I’m a giant fan of AKs and the 7.62x39mm cartridge normally – which is why the brand new SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle had me actually excited. As an AK-lover, I’ve a fairly respectable stash of seven.62x39mm and have developed a love for the spherical. Plus, once I noticed the brand new Spear LT being supplied in my favourite caliber utilizing its short-stroke piston operation with the gun’s glorious modularity, I believed I might need lastly discovered the final word AK alternative. However after 800 rounds by the brand new Spear, I’ve a really completely different opinion on it.
SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle – 7.62×39
Dwell Stock Worth Checker
See, the Spear LT in 7.62x39mm is the pre-2016 fedora-wearing Portland hipster of the AK alternate options; he scoffs at avarice and decadence whereas carrying a $6,000 MacBook paid for by his funding banker father as a result of the Spear LT in 7.62x39mm takes the 2 most interesting facets of proudly owning an AK again in circa 2005 and throws them within the rubbish – low cost rifles and low cost ammo – in favor of superior ergonomics and modularity.
This isn’t to say the gun isn’t succesful – it actually is. As a result of the Spear can LARP with the remainder of the AKs, blasting away 30-caliber rounds all day with out a hiccup, however can swap out to extra Western calibers with an Allen key, full higher, and a checkbook.
The brand new SIG Spear LT is the most recent iteration of the MCX carbine that the parents in Exeter, NH, have been churning out for the higher a part of a decade. The most recent model – the Spear LT – is just a lightened model with an ambi bolt launch and a horny FDE shade scheme.
The Spear feeds from ASC STANAG-pattern 7.62x39mm magazines and features a 28-round instance within the field. These mags have been notoriously unreliable previously, however I by no means encountered a magazine-related failure in all my testing. On a aspect notice, if you happen to’re going to be taking pictures from a susceptible place and even from a bench, put money into a number of the 20-round variations, as they’re vastly extra compact.
For these of you not acquainted with the SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle, it was SIG’s reply to navy calls for for a extra dependable weapon than the growing old M4. Whereas solely the integrally-suppressed model noticed US navy adoption, many police departments and civilian shooters alike have discovered the weapons to be glorious. And these experiences have mirrored my very own with the 5.56mm and .300blk variations not less than – however the 7.62x39mm is a distinct story.
Reliability
In the course of the course of my time with the Spear LT, I fired 800 rounds of Tula, Wolf, Barnaul, and Belom ammo by the gun. Throughout that point, the one points with reliability I encountered have been with a suppressor hooked up.
All of those points stem from the gun being over-gassed with a can put in. Sure, the Spear LT has an adjustable gasoline valve, however it solely has two positions – regular and antagonistic. In keeping with the guide, I ought to maintain the gasoline valve within the ‘commonplace’ place for suppressed use. However in my expertise, this brought on failures to feed roughly 10% of the time. And only for the document, each certainly one of these failures brought on the spherical to nose-dive into the feed ramp, setting the bullet too far into the case to be protected to shoot.
With out a suppressor put in, the Spear LT in 7.62x39mm ran flawlessly. However there are a number of different points I wish to point out.
The primary and largest to me personally is the felt recoil. I’ve shot dozens of AK rifles tens of hundreds of occasions, and apart from a Draco, none of them have as a lot recoil because the Spear. Which is actually odd if you concentrate on the physics concerned. AKs are long-stroke piston-driven rifles and, as such, have a large reciprocating bolt provider group that chugs forwards and backwards with each set off pull. This interprets into stout felt recoil.
Russia addressed this by altering the gasoline block to 90 levels and putting in a large two-port comp on the tip of the barrel. (The 90-degree gasoline block reduces recoil over time because the 45-degree AKM gasoline blocks are likely to open up with prolonged use and trigger the gun to turn into ever extra over-gassed than regular.)
The Spear, alternatively, makes use of a short-stroke piston system which, within the easiest phrases, implies that the piston isn’t hooked up to the bolt provider and thus reduces the load (and felt recoil) of the reciprocating mass contained in the gun. Regardless of this, the SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle kicks extra like a .308 HK G3 rifle than an intermediate-caliber carbine.
In the event you’re scratching your head and questioning how the hell that’s even potential, there’s actually just one rationalization – gasoline. The 7.62x39mm Spear LT is just over-gassed. I fully perceive why, although. The engineers at SIG didn’t need somebody utilizing the most affordable AK ammo potential and having malfunctions resulting from low-power ammo.
