[igor]

New to the 3gun world (considering going for some mil. reserve 3gun this summer/fall) I've thought about a Saiga semi-auto with detachable mags instead of joining the 870 vs. Benelli auto discussion. The 8 round mags can be customized to take 9, even 10 rounds, they say. Manual of arms would equal the AK used on rifle stages... does this sound viable?

[Dave McCracken]

Igor, I think the only way to find out would be to do it.

The Kalinishkov action is known for reliability.

The MOA would be similar.

Those mags would make low prone hard if not impossible, and it's also impossible to "Top off" in the middle of a shot string, or a fire fight, for that matter.

HTH....

[igor]

Thanks for your comments! As a good reply should, they spawn further questions: would a prone shooting position have to differ from the way it's done with an AK format rifle? I.e., with sling, front elbow and magazine support, dragging the possible magazine loose "play" tight on one side?

Topping off would be a tactical reload then... the rules in this sport dictate that all reloads on weapons with magazines have to be done so that the magazines are held on to anyway.

As I understand this, the significant difference to topping off a tube-fed weapon in a SHTF situation would then be having only the one round in the chamber for the moment of swapping magazines. Is there anything else to be taken into account?

[Dave McCracken]

With incoming fire, one wants the smallest possible profile. A 7 round 12 gauge mag would duplicate a 30 round 7.62X39 in length..

As for replenishing in the middle of a COF, "Shoot one, load one" beats dropping a mag with say 5 rounds left in it to replace same with a full one.

Still, neither way is pure upside. And those Saigas aren't that expensive. Try it out and let us know how it goes. Thanks...

[Correia]

One of my shooting buddies purchased a Saiga for 3 gun.

So far it has been super reliable. With any power level of shell.

Low prone works about the same as on an AK. If you are used to one then you will do fine with the other.

Dave has already mentioned the draw back. You can't top off. However you can load a whole new magazine very quickly. The loading proces takes a little getting used to though. Older Saigas requred you to have the bolt open to insert a mag due to spring pressure against the bottom of the bolt. My understanding is that the new ones do not have this problem.

Also select slug drills can be more complicated. My friend is still working on a good way to do that fast. You have to drop the mag, and drop the slug directly into the chamber, or load a new slug only mag.

There is supposed to be a modification on the horizon with a switch that will work as a mag cutoff for select slug. I have no information about it however.

[Andrew Wyatt]

be aware that SWAT 3gun rules don't allow for slugs in magazines on select slug stages.