1/2" MOA's and better????

[Unknown Poster 5]

Your shooting these awesome tight groups with your saiga in 308win like 1/2" moa's and better. My question is how much work was done on your saiga to get it to shoot this kind of accuracy?? Or is it out of the box stock in its orginal condition? I heard rumors that these saiga's had work done on them to shoot this kind of accuracy. YES or NO ??? UNKP

[Rhodes1968 1,638]

Most Ive seen are from people doing reloading with some having success with the lighter 110g-125g bullets with slightly hot loads, over 2700fps.

If you can "dial-in" the ammo, accuracy always improves significantly since every rifle is always different.

I get fairly good results from Remington Core-lokt 150g PSP (great hunting/SHTF load btw), right at 2MOA +/- 0.5 likely due to conditions and if I am in the Zen zone.

Just expensive stuff to shoot so mostly its Russian steel or good old NATO MEN surplus at about, 3MOA less if I am shooting well.

 

Biggest thing is not to do anything to hurt the accuracy like cheap muzzle attachments or harming the crown. Sighting changes can help tremendously, I prefer aperture irons because its what Ive always known.

Some of these guys are just good marksmen, yes I am jealous. But seriously the shooter is always where the real improvement lay. That means lots of range time on that rifle.

 

You can get barrel work done etc for a whole lot of money. I find that akin to turning a Ford F250 into a race car. You can do it but why not just buy a race car.

 

Interested in seeing what lengths some have gone to though.

[SOPMOD 254]

I'm not even close to that kind of accuracy with my Saiga 308. I imagine I'd need to change barrels, square the bolt and trunnion and develop a perfected load for it to get into the 1in territory much less 1/2 MOA.

 

I am hovering between 1.69 and 2.27 inches with it's favorite ammo so far and if the barrel heats up the flyers start coming and open it up to 3 inches.

 

The good news is that even with that accuracy I can still get COM hits to 580 yards every time.

[lbsrdi 1,078]

How do the short barrels match up side by side with the 22"? Is there much difference?

[psl sniper 963]

How do the short barrels match up side by side with the 22"? Is there much difference?

i dont know. i havent even put a single rnd through mine yet! . i jumped right into the conversion... .

was too excited about another project. well see how it shoots when im done i guess.

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

I'm not even close to that kind of accuracy with my Saiga 308...

 

I am hovering between 1.69 and 2.27 inches with it's favorite ammo so far and if the barrel heats up the flyers start coming and open it up to 3 inches...

 

Same here, (typical of a factory S-308, from what I've seen).

 

...The good news is that even with that accuracy I can still get COM hits to 580 yards every time.

 

I think a lot of people lose sight of this. The S-308 does not and was never meant to approach the accuracy of a bolt-gun. The trade-off for less than perfect accuracy is incredible durability, relibility, and the ability to fire just as fast as the trigger is pulled. It's a battle rifle, not a bench-rest competition gun.

 

Don't agonize over trying to force it to be everything; Kalashnikov semi-auto and sub-MOA, cause it just ain't gonna happen.

[Scott Kenny 144]

I'd honestly question anyone claiming 1/2 MOA groups out of *ANY* semi-auto. M1 Garand, 1 MOA with a good rifle/good shooter, 1.5 MOA for the average. M14 (or even an accurized M21), about the same. Even the spec for a Dragunov or PSL is roughly 1 MOA (I think it's actually phrased as 'better than 1 1/4 MOA').

 

Now, if you took some time and found/rolled a load that your rifle likes, you can probably cut down from a 4+ MOA to 2 MOA, but a good shooter is not likely to be better than that.

 

Now, just to be obnoxious: Say your target zone is an 8" circle (human head/vitals, also IPSC plate-rack standard). A 4 MOA rifle's max range to hit within that 8" circle is 200 yards. A 1 MOA rifle's max range to hit that 8" circle is 800 yards. My PSL seems to run 1.5 MOA, so I could take a shot at an 8" circle and expect to hit somewhere within it at ranges up to about 530 yards. 'Minute of Bad Guy' gives a roughly 18" target, so that same 1.5 MOA rifle could still hit at 1200 yards (assuming the shooter was competent in all cases)

[Rhodes1968 1,638]

How do the short barrels match up side by side with the 22"? Is there much difference?

 

Typically short barrels(16") are more accurate from a standing or non-supported position and longer barrels(21") more accurate any other time. A compromise of 18" is worth a look in particular if you are going to work on the barrel anyway.

[lbsrdi 1,078]

How do the short barrels match up side by side with the 22"? Is there much difference?

 

Typically short barrels(16") are more accurate from a standing or non-supported position and longer barrels(21") more accurate any other time. A compromise of 18" is worth a look in particular if you are going to work on the barrel anyway.

I am having the barrel threaded and can not decide what length I want the barrel. I have thought about 18". My question would be is there going to be any noticeable accuracy increase from 16" to 18"? Thanks for any input.

[Rhodes1968 1,638]

Powder burn is more complete, less fireball and noise, a bit more fps, and longer sight radius, its a good compromise. The M-14 used a 20" IIRC as does the M1A so 18-19" makes it easier to handle without getting too short. Remember you can always shorten a barrel but making one longer is a bit tough.

[lbsrdi 1,078]

All good points, I may just go with 18".