AnthonyDuclare

Thank you! I've been trying to figure out a good way to clean the gas tube. Not being much of a shotgunner, that didn't even cross my mind.

I've shot about 60 rounds of Tula 55 gr .223 through my Saiga, on both slow and rapid fire. No malfunctions and plenty accurate for practice. I can't personally vouch for its reliability in an AR, though. Your gun store owner was correct. Wolf is a clearinghouse for other brands of ammo. My understanding is that the black box and Military Classic are Tula (Russian), the brass-cased Gold line is Prvi Partizan (Serbian), the .22 LR is SK (German).

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. I think I'll go with tapping initially, and keep bolting as a backup option. Where's a good type of brick-and-mortar place to get Rapid Tap, or other cutting oil? I asked about cutting oil at the local Lowes and got lots of blank stares (Rem Oil seemed to work pretty well in lieu of that for the PG conversion). I realize a Mom-and-Pop hardware store might be more helpful for a specialty item like that, but such stores have pretty well disappeared around here. I'm getting the bullet guide kit plus tap handle from Dinzag. He earned a

Nice quality vids! How did you modify your safety lever to let you manipulate it without completely breaking your grip - looks like it might be a zip-tie? I've done kind of the same thing to mine; one right over the little nub on the lever makes it easier to move, while retaining some of the "click" that lets you know it's in place. BTW, the embeded vids are broken now. Looks like you changed your YouTube user name, which might be why. It should be pretty easy to fix, just re-embed them where needed.

Having completed the pistol grip conversion on my .223, I'm ready to tackle the bullet guide. From reading the various threads on bullet guides, I've gathered that there are two generally accepted ways of doing it (short of welding): drill and tap the trunnion and then screw the bullet guide in place, or drill all the way through the trunnion and bolt it in place. I'm leaning towards the bolt method, since I don't have any experience tapping. I also don't have a drill press (but I do have a steady hand), and it seems like that method might be more forgiving of a slightly off-angle hole.

How could you tell that this was going on? Felt a difference in the recoil? Mine likes XM193, so I'd like to make sure I'm not having this issue. Edited to add: I realize that linking to ar15.com might be heresy on an AK forum, but I really think the Ammo Oracle said it best concerning fireballs: http://ammo.ar15.com/ammo/project/perf_m193loud.html Plus, the Ammo Oracle should be just as useful to Saiga .223 shooters as AR shooters.

I needed an pen-name for an essay contest. I got the last name "DuClare" from the Deus Ex computer game series, just because I'd always thought it sounded cool. I asked around for first name ideas, and the one I liked best was "Anthony," so I went with that. I didn't win the essay contest, but I did win myself a handy alias. I also use it for blogging. On a related note, I am not a gamer. I have never owned a console, and I have only ever cared enough to finish four computer games; two of those were Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War. The list might grow to five once Deus Ex: Human R

From Guns and Ammo: "Best of the Avtomat Breed?" This ran a few years back and concerns the Arsenal SLR-106FR, though a lot of it could probably apply to other quality AK-type rifles (including our converted Saigas), especially ones in .223/5.56. I've read gun magazines long enough to know that the reviews are almost always glowing and a bit hyperbolic at times, but I think for most of it the author was trying to be fair and accurate. One of the best parts was the author's revelation that "cheap imported lacquered steel-case .223 Rem. ammo that scares the ACOG clean off your prissy tight

Good to know. Thanks, guys. I think I'll just install a new gas tube and traditional AK upper handguard, and trim that or the OEM lower as needed. Looking back at the numbers, the upper half isn't the expensive part of doing a handguard conversion, anyway.

I like the OEM handguard on the Saiga rifles, which is one of the reasons why I converted a .223 instead of buying an SLR-106 series rifle; I saw no reason to pay for mods that I didn't want. Some heat shielding on the gas tube would be nice, though. A promising idea seems to be motorcycle exhaust wrap (description here). Anyone have any experience with this stuff? Would insulating the gas tube like that cause the rifle to overheat? If so, maybe I could just insulate the little segment of the tube that my thumb would ride against in a "thumb break" style grip?