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My 'Americanized' Saiga 5.45x39mm "Harpoon" Rifle


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That would be nice. What kind of groups you getting with that Eotech?

Last weekend was the first occasion that I shot at 100 yards (the previous and first shooting session with the rifle, I fired at only 50 yards). At 100 yards firing several 30rnd magazines, all the rounds were hitting within a six inch diameter. I'm happy with that, shooting off of a bag with the EOTech.

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The Wolff XP Hammer Spring came into today. The gauge of wire used is visually just a wee-bit thicker than the JARD Hammer Spring. . . so I took the rifle out to my garage workbench and swapped-out the hammer spring for the Wolff. It definitely causes the hammer to hit the firing pin harder.

 

Interesting effect to inserting the stronger spring: pretty much all my adjustments to the trigger's settings required re-adjustment; the safety engagement screw needed to be slightly lowered, and the trigger's disconnect adjustment needed to be tightened down further in order to get the hammer to release appropriately. I find this all a bit. . . weird since all I did was increase the strength of the hammer's tension when cocked via the Wolff XP spring.

 

Guess I'll need to be extra careful again the next time I head out to the firing range, by using magazines with only two rounds loaded into them until I feel confident that the trigger and hammer is functioning appropriately. Oh. . . and the trigger's creep has been further reduced, via the heavier/stronger hammer spring. For how I prefer my rifle triggers, this puppy is now perfect.

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Edited by Gary
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Awesome rifle Gary! If I may ask, what rail system did you use for this build? I have the UTG rail for the 5.45 and this looks considerably thinned down from mine.

I used the UltiMAK AK Modular Rail Forend System "Long", with the UltiMAK AK-47 Optics Mount rail.

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How is the left side cocking handle attached? Coming from the AR platform. I think I could use something like that.

 

It's welded onto the bolt carrier (you must be very new). Both charging handles are taken from a Bushmaster ACR.

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  • 6 months later...

The other week I finally got around to replacing the EoTech XPS red dot on my Saiga IZ-240 rifle, with an Aimpoint Micro H-1 2MOA with Larue mount. Although there was absolutely nothing wrong or dissatisfying with the performance of the EoTech, it's size on top of the gas tube rail always seemed a bit large to me. After taking the Aimpoint Micro out to the range last weekend I find that I am happier with this overall configuration, and I think the rifle appearance wise looks better. YMMV.

 

CIMG5450_zps018eda9f.jpg

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Nice rifle Gary. Very clean. Me likey.

 

Really enjoy the wrtie up on the trigger. I'm trying to decide if I want to swap the Tapco G2 FCG out of the Vepr in favor of a better FCG. Keep us posted on final dial in for the JARD trigger.

 

After reading your reply. . . I went back through this thread to see what I had last written regarding the JARD AK-47 Trigger Upgrade Kit, and noticed my post of December 14th (when I swapped-out the hammer spring for a Wolff XP hammer spring).

 

I've had the rifle out to the firing range at least half a dozen times since then, and have put over 1,500 rounds through her since December. . . and I haven't experienced a single issue with my JARD trigger after getting it set right. I've got this same trigger installed within my Galil AR rifle, so. . . I'm very, very pleased with it!

 

I'm not sure what more I might convey to you in this regard.

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Nice rifle Gary. Very clean. Me likey.

 

Really enjoy the wrtie up on the trigger. I'm trying to decide if I want to swap the Tapco G2 FCG out of the Vepr in favor of a better FCG. Keep us posted on final dial in for the JARD trigger.

 

After reading your reply. . . I went back through this thread to see what I had last written regarding the JARD AK-47 Trigger Upgrade Kit, and noticed my post of December 14th (when I swapped-out the hammer spring for a Wolff XP hammer spring).

 

I've had the rifle out to the firing range at least half a dozen times since then, and have put over 1,500 rounds through her since December. . . and I haven't experienced a single issue with my JARD trigger after getting it set right. I've got this same trigger installed within my Galil AR rifle, so. . . I'm very, very pleased with it!

