Sig... You were so close

Despite over 4 decades of "experts" declaring the death of the SMG it is still going strong in militaries and police forces through the world.

Sig Sauer set about to make the next generation of SMG called the MPX.  Its name harkens back the venerable MP5 which is considered to be the "gold standard" for SMGs.  I had a chance to handle the MPX the other day and I found myself lukewarm to the platform.

They used advanced polymers to reduce weight and decrease production costs - something that both militaries and civilian buyers can appreciate.  They kept the capability for the telescoping stock and offered KeyMod handguards to allow for mission customization with reduced weight.  Probably the best improvement was the full rail across the top.

But Sig made a tragic error.  They moved the German style cocking handle from the forend and moved it to the ridiculously placed position above the receiver just like the AR15.
I never have been a fan of this system because to use the cocking handle you need to break your line of sight or hit yourself in the face as you pull it back.  Both are unacceptable to me.
Bushmaster built a 9mm AR years ago.  Both the Bushmaster and the MPX are restricted firearms that essentially have the same features and manual of arms.  It makes me wonder why Sig even tried with an established, nearly identical, product on the market already.

Removing the famous HK diopter sights was also a mistake.  This forces the end user to buy their own sights and I will explain why this is bad.  All aftermarket sights (with the exception of Centurion Arms) are designed for a rifle.  The round HK sights are designed to use the brain's natural ability to line up circles quickly.  The HK sight is by far the fastest sighting iron sight out there and it may not be as practical as a rifle sight for distance but we are dealing with a pistol caliber round which will not get any measurable performance past 100 meters.  Perhaps in this day and age iron sights are not important and they assumed that everyone would use an optic.  I might be old school but I personally like to have iron sights, even on an optic equipped rifle.  If I purchase the MPX (which I doubt I will), the first thing I am going to do is machine some diopter sights.

The MPX is ok but it is not special by any stretch of the imagination.  To me, it is nothing more than a re-imagined AR15 with a lot of LCF (look cool factor).