Darth AkSarBen

Wow, Greg, really nice looking rifle!! I also like bohounds idea of the quick detach sling. Good going girl!!

George, Welcome to the debate. Internet forums have a multitude of ideas to bear, and I'll pass along another very good possibility to you. 6.8mm SPC II made by Robinson Arms, (or other). When loaded to the hotter SPC II specs it drives a .277 bullet up-wards of 3000 fps+ http://robarm.com is a place to see this rifle. It comes in 5.56, 7.62 x 39 or the 6.8 SPCII chamber. Earlier 6.8 SPC chambers did not have sufficient throat lead to alleviate higher pressures, nor did the have a more "relaxed" rate of twist in the barrel. Now they are coming out with the newer specs and barrels twi

Pretty nice flash hider and good job!!!

Excellent looking rifle!!! and YES they are accurate!

Excellent Mav!! Very innovative and practical. Should give all people an idea on their weekend "what can I do?" projects.

My thought's too. The regular Saiga .308 can be converted to wood other than plastic furniture. I choose the later for the functionality of some of the attributes such as light weight and rails, along with collapsible stock.

Well, Mr. Bill Ruger sided with the Assault Weapons Ban years ago and said that no sportsman needed a rifle with more than 10 shells in it. HE supported the AWB when every other manufacture was fighting it. I've not a lot of use of Ruger firearms, myself these days.

I handled one about 4 weeks ago at a local gun store that has 2 of them. That perked my inerest in the 6.8 caliber. In fact, in another forum I'm following a thread that they are passing around a throat reamer that changes it into the SPC II chamber, and allows the use of hotter loads. That extra throat (from 0.050 to 0.100 makes a difference in the pressure, and the Mini-14 has a stainless steel barrel and chamber. Just not that sure about Mini-14s and their accuracy.

I was a drill press operator at both Boeing Ailrplane Co., in Seattle and Egging Manufacturing near Gurley NE. We have a machine shop down the street from the winery, but they do their OWN work there. Starts at $40.00 All I have access to is a cheap drill press at the winery and assorted hand tools.

Probably .260 Remington. They are very close in most terms, but I think that the 6.5 Creedmoor is shorter, and more adapted to the short action of the ARs. If I used my Saiga .308, it would be a matter of pulling the barrel and replacing it with one with the right dimensions and the gas port cut in it, and the rest would/should work out alright. 6.5 Grendel is nice, but a little harder to find brass empties vs steel, as opposed to finding .308 brass that could be used. Also one could probably rechamber the .308 Saiga to the .243 Winchester, which is a very nice deer rifle caliber, and

The rivet or roll pin is the best. However, there is mention of heat. I don't think there is that much heat on that part of the piston. True, the end near the gas port will get hot, but way down the line, I wonder just how much heat is at that point. For locktite and JB Weld I really don't think that heat is an issue.

Well either the 260 Remington or the 6.5 Creedmoor would be good candidates for the .308 Saiga as both of these are designed off the necked down .308 Winchester brass. 6.5 Creedmoor is even made commercially by Hornady. http://www.hornady.c.../6.5-Creedmoor/ The .260 Remington has the same OAL of the .308 Winchester by the way, just a necked down .308 brass to .264

Out of curiosity, Paladin, where is the rivet hole above the pistol grip where you converted it?

Thanks, Frosty!! I'm using 55 gr FMJ boat tail. I have used some flat base and some lighter rounds that I bought commercially, like the 45 gr JHP from Winchester, but I don't think they are what this rifle likes. Each barrel is different though and some may find the 45 gr suits the rifle fine. Since I had good luck with the Sierra FJM BT, I ordered some of the Sierra GameKing in a HP boat tail, but I haven't loaded up any rounds yet to give them a go. If they hit like the FJM, they would be great for a varmint load. Benchmark seems like a nice powder, and I also have used BLC-2, but y

Do you use the regular 7.62 x 39 magazine or did you have to fashion something different? How about the hole for the gas block? Nice looking rifle. And, how does it shoot?

Probably use an EDM machine to burn a hole in the barrel. Leaves no burrs, just a solid piece of carbon that slowly goes down against the metal and with the fluid around the metal, erodes the metal away. But, truthfully, I don't know exactly how they put the hole in the barrels for the gas ports. 6.5 Grendel has the same brass ALMOST EXACTLY as the 7.62 x 39 Soviet. You can make Grendel brass by fire forming 7.62 x 39 brass after reszing down the neck and putting in a light powder charge. After firing and resizing it is a little short, but soon, after other firings, stretches out the n

Ok. For the coil spring is the following picture. I have since changed it a bit to simpy put the cut coil spring on the tip of the recoil spring before inserting it in the tube. I've not had any issues with it and it seems to provide just a bit more stiffness to lessen the bolt coming back. It's the same green spring, but now not "in" the holder, but resting on the tip: The buffer for the dust cover is circled in this picture. I did a crop and you can see the small piece encircled. Since I repainted the dust cover it got painted as well. *smiling* You can see it now in

I also put a short piece of coil spring in the chanel where the rebound spring goes. I think it helps lessen the severity of the recoil on the bolt, hence less ejection force on the actuall spent brass. If you want, I can post a picture of that. Plus, I use that small bit of door guard on the dust cover where the shells more often than not hit.

My shells after shooting. The .308 shells first: And, my .223 rounds after being fired. BTW, they pretty much ALL look like these. I fixed both my Saiga .223 and the Saiga .308 for less than a hand full of bullets. Used a car door trim molding I got at Autozone. The Saiga does seem to respond to good hanloads. This is a 0.580" group with BLC-2 powder. And another one from the .308.... So, I for one, think that the Saiga deserves to be shot with good ammo and it's worth the time to work up a hand load for it as well.

Has anyone every chromed the inside of the gas tube? Looks like it would be slicker for piston to slide down, easier to clean, and might make the gas piston/rod a bit tighter and more consistent from shot to shot.

I'll correct you with the 6.5mm x 55 Swedish Mauser. The base of the shell for a .308, 260 Remington, .243 Winchester, 6.5mm Creedmoor, are all the same 0.473" diameter base. The base would all fit the bolt just fine, no issues. However, the 6.5mm Swedish Mauser is 0.481, which is quite a bit larger base on the shell Overall length of the .308 is roughly around 2.800" give or take, depending on bullets. The 6.5 Swede is an overall length of 3.150" which is also quite a bit longer than the standard .308 Winchester.6.5 Creedmoor probably would be one of the simplest conversions. It's an od

Nice socks Mullet Man

Define violent. The rod is a piston that travels back and forth. If I understand how it's put in there, with threads, you won't see it come all the way out without a major malfunction. Won't the piston, if it is backing out, create "length" in the entire rod? If that happens won't the piston bottom out in the gas chamber and prevent the bolt from actually locking into battery? If that happened, you remove the bolt carrier, re-tighten the rod/piston, and voila' , back in business. Simple solution is to just put a rivet back in, or a roll pin, and sand it off smooth with a Dremel. Lo

Looks very nice! Give's it that certain "special OPs" look.

10-4 RoughRider666