Hey there black rifle enthusiasts!
I have picked up yet another rifle at the expense of the previous one. Yes I go through a lot of rifles, but I am just looking for "the one". I came upon an SG 540 and did some research. There is not much out there about this rifle, some on the SG 542, but nothing on its 5.56 little brother. So I picked one up. Ain't nobody can afford a Swiss Arms
(if you can nab one), especially with the pricing of the new imports to come in. So I am going with its Chilean Cousin and seeing how things play out. My initial impressions are very good. The bolt carrier and bolt appear to be very well made and high quality (stay tuned for pics). The rifle overall I would say appears to be a 8/10 quality wise. Let me get into the details.
The finish on the receiver actually has a very nice appearance (see pics below). We will see how durable it is over time, but I think it will do ok, the weathered look on this rifle would really suit it anyhow IMO.
The safety lever is small which is both good and bad. Good because it is out of the way of your hand when handling the rifle, and bad because it gives you little leverage and has a fair amount of resistance to actuation (not a gritty resistance if some are wondering that, it just requires more force than I imagined). This may or may not wear in with time (UPDATE it is already getting much more smooth and easy to operate).
Another point of quality to talk about is the gas block. It appears to have been cast, not as nicely finished as the Swiss Arms, but I have little doubt it is as tough.
The flash hider is pinned on. I have read about it coming loose on some rifles. If it does on this one I will find a way to shim it, or get the barrel threaded for aftermarket flash hiders.
You will notice that the receiver looks slightly different than a Swiss Arms, and I am told they are different generations ( and also different stamping patterns), with Swiss Arms PE90 being the most recent update of the design that we can have here in Canada. Here is a quote from world guns: "The SG-540 itself had not been adopted by Swiss military, but it became the platform for further improvements,which lead to the SIG-550 / Stgw.90assault rifle. SG-540 currently is in production only by FAMAE company of Chile.".
Just some pics for fun.
There is no play in the stock, and moderate play in the foregrip (typical of these types of rifles). Play between the upper and lower is less than an XCR-L/M, in fact there seems to be very little. Disassembly is easy, if you are curious watch this video:
[youtube]7IDRyksT6p4&index=30&list=PLT3_Gb4uTMRMfN-2mxnt2zA0ZRVilvpFi[/Youtube]
Here are some pics of the bolt and inside the receiver for anyone interested (I have not cleaned the rifle yet).
AUG 19 2015 UPDATE:
Went to the 40yrd range at Phoenix. It is far less than ideal for bench shooting as the booths are incredibly uncomfortable, not to mention I forgot to bring something to use as a rear rest to stabilize the rifle. Also, just as another stab at the rifle range there, you cannot get through the mother F@#@$%^ doors to get into the range the way they are arranged! It drives me crazy!
Anyways back on topic here. Here are the groups I got in order of how they are on the target (not in order of when they were shot). The groups got smaller as I shot more, I haven't been to the range in some time so my skills slowly came back to me over the time I was there. Keep in mind these groups were shot with a 4x optic, and Chinese white box surplus. I bet I could cut these groups in half at 100yrds with a proper 20x scope on this baby. This rifle is truly going to be a paper/coyote killer.
Groups are as follows: 0.57, 3.2, 0.85, 1.037, 1.58, 0.788, 1.156, 1.904, 0.547 and one I cannot measure because I accidentally shot the guys target next to me but the photo is the last one posted, a good group.
The smallest groups were the last ones I shot as I had finally gained back my shooting legs so to speak. This gun is stupid accurate for a battle rifle IMO.
The rifle had a stovepipe on the first round I fired, and after that I had 100% reliability out of the remaining 49 rounds I fired. Obviously I have a long way to go to determine reliability, but so far things are looking excellent.
Some range pics:
Notice that upon ejection that the cases can be (not always) dented at the case mouth with a small dent in the case body.
I have picked up yet another rifle at the expense of the previous one. Yes I go through a lot of rifles, but I am just looking for "the one". I came upon an SG 540 and did some research. There is not much out there about this rifle, some on the SG 542, but nothing on its 5.56 little brother. So I picked one up. Ain't nobody can afford a Swiss Arms
(if you can nab one), especially with the pricing of the new imports to come in. So I am going with its Chilean Cousin and seeing how things play out. My initial impressions are very good. The bolt carrier and bolt appear to be very well made and high quality (stay tuned for pics). The rifle overall I would say appears to be a 8/10 quality wise. Let me get into the details.The finish on the receiver actually has a very nice appearance (see pics below). We will see how durable it is over time, but I think it will do ok, the weathered look on this rifle would really suit it anyhow IMO.
The safety lever is small which is both good and bad. Good because it is out of the way of your hand when handling the rifle, and bad because it gives you little leverage and has a fair amount of resistance to actuation (not a gritty resistance if some are wondering that, it just requires more force than I imagined). This may or may not wear in with time (UPDATE it is already getting much more smooth and easy to operate).
Another point of quality to talk about is the gas block. It appears to have been cast, not as nicely finished as the Swiss Arms, but I have little doubt it is as tough.
The flash hider is pinned on. I have read about it coming loose on some rifles. If it does on this one I will find a way to shim it, or get the barrel threaded for aftermarket flash hiders.
You will notice that the receiver looks slightly different than a Swiss Arms, and I am told they are different generations ( and also different stamping patterns), with Swiss Arms PE90 being the most recent update of the design that we can have here in Canada. Here is a quote from world guns: "The SG-540 itself had not been adopted by Swiss military, but it became the platform for further improvements,which lead to the SIG-550 / Stgw.90assault rifle. SG-540 currently is in production only by FAMAE company of Chile.".
Just some pics for fun.
There is no play in the stock, and moderate play in the foregrip (typical of these types of rifles). Play between the upper and lower is less than an XCR-L/M, in fact there seems to be very little. Disassembly is easy, if you are curious watch this video:
[youtube]7IDRyksT6p4&index=30&list=PLT3_Gb4uTMRMfN-2mxnt2zA0ZRVilvpFi[/Youtube]
Here are some pics of the bolt and inside the receiver for anyone interested (I have not cleaned the rifle yet).
AUG 19 2015 UPDATE:
Went to the 40yrd range at Phoenix. It is far less than ideal for bench shooting as the booths are incredibly uncomfortable, not to mention I forgot to bring something to use as a rear rest to stabilize the rifle. Also, just as another stab at the rifle range there, you cannot get through the mother F@#@$%^ doors to get into the range the way they are arranged! It drives me crazy!
Anyways back on topic here. Here are the groups I got in order of how they are on the target (not in order of when they were shot). The groups got smaller as I shot more, I haven't been to the range in some time so my skills slowly came back to me over the time I was there. Keep in mind these groups were shot with a 4x optic, and Chinese white box surplus. I bet I could cut these groups in half at 100yrds with a proper 20x scope on this baby. This rifle is truly going to be a paper/coyote killer.
Groups are as follows: 0.57, 3.2, 0.85, 1.037, 1.58, 0.788, 1.156, 1.904, 0.547 and one I cannot measure because I accidentally shot the guys target next to me
but the photo is the last one posted, a good group.
The smallest groups were the last ones I shot as I had finally gained back my shooting legs so to speak. This gun is stupid accurate for a battle rifle IMO.
The rifle had a stovepipe on the first round I fired, and after that I had 100% reliability out of the remaining 49 rounds I fired. Obviously I have a long way to go to determine reliability, but so far things are looking excellent.
Some range pics:
Notice that upon ejection that the cases can be (not always) dented at the case mouth with a small dent in the case body.
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