[cpileri]

I'd ask this on the saiga-12 forums, but no one ever reads it.

If a guy wants a saiga12ga, nothing special, but with a 19" cylinder bore barrel to allow use of slugs potentially (ouch, he knows!);

and what's available is a 22" full choke only:
can the guy cut the bbl to 19" and:

1. will it still have enough gas pressure to cycle the action reliably?
and,
2. How far back does the constriction to full choke start? i.e. if it begins more than 4 inches back, then it cannot be cut since it would then be less than 18".

Not interested in applying for a short-bbl NFA, so not going to cut less than 18.5inches no matter what.

Thanks,
C-

[Badger Arms]

1. Yes, it will. If you get sluggish operation after the cut, have a gunsmith ream the gas port a little. It's really easy to do on the Saiga 12, IIRC, because I think it has a port you can drill at an angle 45 degrees toward the muzzle.

2. Choke should start fairly close to the muzzle. 18.5" would be a safe bet as I believe that the constriction is only in the last two or three inches of barrel. At any rate, slugs are designed to shoot through even full choke. Too much liability if they don't. Most perform best with improved cylinder or even modified choke sometimes depending on how conservative the manufacturer was.