I know these don’t get much love here, and i read some reviews describing the function issues.

But, I found one at a pawn shop that appeared unfired, not exactly promising.

They got down to the couldn’t say no price eventually, so I took it home.

Fast forward to this Tuesday
Our friends Christmas Eve dinner itinerary usually goes...
Everyone brings their new toys to shoot 3-6pm or so
Dinner at 6
Drinks (inside for the girls, in the garage for the guys) from 8 until someone says uncle.

The Russian ran like a scalded dog, and everyone loved shooting it.

At least 200 flawless rounds, shoots soft, and was minute of pop can accurate at 15-25 yds or so.

I think the Gen II fixed the issues, larger ejection port, stronger hammer spring, steel front mag catch and maybe a slightly longer firing pin.

I had an early one and didn't experience ant problems and shot Yugoslav brass cased the best.

I'd always wanted a pistol to SBR and SiG finally came out with the Xi 762 which I acquired one promptly and SBR'd it ... as you said, it shoots soft, the only problem I've had with it is using steel mags so I only use my Bulgarian waffles and German slabside mags ... the slabs look the best and it shoots every 7.62x39 I've tried without a hiccup.

there was a Gen II of the 556R XI? I thought they fixed the issues in the normal 556R Gen II prior to the XI coming out.

Cool! What kind of ammo were you using?

Wolf ammo

It came with a ProMag that ran fine
What was the issue with steel mags ?
Guess I need to get some Bulgarians

The only problem I have with mine is that I occasionally have feeding problems with old 80’s Norinco ammo, which works fine in my AKs. Any of the modern production 7.62x39 works fine in the gun.

quote:

What was the issue with steel mags ?

IIRC they were significantly harder than the part of the receiver they were supposed to lock into, to the point of causing some damage. On the second iteration of the earlier 556/7.62x39 the factory built in a sort of hardened bracket around the mag well.

If yours ran fine with Wolf, I'd say that's the definition of a 7.62x39 not having any significant ammunition problems. Wolf isn't bad, but its so cheap and common that if Wolf works you can always get more ammo that works.