lelandeod

Call me crazy, but after ten years of ownership, I felt like the Tromix S-17 in my safe was a little dated. Adding insult to injury, none of my other Russian shotguns even used the rock and lock magazines anymore. I thought about selling it a few times but could never bring myself to actually listing it anywhere. Slowly but surely, the idea crept into my mind to modify the old style shotgun to except Russian mag-well magazines. Over the last two years I’ve been accumulating parts to male it happen and today I finally got it done. The whole idea was to make the S17 look more l

There should be a rivet below the rear latch button. Just look up any AK with the 100 series side folder and you'll see what I mean. My best guess is that this was a one-off on the production line for the very small batch that were imported for LE Only and they (for whatever reason) didn't drill for the bottom rivet. Doesn't really matter as it's very rare and very cool. The biggest problem you're going to have with it is the average Saiga owner thinking it's pretty lame because it doesn't have a flaming-spiked-naked chick-flash suppressor mounted to it.

Interesting that the rear trunnion is missing the lower rivets.

I'm pretty sure I have one but I think it's had the front sight post polished off of it.

Look at the bright side. You can still get a Catamount Fury. ...fail.

I don't know about the triangle stocks, but the 100 series poly stocks need to be trimmed, in my experience. OP, Take it off and send it to me. I'll trim and re-coat it for you, no charge.

It's not the latch that's the problem... it's the catch on the butt plate. You need one of these: http://www.rusmilitary.com/images/saiga12_buttpad.jpg

The Saiga 12 gauge front latch is designed to work with the 12 gauge rubber butt pad, which has a reshaped latch catch. The 100 series steel rifle butt plate (like what appears to be installed on your shotgun) has to be trimmed significantly to work with the 12 gauge front latch.

That sucks. You just found out the hard way why I only silver solder shotgun barrels. I'm interested in hearing how the barrel honing works out too.

And Brutus... I really didn't want to let this one go.

I'll play. here's a recently completed customer 040/SVD:

Agreed. The only thing I'll add to this discussion is to just do your research on what's being imported right now and what's likely to be imported in the foreseeable future. There are some indications that the unconverted Saigas are not going to be around, en masse, much longer. But who knows how many unconverted shotguns are floating around out there... Good luck with your business!

It's a standard length 10 slot Russian clone. It's the only thing I'll rock on my S-12's anymore.

F'ing awesome, brother! I want to use it as a header on my website!

Has the hammer been reprofiled? It kind of looks like it. The downside to reprofiling the hammer is that if your not careful, the hammer will no longer be perfectly perpendicular to the bolt tail and it can cause wear similar to your photos.

It cycles 2-2/4" Federal, Olin/WInchester 00 Buck like a champ. That's all I've really tested it with as that's specifically what the client wanted it to shoot. I did run some loose 7-1/2 value pack through it and was getting frequent FTE's, as I sort of expected. I would love to do a day with some video but right now I don't have the time and the weather in Reno is miserable. Of course, I'll have this SBS for several more months while the Form 4 clears, so with the owner's permission, I may take it out one afternoon and do a short video.

That hand guard is not really worth it when you consider that you have to pull out the heat shield, the side rail is mostly useless and the bottom rail, you can bolt on a piece of rail to a Bulgarian ($31) or K-Var U.S. made one. And the K-Var includes the top rail You show me another polymer AK hand guard that fits a S-12 and I'll get very excited. The ribs are molded shallower on the AK9 hand guards (like the IZ-433) and clear the larger 12 gauge barrel. A standard AK hand guard won't work on a shotgun. The 2 I mentioned from K-Var will fit Do you have any photos? I'm

That hand guard is not really worth it when you consider that you have to pull out the heat shield, the side rail is mostly useless and the bottom rail, you can bolt on a piece of rail to a Bulgarian ($31) or K-Var U.S. made one. And the K-Var includes the top rail You show me another polymer AK hand guard that fits a S-12 and I'll get very excited. The ribs are molded shallower on the AK9 hand guards (like the IZ-433) and clear the larger 12 gauge barrel. A standard AK hand guard won't work on a shotgun.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. It was a neat project. The only thing left to do is to turn down the gas knob on a lathe to try and get it to clear the flash hider for removal. Right now, I have to unscrew the FH to get the knob completely removed. I don't know the origin of the hand guard retainer as it was customer supplied, along with the super-sweet AK9 hand guard. I do know that I want to build another one for myself now though!

Brutus is done. This is now my favorite Saiga 12 of all time. All it needs is a Russian mag well.

Post a photo of the cut hand guard retainer... I'm wondering if it can be tig welded back together.

I think that a lot of Saiga owners (who shoot frequently) eventually regret adding all the heavy accessories to their shotgun (I know I sure as hell did). The "that looks bad ass" effect eventually wears off and you come to realize that it you've done nothing but make your shotgun heavy, awkward, bulky and unbalanced.

Just waiting for the receiver to come back from engraving. This thing is going to be sweet!

Ouch. Is Legion not shipping these with an owner's manual? As you may have already figured out at this point, the gas tube is removable and it holds the hand guard retainer in position. Please post some photos and send me a PM if you're interested in having me try to fix it. IZ-433's are one of the best Saiga shotguns you can buy (at least the foundation for one) and I'm sure it can be fixed up the way you want it. Leland

Up for sale is my beloved baby: My Tromix S17. This is Tony's flagship model SBS: the 8" Micro shotgun. It has many of his bells and whistles... Most notably the limb saver recoil pad and his proprietary short reset trigger. I've had this shotgun since '09 and have only added a Gasfixr plug and 10 slot Russian style flash hider to it. It runs anything you want to put through it. Get this one transferred to you and forget Tromix's ridiculously long waiting list. This is a personally owned weapon on a Form 4 in Nevada (anyone local to the Reno/Sparks area is welcome to contact me for a viewing).