Hello all. I'm sure this has been asked 1,000 times before, but I'm looking at purchasing a SIG 716 from a buddy, but neither he nor I know if it's a gen 1 or gen 2. I have the serial number, so I was wondering if there was a way to identify it that way. Thanks in advance.

Call SIG customer service and give them the serial number.

Not many Gen2 floating around. Safe to say if he didnt buy it the last 6 months or so its a Gen1.

You can also post a pic here and I can verify. Or call SIg.

Well it depends on your definition of gen1/gen2.

There were two different models of gen1 - some folks call these gen1 and gen2.

Then there's the newest model which came with a completely different forend (keymod if I remember correctly instead of the quad pic rail)

I reached out to their customer service and someone identified it as a GEN 1. I read a few posts about the barrel not being well built, hence the GEN 2. Makes me skeptical about buying it now.

quote:

Originally posted by m5runner:
I reached out to their customer service and someone identified it as a GEN 1. I read a few posts about the barrel not being well built, hence the GEN 2. Makes me skeptical about buying it now.

Ive never heard that. The Gen2 was pretty much a weight saving attempt as the Gen1 guns were on the heavy side. My 716 DMR shot .76 factory goups and Ive seen planty of guys take their 16in Patrol to 5-600 with no problem.

quote:

I read a few posts about the barrel not being well built, hence the GEN 2

Must be true if you read it on the internet. Beyond the forearm type, the pistol is different.

quote:

Originally posted by m5runner:
I read a few posts about the barrel not being well built, hence the GEN 2. Makes me skeptical about buying it now.

First I'm hearing about this as well... Hell I even had my barrel chopped down to 12" and I can still group 1" @ 100.

quote:

Originally posted by m5runner:
I read a few posts about the barrel not being well built, hence the GEN 2. Makes me skeptical about buying it now.

I've never heard of it.

Both Gen 1 and Gen 2 bbls are cold-hammer forged.

SIG reduced the size of the receiver and lightened the overall build along with other updates (quadrail to keymod) from gen 1 to gen 2.

I've never heard any complaints about any 516 or 716 bbl.

All, thanks for the knowledge and guidance regarding this. I may have been over-researching an d ran into an article about something of the sort and Sig losing a deal because of the barrel's durability. Can't find the article for the life of me, but that's totally fine. Thanks again.

There are at least two Gen 1 versions of the Patrol model and you can tell as the position of the gas block was moved on the barrel. The gas block is also visually different. Let's call them Gen 1.1 and Gen 1.2. Both came with quad rails. I've seen this with my own eyes comparing my rifles (1.1) with 1.2's on the shelf.

You can draw your own conclusions as to why Sig bothered to make a running change like that but they didn't do it for no reason.

FWIW I have two Gen 1.1 716's, #1 is a solid rifle that shoots ~2MOA with bulk ammo like XM80 and brown bear and ~1MOA with nice factory ammo like Federal Gold medal. My #2 rifle has been nothing but trouble, had a lot of issues with it and it has been back to Sig 3 times. Net result, it is still shooting ~8MOA with bulk ammo and ~3 MOA at best with nice factory ammo, though it is at least reliable now. Sig says it's "in spec".

Gen 2 comes with a keymod rail.

Having said all of that, if it has a quadrail, you want to be able to see how it shoots. If it's a good shooter then for the right price it might be OK.