Another Saiga 7.62 Conversion

Rusoarmo · Feb 27, 2011

Hey everyone I'm still pretty new to this forum so bare with me =D

I bought my first gun which happens to be a Saiga 7.62. I bought this with the pure intention of having it converted to "standard AK" look. I really want a Russian Red wood finish. I looked around and found this perfect example from Red Jacket.

Now I am a college student so I'd like to get this done for less than the $1,000 it would cost to buy from them. I just got the rifle ordered for a little less than $400. Thing is I'm clueless as to what I'd need to make mine look like the one above :huh:

So my questions are,
What is EVERYTHING I would need in order to have a replica of the above.

Who is an experienced Gun Smith around Seattle-Portland with experience in Saiga conversions that would be able to do this.

I have money ready to lay down on this, just hoping to keep total costs under $800

trainsktg · Feb 28, 2011

You need to visit and really, really study the tutorials on Saiga-12.com before you start buying a bunch of stuff for the conversion. I'd also recommend you do this yourself. It will cost you as much to have someone do this as it would if you had purchased Red Jacket's version.

If you wanted an AK clone with wood furniture instead of the polymer, you'd have been money ahead to just buy an Arsenal SGL21 and merely swap out the furniture. Since you already have a stock Saiga on the way, the only way to do the complete conversion (and get what's in the picture above) is replace the buttstock, pistol grip, and handguards, move the trigger group forward after purchasing a new set, add a bullet guide, replace the stock gas block with a Bulgarian gas block, install a new gas tube and lower handguard retainer, drill the barrel for the handguard retainer keeper pin, and either hope you have threads under the nose cap so you can add a muzzle brake, or install a new threaded front sight block. Or you can do a lesser conversion to keep the costs and work down and still get something that is close.

You will need to maintain 922r compliance. With an AK in the above configuration, that is 6 US made parts. If you exclusively use US-made magazines (3 parts) you can merely replace the trigger group with a US-made group (another 3 parts) you can use whatever country's parts for everything else. If you choose to use foreign mags, you'll need 6 US-made parts like the stock set (2 parts), the trigger group (3 parts), the muzzle brake (1 part), the PG (1 part), etc. You have options to mix and match to suit what you want..

Go to Saiga-12.com and study, study, study.

Keith

Sasquatchvnv · Feb 28, 2011

What he said - do it yourself. I get my parts from carolinashooterssupply.com , or mississipiautoarms.com . Saiga-12.com has all the information and how-tos you'll need, it's not difficult at all and the aftermarket parts available get better all the time. You can always ask for advice on the forum here - it's free.

Rusoarmo · Feb 28, 2011

Thanks for the advice guys. I went ahead and canceled my order... I don't trust myself nor do I have the time needed to do this conversion right. Once the money is back in my account I will order myself the Red Jacket Firearms Red Russian AK. It's a perfect match for what I want and comes with a lifetime warranty.

trainsktg · Feb 28, 2011

Smart move. (I have your new rifle's big brother, Red Jacket's 'Russian Red Classic' Saiga-12 .) Another excellent AK built on a Saiga platform is Arsenal's SGL-21 (a near exact AK103 clone except for the non-folding buttstock) for a little bit less than Red Jacket's.

Keith

Rusoarmo · Feb 28, 2011

I'm really in love with the Russian Red wood finish so I may as well just purchase the ready made one. But I really appreciate all the suggestions!

With Sons of Guns getting more popular, I bet their firearms will increase in price over time.