sehanna12 0 Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 hey guys, i just got a great deal on a saiga 308 1. I have been an AR shooter for a while now, but really new to the AK family of weapons.i have some questions that I hope you can answer.i have been told that the saiga can be modified to accept hkg3, m14, and even galil mags, also that there are some really good folding stocks? anyone got any ideas on what stocks are best. the barrel is 22 inches long and the front sight is at the end of the barrel, i would like to cut the barrel to 18 inches and thread it. I would also like to modify the front stock to one that looks more AKish. Any comments including quality/price would be appreciated. /thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IndyArms 10,186 Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Greetings! First off, I would recommend checking out the tech section... it has all the pertinent info you will need. Then... search the 308 section for magazine threads and weigh your options! lots of good info there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BattleRifleG3 16 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Before cutting your barrel, see if anyone would want to trade his factory 16" version for your 22" version. That said, I'd much rather have an 18" barrel on a 308 than 16". On furniture mods, once again, see if your factory furniture is worth something before modding it. I have made a few no-gunsmithing AK style front handguards for a S-308, and have an improved version on my mind. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sehanna12 0 Posted March 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Before cutting your barrel, see if anyone would want to trade his factory 16" version for your 22" version. That said, I'd much rather have an 18" barrel on a 308 than 16". On furniture mods, once again, see if your factory furniture is worth something before modding it. I have made a few no-gunsmithing AK style front handguards for a S-308, and have an improved version on my mind. Thanks for the info. I really wanted the 18" length as well. Do you see any problem with cutting the barrel off? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BattleRifleG3 16 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 If you look at the muzzle of any decent rifle, you will notice an area beveled inward to the bore. This is called a crown. Crowning is a process that basically lines up the rifling at the end. Make sure that you recrown the muzzle or have a gunsmith do it after you cut the barrel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ForGreatJustice 1 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 In addition, moving the front sight to another location on the barrel of an AK usually requires keying (drilling to create grooves in) the barrel to accept the two pins that hold the AK front sight on. This is something that requires some skill with a drill press to do, and I really haven't found a "dirty" way to do it. ACE makes a front sight that clamps onto the gas block, but that will decrease your sight radius considerably. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 I actually used a large ball-shaped grinding attachment on a dremel to recrown the muzzle of a friend's old savage bolt gun that had its front sight and muzzle blown off from a barrel obstruction during one of his hunts a couple years ago. He even let me try my hand at porting the barrel, which came out pretty good, and helped tame the recoil, although it was very time consuming and tedious to do without the correct machine. The gun is wicked loud now to the shooter, and you absolutely HAVE to wear hearing protection when you fire it. It started out as 25" or something like that he said, and it is now 16.5" and set up as a scout rifle. It sat damaged in his closet for a decade or something like that, and he now shoots it regularly and also hunts with it. I almost bought it off of him, but he changed his mind once the porting was finished. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sehanna12 0 Posted March 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 I actually used a large ball-shaped grinding attachment on a dremel to recrown the muzzle of a friend's old savage bolt gun that had its front sight and muzzle blown off from a barrel obstruction during one of his hunts a couple years ago. He even let me try my hand at porting the barrel, which came out pretty good, and helped tame the recoil, although it was very time consuming and tedious to do without the correct machine. The gun is wicked loud now to the shooter, and you absolutely HAVE to wear hearing protection when you fire it. It started out as 25" or something like that he said, and it is now 16.5" and set up as a scout rifle. It sat damaged in his closet for a decade or something like that, and he now shoots it regularly and also hunts with it. I almost bought it off of him, but he changed his mind once the porting was finished. java script:emoticon('', 'smid_20') I have actually done a bit of barrel shortening and I have all all of the tools that I need (thanks to brownells) So that should be ok. The ACE sight that sits on the gas block sounds interesting. I think that you can even put a night sight AR15 post in it. I am planning on using this rifle at close range with a aimpoint. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 think about getting that optic out tword the muzzle, like an ultimak rail does, if you are going to use it for close range rapid fire. my SAR that I put an ultimak on points REAL fast, and it is difficult to miss with for me. I like having the red dot out away from my face so I can benefit from my depth perception. here is a link to a picture in my gallery of my setup that Im referring to: http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=114 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sehanna12 0 Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 think about getting that optic out tword the muzzle, like an ultimak rail does, if you are going to use it for close range rapid fire. my SAR that I put an ultimak on points REAL fast, and it is difficult to miss with for me. I like having the red dot out away from my face so I can benefit from my depth perception. here is a link to a picture in my gallery of my setup that Im referring to: http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=114 Bvamp, that is a cool set-up. I went ahead and cut of the barrel and re-crowned it, it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. You know have one of the early utilimaks on my Mini14 and they are great products. The only problem is that now I have no front sight and it doesn't look like I can use this mount and the gas-block sight both on. Do you know of any detachable front sights for AKs. This would be similar an ar-15 where the front sight attaches to the block via a weaver rail. That way I could have the utilimak AND a front sight? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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