SIG SAUER introduced the 516 at the 2010 SHOT Show. The SIG 516 is actually a line of rifles with varying configurations aimed at specific markets. They are gas-piston system operated with a 3-position (4-position optional) gas regulator and employ a piston to reset the bolt as opposed to the direct-impingement (DI) method that vents much of the gas into the bolt chamber to reset it. While much ink and plenty of electrons have been spilled on the pros and cons of piston ARs version DI models, the basic advantage claimed by team piston is that venting the gas directly into the bolt also vents a lot of crap in there as well. That leads to a buildup of gunk in the bolt-carrier area which could eventually lead to a failure to fire if the gun is not kept reasonably clean . . .
The major negative of the piston system is that there’s no real standard here. Where most manufacturers of DI weapons have fully interchangeable parts, each piston manufacturer employs their own design so you’re somewhat locked into a vendor. I’m not sure this is a really serious disadvantage for people who are content with purchasing complete uppers as that’s where the entire piston system lives.
You can certainly mix and match uppers and lower receivers, but if you are the sort of person who enjoys building and modifying your own uppers, then you may find some difficulty if you choose a piston system that doesn’t have a lot of third party parts support. The other disadvantage is that piston systems are more complex meaning that there is certainly more that can go wrong with them. Plus, they tend to cost a couple hundred dollars more than DI systems.
As in most things, of course, YMMV. If you are in an intense firefight and dumping hundreds of rounds downrange without much time to clean your gun, the piston may be a good choice to avoid malfunctions. For most of us, provided we start our day with a clean rifle, we’re probably not going to shoot enough rounds in a single session for the buildup of gunk in a DI-gas system rifle to bother us.
That said, the SIG 516 Patrol definitely does not get as dirty as my Colt did and I don’t always have the chance to clean my rifle after every session, so having a gun that stays cleaner longer is a good thing. Just like 1911 vs. Glock handguns or thin vs. thick crust, the question of DI versus piston won’t be settled any time soon.
But let me add two contradicting thoughts. First, the DI model has been in heavy use since the Vietnam era. If the DI model was seriously flawed, the DOD would likely have looked at replacing it with a piston version in the standard issue weapon system. On the other hand, Vietnam was wet jungle. It’s only been the last 20 years or so that our soldiers have had to fight in a totally different environment – one filled with sand. Lots of sand. It would seem that, with fine particulates in the wind, the less crap that gets blown into your bolt carrier group, the better.
Whether piston systems are superior to DI models in that sort of environment is still an open question. SIG did provide an impressive marketing video showing that the 516 can be buried in the mud and sand as well as submerged in water and still fire full auto with no problems. Is it a better system? That’s a question for people with a lot more expertise than I have. I will point out, though, that the newer 300 Blackout system developed by AAC in conjunction with the U.S. military uses a piston rather than a DI system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFZ3yUMH5IA
SIG makes the 516 carbine available in both semi-auto and select fire variants. The fire control/safety selector is an ambidextrous design. On the plus side, since the rifle is built with select fire in mind, you can use something like the Slide Fire bump stock to dump ammo downrange at near full auto rates if you want without fear that you’re going to fry your barrel.
All models come standard with a free-floating, aluminum quad rail handguard with four M1913 Picatinny rails. Barrels are chrome-lined and cold-hammer forged with a Nitride finish for extreme durability and corrosion resistance and heavy match military-grade barrels are available with some models. There is an adjustable, four-position gas regulator,The muzzle is threaded with a standard (0.5x28TPI) pattern to accommodate a wide variety of flash suppressors, muzzle brakes and suppressors.
The lower is machined from a 7075-T6 aircraft-grade aluminum just like the upper. The upper and lower feature a black, hard-coat anodized finish. Back-up iron sights are available for any model and come standard on the 516 Patrol model that I purchased. (I would consider the purchase of a simple red-dot sight to complete the package.)
