mancat

Rivet holes filled & entire rifle painted. Obliterated import mark also filled.

Put a 300 blackout barrel in it! So that he can do the same things that 7.62x39 does?

Well, it turns out that baking on the coats of Duplicolor were too much for the JB Weld. After removing from the oven, the JB Weld had noticably contracted, and no longer appeared to be flush with the receiver. Several of the JB Welded spots popped out of the receiver while installing the buttstock. Oh well, lesson learned.

Autozone seems to have replaced the Duplicolor engine enamel line with Rustoleum in every store I visited. Not too impressed with it.

Not to be rude, but either try different mags until you find a type that works, or just get over it. AKs are at their best when they're a little on the loose side. This ensures a minimum of fuss with magazines that may be off spec. It will never fail to feed or function with a little bit of mag movement.

The case is ejected backwards directly into the leading edge of the dust cover.

Duplicolor ceramic engine enamel is a commonly recommended spray for AKs, especially when baked on as GOB mentioned. Many colors are available. Shuck's/O'Reilly seems to be the most reliable as far as in stock and selection. http://www.duplicolor.com/products/enginePaint/

Polish AKM sling from APEX - $12. I've ordered three of them. They all are like-new, very comfortable, easily adjustable, and 99% identical to issued Russian slings. They just don't have the Russian markings on them. Your Saiga is hardly 100% Russian any more, so who cares? https://www.apexgunparts.com/product_info.php/cPath/21_86/products_id/550

People come up with the weirdest theories about guns. Saigas are 100% new Russian parts. The only models that appear to break from this at all are the Saigas with traditional front handguards and threaded FSB - though these appear to use older (possibly surplus) Russian parts taken from AK-74 production lines. They are not the same FSB style as the AK-100 series. AK-100 series threaded FSB: Older AK-74 style threaded FSB as seen on IZ-332:

I agree there's a chance of that, but if they do it's no big deal. I'll just pop the JB out and put plugs back in. We'll see how long it holds up.

So... I needed to paint my .223 after doing Bulgy GB/FSB swap. I decided to try this "redneck" technique to fill in the rivet holes. Put the tape on the inside of the receiver, plopped in the JB weld, and leveled it out with a razor blade. Came back in a couple days and sanded of the excess. While I was at it, I also filed down and filled the obliterated RAAC importer marking - you know, the "velcro patch" on the newer Saigas. It doesn't take much filing - you're only taking down the areas that are raised above the receiver surface - less than a millimeter. I just put on my first base coat

Right now, no, but who knows what might happen in the future? I'm actually more surprised that Arsenal doesn't offer a restored/converted version of the .223. The only .223 offering they have is in the SLR series, and they're frequently out of stock for extended periods of time.

Polish mags have steel front lugs and floorplates whereas Bulgarians have steel-reinforced front and rear lugs, feed lips, spine, floorplate, and floorplate attachment. Pretty close.. Polish black have full steel reinforced front spine, as well as front feed lip area. The clear ones APPEAR to lack front reinforcement, but I don't have one and cannot verify this, but I can't see any in the photos on RTG site.

The Beryl magazines are the closest I think we'll ever get to milspec Izhmash 30-round .223 magazines. The Saiga-specific Izhmash mags (that were sold through that guy in the UK) are also rumored to be pretty weak and lack any steel reinforcement. I wish that the "real thing" used with the AK-101 series were even possible to find, but it doesn't seem like it. I really wish that someone in the US would copy (both internally and externally) the combloc magazine design for plastic/composite magazines and start cranking them out in 7.62, 5.45, and 5.56. Tapco comes close, but their mags co

I would suggest you start with the basics before you go all out.. Usual Russian/Bulgarian practice was to fill the serial numbers on trunnion and bolt carrier, and nothing else. I see a lot of Saigas where every single proof mark and inscription is filled in, and it ends up looking rather "busy."

I wonder if some of these are coated at all. I had a batch of Tulammo .223 that was supposed to be poly coated, but it appeared to have no coating at all and had lots of light surface rust, just like the OP. Many of the rounds would get stuck in the chamber. I finally took to polishing each and every round when loading mags. Next, I bought a case of Wolf MC .223. It definitely had a good poly coating and has run flawless so far.

Testor's model paint on a toothpick. Use a small amount at a time - it will fill in very quickly. Used it on my WASR, and has resisted all cleaners, even non-CL brake cleaner. If you screw up really bad, lacquer thinner will remove it.

My WASR was my first AK and it will never be sold. I don't think it's ever failed to fire, is not picky about mags whatsoever, and is an endless source of busywork for playing with refinished stocks and such. Oh yeah, and it's damn accurate too; a far cry from the accuracy misconceptions of the AK platform. Hitting the target reliably out to 200yds with iron sights and dirt cheap Wolf ammo is easy as pie. Easily the best $400 I ever spent on a firearm. The "election craze" WASRs of 2008 had some really bad apples as Century pushed Cugir to keep supplies shipping as buyers were preparing fo

Your gas tube is too short. This is because it is a used Romy gas tube, and is fitted for 45-degree gas block AKM. The total length of the gas system is about 1-2MM shorter than on a 90-degree gas block AK such as the Saiga. If you're going to buy an AKM tube for the Saiga, you really need to buy an unissued/unfitted tube, or else you run the risk of having this problem. Jim Drigriz is right.. The best tube for a Saiga is an AK-74 tube. Other than the fact that it's the "correct" tube for the series of rifles that the Saiga was designed on, there are two other issues: 1. The AK-74

You can expect enough accuracy to kill a coyote.

Personally, I stopped caring one way or the other a long time ago after seeing that the majority of foreign firearms I see online and in person - even for sale on gun racks - are not compliant at all. 922r is the "no spitting gum on sidewalks" ordinance of the firearms world. I would not suggest outright that anyone choose to ignore 922r, but I believe it to be an unenforceable law that is broken unknowingly on a regular basis, is likely unconsitutional, and ripe for legal challenge. Again this is my personal decision and I'm not suggesting that anyone take what I say as legal advice - I'm not

Century doesn't build the WASR. It comes pretty much as-is from Romania, and Century installs the necessary 922r parts. I'm not saying that maybe they shouldn't check headspace on imported rifles that they didn't build - maybe they should - but the huge majority of these rifles work 100% out of the box. If your firing pin is getting stuck in the bolt, it's probably NOT a headspace issue. I would hold off on paying a gunsmith to do anything until you've swapped out the pin.

I use lithium myself, but really any hi-temp grease is going to work good on an AK. Anti-seize, moly, lithium, etc. If using an oil, heavier is better - 15w40 diesel oil is what I would use if an oil is desired for some reason. Anything else will sling off immediately.

It sounds like you got a normal AK cleaning kit, but no rod. The cleaning kit "capsule" is normally stored in the buttstock of a standard-style AK, but the Saiga sporter does not have this feature. You also can't insert a cleaning rod into the Saiga sporter stock for storage, so it doesn't make much sense to have it to begin with. Most people that want these parts want them for authenticity on a "classic" AK-47 carbine. Not much use for a Saiga Also, the steel cleaning rod and tools are hard on the muzzle for repeated use. You're better off using brass/nylon cleaning rods/tools, boresnakes

Photos are too blurry to see what you're talking about. Hopefully your replacement pin solves the issue.