Saiga .30 Saiga .308 with a 16" Barrel, Any thoughts?

[Warthog]

Hello,

I am looking at buying a Saiga .308 16' barrel, its the sports model (for hunting I think). I am just wondering if its a good gun. I am looking for opinions good, bad, whatever.

Thanks!

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[theduke]

I think were looking at the same gun. Was wondering about them myself before I took the
plunge into the saiga situation. They look good but seems like theres alot of them for sale
& not moving very fast. Anyone have one & care to comment? td

 

[Warthog]

I think were looking at the same gun. Was wondering about them myself before I took the
plunge into the saiga situation. They look good but seems like theres alot of them for sale
& not moving very fast. Anyone have one & care to comment? td

That was my thought as well. If its such a good gun why isn't selling. I have checked Gun Broker and a few have sold recently at a higher price, but still didn't make me feel any better.

 

[NoAim]

That was my thought as well. If its such a good gun why isn't selling. I have checked Gun Broker and a few have sold recently at a higher price, but still didn't make me feel any better.

Easy...it's not the "evil AK with big banana clips and a bayonet", and it shoots .308.

That's why it's not moving.

 

[parsons_12b]

I had one that was converted for a short time it shot decent I would buy another one if I wanted a 308

 

[Saigashooter]

they are great guns i have a couple of 12 ga and 1 308 with the 21 inch barle
you can get 5-8-20-25 rd mags iam a saiga fan just look at my name

 

[skud_dusty]

Saigas are nice rifles and a good way to get a very nice Russian AK without breaking the bank. If you're handy/have the tools to do it conversions are fairly simple. If I had the money for a semi .308 I would be giving the Saigas a very hard look right now. I had a 7.62x39 back when they were still cheap.

 

[chris61182]

I too have been interested in getting a Saiga in .308, unfortunately everywhere I look they're marked up a whole lot compared to the Saigas in 5.56 and 7.62. Where is everyone else seeing the .308s for sale?

 

[Silver Fox]

I had a Tromix converted Saiga .308 and never shot it. Didn't want to 'bugger it up' for some one else. Traded it for 32 AGP 10 rd mags for the Saiga 12. The reason maybe besides the conversion for the lack of sales is the magazine. That is why I traded mine. Originally when I ordered mine from Tromix he had Saiga .308's photo shopped with M1A/M14 mags on his web sight, which would have been a keeper for me. But he apologized and said the conversion was a pain in the *** and not an option. I kept the order in tact and after i picked it up thought it was my poor mans Galil. I didn't want another .308 that took its own magazine, which at the time the .308 Saiga mags were still new and questionable in quality, so after sorting my gun safe I traded it to Mississippi Auto Arms for the mags.

Nothing wrong with the quality of the weapon, rest assured it is a great weapon.

SF-

 

[Aloxite]

I have a couple of them. One is getting an AK-100 poly sidefolding stock. I'm not sure when I will get around to finishing that project.

For the other one I made a custom set of furniture out of Pacific Coast Curly Maple.

As far as converting goes, the 308 is the easiest of the Saiga's. It doesn't have the extra two trigger pins, so when you put a standard trigger in it you aren't left with four holes in the sides of the receiver. Also you don't need to do any magwell mods or install a feedramp. The downside there is that there are no cheap surplus mags for it. The 25 round surefire mags work nice, but they are a bit spendy.

This one is sporting a modified 12 round 308 Galil mag. Pistol grip and sling are Polish.

 

[speedgoat]

What are prices for these?

 

[candyman]

they are good guns and always go bang

but they kick and they damage the brass

if your looking for a auto 308 the saiga is hard to beat unless you want to spend over 1k

 

[chris61182]

What are prices for these?

The 5.56 and 7.62 Saigas go for approximately $399 bone stock and the Saiga 12 starts at around $549. I've yet to see the Saiga .308 listed anywhere that hasn't already marked up all their other models an exorbitant amount but I've heard they should go for around $499.

 

[chris61182]

Aloxite that's a sweet looking gun. Did using the Galil mag require any modification to the gun or mag?

 

[motoman98]

IMHO, I think 16in is too short a bbl for a .308.
Less flash and better performance with a 20in.
If you really need something short, carry a pistol,too.

 

[NoAim]

IMHO, I think 16in is too short a bbl for a .308.
Less flash and better performance with a 20in.
If you really need something short, carry a pistol,too.

Boy, you'd really hate my HK51 then...

 

[Aloxite]

Aloxite that's a sweet looking gun. Did using the Galil mag require any modification to the gun or mag?

It required major modifications to the mag. I wanted to leave the gun stock so I could use the FBMG and Surefire mags.

You would need to:

-add a feed ramp to the mag (unless you were going to add one to the gun)
-new front catch
-new rear catch
-thin the top front of the mag
-shorten the top front of the mag

I only did it so that I could have a nice looking metal mag. I think the plastic mag doesn't look as nice with the curly maple.

 

[emanon]

Gun Zone in Clackamas has at least a couple of these in stock. I believe Angelito is asking $629 and from my experiences with him, that is probably a pretty good price.

 

[chris61182]

It required major modifications to the mag. I wanted to leave the gun stock so I could use the FBMG and Surefire mags.

You would need to:

-add a feed ramp to the mag (unless you were going to add one to the gun)
-new front catch
-new rear catch
-thin the top front of the mag
-shorten the top front of the mag

I only did it so that I could have a nice looking metal mag. I think the plastic mag doesn't look as nice with the curly maple.

That sounds intriguing, do you know how/if similar Galil .308 mags are to M14 mags? From my informal eyeballing of M1A/M14 mags I've come up with pretty much the same list.

 

[Aloxite]

The M-14 mags are too wide at the front. You would either have to:

-squish the front of the mag (I'd reckon that would cause some trouble with the follower)

-cut out that section of the mag, which would leave you no way to support the front catch

-widen the Saiga's magwell and most likely the trunnion.

Also, the M-14 mags don't have a good way to kick the nose of the bullet over toward the chamber. The galil mags have a rib that achieves this. I think the M-14 might work okay sometimes but without this feature to guide the round toward the chamber I think it would be hit and miss.

The Galil mags are a much better fit and are a more robust design. I can't recommend the M-14 mags, even though they are cheaper and available.