Review: Sig 556R - Not what I expected

A good review is one that is unbiased, pointing out pros and cons.
Not firing common practice ammunition, extremely sloppy fit and finish and poor quality parts are definitely something 99.9% of shootists would consider a con.
 
I posted : "Thats because company's are cutting corners anywhere they can"
I was speaking in general terms about the decline in quality of firearms from several major company's.


comn-cents replyed:
So all the modifications done on 1911 since, I'm guessing 1912 is because of cutting corners? Interesting


Way to take what I said out of context.
First of all I wasn't talking about 1911's. And 2nd, modifications to designs are not "cutting corners" they are changes to design. There is a difference.

"Cutting corners" means makeing the product as cheaply as possible. From what I have seen with this rifle, it looks like SIG is doing exactly that.
 
Inexcusable. Wouldn't Sig realize that if someone's buying a gun that's basically an updated AK, it should at least have the performance of an AK? (same ammo, same magazines, same reliability.) It's like promising chocolate cookies with no chocolate.
 
FT.
What other groups didn't you want grouped into you statement? Sorry I can't read your mind:eek: Maybe you didn't want to group HK in there or revolvers made in 1977, who knows, seems you are unsure.

I said that 1911 were modified (as in to make them work because companies were cutting corners).

So what company doesn't try to cut corners to save money? The ones out of business? That's what I'm guessing. You are jumping all other the place thinking that you know anything about Sig or another company out there because of one video. :barf:
 
I made one statment about how many companies in the firearms industry are lowering the quality of their products. No where did I specificaly mention design changes or 1911. You assumed that was what I was talking about. (Besides a "design change" is probably exactly what this rifle needs. There is no reason for the rifle to get chewed up by the standard steel AK mags it was "designed" to use)

There is also a difference between "design changes" and "cutting corners".
A "design change" is actually changing the design of the firearm. It means it functions diffrently or has diffrent parts. This can be done to simplify production or make the use/maintenece easier. But a company that cares about their product won't make these changes if the final product will be negativly affected.
"Cutting corners" is simply makeing the product as cheap as possible without regard for the final product. The company dosen't care if what they are making is junk. That is the difference.

I was not "jumping all over the place" in my post. You where making assumptions out of thin air. I NEVER mentioned 1911's or HK's or revolvers. So stop acting like I was. My statments where clear enough to everyone else on this thread.

You also DID NOT say that customers where modifying 1911's to "make them work because companys where cutting corners"

What you said was:
So all the modifications done on 1911 since, I'm guessing 1912 is because of cutting corners? Interesting
Now if you want to talk about 1911's go start a thread. There is no need to derail this one any farther than it has been. (BTW my 1911 has preformed flawlessly from the factory. At least Springfield still makes quality firearms)
 
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You think Silver Bear is something special and you think Wolf is bottom of the barrel? What do you base this assessment on? You think Zinc plated steel is superior to polymer coated steel? Do you know where these various brands are even made, or how?

Both Silver Bear and Golden Bear are better. Cost more, more accurate, and stricter quality control.
Yes, I know wear they are made.

The Sig 556R is far from a Ferrari. If you think the 556R is well made and a cut above the competition, I would say you either have one of a kind Sig 556R or you have very little experience outside of that rifle.

I never said the Sig was a Ferrari, I was using an analogy, to get my point across. However, in general circumstances, SIG would be considered top tier in many level of military style weapons.

Theres no way to prove to you on TFL, that I have more experince then you. This is not a tit for tat issue. No, I don't spend my money to buy a weapon and put the firing of said weapon on YOUTUBE. However, I do from time to time recieve free T&E weapons from different manufactuers, and I have been paid to be on T.V. with said weapons.

The Sig 556R isn't modular

SIG is a modular design rifle. Lets start with the defintion of of Modular.

constructed with standardized units or dimensions allowing flexibility and variety in use

Do to the fact the 556R can exchange forends, sighting systems, barrel length, mags, and even exchange parts with it 5.56mm brother, you can kind of see the answer.

My quote:

If you think spending a 1k on a rifle is alot, or your going to get a superior product for that, your sorely mistakin.

Your quote:
If you think $1,100 is a lot of money for a rifle, again, I would say you have very little experience buying such rifles.

Not to nit-pick but these two statments contradict each other. First your "Ferrari" rifle statment imply's that the SIG is a "superior" product.

You took that statement out of context.
 
StrongSideArmsInc:

You are quoting both me and Sturmgewehr. So I will only respond to the quotes that where mine.

Your post was likening a SIG 556R to a Ferrari. To put cheap gasoline in a race car would indeed be foolish. However your post implies that the Sig is somehow a gun that needs to be carefully maintained like a finely tuned product.

But if a SIG 556R isn't a top end product (which no one here is trying to claim that it is) then the customer should expect to be able to run inexpensive practice ammo in it.

Sorry but I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a $1000 rifle to run wolf ammo when a $300 century ak can run it without problems.
 
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CRAP AMMO! Try running them through the Sig a second time. Also, just because a magazine works in one gun doesn't mean it will in another one. Buy some good Bulgarian waffle magazines. You have a $1500 rifle and $10 gunshow special magazines loaded with Berdan primed steel cased ammo. You don't put 87octane in a Porsche and take it to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Garbage In Garbage Out.

