Sig Sauer Cross

According to the marketing, the Sig Sauer Cross was designed and built from a fresh perspective with input from hunters, snipers and long-range shooters. The compact size and light weight are priorities that certainly strike you the instant you see the gun. However, until you shoot one, you can’t really judge the dynamic character. With a short 16” barrel in .308 and a 6.5lb overall weight, it was always going to be focused on compact carriage, but would this negatively affect shooting performance?

Up close

The stainless-steel barrel is 18mm in diameter, has a 1:10” twist rate and shows a 5/8x24 threaded muzzle. It comes supplied with a thread cap and spacer to compensate for the tapered profile.

The stiff, 39mm wide hexagonal forend is 14.75” long and shows multiple M-LOK slots. No sling stud is fitted but M-LOK invites personalised additions. The forend bolts directly to the action/receiver, which incorporates an AICS-compatible magazine well, bolt raceway, trigger guard and a folding stock hinge.

A Picatinny rail runs the full length of the receiver and extends onto the forend, giving 7” of space for your chosen mounts and optic. Only the barrel, bolt (which locks into the barrel, not the action), hinge and fasteners are steel. Nearly everything else is matte black anodised aluminium, offering a significant weight saving.

The three-lug, 60º lift, push feed bolt has a right-side extractor claw and a plunger ejector pin. It runs incredibly smoothly in the hard anodised action and shows an unusually shaped handle that presents the hard anodised teardrop tip directly to your fingers for incredibly natural, fast operation. The bolt shaft shows multiple machined raceways to engage with the upper bolt release catch and to minimise friction within the receiver. You need to fold the stock to remove the bolt, whose release button is at the back of the receiver, just above the bolt shroud, which also displays a cocked action indicator. The receiver is channelled all the way to the hinge, supporting the bolt’s linear stroke, which is another direct contributor to the smooth travel.

Feed and controls

Sig supplies an AICS-compatible 5-round polymer P-Mag and this has an orange follower with a slight ramp to help direct ammo to the chamber. Single rounds dropped into the ejection port will chamber fluidly.

The match trigger is a 2-stage unit, breaking crisply at 1100-grams. Its folded steel blade is straight and it complements the rifle’s looks. The trigger appears to offer adjustment (there are visible Allen screws accessible in front of the blade), although this was not clearly promoted. The safety catch is an ambidextrous thumb lever above the AR-15 grip. It flicks vertically for FIRE and horizontally for SAFE, without locking the bolt.

The stippled polymer grip offers tactile perception without the need for excessive force. It offers a 70mm reach from its throat to the trigger blade, which is typical AR-15 specification.

Fold it

Technically, there is the possibility someone might deliberately or accidentally shoot with the gun folded, but Sig has addressed this. The stock folds 180º round to the right, where it locks in position with the bolt handle trapped closed. The other possibility is negated by the fact the hinge mechanism blocks the striker’s sear unless it’s locked straight, so you would notice if it wasn’t latched when you tried cycling the bolt. The gun is supplied in its box folded, so you quickly realise pressing on the steel hinge mechanism’s upper button unlocks it to swing out where it re-locks straight.

The length of pull telescopes from 12.75” to 14.75” and this is adjusted with an effective S-shaped dial that allows easy fingertip torque application without the need for excessive gripping force like a knurled nut would. Minor design details like this fundamentally impress me! To the rear, there is a rubber recoil pad.

The whole aluminium butt is heavily machined for weight saving. The comb is slender fitting under the cheekbone without lateral jaw displacement, plus it is height adjustable without tools. All you need to do is press its locking button and swing the lever down so that the comb is free to move. In use, it offers a maximum of 25mm of additional height. If you put your cheek on it and push down until you get correct linear vision through the scope, all you need to do next is to lift the locking lever and you are set up. I love the functionality, it’s so simple, yet effective, plus totally secure, and I will be very surprised not to see elements of this system copied by competitors with weaker solutions. This is because it’s simpler and faster than slackening and re-tightening Allen screws or dials to clamp the unit, and you don’t even need to break position.

There’s a QD sling anchor point in front of the recoil pad and it can be swapped to either side. The recoil pad itself has 70mm of vertical travel along its steel carrier, which is another feature where material properties took priority. Steel never sounds as catchy as Aluminium but still has its place when an engineer is the decision maker.

Range time

I generally shoot a rifle before I investigate the price and exact specifications, as this gives me true first impressions before I have too many facts. In this respect, the Cross truly surprised me, as it had very calm manners, with a linear recoil path and minimal muzzle lift. There was just a pulse of pressure into the shoulder, with no vibrations and negligible cheek disturbance. Although the rifle had a small moderator fitted, short barrels are usually lively and even without it on, the characteristic was consistent. Also, the rifle was still stable enough to see bullet trace in flight at modest ranges, with little disruption to the point of aim.

I have shot plenty of fantastic rifles with a similar smooth character, but they were longer, heavier, braked or simply just smaller calibres. The Sig had all these factors against it, yet it was thoroughly pleasant to shoot from the bench, prone, off-hand or from a tripod. This was all before I had even adjusted stock fit, which when attended to, improved it even further. The rifle is quite simply a comfortable shooter and anything that’s easier is less demanding, needs less concentration and is less tiring. The trigger is crisp and the bolt is light and fast. Plus, the reliable stock folding mechanism makes this light rifle handy to move about, without any clunky noises.

In terms of ultimate performance on target, I think it’s an accurate hunting rifle at realistic ranges rather than a specific precision tool. It will certainly take the knocks and it got bumped around without losing zero, but quite simply, it’s too short and light to be a dedicated target tool, especially when compared against the similarly priced competition.

The rifle needed a little bit of running in to achieve the ‘magic minute’ with factory ammo but had no problem exceeding this with reloads. I’m fairly sure the 16” .308 offering will be less popular than the Creedmoor option in the current climate anyway, as it has a longer 18” barrel and the bullet is more slippery. I have never seen a .277 Sig Fury cartridge, but this is an option, so that might make an interesting review project in its own right.

Conclusion

The aim of the Sig Sauer Cross was to be different, and it certainly achieves this goal. How closely its benefits suit your requirements is totally up to you and although it’s physically reliable and superbly smooth to operate and shoot, it is my opinion that it is seemingly neither a precision rifle nor a hunter. However, we can all make our own choices. The rifle has so many subtle details that really impress me, all the way from concept to completion and I can’t fail to kind of like it for being so different and well-executed.