 

I'm not sure what more I might convey to you in this regard.

 

Gary,

 

Thanks for the follow up. Sounds like you got her 100%, and I like the sound of the JARD FCG and wolf spring combo. Might be the ticket for the Veprnov. The G2 was an improvement over factory, but I think the JARD may be even better for what I want, may help improve my grouping. I wanna milk the Veprnov for every mm of accuracy I can get.

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMPORTANT NOTE: The JARD AK-47 Trigger Upgrade Kit has structurally "failed" me three (3) times.

 

Yesterday while shooting my Saiga IZ-240 Rifle and my Galil AR rifle at my local rifle range, both rifles' JARD triggers failed. Specifically, the hammer disconnect lever within both firearms broke in the exact same place. This very failure happened once before within my Saiga rifle (pictured below). So. . . if anyone understood from my earlier posts within this thread, that I endorse or recommend the JARD AK Trigger Upgrade KIt, please know that I do NOT.

 

I recommend everyone staying away from this product.

 

CIMG5288_zps95c7a41d.jpg

Edited by Gary
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I have the Tapco G2 on my Saiga .223 ... when I made the conversion , I needed to modify the Hammer to acomodate the BHO lever , so I did and that was that . Then , I polished a little bit both the Hook and the upper part of the Hammer where the hook grabs and slides , just so it would be a smooth function ... that was it . It works well , no problems at all and when I pull the trigger slightly , it has a small stop that works for me as a first stage sort of (the trigger must be pulled very gently in order to feel it) that tells me that after that , it will fire. I like it and it works great .

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For the time being, I'm going to keep the JARD system in my Galil, and order a Red Star Arms trigger for my Saiga rifle and see how it works after a few thousand rounds. If the RSA trigger proves to be a success (for me anyway), then I'll likely replace my Galil's FCG with the RSA product as well.

 

This is a big bummer. . . . I really liked the JARD trigger once I got it correctly dialed in.

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Have you contacted the company regarding the failure?

 

I sent them an email with digital photos, a few hours ago. I'll be telephoning them tomorrow before noon. In the past, JARD Inc. has always been quick to respond back to me, and they never doubted the first part failure that I experienced more than a year ago.

 

But yea. . . were I them, I'd be very interested regarding how or why these two identical component parts failed. Personally. . . I think the steel being used is inadequate for the hammer disconnect lever, but I'm no metallurgist so such is pure speculation.

 

I feel highly confident JARD will quickly ship to me replacement parts. Naturally, I'm simply no longer keen on keeping this particular FCG in either my Saiga or Galil rifle. Such a failure in a battle rifle is completely unacceptable.

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JARD Inc. is sending me replacement parts at no cost to me. After reviewing the photos that I sent of the broken triggers, their company technician went so far as to state that he will be contacting their draftsman to put a larger radius in the corner of the disconnect (ahhhhh. . . not really sure what he meant by that). I told him he should reconsider the Rockwell hardness of that particular part.

 

It's all moot though. I received a Red Star Arms trigger kit during the weekend, and installed it. Tell you what: I did not appreciate having to cut my safety/fire selector lever in order to get it to function with the RSA trigger. That's BULLSHIT; I subscribe to the belief that modifying aftermarket parts to fit the firearm's OEM parts is perfectly acceptable, if not typically a necessity. But modifying an OEM part to work around an aftermarket part is back-asswards. But I did it anyway. . . because I really want to see how this alleged FCG upgrade works with my Saiga IZ-240 rifle. Oh, and I had to cut / file / refinish the RSA trigger's blade length as well. It was too long; would not install in my rifle without hitting the trigger guard. Lastly, since my Saiga rifle has a BHO device, the RSA hammer's right side cross-axis sleeve had to be shortened in order to get the hammer's alignment centered to the back of the rifle's bolt and firing pin. But I expected to have to do that; the JARD trigger required that as well.

