Sons of Guns "AK-47 Sniper Rifle"

[civilian75]

An old SoG episode my son and I just watched it on Netflix the other night. They fitted a bull barrel into a Saiga 308 to make it a "semi-auto AK-47 sniper" rifle. We later discussed some of the finer details of how they might have changed the gas system and FCG. Some things looks straight forward but some not.

For instance, it seemed obvious they used a 30 cal barrel blank. Not sure if they had to ream the 308Win chambering. The definitely had to turn the chamber OD to the front trunion ID. Plus, had to drill a barrel pin hole.

One of the guys (can't remember his name) worked on the FCG to obtain a faster lock up while Will worked on a shortened gas system. Apart from the barrel blank, they seemingly use off-the-shelf parts.

Bottom line, they skimped on details to protect their secret sauces, but that doesn't stop us from speculating:
1. how they did it all?
2. What parts where off-the-shelf?
3. what they must have machined (i.e. gas block)?

This is only an exercise. Although I have built a few Sk's, I do not have plans on making one myself. I know awful little about Saiga 308.

AK/ Sniper Rifle - YouTube

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[adjuster56]

its gonna be a game chainjahh!

 

[MrNiceGuy]

its gonna be a game chainjahh!

Epic first post.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Will gets into the technical info on that gun that wasn't shown on the show here
<broken link removed>
He said to do one for retail would run $3,800 so it won't be a catalog item. For that kind of money you could have a LaRue OBR, GAP, or other high-end precision semi-auto rather then than trying to make a relatively sloppy platform into long range a shooter.

 

[FourTeeFive]

Rifle Dynamics does PSL and Saiga .308 based long-range rifles. Nice reliable weapons for the money.

<broken link removed>

 

[sava6e]

Tabuk!

 

[Slowpoke]

Tabuk!

Is this what you meant?

Tabuk Sniper Rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

So it would seem another member here is as familiarized with the S.308 platform as myself. The reason I wrote off this episode (among nearly all their others) is that yes they're taking a perfectly decent DMR platform and completely changing it. I'm sure it functioned fantastically, however like an above commenter noted, one could have just purchased a dedicated precision .308

Before Gabe Suarez jumped the saiga boat and became a platform and gear elitist, the Saiga .308 is a fantastic and underrated DMR platform once some essential work is preformed on the rifle. Much like what Rifle Dynamics does with the PSL. The greatest downfall of the saiga .308 is the lack of commercial military (style) grade magazines, though the 10 round promags are great once you get rid of that horrid BHO style follower it had.

 

[kickstart my heart]

Will gets into the technical info on that gun that wasn't shown on the show here
<broken link removed>
He said to do one for retail would run $3,800 so it won't be a catalog item. For that kind of money you could have a LaRue OBR, GAP, or other high-end precision semi-auto rather then than trying to make a relatively sloppy platform into long range a shooter.

Yeah, for $3800 you could definitely get into a nice AR-10 style rifle. I just think their "AK sniper rifle" was silly and unnecessary.

 

[FourTeeFive]

The greatest downfall of the saiga .308 is the lack of commercial military (style) grade magazines, though the 10 round promags are great once you get rid of that horrid BHO style follower it had.

The CSSpecs magazines seem to be pretty good:

<broken link removed>

And to respond to the AR-10 enthusiasts, I believe an AK-platform 308 is going to run better and be easier to maintain in the long run. The VEPR 308's in particular are surprisingly good rifles.