The more good videos I see of the MCX doing it's thing, the more I like it.
Staggering super sonic and sub sonic 300 BLKT on full auto suppressed with no failure tells me this thing works. That's what Sig desperately needs now is a money maker that works.
I can't get sentimental on the 556, I didn't even know what it was when I got in on the group purchase at work. I had a choice of 556 or 516.
I'm glad I choose the 556. Its a neat gun and has never FTF/FTE.
Is it my fav go to best gun ever? For now, yes. After I run out of 00 sweetly delivered from my absolutely gorgeous 1976 Ithaca 37 Deer Slayer Police Special Featherweight.
But wait just a minute!
As much as I love the 556, put a can on it, run mixed ammo, get dirty, what not, and eventually we will have trouble.
Therefore, I love my cream pie as long as she's clean and purdy in the safe.
I'm looking for the shooter that will digest whatever I feed it, with a can or not.
That gun is usually called an AK, but I prefer 5.56 and STANAG mags, for some reason, so my AK options are limited.
The black rifle market is AR dominant, for all the obvious reasons. Sig took the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" route and did what I think is one of the smartest design decisions yet:
Develop a totally new design upper (AKA Honey Badger) without redesigning the legacy lower. There are not any complaints about the AR lower anyways.
This move will allow shooters to use their fav AR lowers with Timney triggers without buying a new gun.
Put another D in high office and that will likely change, but for now this is amazing utility and a great attribute of the AR platform. The MCX takes full advantage.
As for the speculation on quality I don't know, I don't have one. However if I ask myself if it could be worse, a few names come to mind like Kel-Tek, Hi-Point, Taurus, Umarex, Norinco.
So yes, quality could be much worse from the start.
Yes, a side charge handle is nice, but so is no reciprocating parts to get caught on.
We shall see...
I like this gem I found here:
SIG MCX rifles now shipping
"The 556 series was a derivative of the 550 (which could not be imported), but US designed and made. It fell well short of the original Swiss made 550. The American Sig as you know it really was a completely different company than the European one. IIRC, the American company started life as an importer who later bought the name and began producing arms under the Sig name.
If anything the Xi line was the detour that needn't happen as the MCX and MPX lines is a much better and fresher product/thinking from the ground up. The 556 was borrowed and imitated copy of the original that had many flaws. When I say flaws I don't mean it didn't work. It worked well but had characteristics a $1200+ product shouldn't have—like loose fitting handguards and charging handles that would divorce itself from the bolt carrier during firing. Some of the issues are to be expected for a service issue combat rifle, but borderline acceptable for an expensive consumer product. The 556/550s are old, out-dated designs that do not measure up to a marketplace that is moving on to next generation designs. It makes zero business sense to dwell on them.
For the money the MCX/MPX are far more fitting of their price tags.
I own a 100% running 556R and many other Sig products. I'm not slamming Sig. Just telling it like it is."
Same page:
"Also, I believe the ones shipped to Cabela's may have been pistols. Those had an auto regulating gas block where the rifles shipping now have a two position gas block for suppressed / unsuppressed. The description posted at top by
Guns.com is incorrect as the rifles shipping now don't feature an auto regulating gas system."
I just called the Sig CS rep and asked about "auto regulating" and "adjustable" gas valves for the MCX. He said both rifle and pistol will have "switchable" valves. I don't know if the switchable valves will have an "automatic" self regulating element or not. Im shooting from the hip here, but for me, the only thing that's automatic is the confusion. I need to read the user manuals for these.
***UPDATE***
Called John @ CS today. Only the first production run has auto regulating valves. All the current production have switchable position valves. Funny how they havn't bothered to update the publicity.
I asked why the change over and the vague answer was they "wanted to stick with what they knew (switchable valve). There was also a hint that they wanted to avoid early problems, but John said the auto regulators are reliable. He could not give me any production dates or SNs or distinguishing attributes of the auto units.
My advice is if you wants an auto regulating unit, get it now. Only a few thousand were made. If that.
**UPDATE**
Spoke with Brad at Osage County Guns. He stated that the valve change was a result of FTFeed problems. He would not recommend the auto regulating valve.
