A friend of mine asked me about Saiga shotguns, and I am ignorant about them. Can someone address their reliability, fit and finish, use for hunting or targets and if you would rather have one than a Beretta or Browning. Thanks
Might find some useful info over here: http://www.okshooters.com/forumdisplay.php?10-Rifles-Shotguns-General-Discussion
in my experience they are fairly reliable w/ aftermarket mags and dead nuts reliable w/ factory mags (which are expensive and hard to find). One extremely annyoing problem that I hear few saiga owners speak of is if you keep a mag loaded in the gun the top shell deforms (plastic hull) and jams up the weapon. After trying about everything except the fn slp, I've ended up w/ a benelli m4 and am happy w/ it.
I shot one that belonged to a fellow in the lane down from me, at H&H. It had all the cool AK looking stuff on it. Tyler and I were shooting our ARs. I asked him how he liked it, and he invited me to shoot it (it would be rude to say no). He had a red dot on it, and put in a 10 rnd mag, with slugs. I let her fly. We offered to let him shoot the ARs (proper range etiquette), and he did.
All I know now is that I need one... badly.
@ussflintser; the drums don't warp. Keep one of them loaded!
All I know now is that I need one... badly.
@ussflintser; the drums don't warp. Keep one of them loaded!
Check out Saiga12.com. I bought one and converted it. It was ammo picky but it works fine now but be prepared to have to work on it. Some of them have gas ports in them that aren't completely open or even partially blocked by the gas block. I like it and it is a blast but I am hesitant to use it for home defense. I have not had any deformed shell problems but I don't keep the mags or drum loaded. I have read they only deform if the magazine is inserted on a closed bolt for a long time but Saigas have a bolt hold open anyway, just pull the charging back and let her rip!
The Saiga is apples to oranges compared to a Benelli or Beretta. If you're looking for a sporting gun, I'd stick with the traditional autos. If you appreciate the AK design, then the Saiga will trip your trigger in a very satisfying way. I have a Tromix 8" Saiga and it's one of my all time favorite guns.
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Reliability and speed: Excellent / Tops
Fit and finish: Near the bottom. But on the fit part, that's what you WANT to get the "tops" reliability.
Very good overall for defensive use.
Main drawback is that detachable mag sticking down could interfere with your shot, depending on situation and shot type and your own shooting holds / idiosyncracies. E.g. when shooting from prone, anything longer than the 5 round mag sticks in the ground, causing you to have to tilt or lift up some.
Another drawback is just mediocre-bordering-on-poor trigger out of the box, and silly kalashnikov safety.
Another drawback is relative inability / difficulty in adjusting the iron sights that come stock.
Another drawback is that by the time you get it how you want it, with a lot of extra bells and whistles (assuming that you do), you've spent a small fortune - relatively more than you would tricking a more traditional tube-mag gun.
Had one; kick myself for selling it; Gonna get another one - this time, it WILL be kushnapupped:
http://www.kushnapup.com/
For hunting, meh, notsomuch on wingshooting.
For turkeys, sure why not? It comes with a full choke (if you get the multi-choke model), and the short barrel doesn't hamper you for shooting turkeys. But two related issues on turkeys -- the line of sight is pretty high, so you have to aim high for really close shots (under 15 yards), and the aforementioned sucky irons means that you're better off putting a scope / ESD on it, which adds weight & expense. Not the BEST choice for turkey hunting, but not bad. The sight that I had on my tricked Saiga 12 was an Armson OEG, and it was unbelievably fast. This may sound crazy, but if you put a Trijicon ACOG or other similar low-powered scope with illuminated dot or chevron on a Saiga, you could use it as a scope for turkey hunting (or regular hunting with slugs), but then close the front lens cap and use it as a non-magnified OEG for self-defense. Just like guys do with ARs. Best of all worlds.
But in the end, it's designed as a defensive shotgun - we probably ought not try to shove it into roles that it's not designed for, though in a pinch it will do. I've killed doves and quail with and 18" rifled 12 ga slug gun with a P-grip and folding stock as a teen.
Fit and finish: Near the bottom. But on the fit part, that's what you WANT to get the "tops" reliability.
Very good overall for defensive use.
Main drawback is that detachable mag sticking down could interfere with your shot, depending on situation and shot type and your own shooting holds / idiosyncracies. E.g. when shooting from prone, anything longer than the 5 round mag sticks in the ground, causing you to have to tilt or lift up some.
Another drawback is just mediocre-bordering-on-poor trigger out of the box, and silly kalashnikov safety.
Another drawback is relative inability / difficulty in adjusting the iron sights that come stock.
Another drawback is that by the time you get it how you want it, with a lot of extra bells and whistles (assuming that you do), you've spent a small fortune - relatively more than you would tricking a more traditional tube-mag gun.
Had one; kick myself for selling it; Gonna get another one - this time, it WILL be kushnapupped:
http://www.kushnapup.com/
For hunting, meh, notsomuch on wingshooting.
For turkeys, sure why not? It comes with a full choke (if you get the multi-choke model), and the short barrel doesn't hamper you for shooting turkeys. But two related issues on turkeys -- the line of sight is pretty high, so you have to aim high for really close shots (under 15 yards), and the aforementioned sucky irons means that you're better off putting a scope / ESD on it, which adds weight & expense. Not the BEST choice for turkey hunting, but not bad. The sight that I had on my tricked Saiga 12 was an Armson OEG, and it was unbelievably fast. This may sound crazy, but if you put a Trijicon ACOG or other similar low-powered scope with illuminated dot or chevron on a Saiga, you could use it as a scope for turkey hunting (or regular hunting with slugs), but then close the front lens cap and use it as a non-magnified OEG for self-defense. Just like guys do with ARs. Best of all worlds.
But in the end, it's designed as a defensive shotgun - we probably ought not try to shove it into roles that it's not designed for, though in a pinch it will do. I've killed doves and quail with and 18" rifled 12 ga slug gun with a P-grip and folding stock as a teen.
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You can have the bolt relieved to eliminate the deformed shotshell issue. Good luck finding a gunsmith that will do it, as Saiga replacement parts are almost non-existent. Otherwise, shooting any high-brass load will function the gun perfectly reliably 100% of the time. You should get a box of dirt cheap AA or other crap-type birdshot, and then compare one physically next to a buckshot shell; there will be many questions answered, especially the nearly 1/8" difference in the length of the two shells. The cheap shotshells don't work well at all in a Saiga. I thought the trigger on mine was excellent, but I had a later model gun with none of the issues of the older generations of Saigas. They are great, and I only sold mine to fund a less-costly 3Gun competition shotty.
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