saiga mag legality

The gun store I frequent is pushing 30 round saiga brand magazines with the saiga rifles. I was under the impression that using a high-cap mag with that rifle was illegal unless it was converted. Am I wrong?

 

You are correct.

Legally, the store is fine. It is the "assembly" of the 11+ round ("non sporting") magazine into a non-922r compliant rifle that is against the law.

It's no different than you visiting your local gun store, and buying a Saiga and a milsurp Kalashnikov magazine. Until it's inserted into the rifle, no law has been broken.

Snake belly sellers on GunJoker do this, too.

 

I've seen some US made mags, which I believe count as 3 parts in the 922r compliance process. Are there any 2 parts on the rifle that would be easy, and inexpensive to swap out to make it compliant?

 

If you switched out the furniture with American parts would it then be 922r compliant and legal to use with a high cap mag?

 

To retain the factory appearance, you can switch the gas piston for a US made one, and if you only use US made 11+ capacity mags with it, you'll be fine.

Yes, but there is very little factory style US made furniture for the Saiga. You can, of course, have some custom made.

This is the main reason folks convert their Saigas back to the standard Kalashnikov aspect.

 

The easiest and cheapest way to make your Saiga compliant is to buy a Tapco Saiga Galil foregrip. Saigas, by default, have 14 foreign parts (including 3 in the magazine), so you only have to eliminate one to bring yourself within compliance.

 

So let me get this straight. Your telling me that an imported "assualt" rifle that comes with 2 standard capacity magazines is illegal once those are inserted into the firearm?

 

No. 922(r) compliance is only necessary if the resulting rifle would be banned from import under section 925. In other words, if the rifle is in a configuration matching something they allowed to be imported, it's legal. But if you add a high-capacity magazine, as-assembled it would not be legal for import and therefore must comply.

 

"Assault rifles" are not importable. They are also unable to be registered since 1986.

The Saiga brand consists of sporting rifles and shotguns. "Standard capacity" can mean anything, but since "10 round magazines" are considered "sporting" for importation purposes, the 10 round mags that come with the Saiga rifles are fine.