Old Saiga 308 accuracy/problems

[DEshooter 1]

My LGS has a 99 Saiga 308; stock,with a 22" barrel. It has definitely seen plenty of rounds. The crown looks decent and the barrel still has chrome shine with kinda sharp looking lands & grooves. I don't have a Saiga in .308; have 545 & 7.62x39. Sold my .223, wish I kept it. Any way, I would definitely scope (old/bad eyes) it and use it for a +200yd piece. My question is: Is there anything to be aware of with this "older" rifle? Sooner or later, I want to own a scoped +300yd semi, in a large caliber. This might be my cheapest option, with an upgraded stock. A PSL would be perfect because I have plenty of x54r. I shoot my US M1891s a lot. I just never see them available around here and online they are pretty expensive and I like to handle before I buy.

[mancat 2,368]

You might be better off waiting for a used PSL or a newer VEPR if you want to shoot x54r, or if you want to have a better idea of the gun's condition. If the bore and rifling looks good, the .308 should probably shoot fine, and I don't know of any problems with earlier Saigas such at that - but I'm not an S308 expert.

[DEshooter 1]

They are asking $495 for it and may be interested in working out a deal for a Century M74 I have. The .223 I had was an older EEA Saiga; the front site was so canted that I had to cut it off and replace it. As far as I can see, this .308 looks OK.

[zagumennyyilya 51]

I had an older saiga 308 as well, they are really good guns, my gun would shoot 2" to 3" groups with all ammo, I had the 22" inch barrel model and it was an EAA import. For shooting 200 to 300 yards they are excellent. From my understanding, the saiga 308 rifles have a really hard barrel so you can sling thousands of rounds down range. I think my round count was up to 5K or 6K and the barrel looked like it was new. Not joking. I cleaned it every time I shot it and i never had an issue with it. If you compare it to the PSL, i think the saiga 308 wins out, depending on what model and who made the PSL, I think the quality of the saiga is so much better, The barrel is thicker, if that matters to you, the receiver looks more uniform and cleaner and sturdier. My cousin had one and we shot them side by side, The accuracy of the saiga is also better, But then again, we were shooting the spam can surplus ammo with the PSL and the saiga was eating German Dag ammo, I think the German Dag ammo is better quality so with better ammo the PSL might shoot well. The thing I noticed with the PSL is that with its 10 round mag, the first 3 to 4 rounds were decent and then the group starts to open up double in size, we got a lot of first round hits out to 300 yards on a 10" steel plate but as the barrel got hotter, without changing the hold the rifle would miss. with my saiga 308 using the 8 round mag we would put all 8 rds on steel.

 

So pretty much pick your poison, Both good guns. No real concerns with it being an older rifle, just inspect it really well.