What ammo do you prefer in your saiga12?

[Mohawk Bob 26]

Being fairly new to the world of saiga I was wanting to know what some of the long time owners prefer to use in their gun. I have less than 300 round thru mine and 100 of them were the Walmart value bullshit which was before I added a reliability kit. As I am sure others have encounter, low brass doesn't work so well. Since that I been running Super X #4's and they have worked perfectly. I have yet to run low brass since I installed the kit and was look to do a bulk purchase so I was wondering what would be a good buy.

[YOT 3,743]

It all depends on what I plan on doing with it. Just showing off I prefer the cheapest I can get, hunting turkeys would be something a whole lot more powerful, HD mag goes in loaded with FIOCCI #4 buckshot (or larger)......

 

Can't comment on the low brass kit, being I thought that was a waste of money and made my gun reliable without un-needed parts.

[KennyFSU 249]

For the range/plinking, I always use Federal #8 bird shot.

[Mohawk Bob 26]

It all depends on what I plan on doing with it. Just showing off I prefer the cheapest I can get, hunting turkeys would be something a whole lot more powerful, HD mag goes in loaded with FIOCCI #4 buckshot (or larger)......

 

Can't comment on the low brass kit, being I thought that was a waste of money and made my gun reliable without un-needed parts.

 

 

yea, now that I have been reading up on some of this stuff in the post I am reconsidering my purchase. I am new at this and have very little experience with working on guns. I think I am going to get a auto plug and maybe a tapco puc and see how I like that setup. Thanks.

[shoot2thrillu 10]

i reload my ammo so i go for most bang for my buck. currently shooting 7/8 loads of number 8 1/2 shot. they moving at around 1300+fps though.

 

your gun is going to throw up a certain spread so no matter how much lead you throw at a target its still going to hit it. plus i can load more shells by doing a light load and lets face it im going to shoot the shit out of something when i go shooting and i atleast like to do a drum dump and some mag dumps before i leave so i can smell my hot gun on the way home

 

give me a +1 for the lovely smell of a hot gun on a saturday morning. hmmmmm so good i ALMOST pop a wood

[Mohawk Bob 26]

i reload my ammo so i go for most bang for my buck. currently shooting 7/8 loads of number 8 1/2 shot. they moving at around 1300+fps though.

 

your gun is going to throw up a certain spread so no matter how much lead you throw at a target its still going to hit it. plus i can load more shells by doing a light load and lets face it im going to shoot the shit out of something when i go shooting and i atleast like to do a drum dump and some mag dumps before i leave so i can smell my hot gun on the way home

 

give me a +1 for the lovely smell of a hot gun on a saturday morning. hmmmmm so good i ALMOST pop a wood

 

 

 

Ain't nothing like the smell of a freshly fired gun!!!!

 

Good thing I got some loose fitting shorts right now.

[RED333 1,025]

I reload slug and "00" I shoot a bit, other than that, bout anything I want.

[shoot2thrillu 10]

I reload slug and "00" I shoot a bit, other than that, bout anything I want.

 

 

where you get your lead?

[corbin 621]

Welcome to the forum Bob.

 

As others have said, "It depends on what you want to do with it". We should understand that the Saiga was never originally intended to shoot the light loads we have here in the States. It was made for COMBAT, and as such, would likely fire buckshot or slugs. However, mine will fire pretty much anything NOW.

 

For just messing around at the range, I like the cheapest stuff I can find. Usually that means bulk Federal or reloads (still getting the hang of reloading). For home defense or hunting anything larger than a rabbit, obviously, you'll want something a bit heavier. I wouldn't go less than number 4 buck. Try different brands and shot sizes and see what patterns best with your particular shotgun. You'll probably find one that your gun likes best.

[RED333 1,025]

I reload slug and "00" I shoot a bit, other than that, bout anything I want.

 

 

where you get your lead?

I buy some, get some from tire shops and remelt shoot from bulk packs from wally world.

