First Images Emerge Of The SIG Sauer SG56X Family

SIG Sauer’s latest creation has been spotted! Various images floating around social media show the new SG56X series, which seems to blend features from the SG55X family with the MCX Spear LT. Let’s take a look at some pictures and see what we can gather from them.

SIG @ TFB:

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These images are from the Swiss Shooting Club’s 200th Anniversary celebration in Aarau, Switzerland. First, the banner makes reference to both the SG56X and SG563. This seems to mirror the naming convention used with the SG550 and its derivative models. The family is often called the “SG55X” series, with the SG550 as the original and longest model, the short SG551, and shorter SG552 and SG553 models. There is also the US-made SG556 which either is or isn’t part of the family depending on how Euro-purist you are. This same naming pattern holds true, and the SG563 is the shortest model in the larger SG56X series. There are also SG560 and SG561 models as well (but not an SG562, because the SG552 was replaced by the improved SG553), as the following picture shows.

In this image, we can see two SG563 models side by side. Other than the obvious color difference, the most noticeable difference is the magazine. The bottom gun feeds from the standard SG55X magazine, while the top gun has an AR-15 magazine. But unlike the lowers of the 55X series, which are manufactured for one magazine pattern or the other, the 56X series lowers can work with either. Note what appears to be a magazine adapter by the black SG563. This feature is confirmed in the following Instagram stories from @scaraat.

The safety design is also clearly from the AR. Another point of departure from the SG55X is the magazine catch. The original uses a paddle, much like an AK or H&K. The 56X uses an ambidextrous button, regardless of the type of magazine being used. Another point to note is the ambidextrous bolt catch on the right side of the gun. This has become increasingly common on AR-15s like the Daniel Defense RIII, and is also on the Spear LT.

One piece that clearly comes from the MCX Spear LT is the stock. Rather than the older hinge pin, there is a picatinny rail segment. The SG56X models in these images sport various stocks seen on the MCX family, but any other 1913 stock would work as well.

SIG also displayed another new gun, but it is not likely to be a commercial success in the US. The SG711 takes the large frame SG7XX series and converts it to 7.5×55 Swiss. That caliber is very common in Swiss competition shooting. In most of those competitions the 7.5×55 is used in the K31 or Stgw57. Both of those guns are a little long in the tooth and have been out of production for some time. It seems that there is demand for a match-oriented rifle in 7.5 Swiss, but with some modernization. Given the quantity of ammunition the Swiss probably have hidden in some mountain fortress, the SG711 could be a good way to use that ammo up.

The SG711 looks like an overgrown Stgw90, but with a magazine with a clear resemblance to the Stgw57. Two models are on display, one with more traditional Stgw90 styling, the other with modernized features like and MLOK handguard and adjustable stock. The modernized gun has a magnified optic, but the standard thick-Stgw90 has match diopter sights on the receiver and extended out to the muzzle rather than the gas block location where the front sight usually is.