SIG being SIG, they added a few nice features to the Patrol Rifle. First, the lower has a couple of pressure buttons under the two takedown pins. These are spring loaded and apply upwards pressure against the takedown pins. The upshot is that there is absolutely no slack between the upper and lower. Sure, there are aftermarket parts available to add this functionality to any AR, but its nice that SIG included them in the design.
Another feature found on most of SIG’s AR-style rifles is multiple connection points for slings. You can use one-, two-, or three-point slings and SIG’s method of attachment are push-button release connectors. Again, a small thing but appreciated nonetheless as I needed to add an attachment point for a single-point sling to my Colt.
SIG also designed the bolt carrier group themselves, choosing to make it an integral part of the bolt carrier group rather than simply riveting it on. While the rivet method works fine with DI systems, piston systems strike it much harder and SIG found that some of the earlier riveted designs failed due to the force of the piston.
The trigger is a fairly stout 7.6 lb single stage affair, but two-stage triggers are available in some models. The trigger is decent, but nothing to write home about. I would have preferred a better one in weapons systems with a list price just south of $1,700. It’s a shame, actually, as the rifle is capable of good accuracy, but you are not going to win too many national matches without changing it out.
The 516 weighs in at 7.3 pounds without a magazine, which is a bit heavier than my Colt. Accessories include one 30-round polymer PMAG and a single/double point sling. It ships in a nice hard-sided case that, while not of Pelican quality, certainly saves you some cash on an accessory purchase.
Compatibility with aftermarket accessories is pretty good. I purchased a CMMG .22 conversion bolt carrier group for my Colt and I’m happy to say that it works just fine with the 516, too. A relatively recent purchase (inspired by Foghorn’s incessant love affair with the 300 Blackout round) was an AAC 16-inch 300 BLK upper. It snapped right onto my 516 lower and performed flawlessly.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Slide Fire bump stock I bought for my Colt. I tried to install it on the SIG and found the first problem — the built-in mount points for the single point sling interfered with the motion of the Slide Fire and it simply did not work. While I’m confident that a little time with a Dremel would have enabled me to modify my Slide Fire, I’m reluctant to do that to a $300+ accessory that I might one day want to sell if I get sick of dumping ammo downrange.
My solution was to pick up an inexpensive lower that takes the Slide Fire easily. Side benefit: now I have two complete ARs rather than one AR with two uppers. One other thing is that while the Slide Fire is capable of being locked into position to allow semi-automatic fire, it’s not as good as the multi-position stock that ships with the SIG, so it’s good to have the second lower.
The SIG has a 1:7 twist rate which means that it’s better at stabilizing heavier bullets. You can shoot just about anything through it, but the heavier rounds definitely afford more accuracy. In my testing, I found that the most accurate shots were obtained with Federal Premium Gold Medal .223 69-grain bullets. The 516 has no problem unloading cheap milsurp and Russian steel-jacketed rounds down range, but your accuracy will suffer.
The following pictures are the various ammo types that I tested at 100 yards with a 10 power scope. All shooting was done on a Caldwell Rock Bench Rest, but I didn’t use a rear bag so there is some variation in accuracy. The gun is certainly capable of better accuracy than I am, so take the following images with a grain of salt. For each target, I fired five to ten rounds. Given the precarious nature of my bench rest construction, you should probably look at the best three.
First up are 55-grain American Eagle brass loads:
Not terrible, but certainly nothing to write home about.
Next, we have 55-grain FMJ Wolf steel-cased ammo:
Truly awful. Only three rounds even fit into the camera shot. Not using this junk again.
Followed by 62-grain milsurp penetrator loads:
Better still. Not exactly 1 MOA here, but a decent showing.
And finally the nice stuff, the 69-grain Federal Premium Gold match:
Now we can see the rifle approaching the 1 MOA at 100 yards that it’s capable of.
Overall, I am fairly pleased with this rifle, but a trigger replacement is definitely in the cards for me. Is it the right rifle for you? That’s your decision but the SIG is definitely staying in my gun collection.
