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cutting down barrel


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hey everybody, new here and will be getting a 24" s12 shipped in sometime next week and was wanting to cut it down to 18.5. Do y'all have any tips on cutting the barrel? such as what to use, pipe cutter? hacksaw? grinder? I am aware that I am probably gonna have to do some work with the ports as most all the 24"s have 2 ports, any tips on that?

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Might want to reconsider cutting it and buy a 19" with a threaded barrel instead. My first saiga was a 24" someone cut down and not being able to use a choke really drove me crazy. Plus if you cut down a 24" gun you will always have the markings on the receiver that say it was a 24" gun with whatever standard choke (full I think) was on it if you can live with that.

Edited by setlab
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There was an almost identical thread recently. If I'm not mistaken, a pipe cutter was used for the cut with very gradual tightening, so as not to collapse the end of the barrel.

 

Just my .02, but if you are cutting the barrel down anyway and know you have work to do on the ports, why don't you cut it down further (14.5"ish) and permanently attach a nice 4" break to bring it up to your 18.5" target length?

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Ive never cut down a barrel, but you could make a jig that would hold your barrel and provide a slot to cut your bbl square. then take files and give it a crown, similar to the way it came from the factory (although I dont believe it to be necessary to have a rounded edge/crown, but at a minimum, i would still take the sandpaper and lightly polish to remove burrs and keep the chrome from flaking) . polish with 800-1000 grt sandpaper. Get with EvlBlkWpns here on the forum. He made a post about exactly what you want to do. You can go down to 18", but allow yourself some room as precationary, and also so that if you have to, you can square up the face with files if you happen to cut crooked. Me personally, I wouldnt go below 18 1/8".

 

For the ports, if yours only has 2, then add another port within the hole allocated by the gas block. When you take off your gas block for the first time, you will notice a black circle on the bbl that encompases the gas ports. All of your ports should be within that circle. Start by using a small drill bit, maybe 1/16 or a little larger to get started. My technique is to start straight up and down to get started and once the bit starts to bite, the change angle to 45 degrees. Make sure that your added port isnt going to be to close to the others so that it will create one giant port (not good). Use a 3/32, .093" drill bit to complete opening the port. Also go through the existing ports with the 3/32 drill bit. Ports should look like a triangle. while your at it, now would be a good time to look if your gas block is partially covering any of the ports. if you look at the barrel, if any of your holes are partially or fully outside that circle that i mentioned earlier, then you need to enlarge the hole in the gas block to look like the letter "D", with the flat edge facing the gas block threads. If you have to do this, do not enlarge the hole to the point it breaks into the area just after the threads. If you look at the gas block, youll see what Im talking about. If the holes are withing that circle, leave the gas block alone. Hope this helps. If you have questions, just pm me.

 

ETA: More Info that I left out of original post.

Edited by sapper1371usmc
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thanks azrial, good info in that thread too...looks like i'm going to be using the pipe cutter going slow and light method...the plan for now is to get it down to ~18.5 and the gas system fully operational, then cutting a little further and permanently attaching a poly-choke

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