Saiga Blues

[abra-cadaver 3]

I posted on here when I did my pistol grip restoration. That stuff was easy and went off without a hitch.

Then the time came to rock and roll with ak mags.Installing the bullet guide has been a nightmare.

For reference I bought mine from CSS. I put the bullet guide in,lined it up and marked the hole. then I superglued a nut on the mark to hold my drill bit in place.

I managed to drill through the trunion with the supplied bit with no problem. I even managed to tap the hole easily and without incident... but then when I went to put the bullet guide in the hole was a lil bit further back than the hole in the guide. It wasnt off by much so I just filed a little off the recessed side of the guide and got the damn screw in. Now the trouble in paradise truly begins. My bolt was catching on the screw top. So I decided to torqe that fucker down has hard as I could...well I managed to strip out my new threads.Now the screw can be pushed in and pulled out and only spins in place.Not one to give up I found a nut that mated with the screw and after much wiggling and cursing got the nut between the trunion and the reciver onto the screw. However the bolt contact problem is still there. So I try to get the screw back out, but the nut is on crooked and wont let go. I end up stripping out the head of the screw now.The bullet guide seems to be in there pretty solid, and I dont seem to have a way to get it out, so I drilled the head of the screw flat.

I dunno if there is still contact with the bolt now, the bolt seems to close when I let the carrier fly without a mag,but Im afraid to do this with a loaded mag for safetys sake

in the house. Letting the bolt go has hard as I dare off the range its not quite closing. Hopefull when I get her to the range and test this gun out everything will be alright. In which case I will just reinforce the current install with some jb weld.But if not Im gonna be lost. Then theres my mags, I got 2 east german mags from the gunshow, one of em has a small dent in the side that freezes the follower. I didnt notice it till I got home, and I cant seem to get that steel to move at all with a screw driver pressing inside and I dunno how Im gonna fix it. Im feeling kinda blue about all this, but I just gotta keep telling myself it will work out.

[saigafreake 27]

get some dummy rounds or take out the firing pin.

[liver eater 0]

I posted on here when I did my pistol grip restoration. That stuff was easy and went off without a hitch.

Then the time came to rock and roll with ak mags.Installing the bullet guide has been a nightmare.

For reference I bought mine from CSS. I put the bullet guide in,lined it up and marked the hole. then I superglued a nut on the mark to hold my drill bit in place.

I managed to drill through the trunion with the supplied bit with no problem. I even managed to tap the hole easily and without incident... but then when I went to put the bullet guide in the hole was a lil bit further back than the hole in the guide. It wasnt off by much so I just filed a little off the recessed side of the guide and got the damn screw in. Now the trouble in paradise truly begins. My bolt was catching on the screw top. So I decided to torqe that fucker down has hard as I could...well I managed to strip out my new threads.Now the screw can be pushed in and pulled out and only spins in place.Not one to give up I found a nut that mated with the screw and after much wiggling and cursing got the nut between the trunion and the reciver onto the screw. However the bolt contact problem is still there. So I try to get the screw back out, but the nut is on crooked and wont let go. I end up stripping out the head of the screw now.The bullet guide seems to be in there pretty solid, and I dont seem to have a way to get it out, so I drilled the head of the screw flat.

I dunno if there is still contact with the bolt now, the bolt seems to close when I let the carrier fly without a mag,but Im afraid to do this with a loaded mag for safetys sake

in the house. Letting the bolt go has hard as I dare off the range its not quite closing. Hopefull when I get her to the range and test this gun out everything will be alright. In which case I will just reinforce the current install with some jb weld.But if not Im gonna be lost. Then theres my mags, I got 2 east german mags from the gunshow, one of em has a small dent in the side that freezes the follower. I didnt notice it till I got home, and I cant seem to get that steel to move at all with a screw driver pressing inside and I dunno how Im gonna fix it. Im feeling kinda blue about all this, but I just gotta keep telling myself it will work out.

 

A bullet guide nightmare happened to me too, I used a dinzag bullet guide but drilled the hole to far forward as my bit slipped, what a nightmare, I wish I wouldn't of tried and bought the stock saiga mags instead. I took it off and sold that saiga. I like the s12 but stick with non neutered aks now.

[icefire 10]

I posted on here when I did my pistol grip restoration. That stuff was easy and went off without a hitch.

Then the time came to rock and roll with ak mags.Installing the bullet guide has been a nightmare.

For reference I bought mine from CSS. I put the bullet guide in,lined it up and marked the hole. then I superglued a nut on the mark to hold my drill bit in place.

I managed to drill through the trunion with the supplied bit with no problem. I even managed to tap the hole easily and without incident... but then when I went to put the bullet guide in the hole was a lil bit further back than the hole in the guide. It wasnt off by much so I just filed a little off the recessed side of the guide and got the damn screw in. Now the trouble in paradise truly begins. My bolt was catching on the screw top. So I decided to torqe that fucker down has hard as I could...well I managed to strip out my new threads.Now the screw can be pushed in and pulled out and only spins in place.Not one to give up I found a nut that mated with the screw and after much wiggling and cursing got the nut between the trunion and the reciver onto the screw. However the bolt contact problem is still there. So I try to get the screw back out, but the nut is on crooked and wont let go. I end up stripping out the head of the screw now.The bullet guide seems to be in there pretty solid, and I dont seem to have a way to get it out, so I drilled the head of the screw flat.

I dunno if there is still contact with the bolt now, the bolt seems to close when I let the carrier fly without a mag,but Im afraid to do this with a loaded mag for safetys sake

in the house. Letting the bolt go has hard as I dare off the range its not quite closing. Hopefull when I get her to the range and test this gun out everything will be alright. In which case I will just reinforce the current install with some jb weld.But if not Im gonna be lost. Then theres my mags, I got 2 east german mags from the gunshow, one of em has a small dent in the side that freezes the follower. I didnt notice it till I got home, and I cant seem to get that steel to move at all with a screw driver pressing inside and I dunno how Im gonna fix it. Im feeling kinda blue about all this, but I just gotta keep telling myself it will work out.

