555JM

I'm with you, BVamp. Hard to sympathize with the industrial sector when the management acts like drunken sailors. The stuff that their engineers and technicians sweated and slaved over to get working gets treated as an opportunity for managment bragging and showing off. Their currency in the manufacturing world is their technology. But like drunken sailors they think they look big by treating it like it was nothing. Bob

In my experience, Wolf Black Box and Tula are fine. Only problem I've had is one Wolf cartridge came through without a primer. Cleanup hasn't been a problem, but then I don't rip through dozens of 30-rd mags in a range session. I built up a stock of Wolf BB last year when ammo was scarce. Now I'm shooting up that and replacing it with other stuff as I go. The only reason I'm not buying more Wolf, is that prices are better on other brands. Haven't used much Tula. Asked about it here in the .223 forum a couple of weeks ago. Responses were positive, so I bought some Tula .223. Look

JB Weld the BG in place, use it for a drill guide, drill & tap the trunnion, and then use the screw too. Belt and suspenders. Why bother using a nut for a drill guide if the BG can serve the same purpose? If it ever starts to loosen, just tighten the screw.

BTW people have claimed they have reloaded 7.62 brass from a stepped barrel. I shot some brass cased reloads I had made up for a previously owned Mini-30 in my stepped neck Saigas. As I recall, nearly half of the cases recovered had badly cracked necks. Posted on here about it somewhere. Some did survive one firing intact, however. Fresh brass would probably fare better as the brass wouldn't be work hardened at all to begin with. I figure you might get two firings in a stepped chamber out of a brass case. What gets blown out at the neck due to the step, would be pushed back

Dang! I want a No-Step so bad! But buying a third x39 Saiga to get one is like playing the lottery. Tried going the SGL route when K-Var had the sale. No dice, they don't ship to NY. I'd love to develop some handloads for a 7.62x39 Saiga. But might as well leave the brass lying on the ground as shoot it in a stepped chamber. It's got me looking at Mini-30s again. Hope it doesn't come to that. Bob

Same here. My '09 .223 came with vents which my previous Saigas don't have. Asked the same question here that you're asking. Apparently the AK design can be made with or without the vents and works equally well. Once the piston has left the block and moved into the gas tube, the gas can be vented without affecting operation. All that I know first-hand is that my .223 has performed flawlessly as have the others. It's all good. Bob

Ok, y'all convinced me. Ordered 500 rounds from Cabelas and they arrived today...along with another nice dry-storage box Will try to get them to the range by week's end. Expect to shoot them in a Saiga and a Mini-14. Except for no sealant around the primer, they look just like Wolf. Only gripe at this point is that Cabelas had every 2 or 3 cartridge boxes heavily wrapped in sticky back bubble wrap. Then each box was sloppily wrapped with cellophane tape. Took 20 minutes of screwing around with scissors and knife to get the boxes so I could get into them easily. After finishing I

I can sure vouch for using white lithium grease on the frame rails. On my Saigas that have had that applied since new, even the paint on the frame rails has remained intact. Didn't always use it on my first Saiga (which has been shot less than the rest) and the frame rail paint is worn through in spots....not that that means a whole lot. I've been putting a light coating of that grease on the bolt lugs, the bolt stem, and the bolthead camming recess in the carrier. No problems yet, and doesn't collect much dirt in those locations. I'll try swabbing a little grease into the bolt ca

Keep in mind that a round that doesn't go off will show a much shallower firing pin indentation on the primer than one that does. When a round properly fires, the base of the case gets slammed hard against the breech face and the extended firing pin. This makes the primer indentation significantly deeper than it would've been if the round hadn't fired. I guess what I'm saying is that either: 1) all your firing pin strikes are light, but most rounds go off anyway and the primer indentation on them looks normal. or 2) all your firing pin strikes are normal, but some of the primers are

OK, good. I'll keep oiling it then. There are times when I think I overdo the oil. Guess this wasn't one of them. Bob

Ordered up some spare recoil springs to have a few on hand. Want to know if there's any trick to changing one out. It looks like the piston end of the recoil spring assembly will pop free of the U-shaped spring guide if the spring is pulled back far enough. Is that how it works? Are there any tricks that would make this easier and less likely to send parts flying around the room? Also, is there any need to keep lube on the recoil spring? Since it does slide in and out of the recess in the bolt carrier, there is metal-to-spring contact. But keeping the spring lightly oiled seems to at

If you want to store your Saiga, fine. Birchwood Casey Sheath does a good job keeping rust away and is easy to get off when it's time for action. For really long term storage, grease would be best. But neither Sheath nor grease will keep rust off the shooter. If you do store your gun, get another like it and use it to stay in practice. 50 offhand aimed shots at a paper target 50 yards away each of 50 weeks in a year would go a long way toward building confidence with your choice of weapons. If it gets easy, move the target out further or time yourself. When the SHTF, we're going to ne

