An online dealer in Canada announced back in May that they had a large quantity of Hirtenberger 7.62mm NATO surplus coming in—it had been some time since large quantities of good-quality surplus was available here. I thought, hmmm, good quality 7.62 surplus at not a bad price…I should pick some up. Of course there was the small issue of me not having a 7.62mm rifle since I sold my Norinco M14 a few years back. I liked the M14 OK, but didn’t really want another one. I was generally aware of the SG542 as it had been available in Canada for more than a year now, but didn’t know many of the details. I did some research and reading and was lucky enough to find this second-hand one unfired.
A quick bit of history—the SG542 (and the 5.56mm version, the SG540) was designed by SIG in the early 1970s. Due to Swiss export restrictions, manufacturing was moved to France and eventually under license to FAMAE, Chile’s state-owned arms manufacturer. Efforts were started a couple of years ago to produce a version that could be exported and sold in Canada as a non-restricted firearm, and last year importation started. Officially, mine is known by the fancy name “FAMAE SG 542-1 ERE Elite”. (ERE Systems being the importer).
Due to the quirks of Canadian firearms legislation availability of military-style semi-auto rifles is a mixed bag. Back in the mid-90s when the last round of harsh restrictions came in nearly all military-style semi-auto rifles were “prohibited”, meaning that current owners could continue to own but not shoot their rifles. The only one to escape was the AR15, plus all variants including 7.26mm versions. And even AR15s were classified as “restricted”…meaning that they need to be registered and can only be shot an an approved range. The end result of all this is that there are very few non-prohibited, non-restricted 7.62mm NATO rifles…the FNs and HK91s are prohibited, and AR10-style rifles are restricted. However, since rifles were prohibited by name not characteristics, ones that have arrived since the legislation are available non-restricted. However, the only options still are M14s, the Robinson Arms XCR-M and the SG542. I think going on logic only I would’ve picked up an XCR-M…it’s more modern and more accommodating of accessories. But, the Swiss lineage of this rifle appealed to me.
Overview
I was pleasantly surprised at the handiness of the rifle. It’s 7.8 pounds with an 18.7” barrel, so it’s not night and day different than a full-size AR. I dug my old FN (Actually an Indian 1A1) out from the back of the safe to compare and was surprised by how much longer and (especially) heavier the FN was (about 1.7lb)…the SG542 is much more comfortable to hold. The pistol grip is fairly short, and with AR pistol grips going more and more vertical recently, feels noticeably raked. The mold lines in the plastic are fairly prominent, but could be easily removed with an emery board.
The handguards are quite narrow and semi-triangular, for wanted of a better word. Even with my smallish hands I can get an easy grip on them.
The rear sight is a knurled rotating drum, graduated at 100m, 300m, 500m and 600m. The rear sight is windage adjustable using the screw. I found the white numbers a little distracting. The safety is ambidextrous (although it’s a little short).
The front sight is a standard blade with wings to protect it. The screw is used to fine-tune the elevation setting. Some members here have reported that their front sight was loose…but mine is tight so far.
The flash hider is pinned instead of the more common threading. I’ve heard of other members here whose flash hider loosened up…I’ll have to keep an eye on this as well. You can also see the three-position gas regulator.
I’ve never owned a Swiss Arms rifle was was always curious about the little plunger dealy in the picture above. Surely, I thought, it must be some some of trigger stop…it can’t be part of the actual trigger mechanism…like a water pistol’s trigger. Well, turns out I was wrong. It is part of he mechanism. I know it’s fine, but I still think it looks a little cheesy. The two-stage trigger pull, by the way, is quite nice, The first stage is the take-up before contacting the “plunger” and the second stage is heavy (maybe 6 or 7 lb?) but smooth and fairly short.
Disassembly is surprisingly easy…pop out a couple of pins to separate upper and lower, then rotate a captive screw 180° to get at the gas system and piston.
Here’s the bolt and bolt carrier:
Here’s the lower receiver:
This is my first stamped-steel rifle…I know it’s not but it looks a little too thin compared to what I’m used to!
Here’s the upper:
Mine came with an optional optic rail. It attaches in an unusual way. The front has a tapered groove on the bottom
that mates with the top front of the upper receiver
The rear of the mount has a tapered bolt
that is rotated to mate with this notch below the rear sight
A set-screw keeps it from backing out (I guess!).
Quick range report
I had a chance to give the SG542 a quick shakedown last Friday evening. I fired 50 rounds of the Hirtenberger surplus without any problems at all
Here are shots 2-6 through the rifle (I always shoot the first round and check the case first before firing any more)
The rifle is very comfortable to shoot, but I did notice that the case rims were mangled a bit. I then noticed that the gas setting was on “2” instead of “1”. D’oh! Changing it to “1” made for a bit easier recoil and less-mangled brass. Here’s the result of 5 rounds standing at 50m:
I’d attribute the windage variance to me.
It was nearly sunset at that point and I wanted to try a few targets from the bench at 100m.
Here’s my first try…about a 6" group (with four rounds going into around 3"). I found this target a little tough to pick up in the fading light.
Here’s the last group of the day—I switched to a higher-contrast target (note that the heads are different sizes).
I was happy with this…about 3.75", or 3.25 MOA. With iron sights and surplus ammo, and with the sun just about set, I don’t think I could do any better.
Conclusion
So—I’m very happy with the rifle. It’s comfortable and fun to shoot, accurate and completely reliable so far. The iron sights aren’t bad…I’m still undecided about an optic. I’m kicking around the idea of maybe a mini-RDS on it…or maybe a low-magnification scope. Or maybe leave it as is! I kind of like the “late Cold War era” look of it with just the irons…I’ll start with it like that and see how it works.
so there are indeed four. I’ve revised my original post. I need a sight for my KSG anyway so I might pick one up for the 542 and if it doesn’t work out I’ll grab a riser and throw it on that.