Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Well, even with the cold, any day you get to go shooting is a good one. The fun aspect of this range trip was watching my buddy finally get to shoot his para-FAL that he got several months back and for met to get to try my dream gun – the SIG 716. For a while I have been thinking that the ideal rifle would have a FAL-style gas system and AR ergonomics. The SIG 716 appears to be pretty much exactly what I wanted. This was a wonderful gun to shoot and was even better with the awesome BattleComp muzzle device on it. The rifle was a joy to shoot and I really, really want one. They ain’t cheap, but if you were dropping me into some place with short- and long-range shots mixed in…like, oh, Afghanistan…I would think this gun would be just the ticket. (If ammo logistics supported it and you didnt mind humping around the heavier ammo.) One other interesting mod was the addition of this Umbrella Corporation Grip…yeah, you read that right. The angle and design of the grip ‘forces’ you to maintain a tucked-in shooting style so youre not chicken-winging your strong arm out there. It was very comfortable to shoot and I liked it quite a bit.

My buddy’s FAL was, of course, great to shoot. The slender side folder stock was just the ticket for the thick bulky coat I was wearing. The FAL is my favorite .308 MBR but that SIG 716 might be just the ticket….the only thing that really sours me is the price (although it’s silly to argue about the price if the gun is exactly what I want) and the rather limited magazine availability. Magpul makes mags for it but if they stopped…who knows where your next mag is coming from. I don’t worry about that with the FAL, since dozens of countries made/make mags for it….and I don’t worry about it for the HK since the mags were cheap enough for me to get several hundred.

I, of course, had to bring my .308 along so I swapped out the furniture on it to the winter white version and brought it along. A delayed-blowback…violent and brutal but always reliable..its a love/hate thing. I wish those guys at BattleComp made a brake for the HK91 but they dont. I thought maybe they could sell me one of their AR-10 devices before it had been threaded and they shot me down on  that too. Grrrr.

All in all, a great day of shooting very cool guns. Makes standing around in 20-degree weather almost bearable.