Rangemaster, how many times have you gone back and forth between the two calibers? Trying to remember but it seems like 4 or 5 times...or is it more? You've done at least 3 conversions, right? Not trying to pick on you, but maybe we should pass the hat so you can keep one of each. Hate to think of all those conversions slipping away from you...not to mention the brass, dies and reloading components. At any rate, I'm glad to hear you're cleared for the x39 again. Like Jim says, working on your left hand shooting might keep you in business with this gun. Learning to shoot them well

I dunno, mac. Varmits are small and, like coyotes, can show up at any range. Two issues with the Saiga for that: 1) They're generally not super accurate. 2MOA is considered quite good, even with the .223. I'm convinced that the reciprocating mass of the bolt and its carrier throws the aim off slightly in both the Saiga and the Mini-14/30. That stuff starts moving before the bullet leaves the muzzle, which makes good follow-through difficult. 2) With optics mounted, the sight line is quite high. This translates into a Point of Aim being significantly different than Point of Impact at ra

The most common complaint in the Cabela's reviews was that guns would fire 40 or 50 rounds OK and then stop cycling reliably. They wouldn't go further until they'd been cleaned...and I assume that means the chamber in particular. This was in ARs for the most part. This guy apparently gummed up 3 ARs with it. From the Cabelas reviews: "I bought 500 rounds of this on 2-26-2010, and took it to the range the next day. i trie it in 3 differnt ar's, all of them upper end models, all using 30 round clips. on the first rifle i got to round 57 and the gun siezed up, i could not get the gun to

Cabelas has 500rds. of Tula 55gr. FMJ on sale for $115 with a free plastic dry storage box. However, the customer reviews of this ammo on their site are pretty bad. Nearly everyone had problems. They all seemed related to the polymer coating on the steel cases. OTOH, all the complainers were AR shooters as I recall. So has anyone tried this ammo in their Saiga or AK? If so, how'd it go? I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for those dry storage boxes. Bob

Appropriation budgeting is my guess. Every year so much money is appropriated for the PD. If, at the end of the year, the money's not been spent, less will be appropriated for next year. Therefore, the police chief, who is always pursuing budget increases if he's a normal bureaucrat, sees to it that every dime of the appropriated amount is spent by year end. A month or two before the end of the fiscal year, he probably reviews the numbers with accounting to see where the department stands. If he's coming in under budget, he goes shopping for goodies. Ammo purchases probably never get

The best advice is probably what you've heard already. Still, I thought I'd throw in the possibility of a headspace problem. This could be either a gun or ammo issue and may simply be a matter of the gun's headspace being near the long end of the tolerance while the shoulder to base dimension on the ammo is near the short end. If it is HS, then when the firing pin moves forward, it either pushes the cartridge further into the chamber before making an indent or barely reaches the primer of a case that's already fully seated in the chamber. In either case, the primer indent will be light

Welcome aboard. Nice looking Saiga. You don't have to convert. They're good guns out of the box. Shoot the hell out of it. If you find something you don't care for that converting will correct, then go for it. Usually people gripe about the stock trigger pull. It is heavy, but it's also consistent. You can get used to it. But, if not, converting will make it a lot lighter. Some also like the quicker handling of the AK configuration. I'm used to hunting rifles and the unconverted Saiga feels quite natural to me, so mine will stay unconverted for the foreseeable future. Bob

You could try this place: armsofame Scroll down the list to find 20" Saigas in both .223 and 7.62x39. Got this link from another poster in the .223 forum. Haven't done business here yet, but the prices look decent. I've got a 20" x39 that I found in a gunshop. Paid too much for it, but it's a good gun. No more accurate than my 16 incher, though. Bob

+1 on Copes. Good stuff, good prices, no hassle.

My range stays open regardless of weather. Freezing my butt isn't fun, but I'm used to it. What I really object to is digging brass out of the snow.

Wish I'd had that link a few weeks ago. 20" makes sense in .223. Helps the bullet get up to speed and speed is about all the .223 has going for it. Short barrels neuter the .223 Bob

Either that or they're breaking in the "new kid" on the firing range. My recently received '09' .223 is also 136mm. :barf: Thanks to Global Warming, snow, cold and ice has kept me from the range. Don't yet know what it's capable of. Bob

How many times have you fired your reloaded cases, Rhodes? I have some reloads here that were fired a few times in an unstepped chamber. Fired them in the Saigas and the necks on about half of them cracked immediately. It was IMI brass that I bought new about 12 years ago when I was reloading for a Mini-30. I used Lee dies. The step works the neck-shoulder junction more than a normal chamber and work hardens it. When the sizing die takes out the step, the brass gets worked more. Would be interested in hearing how many times you're able to reload a case before the neck cracks. I've s