AvtomatKalashnikova
01-22-2005, 03:08 AM
After many months debating, I decided to go out on a limb and add something "unorthodox" to the collection. The Saiga 12 have always intrigued me, after the proper conversion of course. I'll tackle the project later on but with EAA dropping the Saiga line, no time like the present. If you still want a Saiga 12, I'd recommend you getting one from CDNN for $229.99 shipped ASAP. They may have raised the price already, so check first. I got the pair today and they look very nice.
I was hoping to find those 19" Defense model with external chokes but now only 22" with adj. sights are available. Still not bad at all, maybe I'll get gunsmith to chop the barrel down to 18.5" in the future. The quality is pretty good, standard black paint, rather shoddy plastic furniture. At least the handguards are pretty good. I plan to change the buttstock anyway. In terms of quality I have to say Hungarian and Bulgarian still has the edge over SAIGA in quality department. But for value, you just can't beat the deal for real RUSSIAN stuff. The box design has also changed. I remember seeing Saiga 7.62x39 boxes in the past, and they had a similuated wooden box design. Or maybe it's just the shotgun boxes. Here's the photo. The 5rd mags are plenty big already, 8rd would be better, hope some will be imported from a 3rd country.
http://img125.exs.cx/img125/7326/aksaiga12ga12jc.jpg
The only problem I have with this Saiga 12 pair is the height of safety arm. As you can see below the upper safety goes higher, beyond the "S", but seals the action better. The lower Saiga safety goes up to the traditional "S" mark, but leaves a slight gap with top cover. They both function fine, maybe it's small tolerance issue with the safety stub inside the receiver. With conversion, it probably would not matter. But I'm not sure which is the "normal" safety height for Saiga shotguns so feel free to chime in you guys.
http://img23.exs.cx/img23/5083/aksaiga12ga20jg.jpg
I was hoping to find those 19" Defense model with external chokes but now only 22" with adj. sights are available. Still not bad at all, maybe I'll get gunsmith to chop the barrel down to 18.5" in the future. The quality is pretty good, standard black paint, rather shoddy plastic furniture. At least the handguards are pretty good. I plan to change the buttstock anyway. In terms of quality I have to say Hungarian and Bulgarian still has the edge over SAIGA in quality department. But for value, you just can't beat the deal for real RUSSIAN stuff. The box design has also changed. I remember seeing Saiga 7.62x39 boxes in the past, and they had a similuated wooden box design. Or maybe it's just the shotgun boxes. Here's the photo. The 5rd mags are plenty big already, 8rd would be better, hope some will be imported from a 3rd country.
http://img125.exs.cx/img125/7326/aksaiga12ga12jc.jpg
The only problem I have with this Saiga 12 pair is the height of safety arm. As you can see below the upper safety goes higher, beyond the "S", but seals the action better. The lower Saiga safety goes up to the traditional "S" mark, but leaves a slight gap with top cover. They both function fine, maybe it's small tolerance issue with the safety stub inside the receiver. With conversion, it probably would not matter. But I'm not sure which is the "normal" safety height for Saiga shotguns so feel free to chime in you guys.
http://img23.exs.cx/img23/5083/aksaiga12ga20jg.jpg