NickWhite 7 Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 I love my Saiga 308 21" barrel, it pretty damn accurate, especially for what ill be doing with it (hunting, paper punching) and I have decent groups with MFS 150gr SP and pretty bad groups with Winchester super X 150gr. (Go figure, cheap is better) but I'm curious how to improve accuracy and distance. It's converted already. I'd like to take it to a gunsmith to do something to improve the accuracy and distance but I don't know what. Trigger? Re crown? Counter bored? I don't wanna cut the barrel to 18", or to any other length for that matter. But what can be done? Ill be shooting 200 yards on Friday to see how much they open up after 100 yards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jojo200517 68 Posted July 15, 2013 Report Share Posted July 15, 2013 Have you tried different bullet weights, match quality ammo, or reloading yet? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NickWhite 7 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 I've tried federal fusion 180 gr and it shot worse then when the scope loosened up haha. I've only tried Winchester, MFS, and Tula 150gr and federal 180gr. It seems to like lighter grains so ill try 147 gr next Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted July 16, 2013 Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 Odd, i was using win superx 150gr pp and i thought the groups i got were pretty decent, i also used tula 150gr fmj and worked well too (after i realized the rings/mount worked loose lol). I was letting the barrel cool tho and loading one round at a time. What groups did you print @100? What methods did you use? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NickWhite 7 Posted July 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 The groups were 3" high and like 3MOA with the Winchester and my 3 shot groups are about 1.5" with MFS shooting off sandbags. Then it warms up and spreads out. The only thing I did was have my left hand supporting under the stock to keep it more sturdy with the front on the sandbags and fire at the bottom of my breath. I've got a 3-9x40 NcStar (saving up for a better scope) with a K-var side mount Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LuPiN8oR 333 Posted July 16, 2013 Report Share Posted July 16, 2013 Its my theory that the first round racked shoots a little different than the auto loaded rounds so i sighted in my setup to be dead on with that 1st shot on a cold bore (itll be a deer getter for me). You can see some pics of the groups i was getting in the 308 scope problems thread, was taking three shots, adjusting the scope on shots 4&5. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HB of CJ 1,263 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Several Things you can do to tighten up your trusty 7.62x51 21" bbl Saiga; all of them easy and much fun. Not much you can do with stock rebedding since the Saiga does not really have that kind of wood stock. You can polish and square up your trigger. A smooth trigger will help. Not much you can do with the trigger pull weight though. I use a single hook. Others use a double hook. Choice is yours. Do not go with a light spring..it can affect primer strikes. Inspect and/or recrown your barrel. This can be tricky to do exactly. Most use the dedicated crowning tool and go slowly. Some use a lathe, but I do not know how they chuck up the entire barreled receiver. Make sure the barrel is very tight in the trunnion. Should not be any slop at all. Next time you bench rest fire the rifle, use a borowed bipod and press down on the barrel. You should not have great vertical stringing. You can also cast and/or slug your barrel and chamber to see what exact size you have and handload to suite. Sometimes accuracy can be improved by going to a .310 or even a .311 bullet, but you must know what you have. BE CAREFUL HERE. I think the Saiga has a 1x12 twist, but not sure. That is what it looks like. Try lighter or heavier bullets. If you have an oversized chamber, sometimes you can improve accuracy by just neck sizing and not full length resizing the case. Not always but sometimes this helps. Finally, get a good stiff scope mount and a good scope. I used a loaned out Leopold 3x9x40 to see how good my Saiga 308 shot. Worked kinda better than my older 1x4x20 Leopold and a lot better than my 308 specific Eoteck. Lots of fun to try all of this stuff. Good luck. HB of CJ (old coot) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
netpackrat 566 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Take it to a gunsmith and have him re-crown the barrel. Be a good idea to have him cut threads on the barrel while it is in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sdustin 578 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Recrown and handload so light bullets. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NickWhite 7 Posted July 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Thanks guys! Sadly I can't reload yet, its expensive now so I'm gonna wait til the "panic" dies down a little. As for a scope, is like a POSP scope instead of my cheap scope/mount, would that be better? As for the crown, I nicked it a little bit removing the FSB so that will have to be recrowned, I didn't know that affected accuracy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DrThunder88 912 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 A 5-shot 1.5" group at 100 yards is about as accurate as my rifle has ever shot. Given the wide variety of ammo I've tried running through it, including handloads, I suspect it won't get much better. Of course, I could be the weak link too. For consistency's sake, I installed a cheek riser on the buttstock to provide more solid cheek weld. I also shimmed the trigger's rear tail to shorten the take-up but have yet to do the overtravel mod. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kresk 10,063 Posted July 17, 2013 Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 You can have the barrel fluted to dissipate heat better and posssibly get a little better group. I also free floated the hand guard (gunsmith level work, not me) and could get about a one inch group. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rhodes1968 1,638 Posted July 19, 2013 Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 110 grain so far is the best, A-Max iirc, just cant find any right now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sdustin 578 Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 You can have the barrel fluted to dissipate heat better and posssibly get a little better group. I also free floated the hand guard (gunsmith level work, not me) and could get about a one inch group. pictures or it didn't happen. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nailbomb 10,221 Posted July 20, 2013 Report Share Posted July 20, 2013 It happened. He's posted pics before. Its still one of the nicest .308 saigas I've seen. I'll save Doc the effort of digging it up for the non-believer http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?/topic/28671-new-s-308-conversion/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NickWhite 7 Posted July 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2013 I took it out 200 yards and I think it shot good, it opened up a little more but about 3" groups cold then it opened up more. And yesterday my PSO 6x36 scope came in the mail so hopefully this Friday or next ill hit the 200 yard again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sdustin 578 Posted July 22, 2013 Report Share Posted July 22, 2013 sweet and sorry for being a non believer 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kresk 10,063 Posted July 22, 2013 Report Share Posted July 22, 2013 It happened. He's posted pics before. Its still one of the nicest .308 saigas I've seen. I'll save Doc the effort of digging it up for the non-believer http://forum.saiga-12.com/index.php?/topic/28671-new-s-308-conversion/ Thank you for looking that up so quickly! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nailbomb 10,221 Posted July 22, 2013 Report Share Posted July 22, 2013 More than welcome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.