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You got a point. Anyone else have any experiences good or bad with The RandR bolt carrier?

What are your observations about the RandR carrier? Is it beefed in the area where the oprod screws into the carrier? Is the RandR worth the price? I have given serious thought to scrapping the S12 and going to a mossberg 930. That 8 inch SBS has to be hard on a bolt carrier. That would be the gun to use to acid test a carrier. How many rounds do u have your RandR carrier? That 8 inch SBS has to be hard on a bolt carrier. That would be the gun to use to acid test a carrier. How many rounds do u have your RandR carrier?

Had the same thing happen with with mine 2 yrs ago. Give it to Cobra76 and let him do what he does. I should have. I ended up brazing mine back together which broke again a year later. From personal experience of doing a crap ton of research, talking to several people on this forum, and attempting a couple of different remedies I have made the following observations. Saiga 12 bolt carriers are inferior as they come out of the box. The Russians need to scrap the current design and start over. Once the carrier breaks, it will never be right again. The only real solution is to repl

Has anyone used the RandR Targets Saiga 12 bolt carrier? Observations?

I chose item 3 then item 1 in that order. I agree with the previous posts. Only things I add are a new gas plug is a must, I put a Gunfixer on mine and it made a huge difference. There are other good gas plugs, get one that suits u. If u don't, ur stuck shooting high brass (aka expensive) ammo. The other addition I include is the Tom Cole operating rod. When my factory rod broke, this rod was a God send. Literally twice the thickness made of hardened stainless steel, can't be beat. If u inadvertently shoot ur S12 on the wrong gas setting, ur op rod may very well end up in pieces. Min

Final follow up. Took my S12 to the range today with 00 Buck 12 pellet 2 3/4" and Remington bulk 3 Dram 7.5 shot aka "Walmart Specials". Put 15 rds of 00 Buck and 75 rds of Walmart's finest. Tom Cole op rod and Gunfixer gas plug as stated earlier, also installed a Tromix firing pin and spring. She ran like a sowing machine. No malfunctions, no hiccups, just ran like a beast. Double taps with the 00Buck, no problem. Double taps with Walmart's finest also no problem, spit'em out by the box full as hard as I could hit the trigger. Carrier and rod look good and are rock solid. The heavy

I'm in agreement with the majority of the aforementioned comments. Having a forum that addresses the unique characteristics of the S12 would be a good thing. Currently it seems that they are under attack by legislators and having a competent forum as to their tactical and practical applications would be a good thing. Would also be kind of cool to see S12's start to venture into other shooting sports. How much of a trip would it be to see a Patrick Flanigan type tossing up and busting 12 clays before they hit the ground. Would give the gun a more diversified application than tactical use o

Okay i noticed something else about this thing. It seems like every time I look at it I notice something else. I noticed something about the side gas vent that bleeds off excess gas. I noticed that the puck covers the gas vent when it is in its most forward position as it is striking the op rod. Meaning at the pucks most forward travel, the gas vent that is supposed to prevent over gassing is still covered by the puck. How in the hell is the over gassing supposed to be properly vented if the the vent hole is covered by the puck? The gas vent is drilled pretty close to the end of the gas

Hey thanks for the info. I was hoping that was the case. Just ordered one fm CSS. That Tromix pin does look a little more robust. Those folks are going to owe me a t-shirt before long. Everyone has been a big help and your input has been much appreciated. Thanks again. I'll post another update when the pin comes in.

Here are a couple more pics.

Okay, more on the op rod saga. Went and fired my S12 with the new Tom Cole op rod in place. I have included a few pics that I hope will be somewhat visible. I drilled a hole for the cross pin, threaded in the new rod and installed the pin. To be honest, I didnt like the fit, (had a little bit of play that i attribute to an enlarging of the threaded hole on the carrier) so i elected to go ahead and silver braze the rod once it was pinned. Probably overkill but thats what i ended up doing. Here's the set up. New rod was ground down by 3/32 of an inch as didcussed earlier, has a Tapco pu

What did you order? If u don't mind me asking.

