable as my Hungarian AK. Weight to me is no more than an Hbar AR. My only complaint is how the brass knocks the finish off the back of the ejection port. David
No brass marks on my Sig. It knocks the finish off to bare metal. Most use a strip of velcro, but I think that looks cheesy. I’ve repainted the spot twice. Easy fix. David
