accurizing the Saiga .308?

[Montana3gunner 13]

I'm wondering if anyone has "accurzied" their Saiga, ie put a new, accurate barrel on it. I know, I know, there will be several people who say "but that's not what a Saiga is", or "it's accurate enough for a battle rifle".

 

But I ask, why not? People are buying DPMS .308s at 2-3 times the price and getting 1 moa (or better in some cases), and still more people are clamoring for the Rock River .308 which they have promised will be 1 moa.

 

With a Saiga, I'm wondering if you could spend a few hundred bucks on a new barrel and get a sub moa gun? Maybe not with the stamped reciever and bolt tolerances but I'd be interested in hearing if someone has tried it and what their experience has been and/or why it's not possible. I suppose the gas block could be an issue as well.

 

Depending on cost, you might be able to get a fully decked out, accurized Saiga for under a grand, if you did the conversion yourself. If it shot 1/2 moa at that price, you could make a case vs. the DPMS.

[Eugene Onegin 6]

IMO the stamped receiver will be a handicap ,you might get it to shot like a PSL but not like a M1A .

[SaigaNoobie 66]

Why not just weld on some strengthening ribs to the receiver ala PSG1. The only issue I see with the gas block is that it affects the barrel by touching it so as the barrel heats up the gas block may put some weird pressure on the barrel.

 

Strengthened receiver, put a really thick target barrel on it.

 

free float the barrel by strengthening the rear attachment point for the handguard and eliminating any contact by barrel to handguard. Weld a tang to the reciever placed forward to allow for a more secure forward grip attachment.

 

attach the gas block to the FORWARD STOCK with a modified attachment that connects to the handguard for support and floats the gas block 1-1.5mm above the barrel.

 

Add an extra hole if necessary to increase gas flow and retain semi-auto cycling. There should be enough gas to cycle the bolt even with the 1mm vent above the barrel.

 

you might have a Sub MOA gun if it works right.

 

If the PSG1 can get 1MOA out of the box, why can't you get Sub MOA out of a modded AK? I'm pretty sure the PSG1 is not a milled receiver.

[Bossman 1]

Have you tried different ammo? made sure the scope mount was absolutely rock solid and shot from a very sturdy rest that has no wiggle or jiggle?

Have you tried handloads?

I have owned 2 .308 saigas, both were 2.5" guns with surplus and 2" guns with factory ammo. But when careful handloads were used both guns shot just over or under 1" @ 100 yds.

The 22" would shoot 1.25" five shot groups and the 16" I currently own will do a solid 1" @ 100 yds.

Both rifles absolutely loved 125 gr. nosler ballistic tips, the speer 130 grain spire points were a very close second and much less expensive.

Both rifles liked the lighter bullets, nothing over 150 grains worked well, not even sierra matchkings and 150 gr. FMJ no matter what powder or load, primer or depth of seat gave much better accuracy than military surplus so if you want to try a load for accuracy I suggest going with something in the 125 gr. range.

Dont give up on the girl just yet, try a few more things and see what transpires. You just might find something that works.

[G O B 3,516]

Try taking the gas piston off of the boltcarrier. Shoot the Saiga as a bolt action. That is the beauty of the action, it is an auto-bolt. Without the auto accuracy should be noticibly better.

Maybe the next great Saiga-toy will be a gas cutoff.

[Cryptkeeper 0]

i get 1" grps @ 100yrds with 2 fatory loads 1 is federal powershok 150gr the other is hornady molly 168gr, i wouldnt have a M14, 2 friends of mine recently went to 1 week appleseed trainning corse they had ar15's 1 other had and M1 grand all the others about 20 ppl in all had M14's every1 of them had major problems with thier M14's some had to use my friends 10/22 to finish the corse. some ppl actually brought a repair kit full stocked with parts cause they are aways haveing problems with their M14. 1 of my friends whom had an M14,that had went to it ,sold his M14 after he got back LOL to me it doesnt matter what the weapons shot grp is if it cant shoot. bossman is right you need to try differnt types of ammo see what your weapon like best. i had some ammo that gave me 4" grps @100yrds

[NY-proletariat 0]

I'm wondering if anyone has "accurzied" their Saiga, ie put a new, accurate barrel on it. I know, I know, there will be several people who say "but that's not what a Saiga is", or "it's accurate enough for a battle rifle".

 

But I ask, why not? People are buying DPMS .308s at 2-3 times the price and getting 1 moa (or better in some cases), and still more people are clamoring for the Rock River .308 which they have promised will be 1 moa.

 

With a Saiga, I'm wondering if you could spend a few hundred bucks on a new barrel and get a sub moa gun? Maybe not with the stamped reciever and bolt tolerances but I'd be interested in hearing if someone has tried it and what their experience has been and/or why it's not possible. I suppose the gas block could be an issue as well.

 

Depending on cost, you might be able to get a fully decked out, accurized Saiga for under a grand, if you did the conversion yourself. If it shot 1/2 moa at that price, you could make a case vs. the DPMS.

 

If it shot.....! Many of these manufacturers claim one thing and results don't always equal their claims. This is what keeps gunstores in business! I can't tell you how many people I've seen over my life in this business come in and buy something they told me was the answer to all of their shooting problems. Then after they used these new wonder guns and found out different they traded them back in on the next "wonder gun of the week". Very few really tried hard to make them work, the rest gave up after a few rounds and brought them back in. Gunstores gave them half or less what they paid for them and then sold them at a good profit to the next "sap" who read the same gun magazine article! There's no such thing as free lunch in this life, but many never learn. Each generation has to learn it all over again these days because very few listen to the age old wisdom handed down to them from their ancestors.

 

 

So trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear is a waste of your time and money. If you want an accurate rifle, then spend the money and buy one. Don't spend an arm and leg on gun you have to send off some gunsmith and wait 1-2 years for and then have it fall short when you bring it home and shoot it. Then you call him up and then he says "send it back and I'll fix it" and you wait another year to get it back and it still doesn't do what you want it to do. Now you're stuck holding onto something you'll never get your money back out of unless you lie to some new guy to the shooting sports by telling him it's some "special forces commando special edition" in order to off load it. Hence the circle continues!

 

Your friends were right....treat your Saigas for what they are...inexpensive shooters that'll take lots of abuse....and shoot minute of badguy when you need it most! I use mine as inexpensive truck guns that if they're stolen by the local riff raff or confiscated by the Gestapo at some vehicle check point, I won't be out thousands of dollars like I would if kept my M-1A,FN FAL,or HK-91 in my truck. They ain't the best rifles in the world, but remember the first rule of a gunfight is to "Have a gun"!

Edited November 25, 2007 by NY-proletariat