How fussy is the Saiga on .308 ammo?

[vintagedude88 16]

I've had the rifle for some time and so far all I've put in it were new manufactured box ammo like American Eagle, Winchester white box, and Fiocchi.

 

I recently picked up some cheap bulk Yugo ammo locally. It was all loose in a box and many of it looks dirty like its been in an ammo can for 20years. I figured this would be okay to plink with.

 

My line of thought was that since the Saiga is an AK variant, its durability and reliability would mean that it can shoot just about any .308 ammo you can put into it. Am I wrong on this? Please assure me or correct me.

[WTSherman 0]

If anything can shoot the ammo, the Saiga can. This is a supremely reliable rifle. If something doesn't fire right its likely the ammo.

 

I've fired many rounds of primarily Silver Bear, Winchester, various surplus, never had the slightest problem with loading or firing this rifle.

Edited November 22, 2010 by WTSherman

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

Its a fucking AK... Abuse it... It'll eat anything... Seriously.

[DrGonZo 157]

It does get a little finicky with some of the heavier grain bullet weights(over 170). If you try to shoot 180gr. round nose, you might experience some feed issues or they might not fit in the mags.

[oxyehho 8]

it chews on anything i feed it. the worst i used was late 70s israeli surplus and except where the rust was so bad the rounds just wouldn't feed, it went boom every time.

[DrThunder88 912]

Mine is finicky about ammo in terms of accuracy but not reliability.

[vintagedude88 16]

Mine is finicky about ammo in terms of accuracy but not reliability.

 

Fair enough. That is to be expected. Whats the worse MOA I could get as a result of ammo?

[Ruffian72 548]

I reflex shoot, 16 to 32oz size bottles or pop up spinner type targets out to 100 yrds. What i believe the weapon was designed for. Use all types ammo. Usually Russian steel case or brass surplus. Get a bad primer ounce in awhile in the steel case. Good practice in quick clearance drill. Before knee gave out for the last time I ran combat courses. Used nato brass surplus. Weapon is a Red Jacket build. P.S. Had Will build a Vepr to same specs as Saiga and to use Saiga Mags. Vepr only weighed 3 oz more.

[SomethingEZ 5]

I shot some crap arab brass cased ammo the other day and was minute of man out to 500 with it. With the occasional flier. And the ammo was absolute crap. You could feel and hear the difference in the report and recoil. EVERY round fed flawlessly.

Edited November 25, 2010 by SomethingEZ

[RobRez 1,895]

Mine is finicky about ammo in terms of accuracy but not reliability.

 

Fair enough. That is to be expected. Whats the worse MOA I could get as a result of ammo?

 

The worst groups I have had with cheapo ammo is probably a 5" group at 100 yards. I could keep my shots on the 6" shoot-n-see target all day long though....so I think that is pretty darn good.

[kresk 10,063]

The S-308 like any other rifle will tend to prefer certain bullet weights and powder loads so far as accuracy goes. Each gun tends to have its own individual 'personality' in this regard. The one I've tested with various ammo prefers the 148 grain or so military ammo greatly over the commercial 168 grain stuff for bolt .308's. I used a fluted and free floated barrel and was able to achieve a little over one minute angle, using a Russian POSP scope.

[Rhodes1968 1,638]

The Saiga seems to love anything short of rocks. I do suggest using only ~150g as noted above I did have some few problems with 180 also and the accuracy at 100yds left me unimpressed. So anything you want long as you stay in that "standard" 150g size. Save the 180g for bolties they work much better there.

[cbo 0]

 

This is what I shot today @ 100yds in 63 degrees, medium rain, and mild wind, with WOLF!... Polished bolt & carrier and standard conversion are only mods. I look forward to dialing in what it really likes load-wise and finding space to see what it does at 3-500yds. I have a feeling torso groups wont be too big a problem.

[cbo 0]

also, not one feed problem...

[Unknown Poster 5]

I been using the south african 308 ball FMJ surplus ammo and its given us 1 1/2" groups at 100yds benchrested. Some guys on another forum are getting 1/2" MOA's with better quality ammo.

 

When my 308 saiga was new the 4 of us hammered it hoping it would fail but it never did no matter how hard we pushed it.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Unknown Poster

[DrThunder88 912]

That I find hard to believe, but I would like to see it. Any links or pictures?

[ryan6864 11]

mine will eat anything