I was doomed as soon as I read Marstar’s post: “We have our first shipment of prime quality 7.62 Nato FMJ on the way in...Due in 2-3 weeks.” Wow, I thought, good quality 7.62 surplus at not a bad price…I should pick some up. Of course there was the small issue of not having a 7.62mm rifle since I sold my Norc M14 a few years back. I liked the M14 OK, but didn’t really want another one. I was generally aware of the SG542 as it had been available for more than a year now, but didn’t know many of the details. I did some research and reading and was lucky enough to find this one unfired on the EE for a pretty good price. Many of you are already know a lot about the SG542, but if you, like me until recently, don’t know a whole lot, have a read. I know that officially this is a .30 calibre rifle and could arguably fit better in the MBR forum, but it feels to me more in the spirit of a black rifle.
A quick bit of history—the SG542 (and the 5.56mm version, the SG540) was designed by SIG in the early 1970s. Due to Swiss export restrictions, manufacturing was moved to France and eventually under license to FAMAE, Chile’s state-owned arms manufacturer. Efforts were started a couple of years ago to produce a version that could be exported and sold in Canada as a non-restricted firearm, and last year importation started.
I didn’t realize until I started looking into the rifle that there are actually two versions available in Canada. One is imported and sold by Tactical Imports, and mine, which was imported by ERE Systems and originally sold by the Calgary Shooting Centre. Officially, mine is known by the fancy name “FAMAE SG 542-1 ERE Elite”. Other than the name stamped on the sides I don’t know if there are any other differences.
I was pleasantly surprised at the handiness of the rifle. It’s 7.8 pounds with an 18.7” barrel, so it’s not night and day different than a full-size AR. I dug my old Ishapore FN out from the back of the safe to compare and was surprised by how much longer and (especially) heavier the FN was (about 1.7lb)…the SG542 is much more comfortable to hold. The pistol grip is fairly short, and with AR psitol grips going more and more vertical recently, feels noticeably raked. The mold lines in the plastic are fairly prominent, but could be easily removed with an emery board.
The handguards are quite narrow and semi-triangular, for wanted of a better word. Even with my smallish hands I can get an easy grip on them.
The rear sight is a knurled rotating drum, graduated at 100m, 300m and 500m. The rear sight is windage adjustable using the screw. Doing some test sighting at home I found the white number distracting—I’ll have to see how it works on the range. The safety is ambidextrous.
The front sight is a standard blade with wings to protect it. The screw is used to fine-tune the elevation setting. Some members here have reported that their front sight was loose…but mine is tight so far.
The flash hider is pinned instead of the more common threading. I’ve heard of other members here whose flash hider loosened up…I’ll have to keep an eye on this as well. You can also see the three-position gas regulator.
I’ve never owned a Swiss Arms rifle was was always curious about the little plunger dealy in the picture above. Surely, I thought, it must be some some of trigger stop…it can’t be part of the actual trigger mechanism…like a water pistol’s trigger. Well, turns out I was wrong. It is. I know it’s fine, but I still think it looks a little cheesy. The two-stage trigger pull, by the way, is quite nice, The first stage is the take-up before contacting the “plunger” and the second stage is heavy (maybe 6 or 7 lb?) but smooth and fairly short.
Disassembly is surprisingly easy…pop out a couple of pins to separate upper and lower, then rotate a captive screw 180° to get at the piston.
Here’s the bolt and bolt carrier:
Here’s the lower receiver:
This is my first stamped-steel rifle…I know it’s not but it looks a little too thin compared to what I’m used to!
Here’s the upper:
Mine came with the optional optic rail. It attaches in an unusual way. The front has a tapered groove on the bottom
that mates with the front of the upper receiver
The rear of the mount has a tapered bolt
that is rotated to mate with this notch below the rear sight
A set-screw keeps it from backing out (I guess!). I’m not sure I’ll put an optic on the rifle…the design of the stock looks like it would be tough to get a proper cheek weld with anything other than a mini-RDS mounted right on the rail. I kind of like the “late Cold War era” look of it with just the irons…I’ll start with it like that and see how it works.
So far, I’m pleased with my initial look at the rifle. I’ll try to get out to the range in the next few days for a a range report.
A quick bit of history—the SG542 (and the 5.56mm version, the SG540) was designed by SIG in the early 1970s. Due to Swiss export restrictions, manufacturing was moved to France and eventually under license to FAMAE, Chile’s state-owned arms manufacturer. Efforts were started a couple of years ago to produce a version that could be exported and sold in Canada as a non-restricted firearm, and last year importation started.
I didn’t realize until I started looking into the rifle that there are actually two versions available in Canada. One is imported and sold by Tactical Imports, and mine, which was imported by ERE Systems and originally sold by the Calgary Shooting Centre. Officially, mine is known by the fancy name “FAMAE SG 542-1 ERE Elite”. Other than the name stamped on the sides I don’t know if there are any other differences.
I was pleasantly surprised at the handiness of the rifle. It’s 7.8 pounds with an 18.7” barrel, so it’s not night and day different than a full-size AR. I dug my old Ishapore FN out from the back of the safe to compare and was surprised by how much longer and (especially) heavier the FN was (about 1.7lb)…the SG542 is much more comfortable to hold. The pistol grip is fairly short, and with AR psitol grips going more and more vertical recently, feels noticeably raked. The mold lines in the plastic are fairly prominent, but could be easily removed with an emery board.
The handguards are quite narrow and semi-triangular, for wanted of a better word. Even with my smallish hands I can get an easy grip on them.
The rear sight is a knurled rotating drum, graduated at 100m, 300m and 500m. The rear sight is windage adjustable using the screw. Doing some test sighting at home I found the white number distracting—I’ll have to see how it works on the range. The safety is ambidextrous.
The front sight is a standard blade with wings to protect it. The screw is used to fine-tune the elevation setting. Some members here have reported that their front sight was loose…but mine is tight so far.
The flash hider is pinned instead of the more common threading. I’ve heard of other members here whose flash hider loosened up…I’ll have to keep an eye on this as well. You can also see the three-position gas regulator.
I’ve never owned a Swiss Arms rifle was was always curious about the little plunger dealy in the picture above. Surely, I thought, it must be some some of trigger stop…it can’t be part of the actual trigger mechanism…like a water pistol’s trigger. Well, turns out I was wrong. It is. I know it’s fine, but I still think it looks a little cheesy. The two-stage trigger pull, by the way, is quite nice, The first stage is the take-up before contacting the “plunger” and the second stage is heavy (maybe 6 or 7 lb?) but smooth and fairly short.
Disassembly is surprisingly easy…pop out a couple of pins to separate upper and lower, then rotate a captive screw 180° to get at the piston.
Here’s the bolt and bolt carrier:
Here’s the lower receiver:
This is my first stamped-steel rifle…I know it’s not but it looks a little too thin compared to what I’m used to!
Here’s the upper:
Mine came with the optional optic rail. It attaches in an unusual way. The front has a tapered groove on the bottom
that mates with the front of the upper receiver
The rear of the mount has a tapered bolt
that is rotated to mate with this notch below the rear sight
A set-screw keeps it from backing out (I guess!). I’m not sure I’ll put an optic on the rifle…the design of the stock looks like it would be tough to get a proper cheek weld with anything other than a mini-RDS mounted right on the rail. I kind of like the “late Cold War era” look of it with just the irons…I’ll start with it like that and see how it works.
So far, I’m pleased with my initial look at the rifle. I’ll try to get out to the range in the next few days for a a range report.
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