Bvamp 604 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 I invite anyone else that has had thier saiga's reliability be questioned by or impressed upon someone to post thier story here....ive seen a few good ones out there already. Here's my latest impression of mine: SO, I have a large pile of assorted 12 gauge "junk" shells that I have that are all dirty and rusty and generally forgotten leftover of a relative's last wet duck hunt ten years ago. I'm looking at these things, and let me tell you, they are in HORRID shape, maybe 98% of the batch is basically ruined. There is heavy HEAVY rust, corrosion, dirt, corroded PRIMERS on some, just NASTY looking shells that you would assume are a no-no to use in ANY gun. At least you wouldnt think you could use them like they are, right? You might have bene able to clean a COUPLE up with steel wool, but all thickly corroded in spots and pieces falling off when you rub them shell? come on....and then I got to thinking...you got it - I just could not stand it any longer (the shells just had "saiga" written all over them), so I loaded my shotgun with the 5 absolute WORST shells out of 150 or so, and figured I would DEFINATELY do something to the gun. I go outside when its -5 degrees F out, let the bolt forward, it stops, I had to smack the bolt with the muzzle pointed downrange at the target, and it actually chambers this old high brassed rusted up #4 steelshot round. So I fire it. no problem. the bolt is forward, so ill know real quick if there is a dud or no round in the chamber. BAM BAM BAM BAM and fire the rest off... I check the chamber, the gun has a ton of frozen gunpowder that didnt burn down the bore, powder all in the action, rust, CHUNKS of corroded brass. every shell split, one blew apart and the pieces of it were ejected, and another one was ready to. Every shot, I was watching the ejection port with the gun away from my body, and every time the saiga ejected a hull, there was not only chunks flying out of the ejection port, but puffs of what was basically a lot of rust. Needless to say, I went and retrieved the batch right then and there on the spot. I fired off maybe another 50 or so out of the batch. 3" 00buck, 3" #4 steel, 2 3/4 slugs, 2 3/4 00 and 0 buck 2 3/4 trap (the worst ones), 2 3/4 #4 steel, 2 3/4 #8 steel.....a few of each....the shells were all plastic hulls, remington mostly, a few winchestor, and a few old useless shells (the 2 old trap loads) I had 2 incidents where the shell was split in half before going INTO the gun, and had to eject the round, which was no problem. I fired those two last after feeding them by hand, and the saiga spit them right back out. further, after the first mag of some of the worst of the bunch, I just randomly mixed them into the magazine, and left the gun on gas position 1. The rounds that were waiting were outside for a good 3 hours, as I alternated between a pair of rifles. all in all I was pretty happy with the results. I should have known better. I even had to take my magazine apart when I cleaned the saiga, but hey, Im still happy. I saved some of the spent "junk shells" I could find in the snow if anyone wants to see a few of them.... well, I went to toss the shells this morning, as they wont do anybody any good anymore. I picked a handful out at random and took a pic of them. these are actually some of the BETTER ones, if you can believe that. my moss500 and rem870 both either didnt feed or didnt eject ones i tried to feed them. I kept none of the shells that disintegrated while firing and ejecting from the saiga, and I also missed out on taking a pic of the action after both sessions with this batch of shells. I dumped all kinds of rust chunks out of the gun both times after firing these shells. other than 2 or 3 shells that were almost disintegrated to begin with and had to be fed manually, they all fed flawlessly, and every shell ejected. some didnt survive the process and were without bases and one or two the plastic hulls broke into multiple pieces. I will never sell my saiga12. I am a firm believer in the shotgun as your first weapon and the one you call on when in need, and the saiga has replaced the mossberg 500 as my 1st weapon of choice hands down. I was truely amazed after it ate 120 of these crappy shells, in two sessions on the same day... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RooK 0 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Shame on you for feeding them to your Saiga, it deserves better than that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolverine 10,360 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Bvamp, That's a great performance. I'dliketo have one of 12's myself. I went out otday and put 200 + rounds through the converted 7.62. Performed great. Not one hiccup. Also shot Mossburg 500 12 and Remington pump 12. Had a ball with those. Made me wish I had a Saiga 12 though. You have made a believer out of me on the 12. If I can't find one now, I am hoping the new importer will have them and 8 shot mags. I did have some cycling or jamming problems with the WASR-10. It is either the new (non-Blackjack) buffer or metal magazines. Need to sort this out. If it ain't reliable it ain't worth having. Wolverine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lollygagger 1 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 I'm not exactly sure of the reason... But the bargain mass market shot shells are SOMETHING ELSE when it comes to developing grundge with a touch of moisture in storeage. Just UNBELIEVABLE. Those "brass" case heads (plated steel) get METAL ACNE quick & bad! I've switched to the all plastic Activ brand loads for carry in my riot/CSG -they have a metal base in the case head...cast INSIDE the plastic. Lollygagger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IndyArms 10,186 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 I have used the activ a LOT.... they cycle well and reload GREAT.... never a problem with them.