Jan 11, 2012

Standing Ready

SIG SAUER’S 516 Patrol Rifle.

Anyone with even the mildest interest in guns knows the AR genre has caught on like a raging wildfire. That reality was hammered home with last year’s trip to the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Huge! Start a company, order parts, put them together and get in on the fray! Is the SIG SAUER in that category?

First Impressions: It did not take long after opening the case to realize the SIG SAUER 516 Patrol rifle is a quality machine. SIG has taken an American design and coupled it with their brand of design, quality engineering and manufacturing. They have also taken advantage of the situation by fixing some apparent problems in the original design.

I was a bit surprised that SIG’s mini red-dot sight was already mounted. A call to the rep who had sent it revealed the red dot was included in the packaged price. At the range, I found they had already sighted the little red dot in.

Being interested in what the rifle could do, I mounted Leupold’s new Mark 4, 2.5-8x36mm MR/T M1 with the TMR reticle. I wanted a bit more optical power to test the rifle at longer range than I thought the little red dot would allow. I mounted the scope in Leupold’s high rings.

I was amazed at a recent sniper match after examining a piston driven AR with a few hundred rounds fired through it. We took the bolt out and examined the interior. I am used to smudge, powder dust and gunk coating the interior of the gas-driven rifles. Not so with the piston-driven variety. The interior of these rifles look like they have just been cleaned and oiled! We will get to the “why” of that in a moment
Story By: Jacob Gottfredson

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