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

For blasting, I like Winchester Universal. It tends to leave a lot less fouling than Federal Multi-purpose and the shot cups don't seem to melt as easily on the way out of the barrel when things get warm. My sessions are a bit long compared to what the average shooter might do. I can go around 450 rounds quickly (as fast as 10 drums can be loaded) with Federal before I start to get failures, but can go much longer with the Universal due to the decreased fouling. I take others on shoots fairly often and it is nice to not have to bother with cleaning anything during the session. I use Universal in everything from my 18" S12s to my 8" SBS.

 

This is what happens when you go over 400 rounds with FEDERAL MULTI-PURPOSE in rapid succession. It really makes a mess, but the fouling is wax-like and comes off fairly easily.

 

Edited September 1, 2012 by evlblkwpnz

[shoot2thrillu 10]

lol yours is like wax mine looks like that but mines like sugar that got all clumpy around the puck and in the magwell. i put if i took mine apart i would have gobs of stuff fall. trying to see how many rounds i can with my reloads.

 

that bulk pack stuff is so nasty. hoping after a few hundred rounds more i can compare with my reloads

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

lol yours is like wax mine looks like that but mines like sugar that got all clumpy around the puck and in the magwell. i put if i took mine apart i would have gobs of stuff fall. trying to see how many rounds i can with my reloads.

 

that bulk pack stuff is so nasty. hoping after a few hundred rounds more i can compare with my reloads

Any advice on which cups won't melt on the way out when the barrel gets warm? I am about to start reloading and have garbage bags of Federal hulls, but I would like to stay away from anything that is similar in composition to the Federal cups. Any help/tips appreciated.

 

ETA for clarity:

"warm" is handguard starting to melt

"hot" is barrel turning white

Edited September 1, 2012 by evlblkwpnz

[danatkins 0]

i've got a mississippi arms autoplug and any thing i throw in it it'll fire. i shoot the value stuff from walmart in the drum and big mag. for HD first round is round is pdx1 buck n ball the rest is 00 buck

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

It all depends on what I plan on doing with it. Just showing off I prefer the cheapest I can get, hunting turkeys would be something a whole lot more powerful, HD mag goes in loaded with FIOCCI #4 buckshot (or larger)......

 

Can't comment on the low brass kit, being I thought that was a waste of money and made my gun reliable without compromising its ability to fire 3" buck and slugs with un-needed parts.

 

i've got a mississippi arms autoplug and any thing i throw in it it'll fire. i shoot the value stuff from walmart in the drum and big mag. for HD first round is round is pdx1 buck n ball the rest is 00 buck

You do understand that the gas regulator has almost nothing to do with the weapon's ability to eject "low brass" ammo, right? Just wanted to make sure you are aware that the regulator (plug) merely "regulates" the amount of existing gas (read: coming through the ports) that is allowed to interact with the puck. They do not fix anything, they merely adjust.

Edited September 1, 2012 by evlblkwpnz

[YOT 3,743]

It all depends on what I plan on doing with it. Just showing off I prefer the cheapest I can get, hunting turkeys would be something a whole lot more powerful, HD mag goes in loaded with FIOCCI #4 buckshot (or larger)......

 

Can't comment on the low brass kit, being I thought that was a waste of money and made my gun reliable without compromising its ability to fire 3" buck and slugs with un-needed parts.

 

i've got a mississippi arms autoplug and any thing i throw in it it'll fire. i shoot the value stuff from walmart in the drum and big mag. for HD first round is round is pdx1 buck n ball the rest is 00 buck

You do understand that the gas regulator has almost nothing to do with the weapon's ability to eject "low brass" ammo, right? Just wanted to make sure you are aware that the regulator (plug) merely "regulates" the amount of existing gas (read: coming through the ports) that is allowed to interact with the puck. They do not fix anything, they merely adjust.

 

True 'dat.....

[danatkins 0]

either way it works fine if something aint broke don't fix it. to the OP test your shotty it may run fine stock

[Mohawk Bob 26]

I understand that, I just want to be able to shoot the value ammo in my gun for when I just wanna mess around. If I install an auto plug it should send more of the gas into it allowing it to cycle cheap ammo correct?

