Saiga 308 help

[thewhitebuffalo83]

Hey guys,
I have been talking with my brother about the 30-06,7.62x54r and 308 issue and he has done some of his own research and he wants to get in on some 308 action. I pointed out a Saiga in 308 and he thinks this would be a good start to getting into the 308 market. His question is $500 a good price for a Saiga 308. niether of us know much about the saiga market or saigas in general other than they are reliable. This saiga is uncoverted and almost new condition. My brother would like to move quickly if he can. Thanks for any help you can give me.

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[ZA_Survivalist]

Yesit is. After the importers changed the Saiga .308s became a little scarce thus the price went way up..

I've owned three, and have one at the moment (Buying new toys had to let the others go) but I'm in the market for another 16"er and they are all around $600+.

So YES $500 is a great price, I haven't seen the Saiga .308 even at a used price around $500 in a while. Perhaps you could find one cheaper but heck.. $500 is what I paid 3 years ago.

Honestly the 21" is a waste of time.. I got better accuracy out of my 16" Saigas at 150-220 and 290 yards.

The Saiga .308 is a must for the conversion.. the trigger sucks but the Saiga .308 is one of the easiest to convert. Some like the stock trigger but my finger hated it.

Saiga12-forum will answer all your Saiga questions. I'm there under ZA_Survivalist as well.
Best of luck, buy one NOW!

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Vepr .308 > Saiga .308

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

yeah but at 2.5x the price of a saiga I think most average joes will stick with the saiga 308.
The Vepr line of rifles are greatly improved aks however that comes at a price. The saiga wins over the Vepr value wise for a couple of reasons:
Magazine Availability, the saiga .308 has 4 magazine manufacturers whereas the Veper has 2..so far, last i checked.
Price point, the average joe can only usually afford what the saiga plus the conversion cost whereas the vepr runs in the same price range as a dsa fal, PTR 91 and Socom2's/M1a's..

I would much rather have a PTR/G3 clone, M1A or even an AR 10 mainly due to the fact that magazines are plentiful.

also note that there are 2 versions of the Veper The Vepr Super and the Vepr Hunter.
honestly if I found a Vepr hunter for the right price I'd snag 1 up. but really if the saiga 30 wait I had a better factory stock trader like the other saiga rifles and shotguns Id stick with the saiga .308 but go with the wood furniture.

The Veprs also have a rear receiver slant cut and no rear tang and without purchasing the wobbly rear tang stock adapter you can't mount the very very common akm furniture.

Gabe Suarez (who backs the support of the Vepr) is a firearm and gear elitist.. he's only after and supportive of the most expensive and newest products on the market.

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Vepr can be had for $800 -/+

and it has 10rd magazine. (20rd magazine available soon)

Vepr is 50% more reinforced than a standard stamped AK rifle, but yeah, you pay more. Also different platform from factory.

 

[thewhitebuffalo83]

Thanks for the info I have passed the info on to my brother about the saiga forum.

 

[thewhitebuffalo83]

Honestly the 21" is a waste of time.. I got better accuracy out of my 16" Saigas at 150-220 and 290 yards.

I have done some more research on your commit and I am finding it to be true. I see a lot of people saying the 16 inch is more accurate with in 300 yards or so because of barrel flex. My brother doesn't think he will be shooting a semi auto any further than 200 yards at this point and most of his shooting will be with in 100 yards because of time constraints.

Now my question is, he would like to possibly use this as his first suppressor host, would this be worth shortening the barrel and threading for a suppressor or would that just be money wasted? neither of us have shortened a barrel or done any precision threading and would probably farm this out to a professional. He would also like to keep the front iron site if possible? We have both spent a little time on the saiga forum and there is a ton of good info on there.

Thanks again for the help guys.

 

[Swedish K]

assuming the saiga barrel is mounted the same way AK barrels are you have 2 options. 1: strip everything down to a barreled action and find a machinist/smith who has a lathe with a large enough spindle hole (hole through) that the entire assembly can be mounted without removing the barrel. or 2: remove the barrel, have the machine work done and press the barrel back in to the same exact position. I'd go with option 1 as it is much easier and you don't risk changing the head space or the alignment of the barrel in relation to the gas system. The nice thing about the AK style front sight if you relocate and reuse it is that it will probably be tall enough to clear many suppressors allowing you to see over the can.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

If you have a professional do it I think it would turn out well. The AK action is still pretty loud compared to a G3 or an AR10.
However the accumulated carbon and junk kicked back from the can would be easier to clean in an AK platform.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

assuming the saiga barrel is mounted the same way AK barrels are you have 2 options. 1: strip everything down to a barreled action and find a machinist/smith who has a lathe with a large enough spindle hole (hole through) that the entire assembly can be mounted without removing the barrel. or 2: remove the barrel, have the machine work done and press the barrel back in to the same exact position. I'd go with option 1 as it is much easier and you don't risk changing the head space or the alignment of the barrel in relation to the gas system. The nice thing about the AK style front sight if you relocate and reuse it is that it will probably be tall enough to clear many suppressors allowing you to see over the can.

If you are looking for precision you may find that $500 saiga not much cheaper than something like an AR-10 after you have the machine work done on it and convert it to the AK pattern. And the accuracy usually isn't up to par with an AR pattern in 308 (stock for stock) which are usually threaded (5/8x24) from the factory.
It would have been nice if Izhmash threaded the barrels from the factory, the 16" saiga 308 needs at least a flash hider.