Upper to Lower Play

Thanks for the heads up PGT. I found your thread and saw all the good info from Ullie and others. Unfortunately, when I hold the foregrip and hold the rifle vertical if I rotate it back and forth or shake it side to side, it "rattles". I can also feel the rifle "adjust" when I bring it up to my shoulder. I also happen to be looking at the bolt and bolt handle over and see what looks like a little tiny line of what looks like rust along the edge where the charging handle meets the bolt underneath. To top it off, I happen to see a small piece of broken plastic inside my case. After checking to see if it was a piece of the magazine, I found that it belonged to the stock extension. One of the six plastic catches that grip the stock is broken as that is where the piece matches up.

What's a bit frustrating is that this is actually the second rifle that was sent to me. I purchased the rifle from Top Gun Supply and while I can say nothing but great things about Tom and Top Gun's customer service and their efforts to make their customers happy, it's a little tough for dealers to do when dealing with a product that has quality issues. The first rifle had issue with the front sight being canted left (along with the gas block it appeard) while the top rail was canted to the right and had some other quality issues. Top Gun sent me the replacment rifle, I never contacted SIG on the first one although that is where Top Gun was sending it back to.

I'll be looking the rifle over even more carfully tomorrow when I have more time and I'll be calling SIG on Monday to let them know about the issues with my rifle and request a shipping label back to them. I'm starting to wonder if the whole $300 rebate thing wasn't just a way for SIG to clear out some "questionable" inventory. Regardless, I'll give SIG the benefit of the doubt and see what happens. Maybe third time's the charm? :roll:

- Dtech

After looking the rifle over some more today in better lighting and being able to check all the angles and fit better, it does rattle quite a bit and the top rail still seems like it is tilted over to the right a little although it is more closely aligned front to back with the front sight than the first rifle. The lower and upper seems to have a loose fit at both the front and rear retaining pins as well as the fit within each other.

At this point I don't see this being a Top Gun Supply issue. They've certainly tried to send me a good rifle. I'll be following up with SIG on Monday to have them address the issues directly. At least I already mailed off my $300 rebate so that will be in process.

While I'm certainly disappointed with my experience so far, getting all upset and mad is not going to solve anything. I'll kindly and professionally ask SIG to make things right and give them the opportunity to do so. If things don't get resolved properly during this next attempt though, I think I would be entitled to be a little angry. Here's hoping things get taken care of quickly and once and for all.

-Dtech

I can certainly understand wanting to work on your own gun and familiarizing yourself with it, but a 556 Classic is not my idea of buying a "project gun". However, that doesn't mean that I will not maintain and thoroughly familarize myself with its operation and construction. IMHO, you should be able to buy it, shoot it, and not have to worry about "loose tolerances", "rattles" or DIY "fixes" out of the box, especially for the amount of the investment. Even my Bushmaster M4 style Desert Camo carbine that I bought for practically half the price (before the 556 rebate) a few years ago, doesn't rattle and wiggle like the 556 did. It is also MOA capable and I've shot even smaller three shot groups with the standard iron sights (which are perfectly horizontal and aligned I might add). Again, this is not a knock on SIG as they have been very willing to address my concerns, but IMHO wide allowable tollerances, especially in a high profile product with high consumer expectations will only cause more harm than profit. I'm sure many of us can realize how hard it is to recover once a product or company gets a bad reputation for whatever reason. Just look at certain car manufacturers for good examples.

Maybe there are a lot of people that have lower expectations than I when it comes to firearms these days and don't mind some incosistencies but I for one won't lower my standards, especially once you hit the $1K+ price range. I don't think there is anything wrong with expecting a quality fit,finish, and function gun that represents a good overall value for the features it offers and performs exceptionally well for that kind of money.

8)