Like the 516, but hankering for something a bit more powerful? Stay tuned for my review of the 516’s big brother, the .308-spitting 716.
Specifications:
Operating System: Gas Piston
Caliber: 5.56mm NATO
Overall Length: 37.5 in.
Overall Width: 3 in.
Height: 7.75 in.
Trigger Type: MIL-SPEC
Trigger Weight: 7.6 lbs
Barrel Length: 16.0 in.
Mag Type: AR-15
Mags Included: (1) 30-round magazine – polymer
Rifling: 1 in 7 in.
Number of Grooves: 6
Stock and Pistol Grip: Magpul MOE
Weight without Mag: 7.3 lbs
MSRP: $1,666
Ratings (Out of Five Stars):
Accuracy: * * * *
My lack of skill notwithstanding, this gun shoots very well provided you feed it the right type of ammo. Overall, though, I was fairly impressed with its ability to fire the cheap 62-grain milsurp pretty well.
Ergonomics: * * * *
It’s a freaking AR-15. The adjustable stock is nice, but certainly not different from the adjustable stocks on any other type of AR-15 pattern gun. The built-in sling mounting points are nice provided you don’t plan on using a Slide Fire on the buffer tube. It would also have been nice to shave a bit more weight off of the gun, but one can’t everything. Where would you put it?
Ergonomics Firing: * * *
Generally a great rifle, but the less-than-stellar trigger cost it a couple of stars. C’mon SIG, you offer a two stage trigger in some of the other 515 models, so why not simplify the build and use the same trigger across all of the guns in the series?
Reliability: * * * * *
I have not had the guts to try any of the extreme torture tests in the video, but I have never had a single failure to feed or a misfire.
Customization: * * * * *
Again, this is an AR-15. It doesn’t get much more customizable than that and the full length quad rail forend is a nice touch, as are the included backup iron sights.
Overall Rating: * * * *
Fix the damn trigger and you would have a five-star rifle here. Even with that oversight, though, this is a fairly nice weapon system and certainly a nice bump up from my Colt AR.
BHO is becoming quite the dictator, isn’t he komrades?
Have a match elite and it is flawless. Have shot over 14k thu her and perfect. No break in time was needed. Shoot IDPA and USPSA with her.
Machette vs shotgun hmmm, warning shot, hmm…I don’t think so!.
I have a Sig716 Patrol and I love it.
I have no qualms about the quality of the rifle. The sparse information available online leads one to believe that Sigs quality leaves something to be desired, and I haven’t found that to be the case.
Unlike you, though, I found the trigger excellent. While I never measured it, what you say is a 7+lb. pull sounds about right. I don’t shoot in competitions (just for “personal betterment”), so I don’t know about those needs. But for relaxed target shooting at two and three hundred yards, it suits me perfect. It’s a little stout, but the single-stage break is clean and consistent. Squeeze squeeze sq BAM! Squeeze squeeze sq BAM! Every time. The quad-rail hand guard adds a lot of weight to the front end of the rifle, though. I’ve never had a quad-rail hand guard before, and I was surprised at how much added weight there is compared to a standard guard. (It’s not that it’s that heavy, but it does throw off the balance of the weapon.)
I’ve only used a couple kinds of ammo in it, but it eats them up like nothing. I got the shop to throw in a box of those Hornady Zombie bullets (168gr. HPBT), I grabbed an extra box of Remington 168gr. FMJs, and came home and ordered 200 rds. of Sellier & Bellot 182gr. FMJBTs. I’ve had no problems with any of them.
