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Did I Make a Big Mistake with the .223?


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Hey folks. Recently acquired a used saiga 223. Never had a gun of this size or power before so I know nearly nothing about these. I understand how to shoot it as it is a very simple design, which I love.

 

So the first day I took it to the range, I loaded about 5 bullets in the 10rnd factory magazine and it loaded no problem. Fired the first round and it shot awesome. Unfortunately, it jammed on the second round and couldn't ever get it to fire again. It was attempting to feed but would send the round in at a bad angle where it wouldn't go in the barrel.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't have any other mags with me to test to see if the mag was the issue. Is this a known problem? Should I try it with my non-factory mags before getting too concerned? I've heard only good things about these guns so I'm really hoping this was just a weird incident. Thanks!

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AKs are simple, if there is a real problem it should be easily remedied. I suggest modding it to take surplus 223 ak mags, like the Bulgarian or Polish mags, and go from there. I would not worry about the factory mag much.

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Assuming this rifle doesnt have a bullet guide, Id like to see pics of the mag. Especially just in front of the feed lip portion to see if the built in bullet guide is damaged/worn, or there at all.

 

Has this rifle been converted? If so, whats been done to it?

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Thanks for the info everyone. It was a major letdown having that issue straight out of the gate. The rifle is in Indiana (with my gun guy) and I'm in Nashville but I will upload pics of everything as soon as I get it back next week. I attached one pic of the gun itself that I had. Thanks!

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First of all, don't panic or jump to conclusions.

AK platform (which Saiga is delivered upon) is simple, reliable and extremely tolerable.

Your gun remains unconverted (despite the PG/stock attachment), so there is less things to concentrate on and distracted by.

 

Pictures will tell the story, unless you noticed and can describe FTF in details.

Do you have snap caps or dummy rounds to hand-load for troubleshooting, once rifle is back?

If not, buy/borrow and keep them around.

 

Hit me up if you're around my AO (NC) or shout to your neighboring Forum members.

In a mean time, check those out: http://www.amazon.com/A-Zoom-Precision-Snap-Caps-Pack/dp/B002IEE7KU

 

Is your gun guy a Gunsmith or knowledgeable in troubleshooting and basic R&M?

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey everyone. I finally got the Saiga 223 back from Indiana. My gun guy doesn't think there is anything wrong with it and thinks its the magazine. I have a couple of pics here. After you all chimed in, I did notice that this black plastic magazine is pretty worn out. I'm hoping the magazine is the problem because this gun is just begging me to shoot it.

 

Thoughts? I'm back in Nashville as well. Does anyone recommend another magazine I should buy that plays nicely with the Saiga 223?

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That's the factory mag and it looks like it's been used A LOT.

 

Do you only have one mag? Get some more.

 

The cheapest hi-cap mag setup you can get for the Saiga .223, is to install a bullet guide and buy a ton of either Promag .223 AK mags, or Tapco Galil mags. Either one is the cheapest ticket to reliable operation with 30 rounds, but you need to do that little bit of work with installing the bullet guide.

 

Otherwise, buy SGM mags with the built-in bullet guide.

Edited by mancat
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Well everyone... Spacehog saved the day. He sent me a factory mag free of charge and it definitely resolved the issue. Went through close to 40 loads/reloads with the snap caps with zero malfunctions. I will post some pics ASAP if anyone is interested in seeing the whole setup. Thanks everyone!

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Glad it worked, now when you are ready... convert that gun and install a bullet guide. I promise you will love it even more! The next time I am up in TN, we need to get together and shoot.

Edited by Spacehog
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Do the conversion it is fun! good shooting!

Let us know if you need ANY help with that.

 

Are you interested in STANAG mag use conversion? In other words, how bad do you like PMAGs and USGIs?

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  • 1 month later...

That mag looks all kinds of wrong. :)

 

Yeeeaahhh, it's gotta be the mag.

 

The guys are right. Either .223 mags or drop the bullet guide in.

 

I'd go for the bullet guide, that way you can use more or less, any mag readily available for it (Bulgarian, Polish, Yugo [yes they're making the switch to 5.56, I saw the Zastava website.] and Israeli [Galil] along with all 29 nations that use the Galil [plenty of eventual surplus there].)

 

Vs being stuck with .223 mags that might in the long run cost you more and are limited in terms of mass production to meet the demand out there vs all the potential surplus.

 

And welcome to the forum fellow Middle Tenneseean. NashVegas isn't too far from me either.

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