I just spoke to Scott Darian (sp?) at SIG a few minutes ago! Great guy, by the way, and he told me that in todays SIG email they are going to offer complete 550 lowers with internals and the SAN buttstock w/ 2 swiss mags for 369.00!!!
Woohoo…so anyone out there who has been kicking around doing a 552 SBR. Let’s break it down,
SIG 556 pistol - 1100.00
SIG 550 lower - 369.00
tax stamp - 200.00
total - 1669.00
Not to shabby!!
p.s. I was told that I was the first customer to hear of this deal, so if it turns out to be wrong, then Scott has a cruel sense of humor!
sorry guy’s I was just passing on what I was told sight unseen…regardless of being swiss or not it’s still a heck of a deal for a lower, stock,and 2 mags!! I’m going to have to see if anyone local has a 556a1 in their shop so I can see what the lower and internals look like.
I’d actually consider buying one of these lowers if I had an extra $6000 laying around to commit to a full SG552 spec project.
As it stands, I cant see springing for the lower just to add to a crappy American spec 556 upper
Part of the problem is the serial number is on the upper, so it’s a real pain in the ass. If the lower were serialized, it would make a project gun a lot easier to work on.
I’m not going to say anything right now. I think in a couple of months we’ll see some posts and pics of some pretty cool 552 type conversions now that these lowers are available at a decent price. I for one am a bit excited so i’m going to wait and see.
99% of the posts I’ve read concerning the 556 and it’s crappines stemmed from the cheap furniture. The rifle itself and the internals seem to work well. I have read countless reports of people having fired thousands of rounds through their weapons without a hiccup! Compared to the anemic market that we had for 10-15yrs I’m excited and say what you like about SIG they do seem to be making changes and actually listening to feedback.
I’ve heard that to date SIG has sold several thousand 556 rifles and the vast majority run fine. Now they’re offering actual SAN furniture at cost. I don’t see any other companies doing this, but on the other hand I haven’t seen many other companies outfit their initial rifles with such cheap crap in the first place. So I guess it’s a wash at this point.
“Here is the opportunity you have been waiting for…”
LOL
I wish I had enough money to buy some FNC tooling and set up shop catering to the “need to be different” crowd. This is the same terrible story as the Armalite AR-180B.
Cohen’s Sig really depends on deception now days to make their sales. Eventually the reputation that Sig earned before his arrival, will wither away and they will depend on the legacy they have made. By that time Cohen will be gone, and Sig will be left high and dry just as Kimber was. More and more components are being converted to MIM and it looks as though much of it will be made in Brazil. So, just like Brazil based Taurus…Sig will only sell products to the ignorant.
I actually had a Limited Edition SG551 which was a 556 with a TRUE Swiss lower. The main problem that remained was sights, Auroras were as good as it got but still left something to be desired.
There is also the well known gas port issue that exists on ANY US SIG upper. This is probably one of the main sources of feed problems encountered on US SIGs.
I was also frustrated by the rail setup, it doesn’t mount in the same manner as on a true SIG and it’s kinda cheap and vulnerable.
There was no rear sling attachment point on the receiver which means ever sling attaches to a folding buttstock at the rear resulting in a serious contraption. Even the RUssians had a better setup.
And finally I hated the muzzle device. I had to install a Veltor flash hider to be able to use a HALO suppressor. The 556 flash hider may look like a NATO type flash but the barrel profile behind the FH is belled which prevents the mounting of a HALO suppressor. Not surprising they work on genuine SIGs just fine.
Sadly this is just another SIG band aid to try and fix a problem that should have never existed. It’s one more baby step towards “looking like” the rifle they should have made in the first place. And like the upper, I suspect that the US SIG “classic lower” will have just as many quality concessions.
The smart money jumped on those factory 552 Cammandos that popped up on the radar about a year ago.
