Swiss Arms 550-551-553 should be Tier 1 or better
My experience: about 10 000 rounds through Swiss Rifles in the last 2 years.
All of this info is tidbits taken from the Technical Test Data from SAN
http://www.biggerhammer.net/sigamt/550/550techinspection/
1. Performance - Suppressed-FA-Recoil impulse - Torture Test/Race car like testing.
Score: 10 Pretty standard cook-off threshold of about 240 rounds/min. For the endurance trial. a total of 15,000 rounds shall be fired from each test weapon. SAN offers suppression kit's and there's a new 4 position gas regulator that can turn the gas completely off for use with a suppressor.
2. Reliability- Weather conditions
Score: 10 Even with the issues my Black Special had, after much discussion with SAN and others, this kind of issue had never been encountered before. These rifles are very reliable, many user's report 10 000+ rounds without stoppages. As far as weather goes, During the trial, the weapon is exposed to a water shower equivalent to approx. 10 mm/min. or 600 +- 76 mm/h, there is also a vigorous sand and mud testing thats harder to put in point form, they then Expose each weapon, together with at least 600 rounds of ammunition in magazines, to a temperature of - 300C for 12 hours. Then from the cold storage chamber, held at - 30'C, fire 12 strings of 50 shots. If that wasn't enough they Expose the weapon and 40 rounds in 2 magazines to a temperature of - 100C for 6 hours. Support the weapon on its bipod and then spray it lightly with water until a layer of ice at least 3 mm thick has formed on the surface. Then using only a bayonet make the rifle ready to fire.
3. Longevity- Barrel Life, Parts Life before replacement.
Score: 10 Extended service life, apparently depending on the grade of ammunition used, the barrel has to be changed after approx. 20000 up to 30000 rounds have been fired. 15000 rounds for wearing parts of the bolt assembly are quite feasible: other small components will last for anything up to 30000 rounds. Major components such as trigger housing, bolt, receiver, plastic parts, the main components of the trigger action may readily be expected to withstand 40000 rounds. There are weapons at the plant which have major components still fully functional after firing 80000 up to 100000 rounds.
4. Ergonmics- For a gun fighter-Barracks use- Parade-Combat application
Score: 8.5 The Swiss suffers a bit in Ergo's, It's a Swiss AK with the major differences being a last shot bolt hold open, and a paddle bolt release. This improves Ergos quite a big, but it basically runs like an AK. Non standard use of STANAG mags hurts the Swiss in the ergos, even though proprietary mags are more reliable they slow you down just a fraction of a second, which counts. The right side charging handle is a detractor to some, but most just run AK drills and when done properly, AK drill can be very fast too, but hey let's be honest, AK's are old and ergo's have come a long way since then.
5. Reputation- History by Unit users
Score: 9.5 Hard to say with this one, not a lot of written history out there, to my knowledge even HK has stated "Of course the SG550 is best, the price killed it". It was designed for and has been is use by the Swiss Military since the early 90's. It was one of the only rifles other than the AK to complete the Azerbaijani Sand endurance testing. I couldn't find data on that sorry.
6. Accuracy- MOA
Score: 10 I have heard that for a service rifle they are very accurate. My experience doesn't include a lot of bench shooting with them, but it has been very accurate out to 500m for me, thats as far as I've shot with one. A lot of users here feel the non free floated barrel hurts the Swiss in this department, and yet the standards that SAN set's for accuracy are very demanding: Firing a 24-round group, single-shot off the machine in a tunnel with a cold weapon at a range of 300 m. The 50 % windage and elevation dispersion shall not exceed a max. of 14 x 14 cm. Checking at random rifles out of production, firing a 24round group with the Swiss ammunition Gw Pat.90 at a range of 300 m, of f the machine, the 50 % windage and elevation dispersion will be in the average only 7 x 7 cm. Any result from an individual weapon, will not exceed a max. dispersion of 11 x 11 cm. That's pretty demanding no?
7. Durability - Strength- Ruggedness- Damage Resistance
Score: 10 I can personally attest to the damage resistance of the finish of these guns, the receiver's are painted with a think enamel that requires little to no maintenance. A lot of this is addressed above, in the endurance trials. SAN won't release the materials they used to make the hand guard as it sustains higher temps than any other and wont melt(Apparently). In my opionion there buit like tanks, some think this makes them heavy, but in reality they are right in the same weight class as most similar barrel length piston guns.
8. Sustainibility- Weapons systems ability to be used in circulation for use over several decades.
Score: 9 Being designed in 1990, this weapon system has been around for a while and frankly doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon. SAN is not producing guns for the military anymore as the contract expired and the originally ordered weapons are all still in use. These rifles were truly built to last, and be used for a long time. Scored it 9 based on it's age, the rifles came off the assembly line almost 33 years ago. The design is older still.
9. Function - Type of design/Internal components/external.
Score 9.5 It's a long stroke piston gun that's been around the block, problems were encountered in the 552 internals and they came out with the 553. Internal components are tough and built to last. External components are very user friendly and fully ambidextrous, that's more of a ergos thing though.
10. QUALITY CONTROL/MANUFACTURING
Score 10 In this regard it truly is a Swiss Watch, it doesn't make it out the door unless SAN has rigorously checked, inspected, and test fired.
Unit's using the weapons System:
GSG 9
PASKAU - Malaysian Counter-Terrorism Forces
DEA
FBI
Swiss Armed Forces
Tactical diver group of the Indonesian Navy
Polish Army Special forces
apparently a lot of PMC Security guys favor them
and more....
Pictures and video:
