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Saiga 308 magazines


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Yea. A little troubleshooting is not a deal breaker for me. Of course the 20 rd magazine tests the spring stength a bit more. I'm thinking I may just have to buy one and see for myself. A little more feed back from others wouldn't hurt though. Thanks.

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I have 7 surefire 25 round 308 mag's. I have run about 800 rounds through them now, all brown bear, not one jam. not one ftf, fte, all that crap, none of that.

 

As far as their .410 mags, same deal, never had a failure to feed. I didn't know surefire ever had problems, I know promags are peices of shit but they don't even make 308 anyways.

 

Get the surefire!!!

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There's a member on here (csspecs) who makes 20 round metal mags. I'd check that out, I've heard nothing but good things. I want to pick a few up, when I get my money straight.

csspecs makes some seriousely solid steel mags. I mean you can use them as weapons once you run out of ammo. :donatello:

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Thanks Oxyehho,

 

I've submitted a PM to start an order with CSSPECS.

 

Last night I also ordered a surefire mag from Mississppi Arms(?).

 

Say, is there a way to defeat the BHO feature on the Surefire mag - like grinding something off with a Dremel?

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OK,

 

Just received my Surefire Saiga .308 mag. That was fast! Dry-cycled 2 full mags - 40 rds. No problems there. Nice tight fit all around.

 

Until I've field tested it a few times and am satisfied, I won't mess with defeating the BHO feature. The way I see it, creating some sort of slope with my Dremel tool is the way to go. That way the bolt will push the follower down as it passes over. I would appreciate any comments on that.

 

How does it compare to my FBMG mags so far? Well, first off I didn't have to special order the Surefire unsuccesfully and prepay for it over 3 months in advance. Secondly, although my FBMG's cycle fine, they are side-to-side wobbly; the Surefire isn't at all.

 

I've read on other posts and forums people derogatorily calling polymer 'plastic'. I once used a heat gun on a polymer trigger guard set on max. heat for over 5 minutes non-stop: it hardly melts or burns and remains strong even after being charred and cooled. Not at all like plastic. However maybe there's different grades of polymer - I don't know.

 

I also just got my order in for a steel mag from CSSPECS.

 

This Saiga forum has been a big help all around. Thanks again to all.

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I got the 25 round Sure Fire and load it to 20. Gives me a bit more room in there for the 20, and I can go 25 if I felt I really needed to. The construction is very good, and personally, I like the bolt hold open feature on my Sure Fire and wish the factory 8 (now 10) round magazine had it. It's nice to know that you have an empty magazine and you can then reload.

BHO on the last round was a feature of a lot of military firearms and it was there for a purpose.

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That's odd. I thought I had replied to AKsarben on this topic. I must of messed up somewhere. Well here goes again.

 

Good points on the 25 rd mag idea and BHO feature. On the one hand the 25rder must just be a little more than 1 inch longer which ain't much. On the other hand 20 rds is already long enough and there's the uniformity with my pouches and consistency with my other mags. Aahh well, it's food for thought.

 

On my SKS the BHO stays open even when you remove the mag. Of course not so with the Surefire. I kept and modified my Saiga BHO from when I installed my new FCG. I've read guys on this forum who've left it off. I suspect because it does tend to get a little in the way of the trigger finger (also they're a bitch to reinstall!). For these folks the Surefire BHO might just be the ticket. But I modified mine so it doesn't really get in the way.

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Ive found the ten rounders much better to carry in the field. Its not the weight its the length of the 20 and 25 rd mag making it difficult to shoot prone and in tight places. Its difficult to really get the feel of a rifle at a range thats something you only get packing that sucker around in the woods.

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I tell you I have to agree the ideal length & weight is the 10 rounder.

 

However I can lie prone pretty comfortably with my 20rder with 2 to 3" to spare particularly if at a slight gang-banger-style angle to help keep my supporting elbow under.

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Yeah it handles much better. I know some people look down on 10 rd mags but for a semi thats really is a good size. Ive seen people rest the rifle on the 20/25 rd mags when shooting prone sometimes causing a FTF.

Not to mention it seems to hang up on something every time you turn around. Not a critical issue just something to think about when buying.

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I'm hearing you clear Rhodes1968.

 

I received my CSSPECS all-steel 20rd mag yesterday. I successfully dry-cycled(?) two full mags. It has a solid mag body. I do not have the knowledge to judge but a couple of parts of it seem rather thin - front end of the follower and the mag floor. CSSPECS has done a fairly good job of smoothing out some points and edges to minimize catching on stuff. It's got a nice finish but it's not pretty; then again my Glock's not pretty either. I have to admit I am biast towards polymer. Whoever's biast towards steel needs to buy and try at least one of these. Of course I still need to field test it along with the Surefire I bought.

 

I like that the CSSPECS steel mag doesn't have a BHO feature and I see how ingeniously a little piece of steel holds the back end of the follower down so it doesn't act like the BHO on the Surefire. I don't think I can jerry-rig something like that on the Surefire because of steel's advantage of being thinner. I am a little nervous about grinding down a part of the backend of the surefire follower for fear($40+ worth) the round might not rest properly on it. Has anybody tried this?

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You can ramp the follower all you want, odds are the bolt with quickly dig through the plastic rather then push it down. The factory 8 round saiga follower has stops built into it to keep it out of the way of the bolt, if they are gone your bolt will often damage the follower quickly. I'd suspect that will happen with any poly mag.

 

For my mags. Yes the front of the follower is thin, its only there to keep stuff from falling in the body. The floor plate is made of 22 gauge steel roughly the same as an AK mag, it is large so it does flex a little but in testing took something like 4 blows with a hammer to remove. I'd like to hear how the feild tests go.

 

Thanks

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I finally found time to go to the shooting range. I used all six of my magazines. For me, that's alot of expensive rounds. I tested my first ever rifle reloads. Things went mostly well. How did my new Surefire and CSSPECS steel mags perform?

 

I only fired one full magazine for each, part reloads and not-reloads. I know. It's not much of test. See above for why.

 

They each performed flawlessly.

 

Now that I'm in the 'groove' I hope to visit the range some more. I'll follow up here with more results.

 

Thanks to all for your help. Happy Holidays.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Oxyehho,

 

I've submitted a PM to start an order with CSSPECS.

 

Last night I also ordered a surefire mag from Mississppi Arms(?).

 

Say, is there a way to defeat the BHO feature on the Surefire mag - like grinding something off with a Dremel?

 

 

OK,

 

Just received my Surefire Saiga .308 mag. That was fast! Dry-cycled 2 full mags - 40 rds. No problems there. Nice tight fit all around.

 

Until I've field tested it a few times and am satisfied, I won't mess with defeating the BHO feature. The way I see it, creating some sort of slope with my Dremel tool is the way to go. That way the bolt will push the follower down as it passes over. I would appreciate any comments on that.

 

How does it compare to my FBMG mags so far? Well, first off I didn't have to special order the Surefire unsuccesfully and prepay for it over 3 months in advance. Secondly, although my FBMG's cycle fine, they are side-to-side wobbly; the Surefire isn't at all.

 

I've read on other posts and forums people derogatorily calling polymer 'plastic'. I once used a heat gun on a polymer trigger guard set on max. heat for over 5 minutes non-stop: it hardly melts or burns and remains strong even after being charred and cooled. Not at all like plastic. However maybe there's different grades of polymer - I don't know.

 

I also just got my order in for a steel mag from CSSPECS.

 

This Saiga forum has been a big help all around. Thanks again to all.

 

 

I'm hearing you clear Rhodes1968.

 

I received my CSSPECS all-steel 20rd mag yesterday. I successfully dry-cycled(?) two full mags. It has a solid mag body. I do not have the knowledge to judge but a couple of parts of it seem rather thin - front end of the follower and the mag floor. CSSPECS has done a fairly good job of smoothing out some points and edges to minimize catching on stuff. It's got a nice finish but it's not pretty; then again my Glock's not pretty either. I have to admit I am biast towards polymer. Whoever's biast towards steel needs to buy and try at least one of these. Of course I still need to field test it along with the Surefire I bought.

 

I like that the CSSPECS steel mag doesn't have a BHO feature and I see how ingeniously a little piece of steel holds the back end of the follower down so it doesn't act like the BHO on the Surefire. I don't think I can jerry-rig something like that on the Surefire because of steel's advantage of being thinner. I am a little nervous about grinding down a part of the backend of the surefire follower for fear($40+ worth) the round might not rest properly on it. Has anybody tried this?

 

 

You can ramp the follower all you want, odds are the bolt with quickly dig through the plastic rather then push it down. The factory 8 round saiga follower has stops built into it to keep it out of the way of the bolt, if they are gone your bolt will often damage the follower quickly. I'd suspect that will happen with any poly mag.

 

For my mags. Yes the front of the follower is thin, its only there to keep stuff from falling in the body. The floor plate is made of 22 gauge steel roughly the same as an AK mag, it is large so it does flex a little but in testing took something like 4 blows with a hammer to remove. I'd like to hear how the feild tests go.

 

Thanks

Mike

 

 

Well I think I will grind down to a slope the backend of the metal BHO plug on my surefire mag follower. My reasoning is that the second-to-last round scrapes over the polymer top of the follower anyway, as the bolt pushes it into the chamber, right?. The wear and tear is minimal. So the wear and tear will double up because the bolt is doing the same. Hopefully the net result will also be minimal. Wish me luck and I will keep y'all posted. :super:

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Ok. I dremeled it down with the slope ending about 40% of the way up the metal BHO. The bolt hand-cycles very smoothly like the BHO is not even there. I did that some 15 times. I dry-cycled 4 rounds without a hitch. No wear and tear on the top polymer part of the follower.

 

It'll be a blue moon before I get out there and rack up some worthwhile firing time. I'll let y'all know when I do and the results.

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  • 1 year later...

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