Phallic lightening cut?:sarcastic:
Did they mean to do that?
No, it is not a Colt.
I don’t know what it is, but it is an un-staked mess…
No, you are right, I just compared it to a known Colt carrier group and it is not a Colt . It is a Smith Enterprises Bolt Carrier (SE in a shield) and it actually has 3 very small stakes in each, you just can’t see it very well. Sorry for the thread drift…
Are you a magazine editor?
Nope. But I do a little firearms review column for a police related website from time to time.
Did you ever get to shoot the 716?
Not yet. We’ve had some very windy evenings this week. Hopefully it won’t be too nasty this weekend.
In the meantime, I’ve been meaning to pull the rifle apart and get some detailed photos of the operating parts. But you’ve already done a nice job of that. Looks good.
Thanks, I’m waiting to see how you like it. As I’ve said, I’m not a big rifle guy and don’t do much long range shooting so I want to see what you think. I’ve got 4 different types of .308 ammo to try with it when I go to the outdoor range. I am going to see if I can go Friday afternoon. We’ll see. Good luck!
Another photo from SHOT 2012.
I went to the outdoor range to shoot it at longer ranges. I found out two things, my Leupold 1.5x5 scope is not as powerful as my old eyes need and I am not that great of a shot. These shots were taken at 50 yards seated with a front support. I had 5 different types of ammo, but it liked the 168 grain the best. I had Federal Sierra Matchking and PPU Match that were both 168 so I shot that for what I laughingly call accuracy. I shot 5 rounds each string.
This is the Federal at 50 yards:
PPU at 50 yards:
Federal at 100 yards (I shot two strings each, the second I shot using the hold under to try and hit the center of the target):
PPU at 100 yards (same as the Federal, 2 five round strings, the top most one on the Shoot and See was from the first and higher string):
With all due respect, these groups look a little big for a AR style long arm. Were you benched, or were these shot offhand? Do you have another semi-auto long arm that you can drive accurately?
I’m just trying to gauge as to whether it’s the indian, or if the bow really is that inaccurate.
As I said in the post, I am not that good of a shot, further, I noted that I was shooting seated with a front support. I think it’s the Indian at fault. I haven’t shot at that range in about 6 or 7 years. I suspect I will get better as I practice.
The groundhog was correct in his prediction. The weather all this week has been generally lousy. Today’s high was in the low 30’s. Still, I’ve been anxious to try the new rifle so I took it and a handful of Russian ammo into the hills.
I tried some slowfire to get the scope dialed in but, with the wind, my eyes were soon watering and I gave up on trying to shoot groups. I pulled the scope off and spent the rest of my time shooting at rocks, etc on the hillside using the BUIS.
I fired a total of 60 rounds of steel cased ammo though the gun with no problems. The gun runs properly on the middle gas setting but won’t even cycle on the small port. No surprises there. It has been awhile since I’ve shot a “big bore” AR and I’d forgotten how much fun they are to shoot.
The irons seem to be right on the money out of the box. I do have a complaint about the rear sight. The sight has a windage adjustment on both sides and I found that it is easy to crank the adjustment while flipping the sight up. Neither the front nor the rear lock in the up position.
The gas system is an improvement over the system used on the SIG516 and I hope SIG incorporates the redesigned parts in the SIG516 as well. The gas adjustment is similar but the locking detent is a little bigger and easier to depress. Also, the gas valve can now be removed by rotating it 180-degrees as opposed to the old way that required the valve to be unscrewed. I note, too, that the gas block has a couple of gas venting holes on the sides and it seems that this keeps all the fouling from blowing onto the barrel under the handguard.
The rifle’s heavy with a loaded weight of just under ten pounds. I’d like to see SIG put this sucker on a diet with a thinner profile barrel and maybe a shaved handguard without the rails along the sides and bottom.
More to come…
I really like the FDE one for looks. From what I’ve heard they are really good rifles.
Tokarev, Sorry about the weather, but it’s good to know you got to shoot it. This is my first AR .308 and I really like it. It’s going to cost me some money because I’ll have to join the outdoor range to get any distance at all and although I get a great deal on the ammo, it’s lots more than .556.
As to the weight, I’m hoping that I can put regular hand guards on it. I haven’t gotten around to removing the rails to see how they attach. That may be a project for this week.
Hope you get some good weather soon.
I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I’m seeing no unusual wear in the rifle. I’ve only got 60 rounds fired but there’s no cam pin drag and no buffer tube wear.
I do note with some interest that SIG has scalloped the upper receiver so that the cam pin doesn’t make contact with the upper behind the recess in the upper. Also, the 7.62 rifle uses the same pin in the barrel extension to support the extractor when it is locked into the extension.
I find the carbine length handguard and that monsterous gasblock a complete design no-go and fail. I hope new owners of this rifle like that setup because that is all there will ever be for it. Running hard I hope the shooter wears good gloves because that gas block is a giant burn hazard. This isn’t a big deal shooting 60 rounds in a range session but forget about it during a class.
I own a 516 and love it but thanks to this post really gives me some valid questions about the 517 , I always believed that the #1 rule is a reliable gun when i need it.
Having burnt my fingers several times on barrels and gas blocks, if that is the only problem the rifle has it is doing well. First of all if it’s hot the shooter will be very quick to relocate his fingers, and secondly pain is a good method of teaching people away from bad habits.
The rail does a fairly good job of staying cool since it doesn’t make contact with the gas block. But I tend to agree regarding the carbine-length forend. I’d like to see SIG extend the forend a little to partially cover the gas block like they did on the 7" PDW upper. This might require a shaved block but I doubt anyone will use the bayonet lug that’s on there now.
Ideally, I’d like to see something similar to a VTAC handguard or Daniel Defense MFR available for this and the 516.