I said I wouldn't, but....

[Paul Mohr 0]

Damn, I've had this gun for a whole 5 hours and I am already thinking about changing stuff on it! I still don't want to turn it into an AK or anything, just minor stuff. I already switched out the front swivel for QD type so I could use my Harris bipod. I will most likely just do the back the same way so I can use a quick detachable sling. I may do the Pistol grip mod also. The trigger is not as bad as I thought it would be, but it could be better for sure. Mainly I don't like the distance from the stock to the trigger, it is too long for my little hands. My shotgun is the same way. On the other hand I am not sure I want to put that much money into it.

 

If I mod the trigger assembly I will lose the bolt hold open feature won't I ? Not that I need it. It doesn't work like it does on most guns any way. Most guns the bolt locks back behind the magazine and you hit a button and it goes forward stripping a round on it's way. This one does not do that, it locks about in the middle in the clip, so you have to pull the bolt all the way back and release it anyway. It would work well to load single rounds if you wanted to.

 

And since I am thinking of using a scope I would like to ditch the front sights and replace them with a muzzle brake or flash supressor. Can this be done with out too much hassle? It looks like it comes off with two pins underneath. I thought I could just unpin it and use one of the pin on breaks they sell. I don't know what dia they are though. The same as the barrel, or the front sight assembly, since it goes right to the end of the barrel. I also thought about using one of the screw on bushings that I have seen, but I don't know what dia they are either. I would rather go that route, so I could swap accessories if I wanted. I was thinking about building a fake supressor for it, and that would work great to mount it to.

 

I was looking at the shotgun forums also and saw a home made wooden thumb hole stock that looked awsome. I would not mind putting something like that on it either.

 

I think with the harris bipod, a big ass scope, and a muzzle break it would look sort of sniperish. More like something a swat team would have vrs an AK. It wouldn't live up to it's looks, but hey it would look cool right.

 

Paul

[Paul Mohr 0]

Well here is an update on my Saiga incase anyone cares. I ended up getting a scope mount at the local shop where I purchased the rifle. It is the one with the rings built into it. It is made at the same factory the rifle is, for these rifles. It is imported by EAA with the rifles and has the same markings as the rifle. It seems to be built pretty well and fits the rail very good and tight. It has a pin on the mount and a hole in the lever. When you lock it down you have to pull the lever down a little and the pin slips in the hole. This locks the lever down, and there is know way for it back out or loosen up. I don't know if the other detachable mounts have this or not, but I thought it was pretty slick. The mount also lines the scope up directly over the center of the bore, some mounts are a bit off to the side. While I am sure this work fine out to distances this gun will shoot at, it is not the most desirable way to mount a scope. Some scopes may not have enough adjustment to compensate for it, from what I understand the russian scopes do. I would bet that any kind of a target scope won't for sure.

 

The mount puts the center of the scope tube almost right at 3 inches above the center of the bore, not as high as I though it would be. I barely had room to mount the scope I used because it has a 50 mm objective on it. I had to take the rear leaf off as it was. The scope I used was a BSA catseye 3.5x10x50 with an illuminated recticle. I robbed it off my inline muzzle loader. I wanted to use a 4x16x50 BSA scope with an adjustable objective, also a catseye, but the the bell was waay to big because of the adjustable objective. Both these scopes are a bit overkill for this gun, but I tend to be that way. Besides it looks bad ass this way.

 

I also changed to different swivel mounts, of the QD type so I could use my harris bipod or a sling. I can swap them in a matter of seconds if I want. You can also use a sling with the bipod, but it isn't very comfortable on your shoulder that way.

 

Accuracy seems so-so. One time I shoot it, it will do pretty good. Like 2 inch or so groups at 50 yards, maybe a bit better sometimes. Then the next time I shoot it, it will be all over the place at 50 yards. At closer ranges it always shoots pretty well. Maybe it needs a break in period or something. I have not shot it that much really.

 

I have tried Bear silver ammo and Wolf ammo. I started with the Bear ammo that was 124 grn FMJs I think. I think these things were made to shoot thru a tank or something. They are hell on a backstop but seemed fairly accurate. I shot 40 rounds of those, I bought them when I purchased the rifle for $3 a box of 20. I decided I wanted something that would not penitrate so much and would expand a little better. I wanted to go with the Wolf 150 grn soft tips. According to Cabela's web site they carry them.

