Dubya308 1 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I received my new 16" Saiga .308 today and immediately began the conversion process. I got through some of it but I am stuck not knowing quite what to do in a couple of areas. First, I saw a video that shows pins that have to be removed for the old firing group. Mine did not have pins in the old locations. They were already located in the new locations with what I have to believe is a different firing group than the old rifles. I was able to bang the rear pin out to the point that it is now partially out but cocked to one side inside the receiver. It seems to be stuck because it has a good bit of stress on it from the trigger group being cocked to one side. I can no longer get a punch on the end of the pin to continue striking it and not enough of the pin head is showing to grab it and attempt to pull it out??? For the front pin, I have beat and beat on it and it refuses to budge more than just a little bit. I have been unable to drive it down into the receiver. I am a little scared to hit it any harder. Any advice? Could there be something that I am missing? The bottom plate has gone ok so far. I was able to grind the front and rear rivets down and break them loose. My rifle does not have a 3rd rivet but a couple of little tack welds near the trigger. I have broken the plate off except in the area around those tack welds. What is the best way to handle that? Should I drill the welds out? Sorry for all the questions but I am bit exasperated with this so far and really could use some help. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mullet Man 2,114 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 STOP! Wait for some good advice. I have never owned a 308 but i do know that you should not be driving any FCG pins out with a punch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 get some pics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
biskitz 24 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Well, there is a spring/wire that is running along the side of the reciever where you are trying to beat them out from. This wire holds the pins in. Take a pair of needle nose and find that wire running along the pins and pull it out. I also like to pull the hammer spring tails up to the hammer and use a bread tie to hold them all up together. This takes the stress off of the hammer pin. If you aren't certain what you are doing, stop and put the hammer away. Someone smart will come along and make it clear for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
haugpatr 972 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 You need to remove the hammer ands trigger parts. There will be some sort of retaining pin holding holding the pins in. There are no rear hoes like other saiga's have, you will notice the trigger is different. Hope you didn't screw anything up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TJohn 8 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I ground the tack welds with a dremel on my .308, I thought the sporter plate was tougher to gett off on the .308 than any of the other calibers that I did ( just seemed that the .223, 5.45 and 7.62 sporter plates were easier to remove). Look inside the receiver and see if you can get hold of the shepherds crook/retaining spring with a pair of needle nose pliers. It should be on the left side of the receiver when looking in form the buttstock end, it should come right out considering you have one of the pins that far out already. You want to save these two pins because you will reuse them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dubya308 1 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thanks for the tips guys. Finally got the fire control group stuff out. Didn't do any damage that a little paint can't fix. What a PITA. I was also able to grind down the tack welds and remove the rest of the bottom plate. I will work on it some more tomorrow evening. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LtDan 4 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 If you are palnning on keep the bolt hold device the trick on the spring is to slight bend the short side about 1/8 " from the end down and the long side at 1/8" from the end up slightly. To install I use 30 lb test braided fishing line. A piece of line about a foot long put the line through the loop of the spring tie the line so you have a loop. Take the long end of the line and slide it down beside the lever and the receiver and pull it so it hangs out the bottom of the rcvr. Grasp the loop and carefully pull it down and toward the front. With trigger pin in sight through the hole pull the loop so you can see the bottom of the wire loop. The spring loop has to be below the hole for the trigger pin to go into place. It takes a few attempts to get it but the fishing line technique is the easiest way I've found. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dubya308 1 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 It seems that there is a lot of different and/or conflicting information on the web about these conversions. Carolina Shooters Supply shows that I will need to grind some material off the safety when I install the new trigger. Is that correct or is that only for the shotguns? It also says that I may have to take some off the side of the hammer in order for it to fit in the receive and move freely. Is that also something I will need to do? Thanks again for all the help and tips. I have worked on cars and motorcycles in the past but I have never torn into a firearm like this. Feeling a little intimidated. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
G O B 3,516 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 STOP!! Go to the .308 forum and READ, The .308 does not have the same fire control group as the other rifles. There are no pins to drill out. There ARE however other issues. These have been addressed very well in the forums. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dubya308 1 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 STOP!! Go to the .308 forum and READ, The .308 does not have the same fire control group as the other rifles. There are no pins to drill out. There ARE however other issues. These have been addressed very well in the forums. I didn't drill the pins out so I am good. It was the shepherd's hook/crook that had me struggling. Once I got it out of the way I was able to get the axles out but they were still a bear. I am at the point now where I need to cleanup the bottom of the receiver a bit, drill my trigger guard holes, paint and start reassembly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TJohn 8 Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 It seems that there is a lot of different and/or conflicting information on the web about these conversions. Carolina Shooters Supply shows that I will need to grind some material off the safety when I install the new trigger. Is that correct or is that only for the shotguns? It also says that I may have to take some off the side of the hammer in order for it to fit in the receive and move freely. Is that also something I will need to do? Thanks again for all the help and tips. I have worked on cars and motorcycles in the past but I have never torn into a firearm like this. Feeling a little intimidated. Mine is a 2009 .308 Saiga and I did not have to mess with the safetywhen I did my conversion on it. Everything went back together ok.. I thought that was more of a problem with the older production .308's but I could be wrong on that, but I haven't seen that issue come up that much in a whle.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dubya308 1 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 Mine is a 2009 .308 Saiga and I did not have to mess with the safetywhen I did my conversion on it. Everything went back together ok.. I thought that was more of a problem with the older production .308's but I could be wrong on that, but I haven't seen that issue come up that much in a whle.. That is good to hear. Maybe I can get this thing completed over the weekend. Looks like the only risky work I have left is drilling holes for my trigger guard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dubya308 1 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Thanks so much for the tips guys. I struggled a lot but I completed my conversion late last night. Had to do some grinding on the side of my hammer in order to get my bolt back in. I found some information about that on some other threads here. It also appears that I have the safety problem and need to add a little material to my safety. Unfortunately I don't weld and will have to find someone to help me out with that. All in all I am pleased with the results. However, I am glad I didn't know how much would be involved in this job before I began because I probably never would have attempted it. Glad I did! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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