phyregod 1 Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Finally received my saiga 12 from Bud's Gun shop today. Took it out of the box, did an inspection. From what I can see from the gas plug side it looks like I got a three port. Checked out the certificate book and it has a factory dated inspection of 6-22-11. It is an EEA saiga (I thought those were the older ones??) Everything looks good! Anyway, I fitted my surefire 12 round and grabbed a few boxes of ammo and headed straight to the range! Tried federal bulk walmart ammo 7.5 shot, setting one. FTE all 5 rounds. No surprise there, of course.. Moved the selector to setting two, and viola. Instant smooth running shotgun! Ran through two boxes of federal and only had one ftf. (caught on the sharp edge near the ejector, easy to tune out of the gun) Everything else ejected smooth and ran like a champ! I also tried the remington bulk wal-mart ammo 7.5 shot. It had a FTE every 10th round or so. Cooked a box of it. So there we have it. A brand new, unmodified, straight out of the box Saiga 12 that cycles federal bird shot almost flawlessly. I'm giggle happy. Time to tear it apart and fix it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eganx 4 Posted November 30, 2011 Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 Nice......I got my 2011 a few weeks back. Only had two gas ports that were .076 in diameter.....so before I even shot it I converted it and added a third port at .082. took it out and it would cycle the cheap is you held it tightly into your shoulder, but if it was held loosely it would FTF. I fixed it with some polishing and reshaping the hammer a bit. Could you shoot from the hip or shoot with a loose grip and still have the gun function? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phyregod 1 Posted November 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2011 (edited) Yes, fired every which way, had some serious fun with it. Like I said, though, it did fte some of the remmy ammo. The fed worked great! Another pleasant surprise was my surefire 12 round mag holds 13 rounds. With a locked open bolt I can load 13, snap the action shut and have 12+1. No hassle of hand feeding the first round and trying to snap in a full clip on a closed bolt. Good job to surefire on that design. Edited November 30, 2011 by phyregod Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reacher 14 Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 I had the same experience with my 2011. On #2 gas port setting it just loves the Federal Bulk. Congrats on the new gun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phyregod 1 Posted December 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 (edited) Just an update. Finally got around to ordering some parts and tearing this gun apart.. Posting here to sort of catalog what I've done. Bits and pieces: CSS saiga 12 bolt on trigger guard & Safety stop (Billet aluminum, nice piece) Saiga 12 modified Bold Hold Open (Much thicker than original piece.. Had to further mod the hammer for clearance) Tapco G2 Double hook trigger group Internal receiver block / stock adapter Axis pin retaining plate Gun mods thus far: Cut off rear tang flush Elongated front trigger guard bolt hole 1/8th inch to accept css trigger guard Opened all screw holes to 3/16" Cut second notch for tapco double hook Notched Bolt Hold Open for BHO spring retention Polished trigger contact points re-profiled and mirror polished hammer friction areas re-profiled and mirror polished bolt (Friction areas only, no bling) Dimpled reciever for upper safety stop. (Light stop just short of falling off of the receiver) Re-painted bottom of receiver. To paint the receiver, I used Dupli-color High performance wheel coating in satin black. This paint is tough, UV stable, chip resistant, chemical resistant, solvent resistant, and heat resistant. And does not require baking. I see no reason that this stuff won't work well. Time shall tell. I taped the lines right in the middle of the curve of the receiver and blended with 2000 grit. Looks great and I was able to keep the factory finish on 90% of the gun. Unless you are doing a very close inspection, you would never know. Easy and cheap at $8 a can. After 7 days it will be fully cured and I'll finish it out and hit it with a few different gun cleaning solvents and see how it does. Ordered a tapco saw grip and it was aweful. Ordered a Hogue 74010 grip and it is back-ordered... waiting for it to show up. Still shopping around for a decent foregrip. Not fond of plastic fore-grips and not fond of quad rails. Seems like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I might get a chaos and mill off the side rails.. that could work. Still shopping for a ghost ring sight setup but that is stalled until I can find a proper foregrip. Depends on which grip as to which sight setup I go for. Currently looking for a good deal on a DPH skeleton stock! Feel free to PM me if you can cut me a deal on one. I also have for sale or trade all the bits and pieces left over from the conversion. Factory stock & screws, forearm, trigger guard, trigger group, factory BHO, springs, misc.. All in like-new condition. I took the gun to the range one time to verify proper operation, then tore it down. Edited December 30, 2011 by phyregod Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Groovy Mike 36 Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Conrats on getting one that runs out of the box! Sweet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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