 

Either way I appreciate you all taking the time to explain thing and give a newbie some insight.

 

Thanks

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

I understand that, I just want to be able to shoot the value ammo in my gun for when I just wanna mess around. If I install an auto plug it should send more of the gas into it allowing it to cycle cheap ammo correct?

 

Either way I appreciate you all taking the time to explain thing and give a newbie some insight.

 

Thanks

I'll explain it once more in this thread....

 

You do understand that the gas regulator (plug, for those of you in Rio Linda) has almost nothing to do with the weapon's ability to eject "low brass" ammo, right? Just wanted to make sure you are aware that the regulator (plug) merely "regulates" the amount of existing gas (read: coming through the ports) that is allowed to interact with the puck. They do not fix anything, they merely adjust.

 

Think of the regulator (plug) as a shower head. If the water pressure is really low already, you can stick any kind of shower head in there that you want and your girlfriend/wife will still bitch about how long it takes her to rinse her hair..

[timy 1,185]

Being fairly new to the world of saiga I was wanting to know what some of the long time owners prefer to use in their gun. I have less than 300 round thru mine and 100 of them were the Walmart value bullshit which was before I added a reliability kit. As I am sure others have encounter, low brass doesn't work so well. Since that I been running Super X #4's and they have worked perfectly. I have yet to run low brass since I installed the kit and was look to do a bulk purchase so I was wondering what would be a good buy.

 

I was under the impression that low brass is all you're supposed to run once you install the weaker spring in the reliability kit.

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

Being fairly new to the world of saiga I was wanting to know what some of the long time owners prefer to use in their gun. I have less than 300 round thru mine and 100 of them were the Walmart value bullshit which was before I added a reliability kit. As I am sure others have encounter, low brass doesn't work so well. Since that I been running Super X #4's and they have worked perfectly. I have yet to run low brass since I installed the kit and was look to do a bulk purchase so I was wondering what would be a good buy.

 

I was under the impression that low brass is all you're supposed to run once you install the weaker spring in the reliability kit.

CSS stated that their new version of the spring is safe for all 2 3/4" loads, but I have a hard time believing it would be safe to run a lot of slugs or buck for extended periods of time. It might be fine for occasional use with strong loads though. All I know is reliability can be achieved with factory springs and that is what I recommend and prefer.

Edited September 2, 2012 by evlblkwpnz

[shoot2thrillu 10]

lol yours is like wax mine looks like that but mines like sugar that got all clumpy around the puck and in the magwell. i put if i took mine apart i would have gobs of stuff fall. trying to see how many rounds i can with my reloads.

 

that bulk pack stuff is so nasty. hoping after a few hundred rounds more i can compare with my reloads

Any advice on which cups won't melt on the way out when the barrel gets warm? I am about to start reloading and have garbage bags of Federal hulls, but I would like to stay away from anything that is similar in composition to the Federal cups. Any help/tips appreciated.

 

ETA for clarity:

"warm" is handguard starting to melt

"hot" is barrel turning white

 

so far im using remington gun club hulls. iv been reloading the same hulls for 4-6times and im really impressed with how much they take and how little they wear. guy at work gave me 70 gallons worth to get started.

 

granted when i go shoot its any where from 200-550 roughly and the barrel is too hot to touch the majority of the time.

 

and i hope you wasn't reloading bulk pack hulls. those are a waste of time to do anything with but throw them in the burn pile.

 

word of advice if you want alot of hulls. go to a clay or skeet shoot and ask if they want their hulls. most wont care and those guys shoot good hulls

 

my press reciepe is set for remington gun club,sts,nitro those are good hulls.

