#Sig553

The SIG 550 series is, at least for Americans, an uncommon but desirable carbine, and shrouded in mystery. These guns are hard to find, expensive when you do find them, and because most of the ownership and the history relative to the SIG 550-series originates in Europe, even knowledgeable shooters and collectors in the United States know very little about these guns.

Today we take a look at a SIG Sport 552 in a picture taken by Schrombo.

Unique but functional – that is my current mantra for firearm/suppressor acquisition guidelines. I have ARs. In fact, everyone has AR’s. So when I go lusting after a new rifle, I start looking at the list that includes my semi-grail guns. You know the ones – if you save up for a hefty amount of time you can swing it, but your gun budget is dead for the rest of the year. For me, one of those firearms has always been an authentic Sig 553 rifle. And even though the Sig Sauer (USA) versions are now long discontinued, JDI Firearms is making it possible to import beautiful but functional Swiss art.

On August 4, the Risk Analysis Unit (UAR) Custom Algeciras noticed a suspicious container headed out to the US by ocean freight. The Bill Of Lading indicated dismantled weapons. However the UAR decided to seize the container for a full inspection. This is common for ocean freight and customs. I used to work for a Freight Forwarder and we imported containers of shipments from Asia. US Customs often runs random exams/inspections on containers. They can be as simple as a full container x-ray or in this case a full inspection and every item is pulled from the container and matched up with the packing list and invoice.

Due to import restrictions, the Sig 55X rifle series is pretty rare in the United States. As a result, many Americans are unfamiliar with this excellent weapons system, while others around the world are intimately familiar with it. Rico Ghinolfi was the Swiss Arms gunsmith pulling IWA duty, and he took a lot of his time to discuss this and other topics with me. He’s a very knowledgeable and skilled individual, and I learned a lot from our talks – I tried to stop by every day and pester him with more questions, none of which he had difficulty answering.