My Sig 522 review.

[bdavison]

Hey guys,

My name is Bryan. Ive been a competitive shooter and former military expert marksman. Ive been shooting since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I got excited when I saw these new "tactical .22" rifles appearing on the market.

Ive always liked the 556, but never wanted to drop a couple grand for one...and I dont feel like dumping 50 cents a round down range just to punch holes in paper.

I went to my local gun store, and looked at the GSG MP5SD look alike, the GSG AK, S&W M&P 15-22, and of course the Sig 552.

The Sig really drew me to it, for a couple of reasons.

1. I ride a motorcycle, so for me to tote a rifle to the range requires that it be capable of being stuffed in a backpack. The Sig folds down to a mear 26.1 inches. Thats small enough to fit into my camelbak and still leave room for a box of ammo. Whereas with any of the other types, I would have to break down the receiver and stow it in two pieces in the pack (if it fit at all).

2. Threaded barrel. Aside from the obvious purpose of threading a Gemtech Outback on to it. It offers some other opportunities also...like compensators, muzzle weights, etc. And it gives it a nice "tacticool" look.

3. Tapered handguard. Thats one of the only things that bugged me about most of the AR-15 rifles is that straight handguard. The taper allows you to sandbag it, and adjust for minute differences in elevation by simply pushing forward or pulling back on the rifle.

4. Ambidextrous controls. Come on...even if you dont use them...its still really nice to have.

5. Charging handle. Its rubber coated, and long enough to be easy to get to. Much better for a prone/bench rest shooter like myself vs the AR's "take out my eye" charging handle.

6. Magazines. The choice of Sig to stick with magazines that are readily available alone makes it worth more to me than any of the other offerings. I have callusus on my fingers from loading magazines, so I couldnt care less about some hokey "load assist" magazines. Ill thumb em in there anyway.

Now I know there were a few bad sigs out there with some faulty tapered guide rods, and e-clips.

Have no fear though...Mine came with the new upgraded guide rod out of the box. So I'm not in the least bit concerned. If you are buying a sig 552, just pop open the reciever, pull out the bolt and check the guide rod to see if its the older tapered version or the new full rod version, and purchase accordingly. No big deal. Sig will replace the old tapered version if you tell them it broke.

Now when I got mine, I specifically looked for things that I didnt like. I did fine one thing that bugged me. The underneath of the stock where it joins into the reciever. When my hand is on the grip, it was kinda sharp and tended to rough up my hand. So I whipped out my jewelers files and gently deburred it. No more issues.

I was a bit disappointed that it didnt come with iron sights. Come on Sig...seriously? I would have gladly traded that stupid blue California lock for a set of cheapo iron sights. At least give us some sights with it. On a side note, dont waste your money on the $249 diopter iron sights. They were designed for the 556, and the BDC wont work with a .22 rifle. Its a complete waste of money. If you are just plinking with it, a simple red-dot will suffice. If you plan on taking it to the next level and do some serious shooting, you can always go with a good Leopold scope...but Id recommend saving some serious coinage and going with a BSA contender 4-16x40 which is what I would consider a perfect match for the rifle.

If you choose to go with the BSA contender, you will either need a picatinny riser, or some extra tall scope rings so that the front bell will clear the handguard. The nice thing about this scope is that it is a 40mm so it lets plenty of light in for the ranges you will be shooting at. It also has "re-zero" indexed thumb knobs which are worth their weight in gold for a bench shooter. Its also a 1/8" at 100 yd adjustment, which will let you really dial it in for tack driving groups.

Ive seen quite a few people say they would like a longer pull on the stock. I didnt find this to be an issue. With the extended buttpad, and it the stock extended all the way, it fits me fine, and Im 6'3". I would however like to see an after-market cheekpiece that would be higher than the stock. I might just make one from carbon-fiber to suit my preferences.

I took it to the range to see what it was capable of.

Once I zero'd it for 50 yards, I put 100 rounds of Lapua Center-X down range to test its accuracy. Tightest group I shot was a 7/8th inch group at 50 yards from a standing position.  Thing is pretty close to a tack driver for a semi-auto. I havent had a chance to sandbag it yet, and really see what its capable of, but Im thinking 1/2" at 50 yds is a possibility, and thats as tight as some match 10/22 variants Ive seen.

I also fed it some Federal box ammo, just to see what that would print. Tightest group I got with it was 1.25" at 50 yds from a standing position which is still quite respectable for a out of the box stock gun and over-the-counter ammunition.

Sure, its not a one hole printing Anschultz, but it can hold its own.

Im quite impressed with the reliability of the rifle. Out of the 150 rounds I fired, not one single malfunction.

One of the things Im going to try soon is some 200 yd shots. I just want to see what it will do. Most .22 will start flying at around 130 yds, but it will be interesting to see if I can punch consistant holes in a coffee can bottom from that range.

One more thing. The rifle has two "secret" storage spaces. One in the foregrip where the gas adjustment would be. Since its not a gas-blowback type bolt, its just for looks. If you give a little tug on it, it pops out, and there is a small tube type storage space.

You can stow whatever you like in there...or perhaps put a nice laser sight inside for a clean look.

The second "secret" compartment is in the bottom of the pistol grip. The rifle ships with the charging handle in the grip. But its a perfect storage space for your silicone earplugs.