 

A bullet guide nightmare happened to me too, I used a dinzag bullet guide but drilled the hole to far forward as my bit slipped, what a nightmare, I wish I wouldn't of tried and bought the stock saiga mags instead. I took it off and sold that saiga. I like the s12 but stick with non neutered aks now.

 

Same thing happened to me. I was careful, marked it well, tried to centerpunch it but couldnt get anything to even dent it, got impatient to install it anyway, so drilled on my mark, and when I was thru, the hole for the BG was too far forward. So, I messed up and drilled another one right next to it further out. Bad move. The holes broke thru together, leaving me with a 'figure 8' shaped hole. BUT, I figured it out before I ruined the gun, I threaded the outside hole as well as I could, filed down the threads slightly on the screw so it would thread in, and used JB weld to hold the screw tight in the hole, and on the bottom of the BG, after roughing up the bottom of the BG and the trunnion with a file. And, after a bit of filing the BG edge to get rounds to feed, it works great! You cant seee the extra hole as its under the BG, it has shot hundreds of rounds without any problems, and the BG is still very tight, rock-solid. You can mess up installing a BG and still fix it, so you dont need to sell the gun if that happens...

Edited March 24, 2010 by icefire

[my762buzz 141]

Here is a simple way to prevent a wandering drill bit. Crazy glue a nut to the trunnion. The it keeps the bit from wandering. A little break parts cleaner

will unglue the nut after your done. It works perfect.

 

[Frankyoz 15]

Wow I cant beleive the problems people have had with this DYI project. I suggest weld if you can and if not GO SLOWLY AND TAKE YOUR TIME. I see a common denominator in these threads is "I got impatient." Anyway I am sure you can work it out even the mag issue if not heck surplus mags arent expensive and bad mags are bound to happen dont sweat it.

[abra-cadaver 3]

Thanks for the replies guys, its good to know Im not alone. I did use the super glued nut trick. My hole was just a tiny bit off probbably due to my making too large a mark. I only had to file a hair to fix it. My main issue was the bolt not closing as documented in this thread. Here I decided to try and torque that screw down hard, and I broke my threads. I think I will get a new flat head screw with bigger threads and retap the hole. Either way I know im gonna get this resolved, and I will know better next time. Mags are not expensive, but 15 dollars probbably means more to me than most. I think I will do like they do on cars, I will drill a hole in the dent, and pull it out. Then fill the new hole with some jb weld.

[leadslinger 37]

I had the same problem with the button head screw getting in the way. I just used red loctite to scure in place then filed the head of the screw to get the clearance. took my time with small file. funtions perfeclty.

Edited March 24, 2010 by leadslinger

[saigafreake 27]

this is why i make my own bullet guides no way my whole can be off.

[eric1785 15]

So they are selling kits with bolts that do not work? I just bought a guide kit if it is hitting the bolt and not closing im gonna be pissed off like no other.

[leadslinger 37]

the head of the screw doesn't make contact with the bolt but it does rub on the rounds and the catches the end of the round keeping the bolt open. that is what happened with mine. I figured rather than go to the hardware store or call retailer i just filed it down. No big deal. I don't know if it what a mistake in packaging in supplying me with a button head screw instead of a flat head but it really was not an issue.

Edited March 24, 2010 by leadslinger

[BobAsh 582]

I've seen lots of them that were welded in place through the screw hole. Not the cleanest method but I would trust it functionally.

 

It would take a pretty good welder to do though.

[xflowinA3 12]

I had the same problem, I just just ground the top of the screw down making sure to leave enough of the hex slot to get a bit in and ttighten it. Works flawlessy for 500 rounds and counting.

[eric1785 15]

Well shit, now i dont know what to think, if i should even install it with the bolt or just do something different. Why would they sell them if this happens?

[leadslinger 37]

ecric1785

 

Don't let this thread discourage you. It sounds worse than it really is. I think it is the most efficient and effective way to get the job done. Really all the work has been done for you and the kits come with drill and tap included. If you need to file the head it only takes a few minutes with a small file. Having access to a drill press will make it even easier. The hardest part for me was getting the tap started. The tip of the tap wouldn't bit hard enough and i had to put more downward pressure then i thought. Once its started, You really have to take your time with it so you don't snap it and use some kind of oil. Twist in to cut a little bit then back it out a bit to clean tap then twist in to cut then back out to clean etc. until its through. If you have never done this before i would suggest testing it out on another piece of junk metal so you get a feel for the process. it is PIA if you snap the tap in the hole.

[eric1785 15]

If it is this common they need to add that to their info when you go to buy it. I just got my kit with everything yesterday so ill be doing this soon.

[abra-cadaver 3]

If it is this common they need to add that to their info when you go to buy it. I just got my kit with everything yesterday so ill be doing this soon.

I agree they need to change the screw they include with the kit. However a 6-32 threaded flat head screw is pretty damn cheap. My mistake was trying to fix it before I did some homework. Your going into your install knowing about this potential issue, so your ahead there.

[liver eater 0]

Well shit, now i dont know what to think, if i should even install it with the bolt or just do something different. Why would they sell them if this happens?

 

You could just get an ak like a mak 90 or yugo or something, they are not all messed up and needing someone to work on them, they just work.

I finally see the light when it comes to this, and it was after my bullet guide thing happened.

So now I still like the S12 but wouldn't buy a 39 that cant just take reg mags out of the box, and has a fake trigger.