Saiga Izhmash 7.62x39

$700-800 around here for a Saiga Izhmash unconverted.

^^ ditto

Higher price range if original box, manual, maybe spare mag, and papers.

M

One could say that it is about as close as one can get to owning an actual Russian “AK”.

It has the same basic action (we all know this means semi-auto, right?), chambering and was manufactured in the same general factory complex before Saiga imports were banned by Obama.

I didn’t have any of the skills needed to convert mine to a true AK appearance, therefore it was sold in the original configuration.

With the atrocities Bubba can manufacture, an unconverted one might be more valuable.

I wouldn't want to sell for anything less than 700 but that is on the low side of what I think its worth to me.

I have the Saiga in 223, and have tossed around selling it, and you are right, the prices are all over the place. What stops me is that I have about 10 30 round mags for it, and can't use them for anything else, so would have to include them, with the sale. I just don't shoot it much anymore, but just don't like to part with any gun( a sickness of mine). LOL Hope you find somebody to buy your's.

Correction: I briefly owned both the .223 and 7.62x39 Saigas, acquired in a retail shop with the boxes and yellowish plastic bags holding the owners' manuals etc. Acquired mostly because they were 100% Russian AK derivatives.
My only other 100% Russian gun is the 'Rock Solid' reliable .380 Makarov by Izhmash. Same factory complex!

Moving the bolts back and forth, it was immed. as clear as a blue Montana sky that these guns were manufactured by the same people who produced the original AKs.
Kind of difficult to explain. Both the solid feeling and sounds, while being very smooth and no hammer drag.

Brand new in box, at the local show was asking for $1200.

I wouldn’t sell unless I had to. There will never be any more.

I sold a clean lightly used one last year to a friend for $800 and threw in spare mags and a Tapco conversion kit. I kept the one I converted.

M

The prices I see on gunbroker usually start at $700 and climb( for stock ones ). I also noticed that they don't sell. The reason the Saigas sold like gangbusters was because you were getting an action that with a little work, could turn into a Russian AK on the cheap. Now that they're not going for cheap, less demand.

I have a stock 7.62 and a .410. Managed to pick up a factory wood stock and upgraded the iron sights. I consider it to be my poor man's mini thirty. Even with some mags and those "upgrades" , I have less into that rifle than what people are asking for now. Heck, got mine for $279 out the door just before Obama got in. Bought it because of him. Not even into semis actually, bought all my semis because I saw the handwriting on the wall.

For what it's worth.... in their hay day, I bought mine from Stanley's Sporting Goods for $460. They were the best thing going for a good platform to convert from, with exception that putting a muzzle break on them is a PITA (hence I never did).

Fabricating a bullet guide from 3/4" black iron pipe was easy-cheasy and has been 100% reliable.

SSN Vet said:

For what it's worth.... in their hay day, I bought mine from Stanley's Sporting Goods for $460. They were the best thing going for a good platform to convert from, with exception that putting a muzzle break on them is a PITA (hence I never did).

Fabricating a bullet guide from 3/4" black iron pipe was easy-cheasy and has been 100% reliable.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not even going to do the conversion. With the wood stock, I like it the way it is. The wood stock has a little more curve to the grip area. More ergonomic. That synthetic stock was an atrocity. I am however going to do a 922 compliance thing. But I'm keeping the sporter style. Used to it now. Gonna do the 922 thing because I like twenty round mags.

I originally intended to keep my Saiga sporter (with the poly stock) as is.... but the more I handled and fired it, two shortcomings began to really bother me.

1. The transfer bar mechanism in the sporter trigger made for a gritting, creepy trigger pull. By ditching the transfer bar and installing the Tapco G2 single hook trigger, the pull weight and feel was cleaned up tremendously and the trigger pull is now quite good.

2. To my sensibilities, the balance of the sporter config was all wrong. With your hand that far back, even the 16" model is front heavy and awkward. My Saiga sporter came with pin holes in the receiver pre-drilled and plugged, and the correct bottom cut for the forward trigger position was already there (just covered up by a plate). So with conversion being so easy and cheap, I went for it.

Hi caps and 922r compliance aside, I like it a lot better in the configuration that Kalashnikov intended for it. But that doesn't mean that you or anyone else can't prefer and enjoy the sporter config. and enjoy the rifle just the way it is.

SSN Vet said:

I originally intended to keep my Saiga sporter (with the poly stock) as is.... but the more I handled and fired it, two shortcomings began to really bother me.

1. The transfer bar mechanism in the sporter trigger made for a gritting, creepy trigger pull. By ditching the transfer bar and installing the Tapco G2 single hook trigger, the pull weight and feel was cleaned tremendously and it is now very good.

2. To my sensibilities, the balance of the sporter config was all wrong. With your hand that far back, even the 16" model is front heavy and awkward. My Saiga sporter came with pin holes in the receiver pre-drilled and plugged, and the correct bottom cut for the forward trigger position was already there (just covered up by a plate). So with conversion being so easy and cheap, I went for it.

Hi caps and 922r compliance aside, I like it a lot better in the configuration that Kalashnikov intended for it. But that doesn't mean that you or anyone else can prefer the sporter config. and enjoy the rifle just the way it is.

Click to expand...

I always have viewed the sporter configuration was created for one purpose. To get them to the US. Job achieved, in the trash it goes on the way to 922r compliance. But it seems some like the sporter configuration, to each their own. If I wanted a sporter configuration I would buy an SKS.

If I had the wooden thumb hole sporter stock, I might have kept it as I always thought they looked pretty cool.

Maybe I should put a muzzle brakes on mine some day, as it does have the classic muzzle rise off to one side (probably due to the inertial forces of that freekin' massive bolt carrier slamming back and forth). There used to be a guy going by the handle Dinzag out in Michigan who makes a couple pretty cool AK brakes and sells them with the button die to thread the barrel.

Carolina Shooters Supply is your place for Saiga compliance:

Saiga Converstion & 922r Parts
Barrel Threading Alignment Items

Using their bore guide and annular cutter one can cut their own threads for a brake. YouTube Carolina Shooters DIY

I purchased their guide, annular cutter and cutting dies, but have not used it yet.

Sold mine. Never could figure out why I bought it...not very accurate, poor trigger, cheap feel. Only thing I regret is selling it before the imports stopped and the prices skyrocketed. But then, I’ve never understood the mystique of an AK. Sold my Mosin and Russian SKS for the same reasons.

Sometimes I think, man, why did I ever sell that SKS? And then I remember that it had limited capacity, a poor trigger, wasn’t particularly accurate, and I’m not running a museum dedicated to wars I never fought in. And the money was better used for the next AR build or bolt gun.