The rifle also comes with two small black pieces that are shaped really oddly. These two pieces are for the stock position. If you remove the stock extension from the rifle and look underneath the stock mount, you will see this piece. There are two pins that you have to knock out to remove that piece. The spare parts allow you to either set it to a "one position - short" stock, or a "one position - long" stock. The one that is pre-installed is a three position guide.

Now about the trigger.

Since its a "tacticool" type gun designed to emulate the 556, the trigger pull is a nice smooth long pull just like its larger brother. Dont expect a short crisp match grade trigger....its not there. But that being said, its smooth as glass, and when it breaks, there is no indication. Its about a 1/4" pull to the break point, with about 1/16" past the break.

OOB (out of battery) test.

I ran tests for possibility of OOB. The out of battery sear block works pretty well, it wont drop the hammer until the bolt is within 1/16" of the chamber face. Which is good enough to prevent any kind of catastrophic OOB event. A certain other tactical .22 rifle which will go unnamed had a 1/8" and higher tolerance, which is completely unacceptable in my opinion.

As for the firing pin, I was really happy to see that Sig made the firing pin a nice flat faced REAL FIRING PIN, and not some cheapo stamped out firing pin like the 10/22. Fired casings showed a perfect clean 3/4 circular imprint that was consistent from round to round.

The only thing I would like to see here is a decocker. It would have been a nice feature on the 552, to eliminate any possibility of damaging the firing pin from a dry fire. However....here's a tip. Pop the rear reciever pin, crack it open...drop the hammer, and then close it up. No dry fire.

All in all, Im extremely pleased. Id expect nothing more from Sig.

Happy Shooting!!!!

[Madhouse]

Excellent write-up Bryan!  Thanks for that!

2. Threaded barrel. Aside from the obvious purpose of threading a Gemtech Outback on to it. It offers some other opportunities also...like compensators, muzzle weights, etc. And it gives it a nice "tacticool" look.

How did you manage to spin off the flash hider?  On my ARs I use my DPMS claw in a bench vise, but don't know how to approach this on the 522.  I really want to try it with my SWR Spectre.  8)

I was a bit disappointed that it didnt come with iron sights. Come on Sig...seriously? I would have gladly traded that stupid blue California lock for a set of cheapo iron sights. At least give us some sights with it. On a side note, dont waste your money on the $249 diopter iron sights. They were designed for the 556, and the BDC wont work with a .22 rifle. Its a complete waste of money. If you are just plinking with it, a simple red-dot will suffice. If you plan on taking it to the next level and do some serious shooting, you can always go with a good Leopold scope...but Id recommend saving some serious coinage and going with a BSA contender 4-16x40 which is what I would consider a perfect match for the rifle.

I popped an EOTech 512 on mine, and almost feel like I'm cheating at the sillhouette range, even the boars at 100 yards drop 99% of the time (and I'm no competition shooter).

I also fed it some Federal box ammo, just to see what that would print. Tightest group I got with it was 1.25" at 50 yds from a standing position which is still quite respectable for a out of the box stock gun and over-the-counter ammunition.

Im quite impressed with the reliability of the rifle. Out of the 150 rounds I fired, not one single malfunction.

I'm sure you're familiar with this, but try the Remington Golden Bullet, you're almost guaranteed some malfunctions!

Thanks again for the in-depth write-up!!

:thumb:

[bdavison]

The flash hider is installed on standard 1/2-28 threads. Wrap a towel around the barrel, and clamp it up in a vise (gently), then take a wrench and unscrew it. Sig used some kind of locktite on it, so you might have to use a little heat to get it off.

LOL about the Remington GB rounds. I wouldnt even waste the money to try those in it. They are pretty much only suitable for a bolt-action rifle....and barely that. The problem with those Remington GB rounds is the powder charge. Its cheap chinese powder, and they are undercharged with only .9gr. If they bumped the powder charge up to 1.1gr, and swapped out to some decent european powder they might actually work.

Lapua Center-X is by far the best .22 match grade ammo I've seen. They have the "x-act" ammo out now, which I have heard outperforms the Center-X, but its a bit expensive. Im not sure you'd see much difference in this type of rifle.

Ill probably just use the Federal ammo in mine, simply because its dirt cheap, and it seems to like it. Its a jacketed ammo too so it will be easier to clean.

Ive had a lot of people ask me about cleaning .22 rifles, and its a subject that gets a lot of controversy.

You will get the folks that say dont clean it its more accurate. I call BS. Ive never seen a dirty rifle shoot better than a clean one. It just doesnt happen. And contrary to what you read on the internet, there isnt one single olympic or national match champion that goes to a meet with a dirty rifle.

Now that being said, it does take a few "fouling" rounds before the rifle starts to tighten up.

My rifles always get cleaned after EVERY shooting session.

I start off with Hoppes 9, remove ALL carbon, and push a bunch of patches down the barrel till they come out clean. Then I run a patch of Kleen-Bore lead removing patch down the bore till it comes out clean. I follow it up with a patch LIGHTLY coated with RIG.

The next time I go to the range. I run one dry patch down the bore to remove the RIG, and any dust. The first 5 shots are just to "lead in" any imperfections in the barrel.

Once a year or every 5000 rounds (whichever comes first) I give it a good scrub down with the bristle brush (no steel!!!) Run the hoppes down the barrel, and then the kleen-bore patch. Wait over night, and then repeat. Then its ready for the next season.

I always run the rod from the chamber to muzzle. NEVER from muzzle to chamber....EVER.

I prefer the single piece rods over the segmented rods for obvious reasons.