StG. 90 (Sig 550) vs. HK G-36

[X-man]

It's a little unfair to blame people for buying a Tapco et al if that is all they can afford. Clearly, if you can afford more, you should (I've got an LMT CQB16 on the way) but there are a lot of people with more pressing priorities like mortgages and kids. Trying to save up for a high quality firearm could take years for single income families. Just sayin'....

I grant your point, and believe me, I'm by no means well off. Its just that I'm lucky enough to live in a rural area where I can grow my own food, harvest my own meat for the freezer and own my own home and land. My biggest debt is paying of the outstanding $45,000.00 on my studend loan. However, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate quality. I paid for my first AR-15 during my second year of university by picking up a second part-time job, eating lots of Mr. Noodles and forgoing the weekend out with the boys doing the lobby party circuit or pub crawls.

For guys in tough economic spots, or trying to make ends meet with kids and mortgage, I'm just glad they're out there shooting and God Bless 'em! My peeve is with the guys who can afford to pay a little extra for that quality and are simply too damn cheap. You'll have page after page of threads of guys lusting after "unobtainium" but then have an equal number posting that I can get XYZ (number) of (insert cut-rate AR brand here) for that price...pfft, "no way am I going to pay that much for a hunk of aluminum and plastic!" "Price it under $1000.00 and I'll think about it!"

I wish you guys could buy real Swiss Arms and Tavors. Then you'd know how silly some posters are when they try and dismiss them as junk or somehow inferior to a Bushmaster AR or even the HK G36. If they were widely sold in the US, there'd be a whole lot more accessories and gucci kit built specifically for them as well! So it'd be a win-win all around!

The one area where you guys aren't "frugal" however is when it comes to supporting your gun orgs. I am in total awe of just how much you guys cherish your rights and freedoms and are willing to help pay the costs associated with protecting them. I only wish Canadian gun owners were one iota as dedicated to helping their gun orgs like the National Firearms Association compared to your NRA, SAF or GOA, etc... Good on ya' guys for stepping up. We almost lost our gun rights in '95. Its been a helluva fight since then, but we're slowly making progress, and just this spring we finally succeeded in killing the long gun registry, although handguns and certain types of rifles/carbines remain restricted and registered. Rome wasn't built in a day, I guess, so our fight goes on as well.

[Jimmy45Mak]

On that note, and sorry for derailing the thread, a happy civic holiday to my Canadian brethren wherever you are. (this probably actually explains why this thread has been derailed by opinionated Canadians....)

[JoshNC]

I own two Swiss Arms, a CQB (552/553) & a Bluestar (550/PE-90), 9 ARs, a Tavor and an HK G-36. The latter is the most valuable, but that doesn't mean it is the best. (Only a handful of G36 made it into Canada before HK cut off the pipeline for civies which inflated the price).

There are no problems mounting optics, grips or laser designators. Companies like B&T and NEA make 1913 rails There is a factory adjustable stock available and the 55X platform offers the reliability of the AK with the accuracy of the AR in one package.

The two guns I'll never sell are both Swiss Arms. Don't mistake the pitiful SIG 556 that is almost your only option in the USA as being anywhere near the same level of quality as the original. SIG USA should be burned to the ground for what they've done to destroy the SIG brand and the reputation SIG-Sauer built over decades by manufacturing superior firearms.

I'll probably get flamed for saying it, but American shooters have to share the blame as well. You get what you pay for and the constant demand for sub-$1000 guns and the ability to use "cheap" AR mags have seen gun makers cut corners they shouldn't have. The result is an abortion like the 556.

There are plenty of people in the US who would have bought at least one of a properly made SIG 55x variant here in the US, even with a price tag in the $2k - $2.5k range. Instead, Ron Cohen offered what we have all come to hate - a poorly executed rifle with terrible QC and airsoft quality accessories.

As Steyr said, don't blame the US gun owner, blame Sig/Exeter/Ron Cohen et al. FN and Steyr both managed to bring appropriately executed rifles to the US market. Sig could have done so, but instead decided to go cheap and coast on the name/reputation of its Swiss sister company to fool people into buying the 556.