I am wanting to move away form the AR platform as my front line weapons system and move to a piston driven design. Although I have tremendous respect for the AR, I have never really loved the AR platform. I dislike the "sprong" of the buffer spring, and strongly dislike the charging handle set up. But most of all, I cannot stand the cleaning aspect of the DI design. I want to eventually run a suppressor and don't want a face full of hot gas.
I thought about piston AR, but I really want a piston weapon that was designed as such.

The SIG 556xi seems to have most of what I am looking for: around 7 lbs, familiar ergonomics, left side charging handle, robust piston design,
with the bonus of ambi controls. However, SIG has discontinued the 556 platform and I am not sure how serviceable it will be long term.

Questions: service and parts.
-Will SIG service the rifle if I have an issue? (I am not expecting them to do this for free)

-Are there parts available from SIG or on the open market from alternate vendors and if so, are they serviceable?

-I am not a super high volume carbine shooter, maybe a thousand rounds per year, but that my increase with a move to a free state. Do the Forum members have faith in this platform to be viable for 10-15 years?

-Are there other platforms I am not looking at that I should?

Here is my take on the options, let me know if I'm missing something.

I have shot the SCAR 16s and liked most of it, but the LOP was too short for me, I disliked the porcupine rail system and the trigger, while serviceable, was not commensurate with a carbine of its price-point. All things that are fixable, but in addition to the price of admission, I just cant do it. Add to that, costly and often times, unavailable parts and it seems like a bad economic decision.

Tevor and X95: Like the thought of a bull pup, but the weigh / balance seems off putting to me. Triggers are bla but fixable (at a cost of course) not sure if re-training on a bull pup is something I want to do at 53, but would for the right system.

MDR: Vaporware at this point, but it looked promising until resonantly when they announced it would be 8.4 lbs empty..... I'm out.

Not a fan of AK's, fun to shoot, but not for my primary SD weapon.

So what say you SIG forum: give me the skinny on the 556xi and anything I may be over-looking.

I have a 556xi, would love to trade for a Sig AR-15. Not because I don't like it, but because support is not very good. Sig seems to have gotten out before they got in. As I said it a good rifle, should be able to pick 1 up on the reasonable.

I'm going to sum this up by saying that a 556 at this point is not a good decision.
Sig does not have many (any) 556 parts. Nor have they suggested they will be changing that. Some parts are available in the open market via MGW and others. Some can be obtained via Europe. But I can't think of any reason to get into this platform at this point. Having said that if you bought 2 or 3 of them I'm sure you could keep one running for 15K rounds (and many more) no matter what.
I have AR's and 556's and Scar's. I think the Scar is the best of the bunch but at a steep price. Each of the issues you have is of course easily fixable. Yes parts are problematic, but with a little waiting you can get them.

If I was going to buy a 556, it wouldn't be an XI model.

The XI represents this end of the evolutional branch for the 55X series. The problem for XI owners is that SIG never found a large market for that platform. SIG fielded the M400, 516, XI, and MCX all at the same time.

All three were more successful than the XI. From a bottom-line perspective, it made sense to drop the XI, which I concede is no consolation to XI owners.

I have a 556xi Pistol only because I found a great deal, I don't plan to shoot it much, and I have a soft spot for the 556 series. Sig is no longer supporting it so I don't recommend it to any friends. The xi trigger is also pretty bad and there are no decent upgrades that address its biggest flaw, which is the very long reset distance.

If you want a piston rifle in that price range get a Sig 516 instead. It's a solid rifle, clean running, great accuracy, accepts many AR15 parts (like trigger upgrades), and is still supported by Sig.

Otherwise you are looking at the Sig MCX and then the SCAR. The stock SCAR trigger is bad but the Geiselle drop in upgrade makes it one of the nicest semi-auto triggers out there, you just have to be willing to spend the money for it. I see the MCX as a great midpoint between the 516 and SCAR as it has some of the SCARs barrel modularity and folding stock features but without such a high price premium. It's also lighter than the SCAR or 516.

Find an alternative - Piston AR, SCAR, AUG, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett B:

If you want a piston rifle in that price range get a Sig 516 instead. It's a solid rifle, clean running, great accuracy, accepts many AR15 parts (like trigger upgrades), and is still supported by Sig.

Otherwise you are looking at the Sig MCX and then the SCAR. The stock SCAR trigger is bad but the Geiselle drop in upgrade makes it one of the nicest semi-auto triggers out there, you just have to be willing to spend the money for it. I see the MCX as a great midpoint between the 516 and SCAR as it has some of the SCARs barrel modularity and folding stock features but without such a high price premium. It's also lighter than the SCAR or 516.

But two of the three have the AR charging handle, which I am trying to avoid. So I guess my option is a SCAR.

Or CZ Bren or B&T APC223 (if you don't mind doing an F1 for SBR).

I've long wanted a SCAR but after shooting a couple, I don't see the reason they're + $1K over a Bren in market price.

You could also build a side-charge piston AR15. Gibbz makes nice options for this. The other route to remove the "sproing" noise from a traditional DI gun is Tubbs flat wire recoil springs or better yet, JP silent recoil spring assembly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aUOdBX3k9U

I own an xi and while not my main goto it's still one of my better shooting rifles. As you mentioned I like the charing handle/lever on the left side, easy shooting and found it's very accurate. The more I operate the rifle I find myself liking it more and more. With the adapter I can use either the folding stock or I can mount AR style stocks. Magazine changes are very smooth and since all controls are ambi you can do two things at the same time making operation fast. After I first got the rifle. I played with it and didn't fall in love overnight but time has cured that. Chris

The 556xi would NOT ever be my choice for my main go to carbine.

The 55x design (550, 551, 556, 553) is pretty robust and doesn't tend to have parts breakage. But it's a mechanical system and mechanical systems can and do fail.

If you decide to go with a 55x rifle, I recommend you commit to buying tons of spare parts. The platform is no longer supported by Sig Sauer USA. That leaves only SwissArms as a source of parts. With that in mind you would be wise to choose something that has the most parts in common with the 551, which would be the 556 or 551a1.

The 550 series is not my first line, but I do love Swiss 55x, own a number of Swiss guns and have accumulated enough parts and armorers tools to keep my (small) fleet running for several generations.

Accumulating these parts is costly and challenging. This will be the case with any imported firearm. You honestly would be better served by a rifle that is currently in production and has plentiful spares.

The Steyr AUG fits this criteria nicely, provided you can live with a bullpup. Spare parts are widely available, albeit more costly than AR parts. It's supported by Steyr. If I had to choose one non-AR rifle on which to standardize, it would be the AUG.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I'm going to sum this up by saying that a 556 at this point is not a good decision.
Sig does not have many (any) 556 parts. Nor have they suggested they will be changing that. Some parts are available in the open market via MGW and others. Some can be obtained via Europe. But I can't think of any reason to get into this platform at this point. Having said that if you bought 2 or 3 of them I'm sure you could keep one running for 15K rounds (and many more) no matter what.
I have AR's and 556's and Scar's. I think the Scar is the best of the bunch but at a steep price. Each of the issues you have is of course easily fixable. Yes parts are problematic, but with a little waiting you can get them.

+1 While I do not have or want the scar I have decided to keep my 556xi. I have a suggestion that the Sig 516 or LWRC SL M 6. They offer the best of both worlds

Update: so I called Sig CS and asked about second owner 556xi support. I was told they will fix them for free,(except shipping both ways) and sell me any parts I want, EXCEPT barrels and lowers. I may end up buying one just to have, but will ultimately either purchase a CZ 805 Bren or wait for the 806. The 556 will have the same manual of arms and used as a second carbine.

Thanks for all the great advice and information.