I noticed no one replied to this thread after the shipment of TAVOR's earlier this year. As a person who's shot both, I'd like to discuss objective points of both based on MY preferences. This is to serve as an information source for people pondering on what to spend $3K on. This is not a " I hate TAVOR, I hate Swissarms reply "
TAVOR:
The gun's handling characteristics are simply superb. Even with an unrestricted barrel, it is TINY and the rearward weight of the stock makes it snug in your shoulder very nicely and it's very maneuverable. It comes with just a simple sling but the way the gun is designed the simple sling can be slung over one's head and the gun hangs off your right side kind of like a tactical sling. Engaging from that position is very quick.
The Magazines are very rugged and made of steel, I had full confidence in them and did not experience any jams. Overall the gun was very rugged, rough in some areas but solid.
Accuracy (intrinsic) was quite good, however being a bit of a novice I found it hard to squeeze that accuracy out consistently due to heavy trigger. The trigger is actually quite crisp in break, but heavy in take up with a bit of grit in the takeup. I found the Meprolight sight to be quite poor, washes out if you look to bright area while you're in shade. The large diameter of the dot also made detail work a little hard. Now at targets about 18" across in width at 100 yards it was more than adequate. when I stopped shooting at paper bullseyes and engaged realistically sized targets, the dot was adequate.
100% reliable in my hands but there were 3 cases of doubling. No jams whatsoever.
Cleaning it was a little frustrating. I used wipeout and of course being the first time I tried it, foam squirted out the barrel and into the nooks and crannies under the handguard. Made the exterior of the barrel under there all messy and stinky. Getting to it involved removing screws and such. There are gaps on the sides between breech and frame that allows solvent to leak through. getting to clean the piston also involves removing screws to get handguards off.
Swissarms.
My preferred configuration is the 17" carbine with flat top on which I mounted a TA33R8 compact ACOG. I also own the 20" and 14".
even with the 14" version the weight is similar to the tavor and they have a very tip heavy feel due to the gas tube and piston. The 20" one is just very long and heavy but manageable. Much slower than the TAVOR in transitioning from target to target.
Fit and finish of the Swissarms are noticeably better than the TAVOR. Accuracy is good, and trigger is very good indeed. 100% reliable and no doubling despite soft primered ammo. It is capable of more precise work, especially if you use an optic. That being said I got better groups using iron sights on a SIG 20" at 100y than I did with TAVOR.
Easy to strip, no tools or screw removal required. You can get to piston and gas tube easily. No gaps in barrel breech allowing solvent to get into nooks and crannies.
Ease of optics mounting is excellent with either factory flattop rail or KPA rail.
Getting cheekweld with an ACOG on Flat top can be less than ideal, with factory ACOG mount, I found a cheek piece gave me a very solid weld. With a Larue mount, it lowered the acog, so cheekpiece too high. So now the weld is about an inch or so below cheekbone. With the iron sighted ones, get a rail then cheek piece and you're set up nicely.
OVERALL,
Both were designed as battle arms, just different. I ended up selling my TAVOR due to the fact I love being able to scrub every nook and cranny when I clean my guns. Also the doubling to me is a safety issue. I also didn't like the unavailability (at this time) of other optics. Trigger may be ok for more experienced shooters but not for me.
Overall I found the Swissarms was worth the 3K or 2799.99 currently. I understand the TAVOR is really $2300 minus the optic but that's not a choice right now. Also at the current time, the Swissarms is fine with civilian ammo.
Given time the TAVOR will likely have these issues addressed but this is what people face right now.
So figure out what your needs are and purchase accordingly.