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Edited by Gary
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Yeah, I had to shorten the trigger length for my x39, and Joeys .308 that have RSA triggers.

 

I usually mod my safeties for easy use with plate retainers anyway, so that wasn't a issue for me.

 

Looking forward to further review of the product. It seems you are now quite qualified to give a apples to apples comparison.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I could have predicted that's what the manufacturer would say....to use a larger filet radius. You ask what that means. Think of it this way. You are taking an "L" shaped or "T" shaped piece and you are torqueing it....causing *tremendous* stress on the inside or outside "corner" of the "L" or "T". That's why most home basement windows end-up with wall cracks at the bottom/corner of the window cut-out in the concrete wall. That's why you should drill a hole at the end of a window crack to keep it from growing....that's why airplane windows have gently rounded corners instead of sharp corners of their rectangular windows...and is also the reason boats use portholes ( totally round !), instead of square-corners. Doing a larger radius brings the stresses WAY down.

 

That should have been seen in the development phase of the product.....not having customers become their R&D department. That said, they did you right to try to make right....but it shouldn't go down that way.

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  • 2 years later...

I don't usually "update" my firearms once I get them all configured to the way that I initially want them.  Alas, several weeks ago I ran across a couple of youtube videos that contained enthusiasts' viewpoints and reviews on the Magpul Zhukov AK Hand Guard.... and immediately recognizing that it would provide a slimmer, lighter option for my IZ-240 rifle, I figured "what the hell" and ordered one, with a Magpul M-LOK AFG as well.

 

The items arrived in the mail yesterday, and before I turned-in for bed last night I was able to successfully swap-out the UltiMAK tri-rail handguard for the Magpul Zhukov.... but not without a degree of cuss'n and swear'n.  Below are pics of the results:

 

CIMG6269_zpsbuzlu0r7.jpg

 

 

CIMG6270_zpsnsfqhvt8.jpg

 

 

CIMG6271_zpsgptqn8tb.jpg

 

 

I'm very pleased with how the Magpul Zhukov fits my Saiga rifle, and how it feels when handling and presenting the rifle.  With that stated up front, the installation process of the handguard was anything but "drop in."  The tapered contour of my rifle's barrel regarding where the Zhukov's barrel claps aligned themselves on the barrel, required me to use shims for the forward barrel clamp.  Fortunately, I had some scrap thin steel on my workbench which worked fine for shims, once I cut them to size and shaped them to the barrel.

 

I had to cut the Zhukov's interior aluminum chassis/heat shield at it's forward end, to allow clearance for my FSB's barrel nut/thread protector to seat appropriately.  Additionally, based on where the hanguard's barrel clamps aligned themselves along the barrel, and how my UltiMAK AK pictinny railed optic mount gas tube seated into place, I needed to dremel cut a thin portion of the lower aluminum block underneath the UltiMAK gas tube to allow it to align and seat properly.

 

CIMG6272_zpsqaxordsk.jpg

 

 

CIMG6273_zpstzxfjdd7.jpg

 

 

CIMG6274_zpsrecoou33.jpg

 

The very last thing that required modification, was the polymer hanguard's forward end cap (I'm calling it an end cap anyway).  It would not clear the rifle's FSB barrel nut/thread protector so I had to use a dremel sanding bit and essentially sand/cut out a slot along the interior sides of the handguard's end cap to provide for the barrel nut's clearance.  Fortunately, the handguard end cap is easily removable by simply pushing in on three tabs and then pulling the cap away from the handguard.  I would not have know this, had I not seen a guy's youtube video wherein he explained about the end cap's removal.

 

I feel this Magpul product is a significant improvement over what I've had on my rifle for so many years, and... it essentially matches the Magpul buttstock.

 

~Gary

Edited by Gary
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