Pointer55

I would like to buy an original/ unmodified Saiga gas tube. It can be from a 5.45/5.56/7.62, it don't matter which.

Probably, lord knows it's impossible for a metal AK part to break otherwise, huh?

So what have you done in place of that? Did you just buy another saiga and keep the rest as spare parts? Not my picture, not my gun. just posted to show even ak's can and do break sometimes.

And for people who think crap don't break.

There are no BOLTHEAD spare parts for saiga's, PERIOD. Now I have seen cut up saiga rifles sold as parts kits on gunbroker, but usually for almost the cost of a new un-cut rifle. Also as someone else said other AK 223 rifle parts may work. Bulgarian 223 parts are expensive and getting harder to find. Chinese 223 parts PROBABLY won't work. Romanian 223 parts MAY work and are cheaper and seen a "little" more often on various forum EE's. There is a guy here in the US making firing pins for AK's, here is a link to him GreenMachine His firing pins are for an AK-47 and are the free floating typ

Actually at first I thought yes, but I just went and checked and it seems I did have to do a very little bit of grinding on the hammer to get clearance for the center support, very minimal though.

The saiga 223 is actually a mutilated AK, this has been done to allow them into the country as a sporting rifle (because we all know we are NOW being infringed by this "sporting" interpretation of the 2nd amendment). The trigger is not in the right place and is just horrible, by putting one of those all-in-one PG/buttstocks on you will most likely find the length of pull and general feel of the rifle is very bad (some like it though). Also the barrel lacks any type of way of affixing a flash surpressor/muzzle brake. Also the full length "deer rifle" handgaurd is not really right for an AK (alt

surefire are better mags quality-wise, that being said I have never had a problem with the saiga 223 promags I have. For under $15 it isn't such a gamble to buy one and try it out.

make sure you inspect the rifle very well before buying. Check the ejector in particular, i have seen some that were rounded off (3/8" radius). Also make sure it hand cycles smoothly without any binding, I have seen some where the center support rivet was collapsed causing severe binding of the carrier. If possible remove the handguard and see if the receiver is well formed and the right shape, mine was not really "U" shaped. In all these guns are not the best made with many QC issues/problems, I would suggest inspecting the rifle very well before buying, If I had to do it over again, I would

It is normal. It is called a last shot hold open. lets you know the mag is empty and prevents you from dry firing on an empty chamber (ie. click).

But not entirely unexpected ! I really like the FBMG mags I have, but after they stopped making them and blamed the russians for this and that I never expected them to be BACK. I imagine the problem was never FBMG's problem with the russians, but the russian's problems with FBMG.

Not true with 308!, there is no pistol grip hole cut out. BOTH my 308's had the PG hole already cut.

+1 , that has to be about the silliest thing I have ever seen mounted to a firearm.

I don't think anyone is saying that barrel whip does not exist, as everyone knows it does. I know it does, I am just saying it is not as pronounced as the video would have you believe and certainly would not cause any flex-up or whip-up to bang a scope that has .050 clearance as the OP claimed.

yes I have seen the video, Many times. And while the rear sight "jumping" is cool and all (simple vibration causing a moving part to....move), the receiver and rear barrel (anywhere near where a scope is mounted) still WILL NOT JUMP/MOVE/WHIP/ECT. anywhere near .050. Videos are fun to watch but alot of it is unmeasurable optical illusion and a video has no scale so measurements are impossible. What looks like "holy shit" is actually ALOT less, more like "that's neet". Look at the slow motion videos of ejected shells and the "holy shit" flaming gas coming from the chamber/spent cartridge. You w

The OP mentioned he had .05 scope clearance and had terrible groups, then he switched to a higher scope mount and group size shrunk. That then "proved", to him, the receiver flex or barrel whip was causing contact with the scope. I would think ALL that proved was his first scope mount was defective/loose. There is no way barrel or receiver is moving .050, none! more than likely the scope mount was moving/flexing under recoil if anything. My saiga .223 has 2 scope mounts 1 high (red dot), one low (12x scope). My low mount has .030 scope clearance and I can shoot 2"-3" 100 yard 5 shot groups all

I meant no offense with my statements. I was just pointing out safety first and a couple of your statements caused concern. Obviously someone who is not sure how to remove an AK safety lever (it rotates up and then comes out the right side) should not even contemplate adjusting headspace (push out barrel pin and move barrel in or out of front trunnion), no matter how many bolt actions they have assembled, before getting pretty familiar with the AK platform ( as i stated in my post). Anyways peace and good luck.

+1

While I rarely shoot a scoped rifle at 50 yards (for me scope=longer range shootin), My saiga 223 scoped shoots @ 3" 5 shot groups at 100 yards without much effort. With reloaded ammo I can get it down to 2" 5-shot groups at 100 yards. This "barrel whipping up and hitting the scope" thing you talk about sounds silly and is hard to even get a mental image of. The barrel is held into the FRONT trunnion by a barrel pin (look on the side under the rear sight for the pin) it is pressed out sideways. The safety Lever has no pins holding it in. I would STRONGLY suggest you google around to find a dis

wow, the "expensive" ones around me charge $20, the one I use charges $10.

The OP asked about the 5.45 being more than just the cheap ammo. The numbers (MV, ME) say it is inferior to 223. it has been posted that the 5.45 is meant to tumble, whereas the 223 is meant to fragment, what is better, who knows, but still ballistically the numbers say inferior to 223. So I think the answer is the only SOLID positive of the 5.45x39 is the availability of cheap SURPLUS ammo. Not even anything as drastic as a ban, but sometime the SURPLUS ammo is gonna run out, it is SURPLUS (old,extra,ect.) after all. That being said the 5.45 aint a POS round either and the ammo is cheap. I ha

I doubt the barrel is bent. I have found the best way to sight a rifle in is to set up a 4 foot square cardboard target at 25 yards. Shoot 1 shot, adjust scope to be about 3 inches high and centered. Move target to 50 yards and shoot one more shot, adjust scope to be 2 inches high and centered. move to 100 yards and fire a 3 shot group, adjust scope to finish. 5 shots total and 15 minutes (depending on how busy the range is). Everytime I have seen people use a laser bore sighter the point of impact is still way off, maybe they are not using it correctly, who knows.

Just type in 5.45 Horandy into a search engine. To me they are similar bullets. Obama could ban the 5.45 and all imported ammo, but he could just as easily ban .223. There are countries that ban ammo that is used by their militaries from sale to their citizens. No, actually he couldn't. Banning importation would just need a internal decision with no vote by anyone. Banning the 223 for American citizens would require a law to be passed to that effect. Proof of this would be the barrel importation ban, no vote, just a memo.

"Domestically" produced ammo using imported steel berdan primed cases does not constitute domestic ammunition. As any import law change or importer shortages/political changes will result in the same lack of ammo.

No, the real tragedy of WWI was that the U.S. got involved in a fight that was not ours the results of which included WWII and the expansive growth of the federal government at home. WW1 and WW2 could be justified for US involvement, unlike the current Iraq "conflict".