Sig 516, Surefire Suppressor & Trijicon Day at Hayward PD

Sig Sauer
On Aug 18th we were invited by our friends at Hayward PD to bring in 3 lines of product for a range day/demo and a good time was had by all.  Mike Shire from Sig Sauer brought out a whole bevvy of fine firearms including the new gas-piston offering designated as the 516.  A radical departure from the previous 556,  this new gun looks and feels like a standard M4 carbine with quad rail and is much lighter than the 556 as well.   We also like the fact that it’s a 100% US made gun!  While we only shot it for half a day,  it was run hot and fast with no lube and it ran like a top.  Mike pointed out that the 516’s two-position gas pressure setting allows you to perfectly set the back pressure for suppressed or regular operation….a nice touch indeed. 

Other crowd pleasers in the Sig Sauer lineup were the new little  P290 9mm which LEO’s have been anticipating for use as a BUG (back up gun) and they were not disappointed.  It’s flat profile, combined with the ability to digest full power 9mm duty ammo makes for an appealing BUG indeed. 

Sigs 1911 drew a persistent crowd, and with railed options and Sig quality it’s easy to see why.  Mr Browning would be proud.

As a special treat for the long-range precision shooters among us, Mike broke out the gorgeous Blaser Tac-2 sniper rifle in .308 (you may not know this is now part of the Sig Sauer product group).  While the very short firing distance did it no justice,  just working the bolt and dry firing that rifle is enough to raise a rifleman’s heart rate.  The straight-pull bolt is really smooth and fast.  

http://www.sigsauer.com/CatalogProductDetails/sig516-patrol.aspx

Surefire Suppressors

It’s interesting to observe the crowd dynamic at these shoots.  There is generally a somewhat more hesitant contingent that stand back a few yards away from the carbines watching others shoot,  but when the suppressors are attached the tractor-beam of interest draws even the most timid observers to the bench to experience this almost magical transformation. 
Chris Skahill brought out an assortment of Surefire’s fantastic suppressors (we used to call them silencers) and they got a heck of a workout on semi and full-auto fire.   They attach/detach in seconds,  have negligible effect on point-of-impact and offer several very important safety advantages:  first the obvious dramatic reduction in sound (hearing safety),  secondly they suppress flash to nothing,  and finally (and many folks don’t realize this) they suppress ignition.   Think about it….if there’s no flame/flash coming out of your carbine,  then the likeliness of you igniting a dangerous accelerant in the atmosphere (gasoline,  paint thinner,  propane,  or God-knows-what in a clandestine lab) is immensely reduced.   Suppressors are very important safety devices and I’m really surprised their not used in greater numbers.  Hopefully administrators will get a chance to learn of these benefits and grease the skids toward safer, more effective carbine usage by patrol as well as special teams.
http://www.surefire.com/RifleCarbineSuppressors556mm223Caliber

Trijicon Optics

Chris is also our Trijicon rep and brought us an assortment of top-notch optics to demo including several from the ACOG family which will be immediately familiar to those of you with military experience.  Super rugged, and not dependent on batteries for 24/7 operation, these optics have earned legendary status among our nations’ elite warfighters.
RMR is the name for a new product innovation from Trijicon which is a tiny and very bright member of the ‘red dot’ sight family.  It has an auto adjustment that may be manually overridden to suit the shooters preference.  In fact this sight is so small and light, we are starting to see them being mounted not only on carbines, but on pistols (no kidding) where they are setting new standards in that elusive ratio of speed and accuracy.   

Huge thanks to everyone at Hayward PD for helping us organize a safe, fun and informative range day. 

And a special thanks to Mike Shire of Sig Sauer and Chris Skahill of The Evans Group for your hard work and expertise.
Be safe everyone, see you soon.