My son is an Airborne Arctic Warfare LRRP ( Long Range Recon Patrol Sargent) stationed in Alaska.

He and some of his very tough and expert infantry soldiers are back from a month at Black Rapids testing this new rifle in cold weather, as in 50 below.

His team had mixed feeling about the new system after firing 1000s of rounds of the new .277 round and living in the wild with it for a month.

The enjoyed shooting the new round and rifle however a number of problems showed up causing them to give it a "thumbs down".

First, it is ridiculously expensive. Not exactly sure but between the rifle, suppressor and fancy electronic/optical sight somewhere in the 8K range. M4 is around $700.00

Second, the optic has rubber buttons on it to control various functions. Unfortunately, below 20 below the rubber gets hard and the scope can not be used as designed. Oops...

Also you will remember that the M4 has a hinged trigger guard that will swing down allowing the weapon to be operated with gloves. The new SIG has the trigger guard machined into the lower and as such can not be fired with gloves on. Ooops...

The ergonomics of the rifle in cold weather caused a MCE due to frostbite on the soldiers faces when they attempted to take a cheek weld.

They loved shooting the machine gun version and considered it superior to the SAW or PIG.

He said that for his job as LRRP it would be great with a few changes but for general infantry the M4 wins all the way.

Again his opinions are something to pay attention to and his opinion is that small arms are great but artillery and air power is what kills bodies and wins wars.

On the line it is no real big deal and much adieu about nothing.

B