what ammo and magazine were you using?

Well the Sig is up for sale... i just ordered a LWRC SPR with the FDE color , the main reason in not satisfied with Sig is the run around they gave me , they knew the complaint in detail and both times got the rifle back with the same problem, why not replace the bolt carrier? im sure they have these laying around and then do some extensive testing? i really dont care if they had to put 500 rnds on it just give me back a rifle in good working order, thats all.

All of this is exactly why I bought a Ruger. I've owned many Rugers over the years and they have never been anything but top quality. If you do have a problem they will fix it no questions asked.

I conducted a Carbine Course last weekend and one of my students went through with a SIG M400.

Gun ran flawless.

I am asuming your S & W was a DI gun.  I don't own a piston AR and with all the wear issuses I have been reading probably wont. DI work great for police and the average user I don't think there is a need for a piston...unless your in the "sand Box".  I wouldn't be happy with that wear if it was my gun, never know if it is going to get worse.  Anyway sounds like you need to go back to the S & W or any other quality DI gun  (You stated you felt the recoil was lighter).

No one can argue with the OP on his frustration and I would feel no different.

I bought the "Basic Patrol" and have put 500 or so rounds through it and it has been 100% flawless. I have also run 2 torture tests, again 100%

Every gun makers turns out an occasional lemon (Sorry Ruger fan but no company turns out more turds than Ruger) and I too would have expected them to replace the BC on this and would dump the gun and not buy another if I were the OP.

But, I am not and so far can not find one thing to complain about with the 516 and from what others have reported the OP is the only one to have such a problem.
But, if you are the one who gets a lemon and the company won't make it right you could care less others are happy with theirs.

Hope you have better luck with your next gun

Wulfmann

i just got contacted by another member who also resides in Florida that has the same problems with his 516 , i understand that it is possible to buy a "Friday" rifle... no company is perfect and 1 or 2 defective products may hit the market and it just happens i got one of those... my problem is how the company handles the issue... as a customer i feel like "sorry buddy your on your own" that is why im done with SIG, now after research and research for about a month now i have made my decision on a LWRC SPR that is on its way so the 516 is going "bye bye" hell... i might use it for target practice...hmmmm not a bad idea.

Sorry to hear you got a bad gun, or rather a bad gun and a bad CS experience... it happens.  Post on M4Carbine that you got an LWRC and see all the responses you get.  You might have second thoughts on your new toy.

Where in Florida are you located???

Would be interesting to see if putting my BCG in your rifle cured the problem

Wulfmann

Wolfman... im in Miami, im pretty sure that it will cure the problem... i have ordered a BC from LWRC but they are out at this time and they are waiting for the new design to come in witch i plan to install in my new rifle then take the one i took out and install it on the 516 and see what happens.

"New" design?  How can LWRC be suing SIG for stealing their carrier design when they've got a new one coming out?

ok... what the hell does that have to do with anything? if they copied their bolt... they copied their bolt period, LWRC is developing a 2 gen BC that will be available soon.

I believe that would be 4th generation BC

The current one is at least the third version.

One thing that concerns me when I see a used LWRC is which bolt it may have.
Never just buy a used one without seeing the BCG and if in doubt post here to verify.

LWRC fans seem to think it matters little but LWRC did not make significant upgrades for the sake of having fun.

I personally would not want anything before the third BC design. I am entitled to my opinion

Wulfmann

YES... it is the 4th but its a revised version of the 3rd BC , i guess thats why LWRC call it the gen 2 cuz its nothing like the 2nd bolt they had but a step up to the 3rd design. Here is their e-mail they send me...

LWRCI extends an apology for the delay in shipping on your webstore order for the Advanced Combat Bolt.  You have not been charged for your order.



The ACB has been in production for approximately three years and has served LWRCI and its customers well.  In  Sept. 2011, LWRCI submitted an improved version of the ACB, the ACB II and an improved bolt carrier assembly to the U.S. Army as part of the M4 Carbine Improvement program.

During development and testing of this product, the ACBII performed so well that LWRCI decided to make this available to all customers as soon as soon as quantity were on hand to ship.



The major difference in the ACBII is new extractor geometry which is approximately 20% larger than a standard GI bolt or the original ACB.

Testing had demonstrated that with this improvement failures to extract (the most common stoppage with a Stoner based rife) were virtually eliminated even in a filthy under lubricated direct impingement rifle.  In our weapon it added a further degree of reliability, especially when using some of the softer brass ammunition currently on the market.  What seemed a rudimentary improvement has proven invaluable to any rifle the ACBII is used in.



Some production delays on the ACBII have left LWRCI short of any ACB as we planned to phase the ACB out in favor of the ACBII.



We apologize for this delay, but would rather ship you the latest and greatest configuration of the ACB.



We will keep you up to date on the availability and ship your product as soon as possible.



