Saiga .308 Experiences, & My Setup

[cascadianliberty2012]

I was just wondering about everyone's opinions and experiences with the .308 Saiga rifles. I bought mine in September and love it. Got it for $620, new, with the 18" barrel. I think it is a wonderful option for people as a "poor man's FN FAL or PTR-91." Mine was pretty plain when I got it, with a plastic for-end and plastic stock. I think it's just about done now, I've put into it:
- Collapsable stock with pistol grip.
- Tri-rail for-end.
- Tactical 1-pt sling (not pictured).
- MSC International side and top mount.
- Various Promag and Surefire magazines
- NcStar (don't hate, works great for me, good value) 3-6x42 tactical scope and laser with blue illuminated Mil-dot reticle.
- NcStar red-dot sight and bracket.
- UTG quick-detaching foregrip with toggle button 150 lumens tactical LED light.

Thoughts or comments?

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[stmcelroy]

Nice gun, but way to many sub-par accessories for my liking.

I would have done the correct conversion to pistol grip configuration.

But if it works for you and you're happy with it that's what really matters.

 

[cascadianliberty2012]

I guess it's like anything else out there; less expensive things are only "cheap" if they don't hold up. And expensive things are only worth it if they do hold up. Regardless of what someone buys (in any case or situation), the only thing that ends up mattering is if the product is reliable and does its job well for a long time into the future. Sometimes the cheap come out expensive, and sometimes you find the expensive really are "cheap."

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Rock on brother. The I'm quite familiar with the Saiga .308 platform.
Also, great choice on the 16" barrel. Of you haven't looked into it yet make sure you're in 922r compliance before using any magazine with a capacity greater than the factory one provided with the saiga .308. You may be 1-2 parts short of legally being able to use (even a us made) a magazine larger than the factory standard. This is fixed by simply converting the FCG as well as the foreign furniture or gas piston.

You get much better trigger reset timing if you convert the rifle and go with a standard akm FCG.
If you're looking for other magazines right now with the "crisis" Uinta and Promag still have stock. Not sure about SGM and Csspecs but I'm sure you can find some. I found the bodies of the SGM to be too frail, whilst the over all effectiveness of the uinta to be pretty bad. The csspecs mags are ok (yet to have tried the gen 2) but the gen 1s are bulky with sharp edges and followers that snag on everything. You can however use uinta followers (got to trim them a little) and the gen 1.csspecs run smooth after that. Thefloor plates are junk though. Coat them in plastic or rubber.

The promags are a 50/50.. some of the 24rnd ones load and feed at full capacity others don't. But they do all feed loaded to 20rnds. Their 10rnd mags are excellent though. One thing you'll note after about 300-500 rounds the magazine feed ramp (front lug) wears down quite a bit.. So none of the mags will last long (perhaps maybe csspecs)

Anyway, enjoy her man!
The best forearms for the saiga .308 right now are the ultimak and the carolina shooters supply ones. Also, either CSS or fugly stick makes a ventilated forearm that looked pretty interesting.. I'll probably pic one up soon.

Oh, and lastly check out parabellum armament or TWS top cover rails. MUCH BETTER for mounting optics, trust me. (Id go with PA though)

 

[cascadianliberty2012]

Thanks a lot. I hear the promags are only reliable with 20/24 or less loaded in, unless you swap out for a stiffer spring. Other than that I've heard they're good for the money, supposedly the several surefire mags I have are much higher quality (the most solid-feeling plastic I've ever felt), but are almost 2x the price of promag. I'll look into those rails you mentioned, hopefully what I've got will hold the zero reliably, but if not, I'll be heading elsewhere. I originally tried using a friend's rail mount that was made for his AK74, needless to say it just slipped off after a few shots. Doesn't take a genius to notice that 7.62x51 > 5.45x39

 

[Will_Power]

Doesn't take a genius to notice that 7.62x51 > 5.45x39

I think you'll soon find that recoil will have an effect on that POS NCStar 3x9 scope, too.