The price tag was a little more than what I wanted to spend at the time, but still considerably less than the other .308 ARs offered at my local shop. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend the 716 to anyone looking for a .308
My comment on the trigger was in comparison to some of the other guns I have. It is just not as smooth by comparison. It’s mot a terrible trigger, but since the offer the 2 stage on other guns, it would have been nice to see it here as well. That said, I personally don’t find the trigger on my 716 to be as annoying as the one on my 516, so it may be comparing apples to oranges.
planning on getting one in the (hopefully near)future
The issue of fouling with DI rifles in my opinion is rather overstated. I have been in one of those ” intense firefights and dumping hundreds of rounds downrange without much time to clean your gun.” In a lovely spot called Sadr City back in 2004 I fired my complete basic load (210 rounds) my wounded driver’s basic load (another 210 rounds), and most of my gunner’s basic load (another 180 rounds…he was too busy on the M240 to bother with his M4). I fired 600 rounds in a little over half an hour, with zero failures to feed, zero failures to fire, and zero failures to eject. I could feel the heat of the barrel and gas tube through my nomex gloves, and I have no doubt that do to barrel heating (and being scared s***less, and the other bastards shooting back at me with their AK’s, and trying to bring in gunships on the radio, and get the QRF to where I was, etc) I wasn’t the most accurate marksman who ever lived by the end of the experience.
The important thing is my M4, with service M855 ammo (with about every fifth round being a tracer mixed in), fired more than 20 rounds a minute for a half hour without being cleaned and without malfunction. I’m not saying a piston rifle wouldn’t have performed as well or better, I’m just saying the DI system gets a bad rap.
That bad rap goes back to Vietnam. The problem was the M16 (as in M16 “A Nothing”) as originally fielded didn’t have a chrome bore, resulting in a lot of failures to eject (hence documented stories of dead Soldiers being found with a cleaning rod jammed down the barrel of an M16 trying to get a casing unstuck). The original M16 also lacked the forward assist, and those gunked up, pitted bores sometimes resulted in the failure of the bold to close and failures to fire. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was the use of a slow burning powder that caused fouling of the gas tube.
The M16 “A nothing” has been gone for almost fifty years. The modern M4 is a good rifle. It hasn’t let me down in 36 months of use in combat. I’m more than comfortable with my choice of a DI S&W M&P 15 for civilian use.
Again, nothing against Piston Rifles, I’ve never even played with one, I just hate to see DI maligned because of stuff that happened fifty years ago when a half baked idea was rushed to the jungles of Vietnam by a moron (Robert F. McNamara, worst SECDEF in the history of the United States…but that’s a different argument).
Try again.
I was not in Vietnam, but I was getting close to being drafted when the war ended.
I did have older friends who were in Vietnam and it seems that the M16 performed differently as it was refined during the war.
Early deployment of the M16 was beset with ball powder used in M14 which was not very clean burning. The bolt and other parts were not chromed, soldiers were told it was self cleaning and quantity of cleaning kits were insufficient, poor lubricants were used. Gun was labelled crap by the early users of the weapon, and they wanted the M14.
Friends who were there around 1967, Tet and 1968 stated the M16 was OK if you kept the thing spotless. It was improving, due to much more more cleaning and different powder.
Friends who used the weapon after the Hamburger Hill episode in 1969 and 1970 got along with the M16 fine as many subtle items had changed, including many chrome parts. Most actually fired the M16 in semi auto surprisingly enough.
As with the other posters, I agree completely, that I am grossly under qualified to render a verdict on DI versus Piston. All I meant to do here was to restate the various positions on the two systems as if I had not done so, someone else would have in the comments. While I certainly do not have the real in the sh*t experience that you obviously do, I can say that my 516 is easier to clean than my Colt was. Whether this makes a bit of difference to someone under fire is not for me to say. Instead, I simply offer my experience to those folks who are likely considering buying this rifle for their own shooting needs.
I also concur with the others who thank you for your service. You and the other brave men and women who put your lives on the line to protect us in our fat and happy lives are owed more than we can ever repay.
I was over there in the same time (Baghdad, ’04). My team wasn’t involved in any of the firefights (we were executive protection – different gig), but we want to see how reliable the M4 was, so we ran 400 rounds through one on the range with similar results. It got hot, but no failures to function.