Thanks,

MadmAxx I'm confused. You said "you" were contacted by another person in Floriday that had the same problem. Your's is the only post about the bolt carrier problem I've seen on here. When there is a bad batch on a gun you will usually hear about at least 6 or 7 ceople with the same problem. CAnted rails on the 556's had laots of post or bad extractors on colts, hundreds of complaints about the same thing. As of your first post I've seen over 16 different 516's in person and none of them had that problem including first and second botl design on teh Sig 516. Have not heard of another complaint from anyone else.

i am not posting his user name... that is not my decision, but i can tell you this... he stated that his rifle is showing the same abnormal wear just like mine and that the rifle is at SIG right now getting checked out, i guess he will join in when the time is right, hopefully they will actually fix his after this thread was started, do you think i come here to bash a company for fun? I send my rifle in twice for the concerns and nothing was done other than a mag catch and a disco spring  replacement... are you serious? i have a rifle that has either a bad bolt or a nasty bolt tilt and this is all they can find? i guess their gunsmiths are top notch. I have never owned a SIG before... this is my first and like i stated my last Sig , you know what they say about first impressions...  i now im hurting some feelings of Sig lovers out there but this is my experience with them.  All i ask is put yourself in my position...

Hey that's me haha I suppose I'll chime in. I contacted MaddMaxx after I saw this thread.

But seriously - I've owned my SIG 516 for a few months now and have approximately 3-400 rounds down the tube. It's ran flawless on a huge swathe of ammunition types from cheap military surplus, good military surplus, Russian junk and high quality brass - it's been reliable and it's a rifle that is now my "go to". After seeing this thread I thought to myself "hhhmmm....I better check mine for some weird marks." So I did...and I found the exact same marks on mine. I have the same cam pin wear mark on my upper and the same chewed up buffer. Seriously, my pictures are nearly identical. So, I contacted Sig (so far their customer service has been very helpful and has been in nearly constant contact with me daily) So, they had their customer service rep look at it and they said it was normal, but it was passed on to their rifle-smith who also confirmed that it was normal wear and that it shouldn't get any worse, but to just be sure they were passing it on to the engineers. I'm currently waiting to hear back from the engineer. Luckily I haven't seen any carrier tilt

I've done a fair share of poking around on the interwebs and it appears the cam pin wear in this area is very common on both DI systems and piston systems. Personally I haven't seen any of that kind of wear on my Spikes DI. The buffer wear certainly is due to a rough machined carrier...we'll see what Sig does about it...or I may file out the rear as I can find two areas on the rear of my buffer that appear to be the culprits of the wear.  

As a side note, POF makes a roller cam-pin that I may look into getting to prevent any further wear, should it occur.

I'll take pics of my Sig later and post them - no joke - they are nearly identical wear marks.

ok guys, i got my LWRC SPR and finally had a chance to go shooting and test it out... shot 200 rds and took some pics to compare it to the Sig 516 POS im stuck with...

Check it out...
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u24/rubeneg123/GEDC0438.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u24/rubeneg123/GEDC0439.jpg

Inspected the rifle fully and here is what i found

1. NOTHING !!!!!!

This thing is flawless, and its on the money , look at the buffer... not even a scratch , upper receiver is clean with no signs of abnormal wear compared to the Sig that at this amount of rounds it was chewing itself to death.

To make things certain, I would definitely try a new buffer and buffer spring with the LWRC Bolt Carrier Group in your 'lemon' SIG 516  to determine if it is actually SIG's revised bolt is causing the tilt or not. Also try different combinations of LWRC's bolt and firing pin inside of SIG's bolt carrier (since they are theoretically exact replicas ad compatible AR15 parts). I would not let that 'lemon' SIG 516 problem just sit there, and it would personally drive me nuts if I didn't find out the exact problem. You will come out on top if you discover the problem and fix it even after you've wasted your time and sent it in twice to SIG already. Once you fix it you can make your decision to sell it/trade it or keep it. Let us know how it goes.

PS I would eventually try the LWRC M6A2 SPR upper on the SIG 516 lower to rule out  that the SIG 516 lower is the problem.

I feel very fortunate that my SIG 516 is very accurate and has been operating perfectly, so I would love to help you with ideas on how to fix yours. That's what online communities are for, helping one another.

Inspected my Sig 516 after 2,000 rounds fully and here is what i found

1. NOTHING !!!!!!

This thing is flawless, and its on the money , look at the buffer... not even a scratch , upper receiver is clean with no signs of abnormal wear!!!!!!

Not being argumentative but occasionally a less than up to standard gun gets through with all makers and what is upsetting is the fact Sig did not replace the BC which IMO should have been done.

Again, I don't blame you for being pissed i would be as well.
But, my Sig is flawless and I have friends that want to buy it for what I paid to the last cent because they are so impressed with its 100% function

I am thinking about the LWRC SPR to replace it but would be livid if the SPR was less than the Sig in anyway at about twice the coin

Wulfmann

I fully understand that what i got is a dud... its just the way Sig handled the issue and I must do all this to prevent another Sig customer to go thru the same bs i went thru. If this is their Customer service... then i have no interest in their products.

BTW... if someone is interested on a slightly used Sig 516 let me know.

You quit?

Have fun with that SPR ! I love mine (SPR) , and like you say its flawless , dosen't miss a beat , and is deadly accurate ! Too bad about Sig's customer service . I also hear they wont sell any parts for that gun that you have to ship the whole gun back every time there is an issue , yikes ! Sounds like a time eater and expense .

well... i got brave and bought some sand paper 600 to 3000 grit , took the bolt out and went at it... polished the entire "but" of the bolt making sure it was smooth and no sharp edges... then i got some metal polish and polished it up, looks like a mirror , i also installed a new spikes buffer to replaced the one damaged... went shooting to try it out... about 200 rds and to my surprise i didn't find a mark  on the buffer... let me take some pics so you guys can see...

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u24/rubeneg123/GEDC0452.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u24/rubeneg123/GEDC0453.jpg