 

I have one close to where I live so I drove over there to get some to try out, and if I liked them I thought I would get a case of them. They advertise 500 rounds and an ammo can for like 44 dollars or something. Well, I got there later than I wanted too yesterday (Saturday) and the place was packed! More people than I have ever seen there, including the grand opening. When I made it back to the ammo (it took a while) they had very little selection. The web site listed all kinds of ammo in this caliber. They had a like 5 or 6 boxes of wolf 7.62x39 ammo left on the shelf, and none of it was the 150 grn stuff I wanted. I saw no cases of ammo for sale of any kind ammo. Maybe that is only a mail order thing. I thought I could try the 123 grn hollow point ammo, that might expand some and work a little better. But there was no way I was standing in line for an hour for two boxes of ammo! So I left and went to the shop near my house where I purchased the gun from. They had the wolf hollow point ammo, but no 150 grn soft point stuff. So that is what I got. They said they did have better ammo by winchester and reminton that would expand better, but it was $15 or $16 a box. That is bit much for plinking in my back yard. The wolf ammo was 3 dollars like the Silver Bear ammo.

 

I have shot 20 rounds of the wolf hollow point ammo and it seems to be a bit less accurate than the other was. But because of the way this gun shoots it's really hard to say for sure. They seem to penitrate a bit less, but not because of the hollow points. I recovered 3 of the bullets I shot this morning and they did not expand at all. They were a bit deformed, but still intact keeping all thier original weight with no expansion at the tip at all. I am shooting into logs that are about 1 1/2 to 2 feet in dia. I think they are going thru the half inch plywood my target is nailed to and tumbeling thru the logs. That is what is causing the damage to the bullets. They are still full metal jackets, they just have a tiny hole in the tip, which doesn't seem to really do anything but look cool.

 

So if you have to choose between FMJ's and Hollow points with this cheaper ammo, it does not seem to matter. They are bassically the same in performance. And if you are concerned about accuracy, don't be. The thing with hollow points being less accurate is not true. The back of the bullet and the rate of twist for a specific velocity is what effects accuracy the most. It has been proven that some Hollow points are actually more accurate than some solid tipped bullets.

 

I will keep checking around locally to see if I can get the 150 grn soft points, if I can't I may just order them. I will also eventually try some more expensive hunting ammo, but I don't want to waste the money right now. According to wolfs web site the 150 grn stuff is more accurate, but they don't say why. Technically it shouldn't be any different than the other stuff. Unless it's velocity closer matches the rifleing of these rifles. At 50 yards that should not really make much of a difference though.

 

It's still damn fun to shoot though.

 

Paul

[Sheik Yerbouti 0]

Great work, Paul.

 

I think the BSA is a good compliment to the gun.

 

What was the part number on the QD swivel studs? Were they Uncle Mikes?

[Paul Mohr 0]

I robbed them off other guns. I took the upper one off my remington muzzle loader, which is basically a 700 rifle stock. And the lower one off my mossberg shotgun, since it screws right into the stock.

 

The one in the forearm has a nut, well sort of a nut, behind the stud. And the bottom one just screws into the plastic, like a course wood screw type. If I had to guess any machine threaded swivel stud would work on the front, providing they all have the same size threads. So you could get the quick disconnect stud set for a Mossberg shotgun and it should work. It has one machine threaded stud and one made to screw right into the wood stock. Take the little nut with you to a store and see if the threads match up before you buy it. Any gun store should be able to hook you up, or walmart carries them too. The nut is really more of a threaded washer, and it may not come out of the stock now that I think of it. You could always take the old swivel stud screw to a hardware store and find a nut that fit it so you would know what size the threads are. The nut might cost a dime to buy.

 

I am going to have to do this myself eventually so I can put the studs back on my other rifles.

 

Oh, also pay attention to how long the screw is on the forearm. If the stud you buy is too long it my hit the barrel and the forearm won't go back on. Mine is barely long enough work so I didn't have a problem. I may try the one of the front of my mossberg just to see if it works.

 

Paul

[Paul Mohr 0]

The mossberg QD's should work, I just took the one out of mine and it screwed right into the nutsert on my remington stock. I would still check to make sure before you buy one though. I bought mine at wally world, I forget what it cost me, wasn't much though. A gun shop might work with you more as far opening up the packages to check them out.

 

I have a few questions though. One, how do I get the front site off this thing? I was thinking of taking it off and having a muzzle break or flash supressor made for it. I tried to drive the pins out with a hammer and a punch, but they wouldn't budge. Do I need to have a press, or did I just not hit them hard enough.

 

Secondly, how much luck have you had with the detachable scope mounts? Will they hold a zero if removed and reinstalled? Are they dead on, close to zero, or AFU and will need to be readjusted? The mount fits pretty good on the rail, so I would think they would work well, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention above that I had to shim my scope to get it to work. This gun has a serious problem with shooting low. It did it with the open sights, and as well when I put the scope on. So much that my scope ran out of adjustment. I had to shim up the back of the scope a bit to get it right. I have had to do this on some other rifles as well though, especially with raised mounts. So it is not that big of a deal.

 

Paul

[Sheik Yerbouti 0]

The front sight block (FSB) must have the pins removed and then be pressed off. AK-USA makes an adapter for brakes, though. It is sold throug RPB.

 

O can't tell you about the Izshmash scope mounts; mine is a Belarus. I have had no problems with it,