Swiss SIG 553 pistols have hit the US market

[patriot_man]

For anyone who wants to know, Dave at JDI Firearms is importing 52 SG552 pistols. The exact specifications, including the barrel length, color, sights and lower are not yet finalized. I ordered one and am crossing my fingers for the short barrel length, greenish color, diopter sights and steel sheet metal lower. It's interesting that Swiss Arms is making them again given that they were effectively replaced by the SG553. Dave hasn't updated his website yet, but the information is in a post on his Facebook page.

Well that's very odd. Wasn't the 553 designed because the 552 had issues with the recoil assembly?

Why restart production on a firearm with a deficiency?

[TheAlsatian]

Perhaps they had leftover parts. I do believe the 553 to be the superior weapon but some collectors have to have one of everything..

[Bret]

Larry Vickers discusses the design flaw in his video. He says that they changed from a metal guide rod and plate to plastic. Perhaps this was enough to solve the problem? If so, weight to the rear would be more desirable than the 553's recoil assembly weight to the front.
https://youtu.be/I5Z-n5S22XE?t=1m27s

[patriot_man]

Perhaps, but I'm kind of thinking the same as TheAlsatian. JDI seems more interested in maintaining and preserving the collector value of the 55x series. Wouldn't be surprised if this reboot of the 552 is solely for the collectors.

[Bret]

Well I certainly fall in to that category.

[JoshNC]

It’s likely that SAN found some NOS 552 parts and decided to build guns. Or that they found some guns in inventory that they realized they could sell.

I have two 552s and a 553. The 553 far eclipses the 552. The issue is that the locking lug of the gas piston can over time become peened as it has very slight translational fore-aft motion within the bolt carrier’s recess for the locking lug. This peening ultimately could result in catastrophic failure of the bolt carrier at the recess for the piston’s lug. The issue was reportedly due to a bad batch of heat treat. But I can say almost every PD trade-in 552 carrier I’ve seen (roughly six) has had peening of the lug. The plastic recoil spring guide rod is an improvement over the two piece steel guide rod. But the 552 still has flaws - more fragile cocking handle, recoil spring will launch into orbit (or into your eyeball) if you don’t consciously hold it when opening the receiver. I always wondered why SIG didn’t lengthen the recess for the recoil spring farther forward and make the recoil spring captive on the guide rod as is done on other rifles. The 552 to me reeks of a design that was hastily executed prior to fully optimizing the design. The flaws were then corrected when B&T designed the 553 operating system. Interestingly, before the 552 debuted there was the 551 commando, which is essentially the same barrel length and gas system as the Exeter produced 556 pistol. This had a roughly 10” barrel and a gas system that was around 1/2” longer than what is found on the 552/553.

Is the 552 worth owning? If you’re a SIG collector with a whole bunch of other 55x rifles, including a 553, then yes by all means add one to your collection. If you don’t own a 553, you should buy a 553 instead of a 552.

One of my 552s is still one of my favorite SIG rifles. It is one of the roughly 90 that Midwest Distributors got out of NC ALE and is marked “SG 552-2 SP COMMANDO”, which I find to be really neat. I rarely ever shoot it. But it does come out every now and again. My 553 pretty much comes to the range every time.

Here is the link to my post from 2011 comparing the 552 and 553. Unfortunately the photos were in photobucket and are long gone. I know I have it saved in a PDF, so maybe I can get it reposted here.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...a-photo-detail

[SteyrAUG]

It’s likely that SAN found some NOS 552 parts and decided to build guns. Or that they found some guns in inventory that they realized they could sell.

I have two 552s and a 553. The 553 far eclipses the 552. The issue is that the locking lug of the gas piston can over time become peened as it has very slight translational fore-aft motion within the bolt carrier’s recess for the locking lug. This peening ultimately could result in catastrophic failure of the bolt carrier at the recess for the piston’s lug. The issue was reportedly due to a bad batch of heat treat. But I can say almost every PD trade-in 552 carrier I’ve seen (roughly six) has had peening of the lug. The plastic recoil spring guide rod is an improvement over the two piece steel guide rod. But the 552 still has flaws - more fragile cocking handle, recoil spring will launch into orbit (or into your eyeball) if you don’t consciously hold it when opening the receiver. I always wondered why SIG didn’t lengthen the recess for the recoil spring farther forward and make the recoil spring captive on the guide rod as is done on other rifles. The 552 to me reeks of a design that was hastily executed prior to fully optimizing the design. The flaws were then corrected when B&T designed the 553 operating system. Interestingly, before the 552 debuted there was the 551 commando, which is essentially the same barrel length and gas system as the Exeter produced 556 pistol. This had a roughly 10” barrel and a gas system that was around 1/2” longer than what is found on the 552/553.

Is the 552 worth owning? If you’re a SIG collector with a whole bunch of other 55x rifles, including a 553, then yes by all means add one to your collection. If you don’t own a 553, you should buy a 553 instead of a 552.

One of my 552s is still one of my favorite SIG rifles. It is one of the roughly 90 that Midwest Distributors got out of NC ALE and is marked “SG 552-2 SP COMMANDO”, which I find to be really neat. I rarely ever shoot it. But it does come out every now and again. My 553 pretty much comes to the range every time.

Here is the link to my post from 2011 comparing the 552 and 553. Unfortunately the photos were in photobucket and are long gone. I know I have it saved in a PDF, so maybe I can get it reposted here.

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...a-photo-detail

Yeah, had one and had to let it go. Those 552 markings were really cool. At least I have a 551 SWAT marked rifle.

[Firefly]

A 553 is the size of an UMP with no real gas issues of a Mk. 18. Pricey but worth it.

I hear tell that B&T is gonna do US suppressors for them and that would make it perfect. It would honestly be a pigging gun from Hell

[SteyrAUG]

A 553 is the size of an UMP with no real gas issues of a Mk. 18. Pricey but worth it.

I hear tell that B&T is gonna do US suppressors for them and that would make it perfect. It would honestly be a pigging gun from Hell

Gemtech HALO works right now.

[KTR03]

Gemtech HALO works right now.

Hey Steyr,

Have you tried a Halo on the new JDI imports? My LLC has a halo and it doesn't work on a new 550, 551lb, 551SB. It just won't fit.

As an aside, the old B&T mounts (with the allen not the screw) that work on my preban 550 do not work on the new JDI guns either. I had to grind off some of the post that is driven down into the rear sight base. Works great now. There are some dimensional differences between the old guns and the recent imports.

D