Sig Sauer MCX Spear LT Review: 7.62x39 Rifle

I've wanted an MCX Spear LT for a long time: the sugar weasel and the Geissele Super Duty just kept cutting in line. When the time finally came, I skipped 5.56 and went 7.62x39, because why not? I've got a ton of rifles in 5.56 already; might as well do something interesting. This is the 16-inch version, and out of the box the only thing I added was a Sig Romeo 4S optic, mostly because it's a Sig optic and, again, why not.

The Spear LT is a short-stroke piston system, so there's no buffer tube and no buffer spring, which is how you get the folding stock. The whole gun is ambidextrous: safety selector, mag release, and bolt release mirrored on both sides, with a forward assist and AR-style trigger and controls even though this is very much not an AR-15. The modularity is the badass part: pull the bottom of the handguard and you can swap barrels to change calibers. It comes in 5.56, 300 Blackout, and this 7.62x39, and the full-size Spear does 308.

Some honest gripes on the furniture. That minimalist folding stock is a rigid, hard little thing, and after seven or eight rounds on the shoulder I already knew: that thing is going to have to go away. It is not comfortable in the least. The QD point placement on the back also bugs me: it sits right where your finger rides the safety selector. And the proprietary muzzle device? I've heard horror stories about getting these damn things off: whatever rockset they're using is a pain in the ass, so I'll probably just end up putting a Sig suppressor on it, which I'm sure was their intent anyway.

My biggest gripe isn't the gun, it's the box: when you spend $2,600-2,700 on a rifle, one magazine? Sig, for real? At least it's a 28-round Duramag (that's the only mag I'd suggest running in this thing), but I found that pretty shitty and had to go buy more, because I had nothing else AR-style in 7.62x39.

At the range we ran cheap Sterling steel-case through it first. First round: stovepipe. God only knows: it was cheap ammo, and that's probably why, because after that the gun ran flawlessly all day and I put a ton of rounds through it. The two-position adjustable gas system, by the way, isn't really 'suppressed and unsuppressed' like people say, it's basically dirty and not dirty. The trigger is pretty good too; no issues there at all. Once it was running, man, what a good day to be alive. That thing is so freaking fun to shoot.

The Romeo 4S surprised me. I figured it might not pack the punch this rifle deserved, but it did, though I could see moving it to a Unity mount to get my head up straighter. Down the road maybe a 1-8 LPVO, but the gun's already a bit hefty at a little over 7 pounds dry, so we'll see.

The kicker: I got this off GunBroker, and I've never bought anything off GunBroker in my life. Auction email said five minutes remaining, it was sitting at $1,650, I threw in $1,900 to be safe, and it closed at $1,750, about $800 off MAP. The best rifle I've ever bought at $1,750? That's hyperbole, but you know what I mean.