Mauserguy
Member
Ever since the mid nineties I have wanted to get a Saiga rifle. Well, I just took the plunge. After my ten day mandatory waiting period, I picked up the gun yesterday.
I always liked the looks of the Saiga, and I liked that it would take detacheable magazines in a readily available caliber (my 30 carbine is difficult and expensive to feed). I also liked the 7.62x39 round for a suburban post disaster or riot caliber; it packs plenty of short range splat. Now that I have the rifle in my hands, I am confused.
I'm impressed the the quality of the workmanship on the metal parts relative to other AK variants out there. I think that the Saiga is on the top end of the spectrum in terms of fit, however the plastic sporter stock is definately cheap.
I thought that I could use a SKS sling I have in my junk box, but it turns out that the swivels are less than an inch wide, so I had to substitute a thinner sling for which I really don't care. That's a bummer.
Also, the stock is too long. I knew that the gun would be muzzle heavy, but it is very awkward.
Oddly, the rifle came with a standard AK cleaning kit and oil bottle, and a cleaning rod over twenty inches long. I don't think that there is any common AK variant that would use that length of cleaning rod. It's kind of strange. Of course there is no provision for mounting it on the gun.
Being a Californian, I am limited to ten round magazines, so using high capacity magazines is pretty much out of the question, and converting it to a standard AK stock configuration would mean that I would have to instal a magazine lock, defeating the whole point of having detacheable magazines. I have a bunch of ten round AK magazines I may try to convert to the Saiga configuration. If I choose to install a bullet guide, I could run into 922r issues, so I may just choose to work on the magazines themselves. I'll have to think about that.
I may send for the parts to convert the rifle to a standard AK stock configuration, but the legal constraints in California kind of ruin the purpose of the gun, a fast feeding, cheap to shoot plinker with backup riot responsibility.
I'll probably take the Saiga out to the desert next weekend and see how she shoots. I'm really questioning if this was a good purchase.
Mauserguy
I always liked the looks of the Saiga, and I liked that it would take detacheable magazines in a readily available caliber (my 30 carbine is difficult and expensive to feed). I also liked the 7.62x39 round for a suburban post disaster or riot caliber; it packs plenty of short range splat. Now that I have the rifle in my hands, I am confused.
I'm impressed the the quality of the workmanship on the metal parts relative to other AK variants out there. I think that the Saiga is on the top end of the spectrum in terms of fit, however the plastic sporter stock is definately cheap.
I thought that I could use a SKS sling I have in my junk box, but it turns out that the swivels are less than an inch wide, so I had to substitute a thinner sling for which I really don't care. That's a bummer.
Also, the stock is too long. I knew that the gun would be muzzle heavy, but it is very awkward.
Oddly, the rifle came with a standard AK cleaning kit and oil bottle, and a cleaning rod over twenty inches long. I don't think that there is any common AK variant that would use that length of cleaning rod. It's kind of strange. Of course there is no provision for mounting it on the gun.
Being a Californian, I am limited to ten round magazines, so using high capacity magazines is pretty much out of the question, and converting it to a standard AK stock configuration would mean that I would have to instal a magazine lock, defeating the whole point of having detacheable magazines. I have a bunch of ten round AK magazines I may try to convert to the Saiga configuration. If I choose to install a bullet guide, I could run into 922r issues, so I may just choose to work on the magazines themselves. I'll have to think about that.
I may send for the parts to convert the rifle to a standard AK stock configuration, but the legal constraints in California kind of ruin the purpose of the gun, a fast feeding, cheap to shoot plinker with backup riot responsibility.
I'll probably take the Saiga out to the desert next weekend and see how she shoots. I'm really questioning if this was a good purchase.
Mauserguy