I never had a reason to complain about the M4.
I don’t claim to be an expert on the matter, but the French had fought for years in Indochina and did not complain about the lack of chrome lining on their barrels.
Late to the conversation( like by three years!) But saying the french fought in indochina with non chromed rifles is like saying Custer fought without a M249 SAW!
The M-16 was and still is a great firearm. Are there “better weapons” out there? Maybe, maybe not. The soviets still field their AK74- a 40 yr old derivative of the AK47. The french still deploy the famas- also now over 30 yr old platform; ditto the
British with the SA80/L85A1 ( which had awful teething pains, and millions of dollars in “fixes”)- the closest any of the above, with the exception of the Russians, have come to replacing their main fighting rifles is to look into piston variants of the AR( the HK 416 or the derivative SCAR 16)
Any weapon can and WILL fail. Going to a piston system may just keep the AR platform in combat well into the late 21 st century
I also have to agree with the colonel. The DI system does have a bad Rep that is not entirely deserved. I, like most soldiers, have countless thousands of rounds down range through M4’s and haven’t had the terrible experience described by the piston people. News flash: direct impingement works, and works well. The M16 Jammomatic was remedied before I was even born. You can dump a full combat load (210 rounds) and dump your buddies and still have a functional weapon. A crazy hot functional weapon. The only advantage I see to a piston gun is the lack of fouling and heat transfer. I have been concerned about cookoffs in the past. A piston kit would prevent that from happening.
Now the M2 and M249 do deserve their reps. I hated the saw and maintenance on an M2 is a beast.
Good on the brass for stepping up and defending a weapon system that served me and my brothers admirably. I appreciate you LTC F.
In Afghanistan, my unit ditched our M4s and went with HK416s instead. The M4s were jamming all the time in the dusty, sandy environment. You want to read the horror stories, you can google them. Here’s some info http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-m4-carbine-controversy-03289/
Nazz, what did u use for lube? Graphite, clp, other?
yes, i see its an old post.
Thank you
Excellent response by ltc f. My experience also. Only reason i am interested in this sig is their claim that it still works flawlessly in a lot of crapola. That is not my experience with issued weapons, hence the importance of dustcover and fwd assist, eschewed by many today. Someone please independantly verify sigs claim.
Second the LTC F (although god help me if that’s his rank, I do hate to agree with an officer)
I’d heard all the stories about how the M-16 sucked and had a pussy cartridge and had terrible reliability. They’re not true anymore, if indeed they ever were. I’ve got thousands upon thousands of rounds through an M-4 and M-16s. My last weapon was so shot out you couldn’t even see the indent of the rifling, just a faint swirl. I’ve used those weapons on deployments, and never had one seriously jam. Only a couple failures to eject, attributable to hard use/misuse and easily remedied. I love the weapon system, and am in the process of rebuilding a civilian model similar to what I carried. The standard AR mechanism is certainly rugged and accurate enough for military use, which means more than any of us are likely to put them through. That said, I’ve spent many hundreds of hours cleaning that weapon system, and it is a fucking monster to clean. Totally impossible to ever get all the fouling out of the action. I once cleaned the same M-16 for five days straight, twelve hours day, and the Drill Sergeant could still dig carbon out of some crevice or another. Doesn’t affect the functionality, but damned if I wouldn’t have liked an easier cleaning job.
LTC F, thank you for your service sir. The opinions of those who have “seen the elephant” are worth 10,000 gun shop commando opinions. Thanks again.
