Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Nearly four years after SIG Sauer released the first Cross Rifle, the long-action model of this proven, versatile platform has finally arrived. The new SIG Cross Magnum is designed in the image of its precursor but has some alterations I enjoy, such as an integrated ARCA rail in the forend, safety that doubles as a thumb-shelf, vertical grip, and comes standard with a muzzle brake. This gun is currently only available in 300 Win Mag, but I imagine we’ll be seeing other calibers offered in the future. Especially since the action was designed to handle larger cartridges like the 338 Norma Mag!
Table of contents
SIG Cross Magnum Overview
Like all other Cross Rifle models, the Cross Magnum has a monolithic receiver. This means that the main body of the firearm (receiver), which is the attachment point for the stock and handguard, is machined with the firearm’s action as one solid, combined piece. This design gets rid of any need or ability to bed the action in epoxy, check action bolt torque, and allows for tons of customizability with aftermarket stocks and handguards.
In the end, simplicity is strength and accuracy, and you can’t get much more simple than using a single part in place of multiple. The anodized aluminum receiver and handguard help the Cross Magnum tip the scales at 8.9 lbs
Some Big Features
With the receiver being the main body of the firearm, SIG attaches their Cross Stock by way of an original connection point. Unfortunately, there is no Picatinny attachment point for other common rifle stocks. Still, there are other rifle stock options available. That said, the Cross Stock that comes on the Cross Magnum is one of my favorite designs. It is extremely adjustable and ergonomic while still being relatively lightweight.
The buttpad can be adjusted for length of pull and pad height while the cheekpiece can be adjusted to accommodate any common optic height with a simple locking lever. These adjustments are a breeze and stay locked in place unless you want to change them. Also, the stock folds to the right side, over the bolt knob. This keeps things nice and tidy on the offside for a comfortable carry against your back or a sleek fit into a pack or scabbard.
The handguard on the Cross Magnum is well designed, having MLOK attachment points down its entire length and around the whole circumference. There’s also an integrated ARCA rail that runs the length of the handguard which makes for a strong attachment point for bipods, tripods, and other gear. You can also find some flush cup sling attachment points on the stock. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the folding hinge has been redesigned on the Cross Magnum. This new hinge unlocks with a simple push-button which makes its operation easier.
Cross Magnum Details
Some other details of the Cross Magnum may go unnoticed, such as the two-stage trigger. Mine’s first stage was 1.5 lbs and broke at a crisp 2.5 lbs on the nose. There’s a notch in the trigger shoe that you can feel that helps with indexing, which I liked. The Cross Magnum’s safety rotates 90 degrees and has a thumb shelf built into it, which I enjoyed as another indexing point for a repeatable grip. Also, the verticle grip puts your hand in the right position for a proper 90-degree trigger pull and felt great in my hand.
Way out on the end of the barrel, which is threaded 5/8×24, SIG provides a radially ported muzzle brake. While this brake effectively reduced recoil, I’d like to scream at the engineers, “WHY A RADIAL DESIGN!?” However, I can guess the answer is that the brake doesn’t have to be timed and is cheaper to produce/install than the better option. In 2024, we shouldn’t be using radial brakes on precision rifles. This brake directed gasses into the ground and threw dirt, grass, and other debris back toward my face while shooting.
Specifications and Features of the SIG Cross Magnum
- SKU: CROSS-MAG-300WM-24B
- Caliber: 300 Win Mag
- Mags Included: (1) 6rd steel mag
- Mag Type: AICS
- Action Type: bolt
- Stock Type: SIG Precision Stock
- Barrel: 24″ stainless steel medium contour 5R barrel
- Trigger Type: 2-stage match
- Forend Type: alloy with full length ARCA
- Grip Type: black polymer
- Receiver Finish: coyote anodized
- Overall Length: 45.2 in (1148mm)
- Overall Width: 3.25 in (83mm)
- Height: 7.25 in (184 mm)
- Muzzle Threads: 5/8×24 TPI
- Accessory Rail: M-LOK
- Operating System: bolt action
- Weight: 8.9 lbs with magazine
- Collapsed Length: 36 in
- MSRP: $2,499.99
SIG Cross Magnum at the Range
At the range, I was really enjoying using the Cross Magnum. The bolt operated smoothly and the trigger felt fantastic. The rifle ergonomics were amazing because of the adjustable stock and vertical grip. I was able to mount a bipod to the integrated ARCA rail and also use it for mounting the gun on a tripod for stable, standing shots.
My first impressions of the SIG Cross Magnum were great, but how did it perform? I spent a lot of hours at the range with the Cross Magnum over many days. Some of this time was spent practicing long-range positional shooting and many hours were spent shooting groups for accuracy tests at 100 yards. My first session shooting an accuracy test at 100 yards was… underwhelming. So much so, that I thought something must be wrong.
