I'll happily admit that I know very little about Saigas and have never owned one, but I do know a bit about .308's and accuracy, and the above is not true. The vast majority of .308 bolt guns are 1/12, including my Remington PSS. The barrel on mine is cut to 20", and it's run thousands of 175's and some up to 190 without a hint of destabalization and an average accuracy of .6 MOA. I know guys with 16.5" 1/12's who have done the same with no problem. I won't argue that a Saiga might do better with lighter bullets, but it's not because the rate of twist can't handle it.
Pic of me in a ma