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The actual Swiss-manufactured rifles are probably the most superbly-crafted military rifles I’ve ever shot, disassembled, and inspected. Fit, feel, finish, bore quality, bolt, carrier, gas tube, piston, and small parts are works of art.
They’re a lot easier to find in Europe and much more affordable there. They are Kalashnikov designs at heart, but built by the Swiss. That’s like Koenigsegg building a Lada. I really like them though. Beautiful rifles.
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I don't know man... We had a couple in our arms room, I have a US 556, and at one point I bought a swiss parts kit and ran the swiss lower on my 556 and honestly really don't see at as anything other than a decent 556 AK. Personally was way more impressed by some of our Mp34's.
You’re comparing the Mp34 SMG to a real SIG550? Just wanted to make sure that wasn’t a typo.I don't know man... We had a couple in our arms room, I have a US 556, and at one point I bought a swiss parts kit and ran the swiss lower on my 556 and honestly really don't see at as anything other than a decent 556 AK. Personally was way more impressed by some of our Mp34's.
You’re comparing the Mp34 SMG to a real SIG550? Just wanted to make sure that wasn’t a typo.
The us 55x guns were complete junk in comparison to the swiss and german guns. It really is the pinnicle of AKs, up there with the valmet. Built like a swiss watch with attention to detail very few firearms, especially combat rifles will get.
They are highly sought after and respected by many firearms experts and afficianados for a reason. The current JDI imports are a great deal considering you can get 553 in whatever barrel you want and 300blk if you want for less than $3400.
I’m talking about the manufacturing quality, machining, precision of the dimensional uniformity on parts, fit, feel, and finish.
I’m not a fan of the AK design for a lot of reasons. The Swiss addressed the main failure points of that with how they mounted the barrel to the upper, and their recoil system. Ergonomics on the 550 series smoke the AK handily.
I’ve looked down the bores of a lot of different rifles from around the world, including ones we just don’t see in the US much.
I’ve never seen bores like what you see in a real SIG550.
Their finish is like an Hk electrostatic deposition but higher quality, very durable.
A lot of the parts, like the piston, bolt, and carrier look like lab-grade components.
I don’t recall ever handling or even seeing one here in the US.
I’ve only shot, disassembled, and handled them in Europe. SIG550, 551, and 552. Select-fire guns mostly.
Would love to see that level of quality on a US-built AR-15.
I get what you are saying, but without this mythical swiss engineering, and quality a high end AR will outclass the 55x.
The 55x at this point is the 1993 corvette of the gun world, it seems cool until sombodies grand mother pulls up in a cammry.
In the words of never gonna be my president Biden, "C'mon man?!" Can you define what an AR "outclassing" a 550/553 (true SAN production) would look like? I am a huge AR fan, own a couple of them, decent ones. If you go with a standard "mil spec" trigger against the Swiss 55x, there is no comparison, Swiss have that semi-auto trigger business down. Granted, an AR might (used very lightly) be more accurate, but if so, I believe the difference would be negligible.
The action of the SAN 55x's feel like my JP rifles, which I always say are running on ball bearings and lubed with the tears of babies and angels.
At the end of the day, I don't think there's any real pissing match to engage in. The SAN 55x's are great firearms. Due to the limited importation, they also happen to be rather collectible. Admittedly, I regret selling mine, but maybe I will get lucky again?
You are comparing a gun designed 40-50 years ago to one designed in the last 10 years using modern tech and materials.Maybe outclassing is not the correct word.
Take something like KAC, LMT, JP,or maybe even somebody like radian or hodge, and in comparison to the 55X, they are going to be lighter, have less dispersion, have a smoother recoil impulse, and are compatible with all modern electo optics and aiming devices, as while having better egos which just leads to a more controllable/shootable gun. At this point, reliability is going to be a wash. In regards to an AR trigger compared to the 55X, your observations are true, but sort of invalid as nobody is using MilSpec triggers in decent AR's outside of HK. As nice as the 55x trigger is in comparison to say the HK 9 series, or the FAL, or even the milspec AR, it is no where close to being as shootable as a Gieselle SD.
I don't disagree with the collect-ability of the 55X series. I can and do respect them for what they are and their place in history. I would eventually like to pick one up once i finish a few different projects
My appreciation for the SIG550 series is from a manufacturing and quality control standpoint.
The AR-15 is a superior design in about every way. No AR-15s I have seen are made with the same quality and attention to detail from a manufacturing standpoint as the Swiss SIG550s series, other than maybe the Hk416A5.
If someone made AR-15s with the electrostatic deposition coating on all the steel parts, that would be a good start.
The Hk416 bolt and carrier is pretty close to the quality of the Swiss SIG550 bolt and carrier. You really have to take a look into them with an eye for detail to see what I’m talking about, especially if you’ve ever worked in QC/TQM, and have experience with a large variety of different weapons other than just shooting them.
Another thing about the SIG550 series is how precise and clean they make their polymer, the lock-up of the folding stock, and how well they hold up to extreme cold.