What The Issue Was
Turns out, something was wrong but it was not the rifle. I had originally mounted a Sightron SVIII 5-40×56. Everything was torqued to specification, but after I removed it, I could see where the scope rings were marring the optics mount from their movement under recoil. It turns out, a super heavy optic on a magnum rifle is a bad combination. So the optic and rings were then swapped out to a Vortex LHT 4.5-22×50 and things improved dramatically.
Still, the Cross Magnum was a bit picky with factory offerings. The groups ranged from 2.8 to 0.3 MOA over 7 different ammo offerings. Ammunition was getting expensive for this test, so a big thanks to Ammunition To Go and Hornady for supplying what I used. Take a look at the pictures below to see how each did on the 100-yard range.
Final Thoughts on the SIG Cross Magnum
SIG Sauer’s Cross Magnum does what it was designed to do very well. It’s a (semi) lightweight magnum hunting rifle that can fold for ultimate portability. If I were the engineer in charge of this rifle, I would certainly have done a few things differently. The first is choosing a ported brake instead of the radial design that was used and the second would be using a carbon fiber barrel instead of the light profile stainless barrel that was used.
These things would likely increase the cost of an already expensive rifle but are improvements that many of you may even make after purchasing the Cross Magnum. In the end, I can’t complain much when I’m able to squeeze out sub-0.5 MOA accuracy from a factory rifle with factory ammunition.
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Fantastic Performance
The Cross Magnum provides the same fantastic ergonomics plus a few features more than the original Cross rifle which really allowed me to enjoy shooting the gun. It also proved to feed and function reliably, which is incredibly important in a hunting rifle. This versatile rifle is one that I would take anywhere to hunt nearly anything.
A 300 Win Mag puts out enough energy to take down any North American game animal, making it a great offering for us and a smart decision by SIG at the release of this rifle. On another note, I expect to see the Cross Magnum offered in 338 Norma in the future because they already have the proper tooling in-house from their NGSW projects. I also expect to see other calibers as well, but this is purely my own speculation and wishful thinking.
Overall, the SIG Cross Magnum performed fantastically, never giving me any issues, and proved that it is capable of extreme precision. I enjoyed my time with it, and I think any of you guys would, too.
Learn more about SIG Sauer’s Cross Magnum here.
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Other Images of the SIG Cross Magnum
The first two things I noticed about this rifle are #1 – Don’t see a place to mount conventional iron sights. #2 – Where is the balance point and is it going to be comfortable to carry the rifle using that balance point?
I see that the copper bullet target is shown first and has the best group. The remaining groups are horrible for a $2500 rifle with premium match ammo. I wonder if the copper bullet was shot first? Take a quick look on YouTube and you can find that without a thorough cleaning after shooting copper, you will never be able to achieve accuracy again. This phenomenon is repeatable and correctable. So I’m left wondering if this is the cause for this rifle shooting so bad with everything but the copper round. The other question would be if the temperature heated up with additional groups but this would not be the case if he took time to clean. The only way this accuracy test has any meaning would be if the barrel was cooled and the copper was shot last or if the barrel was cleaned after the copper and barrel was still allowed to cool between groups. It’s unfortunate for an author to go to great lengths in proving accuracy while potentially doing a great disservice to a highly anticipated rifle. His last statement about the price of a .3 MOA rifle doesn’t mean much if there is only 1 magic bullet that would shoot under an inch.
The groups are more or less arranged from best performance to worst in the article. As far as the shooting order goes, I shot every type of ammunition on more than one occasion before I shot the accuracy test. There was lead/copper bullets that were fired in no particular order before all of the groups that you see were shot. Unfortunately, with the particular rifle that I reviewed, it would see that there was 1 magic bullet combo.
The POI difference between different ammo makers leaves me extremely squeamish!
Sig America, When do you start producing the Sig 210 Super target with the 6″ barrel in stainless steel? Several years ago it was supposed to be available very soon. Just get it out with plain stndard grips, not extra fancy.
Agree completely with your carbon fiber barrel and brake suggestions. However, is this just another Sig Cross that will never be available, like the 277 version? It was announced years ago, and has never been produced.
This rifle is out in the wild currently! It will definitely not be like the 277 SIG Cross that you mention.
Do not see anywhere mon ami. Will keep looking.
An over priced and under performing rifle. For that price, I’d expect sub MOA with anything I fed it. I’ll stick with my Bergara that’s .5MOA all day or better, for less than half the price.
That sounds great! Which folding stock Bergara is half the price? A newly released model?