Swiss Arms-Owners speak up about what you dislike

teddy49 said:
I love my Black Special and have no complaints. My Classic Green Carbine is another matter. It doesn't work. Well that's not true it does everything but eject every 3rd spent casing or so. If I could cure that problem none of my other rifles would ever leave the safe. I've switched bolts, carriers, op rods, all three, lower receivers. Still no luck. The Black Special works and the Carbine doesn't. If I clean it I'll get about 20-30 rounds without stoppages but then they start happening every 3-5 rounds again. The ejectors on both rifles look identical, and there's no obvious damage to the Carbines ejector or extractor. Putting parts from the not working rifle into the working rifle magically fixes them. But still leaves me with a rifle that works and one that doesn't. It's kind of a piss off really.
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Why have you avoided the obvious solution of talking to the distributor?
 
teddy49,

I hope you realize how extreamly rare this situation of your Swiss Arms' Carbine not working is. The quality control on these guns is outstanding. Having said that, there is the odd one every several 10000 or so that has an issue. Get it looked at.

My Classic Green is between 8000 and 9000K with one malfunction. That's using reloads, frangible and what ever. I just had a factory round that wouldn't fire in my G36. Stuck it in the Classic Green and it left at around 3000fps with no issues.

Rich

P.S. My SG552 has over 4000k with only one malfunction and that's using almost all frangible that doesn't even look like a real bullet.
 
TSE is very good at resolving problems such as this one.

My rear sight drums tritium vials were non functioning and immediately they said they would replace them when replacements came in.
 
Rich LPS said:
My issued 552 is going strong after over 4000 rds of frangible ammo and other ammo (only one malfunction by the way). The weapon is in use by the French Naval commandos and the 22nd SAS. The Swiss Army also has several thousand in service. An ex-Swiss Soldier I spoke with has never heard of a bolt carrier ever breaking when he served (he has just broke cocking handles when firing too close to cover). Sig Sauer USA has a demo 552 with over 40000 rds that has not broke.

The problem was that the recoil spring guide rod used to break at about the 10000 round mark when it was metal. This has been solved by the use of the plastic one now, that is more flexible. My sources tell me that extractors sometimes go at about the 10000 mark. Sig Sauer USA denies this claim and states they rarely ever change extractors.

It is an all steel very solid gun. The only reports of 552's failing that I know of are from Kevin's company in Iraq.

I think we need to look at the big picture regarding these weapons, it would never have won the SAS competition and remain in use with them if it was a bad weapon.

Rich
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The Iraqi Police purchased 552s also all broke. There is no arguing with real life use of the weapon. Even with all the bandaids they break constantly.

Less than one in ten of our guys are even using 552s now. Everyone runs M4s or FALs. When you do see a guy with a 552 you know he's either
a. new in country
b. cheap
c. retarded

after a little while even the cheap guys realize that their life is on the line and buy a decent weapon. Only takes a couple range days with minimum one sig breaking per range practice for reality to set in.

(Invariably those who served in the Foreign Legion are both B and C)


550/551 on the other hand...great weapons.
 
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Big_Red said:
The Iraqi Police purchased 552s also all broke. There is no arguing with real life use of the weapon. Even with all the bandaids they break constantly.

Less than one in ten of our guys are even using 552s now. Everyone runs M4s or FALs. When you do see a guy with a 552 you know he's either
a. new in country
b. cheap
c. retarded

after a little while even the cheap guys realize that their life is on the line and buy a decent weapon. Only takes a couple range days with minimum one sig breaking per range practice for reality to set in.

(Invariably those who served in the Foreign Legion are both B and C)


550/551 on the other hand...great weapons.
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Did the Iraqi police order spare parts? Do they have a maintenance program? How old are the guns? It seems that for some reason folks in Iraq seem to think any gun can operate indefinately without inspection and replacement of worn parts. I am not suggesting that the guns used by various policing organizations are used nearly as hard, but they do manage to keep their guns going, and have yet to report rates of failure anywhere near this high or even similar problems.
 
If the FAL's and M4's can stand up to it and the 552 can't then it's time to stop looking for excuses and just accept that it's a flawed design.
 
juliet lima said:
If the FAL's and M4's can stand up to it and the 552 can't then it's time to stop looking for excuses and just accept that it's a flawed design.
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Well we don't know many details, that is why I'm asking. Are the FALs and M4s short barrelled? Are they new? Are they maintained better because parts and expertise are more readily available?
I am not making any excuses at all. I am just surprised that the SG552 only seem to fail in the one environment. Yet by all accounts performs commendably well everywhere else.
 
Swiss Arms Issues

Anybody with any issue regarding their Swiss Arms rifles should talk to TSE first. They deal with problems quickly and are very knowledgeable. A superb rifle too. As to the CQB "problems", has Sig (or is it Swiss Arms) issued any recalls, factory fix bulletins or upgraded/modified parts? I tend to think if first rate units were experiencing recurring problems with well maintained Sigs they would have been addressed by the manufacturer - and quickly.
 
redleg said:
Well we don't know many details, that is why I'm asking. Are the FALs and M4s short barrelled? Are they new? Are they maintained better because parts and expertise are more readily available?
I am not making any excuses at all. I am just surprised that the SG552 only seem to fail in the one environment. Yet by all accounts performs commendably well everywhere else.
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Well, there have been reports of failures on some Semi ones in Europe.

Still, it's not like we're comparing apples to apples here. An M4 is 14.5" and it took how long to work the kinks out?

I also remember hearing repeatedly over the last 20 years how hard it is to get an uber short FN to work well too, again, since DSA that seems to not be an issue...only took 40 years.

AFAIK, only in the last couple years have we been able to get reliable FA 10.5/11.5 AR's.

Although I think that the op rod/gas plug thing should have been a warranty issue and not an 'upgrade' I still love my cqb and will probably keep it forever.

jl
 
Larry Vickers told me that he has a few issues with the SG552.

1. The recoil spring guide rod breaks after several thousand rounds (when it was metal, plastic ones last much longer).
2. The barrel is not crome-lined and he states that you need to take more careful care of it to prevent corrosion.
3. The extractors break at about the 10000 round mark (big deal).

Having said that Swiss Arms has developed the SG553. Exactly the same gun only with a 551 bolt, carrier and gas rod + recoil spring. They state that this was done for common training and stripping between the whole family of weapons. It is probably an improvment.

Does anyone have knowledge of the UK 22ndSAS being unhappy with their SG552s. The Swiss guys I have been in contact with are pretty candid and not afraid to call a spade a spade. They have never complained about the SG552failing, they only say it is too loud.

Just some thoughts,

Rich
 
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