I own a Sig556 Classic and will tell you from PERSONAL experience not just internet hearsay, it is a great rifle. The only thing that is even close in terms of quality is the SCAR.

I don't doubt that the rifle you tested had problems. However, there were some serious issues with the testing of it. This is why I never buy a gun, car or just about anything during it's first production run. They NEVER have all the bugs worked out no matter who makes it. This was the case with the regular 556 and apparently the 556R. (Of course, even the fanboys know know how wonderful early ARs worked. Heck.... they have a "forward assist" on them now for crying out loud. Just sayin.')
 
Do to the fact the 556R can exchange forends, sighting systems, barrel length, mags, and even exchange parts with it 5.56mm brother, you can kind of see the answer.
The 556R is no more modular than an AK, M1 Carbine, or SKS rifle. People are putting aftermarket stocks on Mosin Nagant rifles, and even scopes... I guess they're modular too. Using your rather lose definition, just about every rifle made is "modular".

Again, a modular rifle system would be something like a Stoner 63A or in more modern terms a Bushmaster ACR or Rob Arms XCR.

The barrel isn't quick change on the Sig 556R by the way, I have no idea where you get that the Sig has a modular barrel system. If you knew what you were talking about, you would know that the Sig 556(R) barrels are not even indexed. That means you can't easily pull a barrel from one rifle and put it on another rifle, you will have to set the head space - thus it's not modular.

Being on television or having a YouTube channel doesn't make one an expert. But saying things like "the Sig is a modular rifle because you can change the magazine and sights" is a clear indication you're not the expert on the subject you think you are.

I see nothing to be gained from arguing this with you. If you want to think the Sig 556R is a quality rifle and it's acceptable that it can't reliably fire the most common ammo on the market or even use surplus steel AK magazines without damaging itself, far be it from me to try and sway your opinion. I posted the flaws with the system as I see them backed up with video and picture evidence. What you, or anyone else, choose to do with that information is your choice.

Take care.
 
CRAP AMMO! Try running them through the Sig a second time. Also, just because a magazine works in one gun doesn't mean it will in another one. Buy some good Bulgarian waffle magazines. You have a $1500 rifle and $10 gunshow special magazines loaded with Berdan primed steel cased ammo. You don't put 87octane in a Porsche and take it to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. Garbage In Garbage Out.
First, Wolf isn't "crap ammo". Every 7.62x39 rifle made accept the Sig 556R fires it just fine in my experience. Wolf is the most commonly used 7.62x39 in the US and has been for decades.

Secondly, pre-ban Polytech steel magazines aren't cheap AK mags. The rifle came with a Bulgarian commercial magazine, and it didn't work nor did the high quality Polytech magazine, or any of my Bulgarian steel mags or polymer mags.

The Sig 556R isn't the "Porsche" (it's more like the Kia) of the gun world and they don't cost $1500 unless you're used to over paying for firearms. It's an $1100 gun.

As for the notion Silver Bear is superior quality ammo, zinc plating compared to lacquer or polymer is inferior. It's "cool" to many because it looks high quality due to the flashy nature of untarnished zinc. Leave it exposed to the elements for a couple of days and this is what you get:

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It doesn't do anything better than lacquer or polymer coatings other than looking pretty for a while. Lacquer and polymer are military grade coatings, there's a reason the Russians don't zinc plate their military ammo.
 
SIG 556 Russian Malfs

New user first post

I purchased a 556 Russian about 1 week ago. It refuses to run through a full mag without some type of malf. I jumped in without checking the water and got burned big time. Used a different steel cased ammo so this isn't about the ammo for the most part because I've read brass is ok. Not happy at all.
 
Oh and common steel mags will prematurely wear the mag's locking shelf. Man, I didn't do my homework on this buy. Really not happy with myself or SIG.
 
Putting zinc on the ammo casings was just a cheap attempt to galvanize it for storage. I won't buy silverbear/zinc crap it unless it's going to get used right away.
 
You have a $1500 rifle and $10 gunshow special magazines loaded with Berdan primed steel cased ammo. You don't put 87octane in a Porsche and take it to Jiffy Lube for an oil change

I strongly disagree with this concerning the 556R. This is EXACTLY why I purchased the rifle in the first place. I purchased this rifle so I CAN shoot cheap, steel cased 7.62x39 ammo with steel AK mags. A bunch of it for the fact of the matter. I paid over $1100.00 for it. I paid that much to have an updated AK for the 21st century with the SIG name stamped on it. I'm pretty sure most that bought one had this in mind as well.
 
I'm no expert, but if you pay to have something that you believe is High Quality, it should be able to everything you expect it to do, and more. All this argument over "You use crap ammo, that's why it fails" is just stupid IMO. Using the car analogy, you buy a Ferrari and you put cheap gas in it, sure it won't run at its full potential, but it will still run. The same thing applies here, we expect a certain standard of quality when you are investing a rather large sum of money in a companies product.

The fact that the SIG556R cannot accept what even entry level AK47 pattern rifles can is simply ridiculous, what we expect from a product such as this, is that it can do everything it's less than prestigious counterparts can do and beyond.

Sadly this apparently is not the case, and SIG just did not care what the end product was and slapped a price tag on it and advertised that it was something that it is clearly not.

Great video as usual Sturm, I look forward to seeing more of your videos in the future.
 
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