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 RooK: NONSENSE!!! It likes it when you do that to it Wolverine: I fed a couple to a moss 500, and a rem 870. neither liked them, and gave me lip every which way, so I put them back in the house. Lollygagger: I have to take a picture tommorrow for you. this wasnt a little bit of crud....some were so corroded, I almost didnt put them in the magazine for fear of them going off under recoil. I should have used the term rotten instead of corroded. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lollygagger 1 Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Lollygagger: I have to take a picture tommorrow for you. this wasnt a little bit of crud....some were so corroded, I almost didnt put them in the magazine for fear of them going off under recoil. I should have used the term rotten instead of corroded. Oh, I believe you! I probably was somewhat minimizing what I've seen... Like, NOT being able to SEE (just see it -no hint of it visually) THE PRIMER because of the layers of crud on the case head. I was amazed that they ALL fired -had maybe 25 in this condition. Lollygagger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobra 76 two 2,677 Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Nasty! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted March 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 im trying to find where I put the bag of spent shells from the FIRST session with those. they are consistantly much worse. the above pic are from the better half of the batch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted February 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 This topic is pretty old, and I see a lot of new guys here since I posted this years ago. Thought I would re-vive it for some proof to you new guys as to why some of us (me particularly) believe so strongly in this shotgun..... I will comment that Bill Akins cleaned this same gun thoroughly for the first time end of Nov, 2009, (I let him borrow it to begin a project he wanted to start) and there were still pieces of these shells coming out of the gun....thats how little I worry about it being clean check the OP date.....thats 5 years guys, without a real cleaning, and I had the gun a few years before posting this topic in jan 2005 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Mark 2,452 Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Thanks for re-posting that. I've had my S12 for a little better than a year now and never saw that original post. It just re-confirms that I made an excellent choice when I chose the S12. Most reliable semi-auto shotgun available today! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFox 69 Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 shells that disintegrated while firing Must be some of that new "caseless" 12ga ammo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
YARP 300 Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 :eek: :eek: :eek: This one of those reliability tests that you just close your eyes until it's over and then open them and say "oh my god the gun didn't blow up! My face is still attached....yes yes YES! muhahaha!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted February 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 :eek: :eek: :eek: This one of those reliability tests that you just close your eyes until it's over and then open them and say "oh my god the gun didn't blow up! My face is still attached....yes yes YES! muhahaha!" I can make your benelli CRY Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raoul_Duke 113 Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 I was looking at Benelli's when I found the S-12. I've never looked at a Benelli since. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
YARP 300 Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 :eek: :eek: :eek: This one of those reliability tests that you just close your eyes until it's over and then open them and say "oh my god the gun didn't blow up! My face is still attached....yes yes YES! muhahaha!" I can make your benelli CRY Good thing I don't own a Benelli! This is one of those kinds of tests that made me buy my second saiga. "well if I can't blow this up doing that then......." I live for this kinda R&D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted February 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2012 Hi. Challenge is still open to serious takers. This cannot be met. it has been 7 years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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