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SIG 710

Last Updated on Sunday, 12 July 2009 07:56 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 03:30

The SIG 710 is a general purpose machine gun designed and manufactured in the Switzerland. The gun was designed by SIG (currently Swiss Arms AG) in 1960s and intended mainly for export to other countries. The SIG 710 uses the 7.62x51 mm NATO cartridge.

The design of the SIG 710 is based on MG45 which was in turn based on the earlier MG42 machine gun. Design and development for the SIG 710, began in 1955 and the model so obtained was designated as “Model 55”. In the year 1957, the model was renamed as “SIG MG 710”. Three variants of the SIG 710 were designed:

>> SIG 710-1: Designed to use the 6.5x55 mm round.

>> SIG 710-2: Designed to use the 7.92x57 mm Mauser round.

>> SIG 710-3: Designed to use the 7.62x51mm NATO round. The design of the SIG 710-3 was completed by the mid-1960s.

The SIG 710 is an air-cooled machine that fires from an open-bolt. It is recoil-operated and is fed by means of a belt. The bolt mechanism of the gun differs from other contemporary and similar guns in that it used a three piece-design.

The SIG 710 uses three kinds of barrels: a light profile barrel for general use, a heavy profile barrel for use as a heavy machine gun and a special barrel for firing blank rounds. The barrel features a flash-suppressor and has a handle that allows the solder manning the gun to quickly change it on overheating.

The SIG 710 can be either fed using the M13 disintegrating belt or the continuous link German D1 belt (after changing some parts in the feed-block). The cartridges are fed from the left side. However, when the gun is used as a light machine gun, a 50-round metal container is used as the feed system. The feeding mechanism is similar to that of the MAG machine gun (a variant of the MG42 machine gun).   

The SIG 710 weights 9.25 Kg. It measures 1,143 mm with the barrel being 559 mm in length. It is capable of firing 800 to 950-rounds per minute with its muzzle velocity being 790 meters per second. It had a maximum effective range of 1200 meters.

The SIG 710 is notable for its overall quality and is extremely reliable. The design is also such that it is very easy for the soldier to change the barrel when it gets overheated. However, just like other Swiss weapons, the SIG 710 is very expensive to produce and thus has not found favour in other countries. Only few countries of South America like Chile and Bolivia and Brunei currently employ the SIG 710 in active service.

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