saiga-12 a rifle?

It is a chrome lined smooth bore.

Yours was chrome lined? The two I have aren't.

Are you sure they are not chrome lined? I have also been under they impression that it is a standard feature of the S12.

I shortened one further for someone in person for their F1. The stub I kept was ordinary blued steel, and from what I can see on the two I have, they're both just blue on the inside as well.

My saiga has a chrome lined barrel. That is one of the features that people buy it for.

PTK,

What is the year of production on those guns?

Do you have pics of the non chrome bore?

I have never heard of them not being chrome.

I'll snap some pictures next time I have them out. Could be a while, they're buried right now.

OP; no and no.

the barrel isn't rifled, but if it were, buckshot would not do well. The spin imparted on a single projectile by a rifled barrel keeps that projectile spinning on axis...whereas a bunch of projectiles together are all going to be spinning down the barrel around that axis, essentially taking the path of a corkscrew down the barrel...which means they will all disperse outward from that axis as soon as they leave the barrel.

Edit to add: There is no mention of Chrome anywhere on the RAA website.

At one time, Izhmash made what they called a "Saiga 310" which was essentially a semi 7.62 AK with a smooth barrel, and which fired an odd shot capsule version of the 7.62x39mm round, but it didn't go very far in production.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but this is from a Saiga 12 Service Manual:

"To improve the shotgun resistance the barrel bore and chamber, as well as the piston and gas cylinder are chrome-lined."

page 8
section 1.3.1, paragraph 6