mancat

Sling is Polish from APEX. Have two, both appear to be new/unissued.

My personal preference is for steel magazines. Weiger or Galils. I haven't tried the Weigers in mine, as the cost is a bit up there, but the steel Galils work perfect and are very well made.

Yes, the lack of a bullet guide is part of the castration process of the Saiga, in that it mostly prevents the use of surplus mil-spec magazines. However, apparently some people still have no problem with them on 5.45 models, though I doubt the rifle is as reliable as it would be with the guide. There are no mil-spec AK mags that have bullet guide tabs such as Saiga-specific mags do. Therefore, any Saiga-specific mag cannot really be considered mil-spec. All new Russian mil-spec AK rifles in the AK-10x series continue to have a bullet guide to this day. I don't know about how others ap

I really like the TWS TopRail. Its very solid. I usually have a TRS25 RedDot installed that cowitness with my irons sights. It works very well. @$180 its an expensive piece, but with the way it functions I have no regrets at all. The wood is just surplus ak74 that I stripped clean & stained Love the color of this stain. What was it?

The retainer isn't supposed to be pushed back as far as it goes into the positioning slots. You should install a piece of furniture and get the retainer marked where it is snug against the furniture. If the furniture you want to use has a tensioner spring (most surplus AK wood does), then it's not as much of an issue whether you get the retainer positioned perfectly within sub-millimeter measurements. Personally I like when the retainer is tight enough that with furniture installed, it requires a bit of effort to manipulate the locking cam. If there is no tension on the retainer, the cam l

Yes. I like having the feature available at the range or when doing a quick boresnake cleaning if I know that I'll be back at the range in a couple days - normally I disassemble and clean completely unless I know I'm going back.

FYI you are talking about the bolt carrier, not bolt "holder." Not trying to nitpick, but that's what it's called. The advantages (in theory) would be less reciprocating mass and therefore less felt recoil. I've actually never heard of anyone lightening their bolt carrier, but I suppose anything is possible. The Saiga uses an AK-74 style carrier, which is already lightened in comparison to an AK-47/AKM carrier. Personally I would not make any modifications to the carrier that involve removal of material or mass. There is a possibility that you are also confusing "lightening" with "

This is true. If Century BUILT it, I would pay close attention when buying. If they IMPORTED it, such as a SAR or WASR, well, still pay close attention, but your chances are a lot higher of getting a good, well-made gun. I have a WASR-10/63 that has none of the commonly known problems. I'd stack it up against my Saiga and any other AK that came my way. It has been that good. A M74 or Tantal with a US-made barrel, built by Century? Ehh, probably not, but they can still be a ton of fun if the right guy made it on the right day of the week. Just look at it before you buy if you can at all

You will need a BG to use the Galil steel mags. I tried all of mine with dummy rounds before installing the BG; not a single one came close.

I gotta say man, you've got some stones doing that at a range. They must know you well there. If I had an AK doing that, I would at least put it away, if not get the hell out of there before someone called the law. edit: I guess looking at it a second time, it doesn't look too much faster than you could work the trigger manually, but we know the truth about your rifle here!

IMO I would not ever oil the piston. It is a loose fitting part to begin with, is chromed, and rides into a chromed chamber in the gas block - this is more than enough for the piston to operate freely as a dry part. Oiling the piston or piston rod is unnecessary and will only serve to create a goopy mess by attracting gas contaminants that would otherwise leave the gas system on their own. A 12ga brush does work well for cleaning the gas tube.

Another + vote for the steels. I bought four of them from Numrich's. Four SA, one IMI. All snap in TIGHT. They all have worked 100% so far with CSS round trunnion bullet guide. I haven't tried wobbling the mags around while firing yet, as I don't grasp the front of the mag while firing.

Sounds like the mag might sit a little higher or has a very stiff spring. It probably won't hamper the operation of the gun, but if you are picky about your brass you may wish to pick & choose which mags you run with. Now, if the bottom lug of the bolt is actually digging into the casings, then I would be worried. Surface scratches, not so much.

I don't know how it compares to Dinzag's, but it looks practically the same. I've fired a couple hundred rounds so far. It has fed grom Galil mags perfectly. It has a couple nicks in it, but nothing I'd worry about.If the bullet guide ever fails, I'll swap it out for Dinzag's. The bullet guide doesn't need to be tall to do it's job. It's really just there to get the cartridge moving at a certain angle towards the chamber. The cartridge should not be riding the top face of the bullet guide in any way.

It's much smoother isn't it? I've heard some people suggest against reusing the Saiga hammer with no real reason why - maybe just afraid of the 922r monster? Several hundred rounds so far through mine and no issues. Also, as you said, the Tapco hammer seems to strike the .223 bolt in the wrong way. Some people have had it peen the bolt tail.

Interesting, although I haven't had any instance of trigger slap using the G2 FCG (with Saiga hammer). The rivet stop is a function of the "tail" that is present on the Saiga disconnector, correct? I'm at work so I can't look.

As others have said before the acceptance test is mostly about function, and doesn't represent your real world accuracy. I don't know for sure what sort of rig is used to bench test the rifle, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a couple of shaped blocks with carpet cover. I doubt the action is being locked into a machine bench in any way.

Completed my Saiga .223 conversion this week. - Bulgarian wood refinished in BLO - Steel Galil 35-round magazines - Dinzag .223 extended bullet guide and LHG retainer - Polish gas tube, 1000m sight leaf, and sling - Tapco G2 (using Saiga hammer) - Several other Tapco internal bits Brought it to the range several days ago. Functioned flawlessly through 140rds.