 

[cascadianliberty2012]

I think you'll soon find that recoil will have an effect on that POS NCStar 3x9 scope, too.

Well, if the scope breaks or is clearly inaccurate, then it's a good thing that scope has a lifetime warranty on it Time will tell, I'm waiting for all the panic to die down so I can justify going shooting.

 

[SICARIO]

I would highly recommend doing the conversion. Do yourself a favor and go with the red star arms adjustable trigger. It's as close to a Geissele as you can get in an AK platform.


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[rlharv2]

Do you guys know of anyone in this area that does a good job on a conversion at a decent price?

I was just wondering about everyone's opinions and experiences with the .308 Saiga rifles. I bought mine in September and love it. Got it for $620, new, with the 18" barrel. I think it is a wonderful option for people as a "poor man's FN FAL or PTR-91." Mine was pretty plain when I got it, with a plastic for-end and plastic stock. I think it's just about done now, I've put into it:
- Collapsable stock with pistol grip.
- Tri-rail for-end.
- Tactical 1-pt sling (not pictured).
- MSC International side and top mount.
- Various Promag and Surefire magazines
- NcStar (don't hate, works great for me, good value) 3-6x42 tactical scope and laser with blue illuminated Mil-dot reticle.
- NcStar red-dot sight and bracket.
- UTG quick-detaching foregrip with toggle button 150 lumens tactical LED light.

Thoughts or comments?

 

[WasrNwarpaint]

the conversion isnt a difficult job I just converted a saiga 12ga and enjoyed doing the mods and ofcourse the trigger group is superior

I did the conversion in 1.5 hrs and could do a second one considerably faster, watch the conversion vids on you-tube and jump in with confidence

 

[mancat]

I agree with others. Do the conversion. If you're tight up for money, sell the tactical gadgets. It will be a better gun even without them once the trigger group is brought back to its standard setup.

the handling, weight balance, and trigger behavior of a stock Saiga is hilariously bad.

 

[Felt Lizard]

The conversion is totally doable.

 

[ncw81]

Nice Saiga, Hi Mountain sports in Wenatchee, WA can do conversions. They did a decent job on mine as I was unaware of how easy it would be at the time, and I didn't have a dremel. NcStar scopes aren't that bad by the way. You pay for what you get but they will get the job done for hunting purposes. I would suggest getting the conversion done somehow because it will increase the accuracy of the gun tremendously and make it a joy to shoot. I used a Tapco G2 trigger and it breaks at about 3.5 lbs, guessing. These rifles are limited on accessories but they make a mean MBR when done right. Good mags = Cspecs (all metal heavy and you have to file the magwell lug but tough as hell), SGM tactical, Factory 8 rounders, Promag ten rounders. OK mags Uinita, promag, and all the rest. I will say that Uinita is great on customer service. I recieved a bad batch of 20 round Uinita mags and they sent me three new ones that worked perfectly, no questions asked. I didn't even have to send the defective ones back and I can still use the springs as the only defective part was the followers. I have a crappier scope than yours on mine, the scope mount cost more than the scope. It works so who cares.

 

[slingshot1943]

I have Surefire 25 round mags and they work good. My Siaga is converted and has 21" barrel, it shoots better than I do. The stock Siaga trigger is so bad I would not shoot it after the first few shots.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Hey, if anyone here has a 16" saiga .308 they want to sell let me know

 

[trainsktg]

If you ultimately don't get the conversion done, another good option would be to get rid of the AR tacticool accessories and install a Dragunov-clone stock set instead. A real Dragunov has the separation between the trigger guard and magazine just like the Saiga does, and your longer barrel will make the whole kit quite convincing in appearance. Top it off with a nice Russian optic and you'll be GTG. Just Google 'Saiganov' and you'll see other folks' 'conversions'.

Keith