Ahead of this year’s SHOT Show SIG Sauer held an independent range day at the Clark County Shooting Complex putting on some impressive defense capability demonstration and showcasing their current range of firearms, optics and accessories.

SIG Sauer Firepower Demo at SIG Sauer Range Day 2023 featuring an ATV with a remote weapon system (Matthew Moss/TFB)

The defense capability demonstration featured a pair of ATVs, a drone and a squad of operators equipped with the various weapons and optics SIG Sauer has to offer for military customers. The focus was on some of the kit which has been selected by the US military including the Modular Handgun System and the new rifle and machine gun selected by the Next Generation Squad Weapons program.

SIG Sauer Firepower Demo at SIG Sauer Range Day 2023 (Matthew Moss/TFB)

The ATV’s swept onto the range and dismounts opened fire on targets down range with the SIG Sauer 6.8mm XM250 belt-fed machine gun and the, now renamed, XM5 rifles while a small drone swooped overhead. Add in a second ATV with a SIG Sauer MG338, in .338 Norma Magnum, mounted in a remote weapon station and some pyro and you have a pretty impressive firepower demonstration.

The Modular Handgun System M17 with optic fitted (Matthew Moss/TFB)

SIG’s Jason St. John gave a running commentary and shared that the MHX project will be the next step for the MHS (M17 and M18) – fielding optics with the already optics ready pistols. Most interestingly, however, was the announcement that the XM5 (the 6.8mm MXC SPEAR) would be undergoing a name change to become the XM7. Why the name change? While this wasn’t discussed during the demonstration, speaking with other SIG representatives later it appears that it may be to avoid confusion with pre-existing trademarks and nomenclature. It’s worth noting that at the time of writing this designation change hasn’t been confirmed by the US Army.

SIG MCX SPEAR and SIG MG6.8 (Matthew Moss/TFB)

Elsewhere at the range complex SIG had their Next Generation Squad Weapons family on display.