Saiga 12 Prices

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Birdmang

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With the recent talk of stopping the importation of these Saiga shotguns, my local shop decided to raise the price on the shotgun from $550 to $750.

They said that the distributors jacked up the prices $200 so they had to do this also.

I would like to know if the gun store is lying and just taking advantage of a scare, or if anyone knows if the distributers for Saigas actually boosted their prices.

Reason being, I really liked the shop from the beginning but I wouldn't shop there anymore if they just did the price gouge themselves.

Thanks!
 
There's no such thing as price gouging if you willingly pay their asking price.

Could their distributor have raised the price? Possibly. Could they be trying to take advantage of a potential shortage? Possibly. It's up to YOU to decide if the price they are asking is worth it to YOU. If someone is buying, then their price is fair
 
They said that the distributors jacked up the prices $200 so they had to do this also.

I would like to know if the gun store is lying and just taking advantage of a scare, or if anyone knows if the distributers for Saigas actually boosted their prices.
Click to expand...

Impossible to say without knowing who their distributer is.
 
Not long ago they were one of the least expensive autos out there.

$300-$400.

$500-600 would be about right now.

Already converted would be worth more, the amount dependent on the quality of the conversion parts.


Converting them costs additional funds.
The magazine costs also add up.


They can take some work to get working perfectly.
They have their downsides too, one left loaded with a closed bolt can deform at least the top plastic shell in the magazine and cause feeding problems.

They are a sheet metal design firearm, and the components are less expensive to produce than many other shotguns.
It is dirt cheap to make and doesn't even have the accuracy requirements of a typical AK pattern rifle.
The only thing it has creating demand is a detachable magazine.


A domestic manufacturer should really make a box magazine fed shotgun.
A receiver machined from a solid piece of steel that took a box magazine would be much more desirable than some bent sheet metal being sold at excessive prices which requires additional parts for a 922(r) conversion.
 
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I've got nothing particularly against the SAIGA thing. But, you sure as heck can accomplish just as much downrange with a less-expensive gun.

As a practical matter, somebody please tell me what you can actually accomplish with a SAIGA that I cannot accomplish with an 870 Express with a mag-tube extension.

Maybe some run-and-gun game advantage.
No advantage whatsoever I can see for any practical application.

If you really want one, just wait until this time next year, and they'll be back to pre-panic prices.
 
I just like how they look to be honest. My 870 is better suited for everything. But a 12 gauge that looks like an AK is just cool.
 
On gunbroker the average price seems to be around $450-$500 and I think Bud's had them last for around $525.

The last couple that my local shop has had in were priced about $675 and they were all factory new unmodified and they were sold really fast, like within a week. Like anything guns are worth what people are willing to pay.
 
At the moment they were around $575 but RAA is waiting for shipments from IZMASH on everything so the few left in stock, people are jacking up the prices.
That is happening every year. One thing is clear the prices of these are not going down. I got my first saiga for $175 a few years back.
Cheers,
E.
 
My Saiga is a very nice shotgun, and very practical. I've outfitted it with a Poly Choke II, an improved gas valve, and an aftermarket gas piston, and it'll do anything I want it to do. I also put the skeleton stock on it, which dramatically improves its handling. All told, it weighs almost exactly the same as my father's Remington 1100, but is much more intuitive to shoot and has lower recoil. The rifle-style sights mean you just have to adjust for elevation, and it can easily accept optics if you want to use it as a slug gun. My father fired it a few times and was hooked. Mine's going turkey hunting in a few months. In Arizona you can have a 5-round magazine for turkey hunting. So if I can call a turkey within range, it'll put some meat on the table. Say what you will, but this shotgun is mine, and I've outfitted it for hunting. And hunt it shall.
 
W.E.G.: You asked as a practical matter what the Saiga can do that an 870 with a mag extension can't. It can reload to full capacity in a fraction of the time it would take to load the 870. It can take a variety of AK parts and modifications, allowing one to more fully tailor it to your needs. And it isn't nearly as front heavy as an 870 with a mag extension, allowing faster follow up shots.

That said, there are still benefits to owning an 870 and that is still a very nice shotgun, but the Saiga does have it's place and it's benefits. Not the least of which is confusing people at the range when you are busting clays with an AK. :)
 
Saigas were kicking my ass at our local 3 gun shoot. They are fast to relaod, and if they're worked over enough to cycle the low bras bird shot, they really fly through the shotgun stages.

I finally caved and got one last year. It really pumps out a ton of lead in short order. A converted Saiga-12 with the bolt polished and ports re-worked, with a bunch of 10 round mags is hard to beat, even with a shotgun with an x rail and speed sticks.

I think I spent more on the conversion than I did on the original shotgun.
 
Raising prices is not "gouging"

Anything is worth that people will pay for it.

I only see one unsold under 6 bills on GunsAmerica
 
people are jacking up the prices.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - if he knows his replacement costs are going to go up substantially, then he has to raise his price on existing inventory to cover what his new cost will be or he won't be able to purchase any more of them
 
The main benefit I see with the saiga is the 20-30 round drum magazines.

If there was a better made domestic shotgun that had that capability, I'd buy it.

That said, my favorite shotgun is my Bennelli M1 super 90...
 
Just bought (actually, used the "Buy It Now" option on Auction Arms) one last week...Mine was $606.00 ($569.99 plus the shipping to Alaska.) I had previously (like 2 days before) contacted High Mountain Hunting (mainly because they have a lay-away plan) but Dewey said they could not even get their hands on a Saiga 12. his quote was "I would buy all I could, sell them and retire."
 
i used to have a saiga 12 with the 12/13 round surefiremags
no shot gun can keep up with it as far as sustained rapid fire period
mine never had a hiccup either but i got rid of it and went with a pump gun for the sound alone
 
W.E.G. said:
As a practical matter, somebody please tell me what you can actually accomplish with a SAIGA that I cannot accomplish with an 870 Express with a mag-tube extension.
Click to expand...

You can shorten the barrel length while maintaining magazine capacity. About a quarter of the folks on the S12 forum are all about SBS Saiga 12s like the 8 and 10 inch Tromix conversions.
 
The Saiga is a lot faster than a pump, W.E.G. The rifle-style sights also offer much better target acquisition than the traditional American shotgun sights. Purists are going to hate, but fact is, it's a very nice gun, and blows pumps and many classic shotguns away. For me, it was a choice: either buy the Saiga or a Beretta Xtrema 2. The Saiga was half the price but performed largely the same, and I really didn't want to spend $1200 on a shotgun. At the end of the day, the only huge difference was the weight, and the Saiga's 8 pounds are perfectly acceptable.

By the way, memphisjim, why on earth did you replace it due to the sound? The sound of the Saiga's action racking is very equivalent. I'm more worried about the bark.

One of the main reasons I chose the Saiga was its ease of disassembly. Fact is, most American and European style shotguns are not designed to be easily user-serviceable. They require tools and multiple disassembly steps in order to take them apart, if they're designed to be taken apart at all. "Field strip" is not even in the vocabulary for these shotguns. Compare that to the Saiga, which field strips in seconds. I can thus honestly claim that my Saiga is better-maintained than almost any other shotgun out there, as it gets completely disassembled and cleaned regularly.
 
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