keeping mags loaded causing failure to feed issues?

[jdeitch 32]

I'm new to the saiga world so please be kind if I'm way off on my comments/concerns here.

 

While seaching the web for anything saiga related, I came across the wikipedia entry for the saiga 12.

 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga-12)

 

Under the heading of 'Shortcomings' I read the following:

 

"The top round of ammunition left in loaded magazines will acquire an oval shape caused by the magazine spring squeezing the shells against a closed bolt. This will cause a failure to feed if shotgun shells are left in a loaded magazine inserted into a closed bolt shotgun for more than a few days."

 

This statement really concerns me because one of the primary roles for my saiga is home defense. The time may come when I need to be able to count on that first round working after sitting in the loaded mag for a long period of time.

 

PLEASE ADVISE.

 

JD

[jdeitch 32]

I have no idea why this topic posted three times... I've posted before with no issue. MODS please delete the duplicate entries.

[sudaevpps43 31]

I'm new to the saiga world so please be kind if I'm way off on my comments/concerns here.

 

While seaching the web for anything saiga related, I came across the wikipedia entry for the saiga 12.

 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga-12)

 

Under the heading of 'Shortcomings' I read the following:

 

"The top round of ammunition left in loaded magazines will acquire an oval shape caused by the magazine spring squeezing the shells against a closed bolt. This will cause a failure to feed if shotgun shells are left in a loaded magazine inserted into a closed bolt shotgun for more than a few days."

 

This statement really concerns me because one of the primary roles for my saiga is home defense. The time may come when I need to be able to count on that first round working after sitting in the loaded mag for a long period of time.

 

PLEASE ADVISE.

 

JD

 

Don't worry about it. While it is true that if a loaded magazine is left in a Saiga 12 with the bolt forward, the pressure of the bolt on the top round will eventually deform the round enough to prevent it from feeding, it takes a hell of a lot longer than a few days for this to happen. Some other members on this forum have experimented with this (i.e. leaving their saiga 12 loaded for long periods of time with the bolt forward on a full magazine) over the years, and the general consensus is that it takes at least a couple of months before the top round deformation reaches the point where it will cause a misfeed. So unless you plan to leave your Saiga 12 stored loaded for many months at a time, top round deformation will never be an issue.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Frogfoot

[EchoKilo 0]

Well, that issue would be easily remedied by keeping the mag loaded but not inserted into the gun. If you feel you're going to need a loaded gun sooner than the time it takes to insert a magazine you should consider either a tube fed gun or moving to a better part of town.

 

I think some people have dealt with the issue by using an all steel shell for the top round, which would be less likely to deform. They'll have to chime in to let you know if it worked well or not.

Edited December 19, 2008 by EchoKilo

[grandeyota 0]

I found this post helpful:

Pin

[sudaevpps43 31]

If you are keeping your Saiga 12 loaded continuously for the months it takes top round deformation to occur, there are several solutions.

 

One solution, as EchoKilo mentioned, is to use an all metal shotgun shell as the top round in the magazine (the rest of shells magazine can be typical plastic hulled shells).

 

Another member on this forum (as described in the 'Pin' thread Grandeyota posted) drilled a small hole in both sides of the back part of some of his magazines (just below the metal feed lips) so he could insert a pin into the magazine that would hold the top round down far enough that it wouldn't be pressed up against the bolt. Then all he had to do was just pull the pin (just like with a grenade) to make the shotgun ready to fire.

 

Finally, if you have a Saiga 12 with the manual bolt hold open catch, then the simplest method is to just to store the Saiga 12 with a loaded magazine inserted and the bolt locked back, then you just pull and release the bolt to make the Saiga 12 ready to fire, which isn't really any slower than pushing down the safety lever if you had left the Saiga 12 stored loaded with the bolt forward and the safety on.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Frogfoot

[pedal2alloy 206]

You could load these brass hulls without any special equipment because you don't (necessarily) have to crimp them, you could just glue in an end plug like the Russian ones.

 

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/...leitemid=554245