A greater, albeit costlier, resolution can be to have a three-position gasoline valve with a low, commonplace, and excessive setting. I assume the explanations SIG didn’t go together with this resolution are the price and logistics of including one other caliber-specific part to manufacturing.
Accuracy, Barrel Flex, and the Web
Don’t fear, I’m attending to the elephant within the room in a second. However first, I wish to discuss concerning the gun’s accuracy. With commonplace steel-cased Soviet ammo, the Spear LT in 7.62x39mm frequently produced teams hovering round 2.3 MOA. Once I fed it the brass-cased ‘good things’ from Belom and Norma, these teams shrunk to an unbelievable 1.3 MOA!
This simply goes to indicate that with a correct rifle, the 7.62x39mm spherical is able to superb accuracy. However what about the entire barrel flex difficulty?
Alright, if you happen to’re not acquainted, some customers on the web have reported that they might trigger both the barrel or handguard to shift in the event that they squeezed the 2 along with their palms. They usually’re not flawed; that is 100% true. It’s additionally true that until you’re operating a laser sight or irons, this doesn’t actually matter.
As a result of in my expertise, the barrel doesn’t truly shift when squeezed, merely its place relative to the handguards – suggesting that the handguard itself strikes, not the barrel. I examined two magazines price of ammo, shifting the handguards as exhausting as I may (with out instruments) and taking pictures teams to see if this brought on a questioning zero difficulty – and it didn’t. It additionally didn’t measurably have an effect on accuracy.
Sure, I noticed the posts on-line of individuals urgent the Spear LT’s handguards in opposition to a wall and taking pictures teams and having accuracy points. If this surprises you, congratulations in your first gun. All weapons have points with constant groupings if you happen to drastically alter the barrel’s harmonics between photographs. That is the entire cause that free-floating a barrel is such a giant deal in relation to accuracy.
Does this imply that I believe it’s a complete nothing-burger? No. The gun must be extra rugged than it’s, however it’s not the smoking gun each ‘web knowledgeable’ claims it’s. Plus, examine our favourite AR-15 – the handguards do the identical factor until you’ve an LMT with a monolithic higher.
And if the problem retains you up at evening, the fantastic of us over at Arisaka Protection make a barrel clamp alternative that absolutely solves the problem for $50.
7.62x39mm SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle Verdict
With an MSRP of practically $2,500, the SIG MCX-SPEAR LT isn’t an inexpensive gun. It’s additionally not the AK-killer that I personally hoped it might be. However I can’t bounce on the hate practice in opposition to it, both. The SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle in 7.62x39mm is an attention-grabbing tackle the MCX carbine chambered in a cool spherical that also isn’t extremely costly and makes a terrific hog-slaying instrument. Because it stands, the Spear LT is a far cry from a alternative for my AKs and even my Galil Ace in 7.62x39mm. But when the gun had a 3rd gasoline setting and fed from AK magazines, I might actually promote a few of my AKs to purchase it.
SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle Specs:
Mannequin Title: SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle
MPN: RMCX-762R-16B-LT
Model: Sig Sauer
UPC: 798681660889
MSRP: $2500.00
Caliber: 7.62×39
Barrel Size: 16 in [406.4 mm]
Mags Included: (1) 28rd Metal Magazine
Magazine Kind: AR-15 [7.62X39]
Motion Kind: Semi-Auto
Inventory Kind: Folding
Barrel Materials: Carbon Metal
Set off Kind: Flat Blade Match
Twist Price: 1:9.5
Forend Kind: Alloy
Grip Kind: Polymer
Receiver End: Coyote
General Size: 34.5 in [876.3 mm]
General Width: 2.9 in [73.7 mm]
Heights: 7.5 in [190.5 mm] with out journal
Threads: 5/8 in – 24
Accent Rail: M-LOK
Working System: Gasoline Piston
Weight: 7.6 lb (3.5 kg)
SIG MCX-SPEAR LT Rifle Homeowners Handbook
About Jim Grant
Jim is among the elite editors for AmmoLand.com, who along with his mastery of prose, can wield a digital camera with knowledgeable finesse. He loves something and every part weapons however holds firearms from the Chilly Battle in a particular place in his coronary heart.
When he’s not reviewing weapons or taking pictures for enjoyable and competitors, Jim will be discovered mountaineering and searching along with his spouse Kimberly, their son, and their canine Peanut within the South Carolina low nation.