Nice rifle, shot it at the Rifle 101 class I took at the Sig Academy (also a nice course for anyone new to rifles.) Although I did have a double-feed in the only 80 or so rounds we shot. The instructor had a double-feed he couldn’t clear in the field but that was on a full auto 516 he brought out to demo to us. To be fair their guns get a ton of use I’m sure. And you clean what you shoot at Sig – so how well cleaned/maintained the borrowed guns are, well… You get 20% off stuff in their pro shop when you take a course. I asked what they had in stock for the 516 and they said nothing and probably wouldn’t have one for 6 months. I asked to put my name on the waiting list and they said they didn’t have a waiting list system setup so to just check back. I can’t imagine that’s good for sales. Then again most gun manufacturers probably aren’t hurting for sales right about now. No matter how good the gun is and how much the discount is if you want something bad enough how long will you wait with no guarantee of getting one before you give in and buy something else.
FWIW if I remember correctly my problem wasn’t a double feed, I think I had a failure to eject and a new round fed and wedged the spent round in the chamber but I cleared it. The instructor explained his problem as a double-feed. His rounds were so wedged into the feed ramps(?) that neither round was willing to come out.
I believe your malfunction is called a stovepipe. They’re probably the most common malfunction for any firearm as they have many different causes. Bad ammo (low pressure), stiff springs from a brand new gun, friction on moving parts from fouling or lack of lube.
Fortunately, they’re the easiest to clear. Tap-Rack. Smack the magazine to make sure it’s properly in place and cycle the action.
Love my 516 Patrol, accurate and reliable and only payed 1250 for it. just wish I could justify spending another 1000 bucks for an acog. But another part of me just says hey that thousand bucks could buy more guns instead.
This is a good buy for the money I guess, but I ordered one of these in 7.62×39 thinking it was my dream rifle. What a mistake. The front plastic forearm rattled, and the magazine well is far too wide, causing AK mags to wobble back and forth, more rattles. And there is still NO FRONT /REAR battle site offered, only a red dot setup, limiting your range to about 200 yards. Geeze, I can do that with a AK.
I sent it back without firing it. I like Sig products, but they have done a lot of stupid stuff lately…
NOTE Follow Up: I realize the above tester rifle is based on the AR and not the piston patrol rifle in the 7.62×39 that I was complaining about. But there was nowhere else to attach to a SIG rifle test. Sorry if I was confusing anyone here, but was in a hurry. (I do like the AR in DI and use them).
The SIG is a beautiful AR, but I bought the S&W M&P 15PSX instead, (piston and quad rail), for the simple reason it has the more appropriate 9″ twist. The military’s 7″ twist has to be suffered if you *really* plan on a diet of tracers, but it’s way too fast for 62 grain M855 and, of course, insane for 55 grain.
Has anyone had any experience using Hornady .223 Match Grade 75gr. I am thinking that because these are a little heavier that they will shoot better in the 516 than some lighter loads even in .556. Any thoughts are welcome.
Have you tried any of the Hornady .223 rounds yet??
I’m courious about the Hornady .223 75gr. BTHP Match, as well and the 60 gr. V-Max, and the Super Performance.. Any suggestions on rounds for Hunting Yotes with the 516 that will be accurate and cycle good??
What ever your choice of firearm paint it Pink, no one steals a pink ghat
PS tell your photog to pay more attention to the background; that range looks like a landfill
“A bit much”? Maybe you should find some puzzles to work on your attention span; you’ve posted MUCH longer videos here, Robert. Physician, heal thyself.
I actually watched this yesterday, and I find Outlaw Josie’s film very compelling, and to the point.
The thing that really gets me is that more children are killed by drunk drivers every year than by firearms. Dead is dead. It doesn’t matter how you got that way so why not work on the item that would yield the most results? Many have and I hope they do figure out a way to keep people from driving while intoxicated. But when it comes back around to guns – the number of actual legal owners of guns who caused a child’s death is very, very small. Of course it is a tragedy when any one is killed, especially a child. But there are somewhere around 311 million people in the U.S. And at least 85 million are gun owners. If even 5000 incidents involving legal gun owners occurred (which I’m not saying they do but if they did) that would be a whopping .00005% of legal gun owners. And, let’s say that 50,000 murders were done by non-legal gun owners. That would be .00016% of the total population. Of course it sucks to be one of those .00016% or .00005% but really? There isn’t as big of a problem as anyone makes it out to be. Ridiculous.
