Saiga or SKS

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Roadwild17

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I'm looking to get my first auto rifle and I'm on a tight budget. I'm planing on getting a coupled AR lowers and building one a few, but the time being, I need something to serve as a general purpose rifle. I'm interested in a sks-d for the factory made detachable mags (no dremel work here :rolleyes: ). I was just wondering if a saiga would be a better choice. I'm not particularly interested in getting a 5.56 because of my future AR's, I can buy for them later.

I didn't make it a poll because I want to try and cut down on people just voting and not saying anything, I would like to hear your reason for choosing one over the other.
 
Saiga - it's as inexpensive as a SKS but with the advantages of an AK.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=238419

Here's my new Saiga:

attachment.php
 
:scrutiny: Where did you get your saiga to have that thumbhole stock put on? Or did it come with that?
 
i see no advantage in the detachable ten round magazines of a saiga over the internal 10 round of the sks, especially considering the frustration and no gaurantee for reliability in modifying the saiga to accept ak mags. assuming one would keep the 10 round detachables, i see a great advantage in stripper clips in the sks internal magazine....no contest actually. countless stripper clips can be bought for next to nothing....saiga mags are what.....$20 a pop?

not to mention crappy saiga stocks in comparison to a nice block of wood.
 
especially considering the frustration and no gaurantee for reliability in modifying the saiga to accept ak mags.
Click to expand...

If you know how you can do it in about 20 minutes. It is actually really easy. I suggest getting somebody who knows how to do it help you with your first one.
 
I've got about thirty or forty 30rd AK mags of various eastern european lineage and a passel of Romanian 20rd mags, and they all work without a hitch with my 7.62x39 'converted' Saiga. Most of those mags cost me around $10/each.

I bought my 7.62x39 Saiga already fixed up, but last I checked the parts needed to convert the Saiga to use standard AK mags cost about $12 from the lads on the Saiga forum. (By the way - the pic up above is my new 223 Saiga that is not yet converted, since I just got it yesterday...)
 
I went with a Saiga .223. I love this gun! The thing is pretty darn accurate, 100% reliable, and a ton of fun to shoot.

rbernie, what make of optics mount is that on your Saiga? Does it line up perfectly over center of the bore?
 
i'd go Saiga. can use regular mags, with a few mods, is handier and lighter, is more accurate, and once get them they way you really like, get another and keep it stock, or max it all out with aftermarket goodies.
 
rbernie, what make of optics mount is that on your Saiga? Does it line up perfectly over center of the bore?
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It's a BP02 low-rise quick release Weaver base bought from Tantal. It centers and lines up perfectly on the 223 Saiga. I have heard that the dimensions on the rails are not closely-held, so it's not uncommon to have to do a bit of light fitting (filing, basically) of the rail to get the mount to slide onto the rail.

Where did you get your saiga to have that thumbhole stock put on? Or did it come with that?
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It came with that stock; it's really nice, and one of the primary selling points for the rifle (IMO). Certainly, I'm not compelled to convert the rifle back to an AK pistol grip/trigger group/buttstock quite as urgently as I might otherwise have felt.
 
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That's kinda cool, I was always hesitant on spending the money for tools just to put a pistol grip on a rifle. Is there a turn off valve for the gas piston like there is on the sks?
 
Well, I have and SKS-M (similar to the SKS-D) and I wouldn't part with it. (In fact I'm looking for 1 or 2 more, but I can't find them locally---prefer to see them in person before I buy)

More accurate than an AK, customizable (watch your parts count), utterly reliable with ANY AK mags (except drums which require modifying the stock) I've ever tried, and virtually indestructable (5000+ rounds w/o dissasembly).

And, because they're kinda rare, they'll hold their value, and give you something a bit "different" to play with.
 
Is there a turn off valve for the gas piston like there is on the sks?
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AKs do not have a gas valve, nor do Norinco or Russian SKSs. Only the Yugo SKS has a gas valve, because it has a grenade launcher muzzle adornment that the others don't.
 
I think a Saiga in 5.56 would be perfect because you are buying AR-15 lowers. That way you don't have to buy/stock different ammo.

That's just my opinion.
 
I think a Saiga in 5.56 would be perfect because you are buying AR-15 lowers. That way you don't have to buy/stock different ammo.
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As important - you won't be dependant upon cheap ComBloc ammo imports to feed it.
 
I love my .223 Saiga and think that it is going to become the uber-cool rifle once I throw some money at it, but it has one deep flaw - the AK sights. You can put a TechSight on a SKS for $60, which gives you the AR-style peep sight, and it will improve the rifle's effective accuracy 100%. It makes a huge difference, and is one reason the SKS might be a better rifle for most uses, including hunting and plinking/shooting at longer distances.

To put decent sights on an AK you need to put a reflex-style sight onfor several hundred dollars (and I still worry about robustness), or pay Tony Rumore $200 to put on a G3 sight set.
 
To put decent sights on an AK you need to put a reflex-style sight onfor several hundred dollars (and I still worry about robustness),
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The Tantal low Weaver-style mount was $50 and the ProPoint was $30. I can live with that.

On the other hand, I can't put an optic on an SKS nearly as easily.
 
http://scoutscopes.com/gallery.html

Take a look at these ScoutScope mounts. I have them on both Saigas and SKSs with good results. Best solution I've found for mounting optics on these weapons. I use an Ultradot on both.

Does it look tactical or military, or mall-ninja cool?

No, but it does work and offers a repeatable return to zero. That's my first criteria and it does that well.

Steve
 
So just so's I understand properly, Rbernie's Saiga is a .223 and it's capable of being modified to accept AK mags?
 
Take a look at these ScoutScope mounts.
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OK, I looked. They look sturdy, easy to attach, made in the USA, and have an emergency iron sight built in. I like.

How high above the barrel is the line of sight with a typical scope or red dot?
 
If you are a true afficianado of iron sights, none of those solutions give you the long sight radius or the true peep sight optical effect (close to your eye) that the TechSight does. That scout scope base looks pretty cool if you need to have optics, however.
 
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