bitters

Slugs always launch out about 10-15 feet for me. I'm a little under gassed still and my low power birdshot limps out like 2 feet tops.

BHO spring was the biggest pain in the ass for me. Then after an hour or so of struggling I made a little hook to lift it into place. Super easy. Can't wait for things to settle down and for the various caliber Saigas to come in. Going to go on a conversion bender.

Well, what else are you going to use the side rail for? I'm not really into optics on shotguns. Then again the shell holder would just be extra dead-weight. /shrug

Finally got that freakin' BHO in. I ordered the modified BHO and it didn't seem to help at all, but it turns out I was just doing it wrong. I tried the needle nosed pliers way, didn't work. I tried the dental floss trick (many many times), no success. Turns out I found what I consider the easiest way. I installed everything first, besides the safety. I compressed the BHO spring down with just my fingers, while the BHO itself was flipped upwards and out of the way (but held in place by hammer axis pin). Stuck the trigger axis pin in through while compressing spring. No floss or anything was

Ha, the picture of fully loaded buck is awesome.

I had decent results but not sure where to go from here. The Remington target loads ran 100% (except when my skinny friend handled it like a bitch). The winchester universal and #8 super target jammed so hard it i had to use both hands to pry it out. The Remington would FTF every time before I opened the two holes though, so that's a decent improvement. It is also about $1.50 cheaper than what I usually run. What I don't understand is how the #7 Winchester super target runs 100%, then the #8 fails 100%. Same brand, 1-1/8oz, 3 dram, 1200 FPS. Thanks for the replies dubya, S12KS-K and N

Good point. Maybe I was too quick to judge.

sunnybean+Big John have the best avatars on this site and the most relevant to this post.

Sadly yes. The 12ga held out for a good while, but... it's gone now. 20ga is doing good though.

Thanks GunFun you always have really good responses. Last stupid question, what should I do about the burring from the two new holes? Someone on here said just to fire a few slugs. @ Mullet man: I hope you're right. First I uncovered the gas ports (three were half covered by the gas block). That slightly improved performance. This is my second attempt at making this S12 run better. I'll take pictures of the trunnion/carrier before I go out there. The cheap ammo I had before that failed 100% is: Winchester Universal 1-1/8oz #8 shot (1200fps), Remington Game Loads 1oz #7-1/2 shot (129

I just put it all back together and am heading to test shoot tomorrow. I'm not too concerned about it gunking up. I always clean it after every time I shoot. I don't put much more than 150 shots per range trip. Thanks for the input. I don't know why it's so hard to find odd sized drill bits locally. No luck at Lowes or Home Depot. I did think of that, just wasn't sure of the downside of not having them all equal sized. Guess it'll just gunk up more.

I'll try to be brief. I went to the store to find a .076 drill bit to open up my (four) ports. All they had was .098 and .059. I bought them both anyways. Went to my friends house to find the correct size bit. His dad had a massive drill bit box from the smallest to the largest, and I grabbed a .076 and .073. Just drilled two holes and thought they looked rather large. I took my .098 bit that I had, and it fit in fine. So, his drill bit collection was mislabeled... What would you do at this point? I've got two drilled at .098 and two that are in the .065 range.

"Does not accept Saiga mags." And like that, all interest was lost.

Weird, I was coming here to say something similar. They were hassle free when I ordered the wrong thing and had to send the parts back. Got all my mags and conversion parts from them, even with all this mag/ammo shortage B.S. going on. Plus, in my opinion they have the best Saiga 12 conversion video on youtube. /done kissing ass.

Sometimes I wish I had bought the MKA instead of my S12 (the gun shop had both). But, I am working to improve it. Unblocked the gas ports and now just have to drill them bigger. If that works, then it really wasn't much of a struggle. Although, a gun working right out of the box would have been nice. Something makes me think I will probably get an MKA at some point if they ever are priced at $600 again.

Very true. I took about 4 months off because of winter and waiting to do the conversion. I had no problem shooting back then, but I got my ass kicked last week! All I shot was birdshot too.

Damn, looks great. I wish I saw this 12 hours ago. I was debating whether I'd get more mags or a side folding stock. This will definitely be the one I get later on down the road. Ah, the money pit that is the Saiga 12.

Check out the Carolina Shooter Supply videos on Youtube. (Saiga 12 pistol grip conversion ak47 shotgun). It's 5 parts long and gives all the details you need without being too long like many of the other videos. They are also a great website to order all the parts from. I am not at all mechanically inclined and didn't have much trouble. You just need a drill and I recommend a vise. The Saiga 12 balances so much better after the conversion and the trigger is amazing, you can doooo it!

No vise required. I sat on a bath towel in the floor and used my feet as a vise. I think I beat you on absolute minimum... LOL. To drill out the rivets? Damn, lol.

Not bad results at all. I have trouble with the #8 on setting two. Just gotta work on my gas ports/block. Looks like you got a pretty decent S12.

I asked the same question when I got on here. It's a gun, don't pussy around with the bolt. Pull it all the way back and let go, don't ride it forward. The gas puck should always be loose and rattle. If it doesn't, it's caked with gunk and residue and needs to be cleaned. No lie I was such a noob with guns when I first bought it I thought it was broken and disassembled it to figure out what was rattling.

What I did was cut out a section of a Q-tip. Put the spring in the mag release with the q-tip. Then hammer in the pin. I can't really explain it how I want to, but the q-tip (cut to size) allows you to set the mag release up and hammer the pin into place. A second set of hands helps. It was easy for me this way.

I'm really liking the look of your Saiga 12. Not too much done too it. I'm pretty much a noob with sights, what are those HK-style irons you have? All I could find on google were ones that attached to some sort of rail.

Ah shit... You know I was wondering how people got it to look nice like that. Good idea. Next stop, Staples.

@saltydecimator: Ouch, it didn't look too great before but now? .... Good info.