Is anyone shooting tactical rifle or 3 Gun with their Saiga rifle? i've been shooting both at my gun club, been a lot of fun, but I'm the only guy with an ak. everyone shoots ar's. just curious if anyone uses their Saiga rifle in the events and how do they do and how do they have their gun set up? I can hold my own shooting 7.62x39. i usually place in the middle of the pack. Just interested in knowing what others are doing and how much luck are they having. AK's are plenty fast and have the ability to do well. The longest shot at our range is 200 yrds and the ar's dont really have a bi

I've used Allumahyde II through Brownell's. It was about $15 for a 12 oz can. You dont need to bake but it does take about 2 weeks to fully cure. i actually left it in my old SUV during the summer when it got about 120 degrees in my Pathfinder. It cured in about 5 days. No promises that you would get the same results. but when it cures, the stuff is tough as nails. Suprisingly durable. Sprays on fairly thick so if ur gun has blemmishes, its great. Comes in a variety of colors. I used the satin black that came out gloss black. I bead balsted the finish with my compressor set at 45lbs

Is anyone shooting their Saiga rifles in local tactical rifle or 3 matches. If so, what are shooting, 5.45x39, 7.62x39, 7.62...? How do you have them set up? Are you able to hang with the AR folks?

So if one removes the weak link of the Op-rod, the next thing that becomes the next weak link is the thin part of the carrier shaft, right? IMHO, Tuning the gun to a good balance is the best bet. Pretty much. The tapered openning where the op rod threads in seems really prone to cracking and chipping especially if there is some side to side movement of the op rod. So if the op rod has some wiggle to it, it gets torqued in the threads since the rod isnt tight to start with. So the openning where the rod threads in absorbs a lot of that energy and there just isnt enough mass there

Sorry i missed ur question. I didn't see until just now. Sorry no pictures but it was pretty nasty. I had the factory gas plug set on setting #2 and the springs were all factory origina. Just the wrong setting on the factory configuration. Shooting slugs on setting #2 is a bad idea. Mine lasted maybe 10 rounds but it was when i was shooting bulk ammo that it finally imploded.

I'm with you on the idea that there is something unique to the op rod on the Saiga 12. I have a Saiga 7.62x39 that has had 3500 plus rounds through it and you can hardly tell its been shot. Runs like a sowing machine and has never jammed no matter what grunge ammo was on sale. There is a part of me that wonders why they don't make carrier and op rod all one piece and put the op rod issue to rest once and for all.

Looking back at this op rod experience, i have made a couple of observations that may be of use to others. First, give serious consideration to going ahead and swapping out the factory op rod for a Tim Cole rod. Its literally twice the diameter and can be sized to length for a perfect fit. It is hardened stainless steel and I can tell you, it is some HARD damn steel. i broke 2 drill bits drilling out the cross pin hole. If you don't have a decent drill press and holding fixture then my advice is to have someone do it. This is one of those deceptive projects that is a whole lot more than

Sorry so long to get back. Work has been crazy today. Managed to get my op rod sized to the proper length per Cobra 76's recommendations and u were dead on. The material removed was literally 3/32 of an inch. Going to try shooting it this week. U definitely know ur op rods. Thank you again for the advice and patience with my learning the site. I have a 3 gun match this weekend and was worried that i wouldnt be able to use my S12. Its the only real leg up on the competition that i have. everyone else uses 870's, 1100's, 590's/500's, and a couple of Winchesters. These are local matche

not sure if u got my pm for a measurement but its a strong 8 15/16".

Got it. Any help is much appreciated. I have to confess, I'm pretty amazed at how fast the good info is forthcoming. Again, thanks for sharing.

Okay... what is a PM? Remember, I'm a newbie.

That would be outrageous if you could do that. I have no reference nor any data to look at for dimensions. My original rod is literally bent, compressed, and broken to the point there is no way to get a decently accurate measurement. Do you have something that will take an accurate measurement?

I'm sitting here playing the thing and noticed that when i shake it i dont hear the gas puck moving any. Upon inspection, the op rod has pushed the gas puck against the gas plug. II'm guessing that's a bad thing. To figure out what length to shorten the rod to, is there a specification list/parts list with specs/dimensions anywhere on the web that i could reference. Do you think Cadiz or RAA might have this data? I hate guess work... i usually guess wrong. BTW, thank you for the info. Good data is tough enough to find. Thanks a bunch.