bhpdrew wrote:
Some clones are economical... but I am leery of their quality.
Agreed. Although if it makes any difference, a friend who is an unapologetic HK fanboy has had tremendous luck with the latest Zenith MKE copies. For $1500 or whatever they are now, they're pretty cool.
Only real "bad" thing about that platform is the rollers and preventative maintenance as time goes on. Although, how much trouble they will actually give in a quality weapon is debatable.
I went with a SIG 553 and a 553 clone in 5.56 because I like the look. They run, are quality actual Swiss Arms weapons and/or built using Swiss or quality US parts and run fairly reliably. They do blow a lot of gas with a suppressor and in 5.56 are pretty loud even suppressed, but again, an SBR for me is a for-life choice and having a gun that I enjoy looking at, fondling, and shooting was imperative, so I settled on the SIG/SAN/Swiss Arms. Very happy.
The street price for a clone is around $1200-1500 and for the "real thing" about $2,800.
If only they had a 9mm version. Not big on the XI or the MPX versions. Too "AR" for me, and personally for a for-life weapon, newer Sig quality control has me uneasy.