Saiga 12 Receiver Durability?

[tophatjones 0]

Does anyone have a Saiga that has a high round count? I'm curious about the durability of the receiver. Does the 12 gauge pose a significant increase in bolt carrier velocity over 7.62 x 39 even with the adjustable gas system? What's the worst that can happen? Thanks!

[my762buzz 141]

Does anyone have a Saiga that has a high round count? I'm curious about the durability of the receiver. Does the 12 gauge pose a significant increase in bolt carrier velocity over 7.62 x 39 even with the adjustable gas system? What's the worst that can happen? Thanks!

 

I have not read every thread on this subject but I think someone from

overseas Russia maybe posted that the Vepr 12s in competition were

falling apart at 50,000 rounds. Maybe that was from not having a gas

adjustment like the saiga 12 does for light or heavier loads or maybe

they never bothered to change out the recoil springs which could

contribute to frame battering or maybe something else. I suppose that

if anyone on this forum has shot more than 50,000 rounds through their

Saiga 12 they could come forward and describe how well their gun is

holding together. I have only seen maybe one thread with someone

claiming over 10,000 rounds through theirs. I like the idea of the recoil

buffer that black jack sells but I have seen that these buffers may cause

malfunction of the Saiga 12. I have thought of playing with the recoil spring

weights by ordering several different 1911 recoil springs and trying them out

so that it cycles fine but reduces rear bolt thrust just enough. I know that

the glock pistols used in competition can last far over 200,000 rounds like

Chuck Hawks but the .40 calibers have been known to frame batter because

they are under sprung. Going from 17 lbs factory recoil spring that was

designed for the 9mm version to a .40 caliber version with the same

spring weight does not make sense. The .40 has more rearward thrust

and maybe this is why the same gun only lasts 40,000 rounds give or take.

I'm not sure what the difference in spring weight is between a regular

7.62 x 39 and a 12 gauge is but if they both use the same spring weight

then the 12 might be under sprung a bit. It never hurts to customize

a bit. This forum is very customization friendly.

[tophatjones 0]

Thanks for the reply, my762buzz.

 

50k rounds is more than I expected. It seems the Saiga 12 is still a relatively new platform, so we won't know how they'll hold up until many years down the line. The barrel appears very strong and doesn't have rifling to wear out, so I think the receiver is the weakest link. If the receiver breaks down the line, it'd seem straightforward to fit the parts to a new receiver (maybe there will be US made Saiga 12 receivers by then). Of course, all this is just speculation on my part. I don't think I'll ever have the chance to put that many rounds through my Saiga.

 

I wonder how similar the VEPR is to the Saiga. Even though it doesn't have the adjustable gas, it does have a thicker receiver. Also, I wonder how the gas ports on the VEPR are different from the Saiga's. Changing springs would be an interesting experiment. Perhaps a variable weight recoil spring could compensate for the fact that the extraction of the spent shell happens towards the very end of the cycle of bolt carrier travel in a relatively short action (designed for 7.63), thus reducing reliability when using buffers?