Reloading for Saiga 308, what have you used?

[Snakum]

For anyone who has reloaded for the 21.8" Saiga 308, what charge weights, powders, and bullets worked best for you?

In testing the 168 grain Match Kings and Amaxes over 4895 that I already have on hand it seems to suggest a lighter weight Amax, maybe 155gr, and a lighter charge weight from 39 to 41 grains might be ideal. What are you using to keep it at or under 2 MOA?

 

[jeeptim]

Well i have a few saigas .308 and .223 Far from bench rest shooters and i have been having real trouble reloading the cases that are flung to the next county the larger the charge and or bullet the worse the case is damaged in the .223 am having case seperation issues thought it was head space got the gauge out and checked really close but what is going on is that the cases get a nasty ding each time i shoot and if the dies clean it up i use it well the case is hitting at the bolt handle just next to the bolt same place on the case each time after its sized looks like a lil scratch used the paper clip method cant feel a thing going to try to pad point of impact or just go to steel cases. Watch the ding

 

[Jasper1573]

I have a Saiga .308 with the 16 inch carbine barrel. I don't waste my time reloading for it because it isn't a rifle made for pinpoint accuracy. My rifle is capable of consistently hitting a 16 inch metal target at 300 yards using the cheap polymer-coated steel cased 150 grain ammo from TULA or Wolf or various other Russian ammunition makers. As far as keeping it under 2 MOA, this is possible at 100 yards with the factory ammo listed above; past 100 yards I am not sure. While you have the longer barrel and it should be more accurate than my carbine, this rifle simply will not deliver consistent groups like my friends DPMS LR .308...it is a sub-MOA rifle to at least 300 yards and farther.

One thing that Jeeptim says that I will second, is that the ejection mechanism on the Saiga is really hard on brass, and it is designed per the manufacturer's operator's manual to put a distinguishable mark on each and every casing ejected from a Saiga semi-auto rifle. I don't know for sure the reason for this, but I suspect it is some agreement under the post-ban law changes to keep track of any Saiga that might be used illicitly and to help Saiga get their guns on the market in the US...don't know this, just speculating. Anyway, the point is the Saiga will absolutely beat up your brass and I don't put good brass into it just to have to throw it away if it is dinged up too badly.

I love the rifle and find it a joy and a challenge to shoot, but in a pinch, it will do just about anything under almost any adverse conditions that you may require of it.

Sorry to be so long-winded,

Jasper

 

[Snakum]

The Saiga is never, ever going to be a precision rifle, and any decent AR in 308 will eat it's lunch. But I always felt it could do better than 3". However, it took me forever to find a load/length/bullet combo that would put me at 2" or better consistently. I've thrown everything at it and just today found that 155gr Amaxes over 42.0gr 4894 jammed as far into the lands as the mag allows was the sweet spot where the barrel whip and receiver flex is in some kind of synch consistently. Got 1.25" group for four before a flyer took it out of the park. The brass from that group was lying in a neat pile. It's been driving me nuts but I have a place to work now, in smaller increments around the 42gr mark. Everything I've tried looked like a shotgun target, till today. Oddly enough, Brown Bear FMJs outshot every I cooked up till today. I was dumbfounded. Unfortunately bimetal ammo is not allowed in the medium range SDM comps. Bummer.

About the brass ... I put several layers of black masking take around 1/8' wide folded over the top of the ejection port. Problem solved.