 

next time you shoot a bulk pack grab a spent hull and squeeze it. they so thin and flimsy the gun clubs i got hold a very nice and tight form

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

My neighbor has been giving me reloads of the Fed Multi-purpose bulk pack hulls. They turn out nice, but I have only fired a handfull of them. I plan experiment with anything that I find laying on the ground, even win universal's extremely soft hulls. My ultimate goal is to save a buck when I put on demos with my personal guns, figure out exactly how weak I can go and still remain reliable, and get a good barometer of what I can use in hard times when factory ammo won't be available and supplies may need to be stretched. There are many different angles that I am viewing this from.

 

I have a nearly endless supply of Kemen hulls that I can go get from a local range whenever I want. Dumpsters full. They seem fairly rigid.

 

Any word on which brand and type of cups that won't melt coming out of the barrel when warm?

[shoot2thrillu 10]

anything i say on that would be biased.

 

but im using claybusters right now. and it seems very miminal compared to those bulk pack ones.

 

out of all iv shot from store bought vs my reloads the claybusters seem to gum it up about 2/3's less.

 

keep in mind my reason for reloading is the dollar. im going cheap as i can to try to get the most shells for my dollar.

 

the claybusters was just the wad i could find and what i was told to use to keep the cost down from their experiance.

 

after this thousand im changing my recipe. found stuff cheaper lol

[45Bretired 19]

I personally would get the gun running right in box stock form before doing any modifications. It's not as hard as you think and this forum has any answer to any question you could dream up. Because of personal experiences through my life I will modify any gun I own be it an AR or AK to run anything I may need to feed it in any situation. It's a deal breaker if it won't shoot this or that because in a disaster situation you can't pick what ammo will be available, you just have to take what you can get when your stock pile runs out. I always find the worst crap on the shelf and modify accordingly. My S12's are all modded to run Winchester Universal Bulk with 100% reliability. After making the gun reliable in stock configuration with crap ammo I then bought an Auto Plug and tuned it. Heres the deal. An undergassed gun is an undergassed gun no matter what plug, puck or spring you put in it you can't make more gas come through the ports unless you either make the ports bigger or add more ports. I would never use the spring. Now if you have a slightly over gassed gun then the Auto Plug can dial it back just like any plug that has more than 2 settings. Make note that your not supposed to run 3" with the Auto Plug, atleast not all the time. I have done it and it will fire fine but it causes undo wear on the Auto Plug. For this reason I keep a V-plug handy in my bug out bag. I'm confident that my S12 will run any 2 3/4" or 3" I can cram down it's throat with 100% reliability. I sometimes buy ammo if it's just something I've never seen just to test it and so far I haven't found anything it won't run reliably. My go baby go!!!!!!! fun ammo is Winchester Universal and I believe and feel that my personal test have proven atleast with my S12's that if you can shoot Win Uni reliably then you can shoot anything. You said you were gonna do a bulk ammo buy right? I will warn you that if your not willing or able to modify the gun to run what your buying after you've bought it then I would buy small amounts and find what your gun likes before buying 1,000 rds of shit it won't shoot. If your able and willing to modify it then screw it buy cheap and get ready to make it work. Most importantly have fun doing it!

[rockman96 0]

I understand that, I just want to be able to shoot the value ammo in my gun for when I just wanna mess around. If I install an auto plug it should send more of the gas into it allowing it to cycle cheap ammo correct?

 

Either way I appreciate you all taking the time to explain thing and give a newbie some insight.

 

Thanks

I'll explain it once more in this thread....

 

You do understand that the gas regulator (plug, for those of you in Rio Linda) has almost nothing to do with the weapon's ability to eject "low brass" ammo, right? Just wanted to make sure you are aware that the regulator (plug) merely "regulates" the amount of existing gas (read: coming through the ports) that is allowed to interact with the puck. They do not fix anything, they merely adjust.

 

Think of the regulator (plug) as a shower head. If the water pressure is really low already, you can stick any kind of shower head in there that you want and your girlfriend/wife will still bitch about how long it takes her to rinse her hair..

 

You can explain it as many times as you want, but it doesn't make you right.

