i am looking at purchasing a Sig 516 Patrol and was wondering what type of accuracy  you have seen in actual use.

Any help will be appreciated.

Well I have one and out of the box its great! There is this little detent pin underneath the takedown pin that removes most of the play between the upper and lower so that helps with accuracy. The recoil and muzzle rise is decent, but can be easily handled with say a Battlecomp. If you look up the accuracy reviews, they are all good! To me, it is with out a doubt, the best piston operated AR-15 under $1500.

Its like this shooting 55 grain FMJ American Eagle XM193 ammo through a Sig patrol at 130 yards using a Lucid HD7 red dot on an eight inch target. Keep in mind that the red dot itself is about the size of the target's 8 ring at this range.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/EricTheOracle/IMG_3394.jpg

I dunno. Cheap ammo and it does alright.

I have a Sig 516 with about 20 rounds through it.
Using the original trigger (which was terrible) straight out of the box:
Initial sight in at 25 yards using 68 gr Hornady HPBT / 25 gr. TAC
first 3 shots of bench hand held gave a 3 shot group under 1 inch about 1 inch low and 2 inches left.
After sight adjustment shot dead center 1/2 inch group.
Moving to 100 yards on an SR-1 target after adjusting sights to POA POI I was easily able to keep all shots in the 10 ring.
Again this was hand held resting my elbows on a bench.
This was also shot using an Aimpont PRO with the original iron sights.
I believe this would be about a 3/4 MOA-1MOA rifle with a scope off a solid rest.
With the RDS system I think 2 inches at 100 yards is pretty doable.
I've made changes on mine now - Geisele trigger, Miculek compensator, Mako grip, ambi safety.
Have not shot it with these changes yet.
I really like the rifle.  I bought because I first bought a Sig 716 and was impressed with quality and price.
I did not like the trigger on either of them.  Both were very coarse and gritty.
Add a Gieselle or comparable trigger and you have a great rifle.

With xm193f, mine groups 5 around an inch at a hundred yards, sometimes a little less or more.  After 15 years trying to find "the one",  this 516 is it for me!  Ran it out to 700 a few weeks back to verify data, 4x vortex & geissele trigger....xm193f

5 @ 600yds (nice!)


5 @ 700yds(not too bad)

Wow, that's what I like to hear and see!!!

What rifle is better in terms of performance than SIG 516 over $1500? I get that a lot from people that SIG 516 is the best under $xxxx, but always wonder if money wasn't an issue which one is the best piston ar15?

Just got back from shooting my second 516, have a brown, and wanted a black one also. These are great guns, shot 120 rounds of Federal american eagle 55 grain ammo. No problems with the 2 pmags and 2 HK mags. Very pleased with these for what they cost, my buddy was very impressed with it also.

To add to the discussion, I just picked up a 516 on Friday and ran 180 rounds of Tulammo and 100 rounds of American Eagle 55gr. through it. Ran steel cased first (on purpose) and switched to brass without any cleaning. Rifle ran flawlessly! I have no idea whether I am a good shot of not but I was hitting a 10 inch steel plate @160 yds, in standing and sitting positions with no problems. Rate of fire was 40-50 rounds per minute and I was using an Eotech with and without a 3X magnifier. Recoil and muzzle flip is substantially more than with my M400 but I have a feeling that a Battlecomp 1.0 will mitigate the issue.