TREAD HEAVILY

Another day, another threat to the Second Amendment. Welcome to the post-Sandy Hook political cycle where left-leaning candidates for office play a perpetual game of gun control oneupmanship. America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15, is back in the spotlight as a million-rounds-per-minute ghost gun that gives ER doctors PTSD. While we don’t give points in our reviews for marketing prowess, we have to point out that Sig Sauer’s naming its lowest-priced AR “Tread.” A reference to the Gadsden flag is a fine way to embrace the idea that the AR is both a symbol of freedom and a tool of self-defense.

The M400 Tread is Sig’s entry-level AR, and while it’s not the cheapest AR-pattern rifle on the market, its design, materials, features, and quality of its components set a value versus performance baseline for what an AR should be as we approach the platform’s 60th birthday.

GARANIMALS AND TAINTS

You can build your own, but unless you’re an accomplished armorer, you’re bound to spend as much as, if not more than, the cost of the Tread by the time you figure out what AR components play nicely together. And,