SIG’s Pump Action 550 Rifle: the 550 VRB

In many countries, manually operated rifles are substantially easier for civilians to own than semiautomatic ones – and this was not lost on firearms manufacturers. In an effort to potentially open a new market, SIG experimented with manufacturing a pump action version of their very successful 550 military rifle. The effort was quickly dropped, however, and only 12 were manufactured. These were made in both .223 Remington and also .222 Remington caliber, to accommodate countries where .223 was considered a restricted military caliber.

10 Comments

  1. The bolt and spring arrangement on this Rifle is more like the 552 arrangement than the 550.Great video thanks for posting it!

  2. Since I consider SIG550 one of the peaks of contemporary rifle design, I watch with delight also this version. It is indeed conducted with utmost care to the last detail. Interesting way how to convert “dangerous” assault rifle into “harmless” civilian tinker-toy. I am willing to bet that Canadian authority would accept it for sale to civilians as ‘non-restricted’. I’d be seriously interested (barring likely cosmic high price).

    • Cosmic high price?! And all to make the gun less scary? I bet I could terrify a politician to death with a poorly made fake gun (so poorly made as not to have a viable fake receiver unit, just a pipe and cut plank), even if the “gun” had its barrel past the stock drooping 20 degrees down from the horizontal when held straight.

      But that aside, the pump adds one more thing to break on the action and should not be handled roughly (smashed into the environment) if memory serves well. Did I mess up?

      • You have to think “Canadian” for a second or two; you had already some introduction to our gun law on FW. Pump action on former military type rifle is really slick way of ‘pacifying’ it. This is what got my attention in this case.

    • Denny, as this uses a 550 receiver it is a no go. (see “Former Prohibited Weapons Order No. 12 (in effect since October 1, 1992 …
      The firearms of the designs commonly known as the SG-550 rifle and SG-551 carbine, and any variants or modified versions of them.”)

      Now you could use a 540 receiver but when you can get one that’s non-restricted and semi-auto, the only reason to get a pump (or as the Aussies call it: semi-semi-auto) is as a curiosity (or shorter barrel).

  3. Pump shotguns need a slide/carrier lock for the bolts remaining its foremost position when the guns in cocked mode. Rifled military convertions like this would not have such a necessity since the recoil spring they have had, already keeps the the bolt group in on battery position. This combination nowadays, is one of the most common application in cheap Turkish made pump shotguns.

    • Exactly, this is my point. It’s all there, ready for conversion.

      For those who think of hunting application, it is not bad either. This type of action can be made really fast with some practice.

        • My cousin, one time police officer, was called to event when rampaging bull could not be subdued. All he had on him was .32 ACP service pistol. Luckily, he soon received Skorpion (in same caliber) from his buddy. First burst took off horns, second fell the animal. Yes, .32 ACP. I guess the placement was good and multiple shots did the magic.

  4. Fwiw the Browning design for a bottom ejection only pump shotgun that was adopted by Ithaca as soon as the patent ran out…

    Incorporated an auto sear

    That both prevented out of battery discharge, which is a vital safety feature
    And
    Allowed the trigger to be held back and the gun to fire as the action was pumped. What the hell? It’s a pump gun.

    It is only the idiocy of positivitic law (threats of violence issued by politicians) that calls things like auto sears into question.

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