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Are 3 gas ports enough?


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Your gun does need a good "break-in" to reliably cycle low-brass birdshot, (all S-12's do). I'd advise you to buy a Gunfixr's Gas Plug, (hand-adjustable and it gives you 2 more gas settings), and to fire ~150-200 high-brass shells on the lowest setting that they'll cycle on.

 

After that, you should have less trouble firing cheap birdshot, (don't buy the Winchester, buy the Rem or more ideally Federal "value packs").

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19" 22" 24" ?

 

The gun will probably need breaking in regardless but knowing what barrel length helps.

 

 

True. For his sake, I hope it's the 19", (just no point in buying a longer S-12 barrel length imo).

 

Options were few and far between for me when EAA stopped importing them, I bought what I could a 22" 3 port gun that ran 3 years without cleaning. 3 port guns work just fine when they are attached to the right barrel length.

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19" 22" 24" ?

 

The gun will probably need breaking in regardless but knowing what barrel length helps.

 

 

True. For his sake, I hope it's the 19", (just no point in buying a longer S-12 barrel length imo).

 

Options were few and far between for me when EAA stopped importing them, I bought what I could a 22" 3 port gun that ran 3 years without cleaning. 3 port guns work just fine when they are attached to the right barrel length.

 

I agree. I own a 3-port, late 2008 production 19" gun. It's not undergassed.

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Keep in mind that quite a few of the 4 port guns were over gassed.

 

 

I agree with Azrial. Mine's a 4 port model made in '08. It's probably overgassed, but it'll eat everything I give it, including the crappy Winchester bulk stuff, though the swollen ring often present around the front of the shells sometimes cause issues. As P-A said, get Federal bulk if you're needing cheap reliable ammo. Remington is ok too.

 

+1 for breaking it in.... it's a night and day difference.

 

+1 for Gunfixer's plug.

 

 

I haven't run into excessive wear on the rear trunion or bolt carrier, but (and I know many don't like them) I've found that using a thin gel-like buffer helps (I made my own out of gel insoles). I don't advise anyone try a buffer in a Saiga shotgun, as they often tend to cause more problems than they're worth (especially since many Shottys are undergassed "Vodka Specials") , but I'm around 1,000 rounds with one so far and I haven't had any issues. Remember though, mine is overgassed with 4 holes. I replaced the buffer at around 800 rounds though. It was starting to get chewed up a little.

 

 

Anyway, I don't want this to derail into a "buffers are evil" thread. I know they're evil. LOL

 

 

3 ports are definitely enough.

 

 

 

Corbin

Edited by Corbin
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Hi guys my gun has 3 gas ports and they are close to the edges but are unobstructed, my gun cycles buck shot and other high brass loads but not light loads like cheap bird shot.

Is 3 enough?

 

In my opinion one should not worry about over gassing as there are a lot of remedies to this. Latter 3 hole gas port guns are notorious for difficulty with light loads but there are fixes for that too.

Great thread on this

Saiga light load cycling

Edited by Antelop
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I'm thinking I'll have to look into the Twisterpuc and a Gunfixr plug. Just back from a range trip, my first with the bulk Federal shells. I had not one failure to eject and never moved the stock gas plug set from the #1 setting. The shells weren't coming out with much authority, but they were out nonetheless. Mine is a four hole gun.

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other options are to polish the rails, bolt, and carrier. Cobra and jack travers will do it for you for a small fee. To increase the gas in the system you could also get a choke. Another alternative is lighter springs. In short, there is a solution to every problem, just figure out what or combination of whatever solves it.

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