My 516 and 716 have run flawlessly since purchase. My M400E…not so much. No hardcase with any of the 3 guns. M400E came in 2 sturdy card board boxes and softcase. Sig 3000 came in hard case which UPS dropped hard enuff for the flash hider on the bbl to bust thru the corner of the case. Triggers suck on all 3 AR platform guns from Sig. That can be fixed. Sub MOA accuracy out of all my Sigs with match ammo. The M400E was hyper accurate with 77grain match ammo and a 16x scope off a machine rest. The most accurate of the 3 AR platform guns. The 516 and 716 have chrome lined bbls which hurt their accuracy but help their reliability (?) The 516 weighs a ton and has a sharp recoil impulse compared to my S&W Sport which feels like it weighs half as much and feels like it kicks much less (YMMV). I think I still have the American Riffleman issue where the 516 debuted about 5 years ago. I believe the first time I saw one on the shelf was about a year ago. Since the AR insanity of 2013, the 516 may now be available at its originally advertised price of $1200. Complete DI uppers and lowers can be had now for $300 and $150 respectively…you pays yor money and takes yor chances as the saying goes.
Does anyone have instructions or video for changing the trigger on the Sig Sauer 516? It appears that the safety has to be removed first but the cotter pin on the safety on my rifle will not come out easily.
I dropped a Geissle SSA into my 516 and my 716, neither required removing the safety. The video instructions are on the Geissle web page
Good read. I have both the 516 and 716. Great weapons.
Reading questions about the trigger swap. You can leave the safety in, but removing it makes the work much easier.
Pull the pistol grip off so the spring tension is off off it. From there, just gently spin the lever in the opposite direction of “safe” and it releases the tension while aligning it for removal. Don’t force it if it hangs or you will damage the pin and lower. Just wiggle it a little as you gently pull outward.
Anyone can tell me if the lancer L5 AWM is well fit with SIG 516 rifle. I will really appreciate any comment or inputs. Thanks.
I have 2 Colt AR’s. Once purchased in 1985, the other just two years ago.
I bought the Sig 516 a couple of years ago and I used to say “ony a Colt would do for me.”
Now I will include the Sig 516.
The only thing I’ll disagree with you on is the trigger. It isn’t a Timney, but I never felt it was a draw back until I read this article.
Second disagreement is the Slidefire. I was cautioned in advance that it might not work with the 516. I like to tinker but I paid my gunsmith $50 and he installed it perfectly. You would think it was born with the Slidefire.
The 516 is also better than most guns in operating with a Slidefires because its specs are for full auto (meaning it can take more than most AR;s) and second, it has adjustable valve on the gas piston which can be used to get the Slidefire operating just right. But the only trick to a Slidefire (which they don’t tell you) is that forward pressure with the use of a fore-grip really makes it work great.
Overall a 5/5 in my book.
Can I win one of these?
bought mine recently and firing 62gr 5.56 and 223 ammo. No FTF/FTE issues whatsoever. This rifle does everything I wanted and more. Breaks down easily and re-assembles without any issues. continues to impress me with continued/rapid fire tactics. mounted EOtech red dot with magnifier for distant targets >>100-300 meters with perfect accuracy…again with good to better 62gr. ammo. Bad or cheap ammo sucks! don’t feed this nice rifle bad ammo! you wouldn’t feed yourself vomit would you? awesome weapon with expert performance. absolutely prefer over other AR rifle types.
Replaced factory trigger with a Rock Island Arms two stage trigger, problem solved.
I have had my 516 now for 12 years. I love this thing. its a bit heavy so I changed a few pieces but its great. Changed my trigger to a boron coated and its fantastic. Accuracy is still tops and hte upper and lower fit even after 12 years is still tighter than a squirrels ….you know…