 

The claim (yes, I know...it's a mfg's claim) is that it WILL help an under-gassed gun cycle. Read it for yourself:

https://acrobat.com/app.html#d=Xu2SFVTAcqJDf8D8LS9ltw

 

You can hear an explanation of how it does this in the following video....fast forward to 2:40 to hear it. Basically, it affects the timing of the bolt. Obviously there is a lower threshold of gas volume where nothing will function regardless of the plug adjustment, but I think it would have to be a really severe (rare) thing with the Auto plug concerned. I installed a KA piston and the Auto plug at the same time so I can't vouch for how much either by itself affected things, but together they solved all my issues. YMMV.

 

2:40:

[bdaddy020 0]

Hi guys just got my first Sega 12, 5 round stock clip and a 20 round drum with 2 12 rounders coming along with a Phoenix collapsible reduced recoil stock, low brass reliability kit and a complete conversion kit from CSS, I have checked my gun which has the 3 ports which are all open, I would like to be able to run the cheap ammo through my gun, would a new gun require a break in or should I be able to run the cheap stuff right from start???

[evlblkwpnz 3,418]

I understand that, I just want to be able to shoot the value ammo in my gun for when I just wanna mess around. If I install an auto plug it should send more of the gas into it allowing it to cycle cheap ammo correct?

 

Either way I appreciate you all taking the time to explain thing and give a newbie some insight.

 

Thanks

I'll explain it once more in this thread....

 

You do understand that the gas regulator (plug, for those of you in Rio Linda) has almost nothing to do with the weapon's ability to eject "low brass" ammo, right? Just wanted to make sure you are aware that the regulator (plug) merely "regulates" the amount of existing gas (read: coming through the ports) that is allowed to interact with the puck. They do not fix anything, they merely adjust.

 

Think of the regulator (plug) as a shower head. If the water pressure is really low already, you can stick any kind of shower head in there that you want and your girlfriend/wife will still bitch about how long it takes her to rinse her hair..

 

You can explain it as many times as you want, but it doesn't make you right.

 

The claim (yes, I know...it's a mfg's claim) is that it WILL help an under-gassed gun cycle. Read it for yourself:

https://acrobat.com/...AcqJDf8D8LS9ltw

 

You can hear an explanation of how it does this in the following video....fast forward to 2:40 to hear it. Basically, it affects the timing of the bolt. Obviously there is a lower threshold of gas volume where nothing will function regardless of the plug adjustment, but I think it would have to be a really severe (rare) thing with the Auto plug concerned. I installed a KA piston and the Auto plug at the same time so I can't vouch for how much either by itself affected things, but together they solved all my issues. YMMV.

 

2:40:

 

You are absolutely correct and I am wrong. Settled.

 

Hi guys just got my first Sega 12, 5 round stock clip and a 20 round drum with 2 12 rounders coming along with a Phoenix collapsible reduced recoil stock, low brass reliability kit and a complete conversion kit from CSS, I have checked my gun which has the 3 ports which are all open, I would like to be able to run the cheap ammo through my gun, would a new gun require a break in or should I be able to run the cheap stuff right from start???

Shoot it and see.

[Matthew Hopkins 1,065]

00 buck, whatever I can find on sale.

[Mohawk Bob 26]

Well as I said when I started this thread, I only have about 300 rd thru my gun. The first 100 were the Walmart value pack which wouldn't cycle completely. They would get stuck at about 3/4 of the way extracted when on setting two of the the stock gas plug. Heavier round cycle perfectly on setting one. From my understanding, with a six position gas plug set at either five or six it should allow more of the gas that is produced by the light loads back into the gun therefore allowing the gun to cycle fully. As evlblkwpnz has been so kind to explain, a few times, if there is not enough gas being produced the gun won't cycle no matter what plug you use. I don't think I have an issue with how much gas is being produced, I just need a little more of the gas to be utilized to fully cycle the gun with light loads.

 

evlblkwpnz, did I explain that a little better? Please keep in mind, I am by no means a gun smith or even very experienced at working on guns, so a little patients would be appreciated. I am new at this and trying to learn.