Can anyone post a review on Sig's AR-15 Armorer's class?

[jasons]

With the recent group buy deals in the green section, I've decided to try my hand at building an AR or two. While I'm generally pretty good at taking stuff apart and putting it together, I do value good training and would like to take a formal armorer's course. I see that Sig offers one up in Exeter. I've had good experiences with other Sig classes but was hoping to get some feedback from anyone here who has taken a Sig armorer's course.

So - has anyone taken an armorer's course from Sig lately? If so, could you post some quick impressions?

 

[WaldoOneFive]

I took it last year. Awesome class. Covers everything except the A2 rear sight. Since taking it for a primary certification for work, I have been building AR's now ever since. I got the bug.

 

[jasons]

After trading a few PMs with other NESers I decided to go ahead and take the Sig Academy M16 / M4 / AR15 armorer's class. Here's a mini review:


Class started promptly at 8:30. Instructor was "Scott," a senior instructor at Sig with 20 something years OTJ as a LEO and game warden. There were 9 students, the majority of which were LEO. There were (I think) 3 civilians including me.

We started off with about 5 minutes of admin stuff (clear the weapons, sign the release form) and then right into a short (20 min?) history of the platform. A1 to A2 to M4 and the variants: different calibers. Blowback, gas impingement, and piston operations.

We then moved quickly into the operation of the different fire control systems. We covered full auto, burst, and semi. One of the LEO guys had a select fire (semi / full) that we all got to pass around and compare to our lowly little semis. They didn't have a burst model available but he had a pretty cool animation on the computer that showed how it functions.

Then to the hands-on. We started with basic field stripping (which pretty much everyone already knew) and then moved right into full disassembly. Flash hider / comp removal, gas block / FSP removal, gas tube removal, barrel removal. We left the barrel extensions on but he explained how to remove / reinstall them. (He didn't cover head spacing but he did tell us that we would need to do it if we messed with the barrel extension.)

Then we put the barrel, gas tube, and FSP back on. We were provided with a copy of the Army field manual and a "cheat sheet" with the torque settings and of course he demonstrated on his gun.

Break for lunch - Telly's pizza. Baked haddock was pretty good and the waitress was cute.

After lunch we tore down the forward assist and dust cover and reinstalled. We didn't mess with the rear sight at all other than a quick overview of the different types available.

Then we moved to the stock. Removal and re-installation of a standard A2 stock as well as an adjustable stock. (The adjustable was a Sig part that was rather unimpressive....) Scott explained the difference between commercial and mil-spec buffer tubes and between carbine and "regular" buffers / buffer springs.

Then removal and re-installation of the trigger group followed by the selector, bolt catch, and mag release.

Then final function check / Q and A / certificate handout and good-byes.


Overall I give the class a B+. The class was a great value at only $195. It wasn't a 3 day Colt armorer's class but it got the job done and was a lot cheaper.

I would have liked to see him cover setting up the iron sights (not full disassembly, just how to get them ready for zero) and maybe a short discussion on basics of choosing and setting up optics would have been nice. Everything else was great. Scott is a really good instructor and he definitely knows his stuff. His "tips and tricks" alone were worth the cost of admission. Knowing which tools are worth buying and which are just "nice to have" was very helpful and will probably save me from buying stuff that I don't really need.

I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn the basics or perhaps formalize the knowledge that they already have. It was more than worth the time and money in my opinion. Another great class from Sig.

 

[Loyalist]

Thanks for the review...makes me want to take the class myself