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Saiga .308 bolt question


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I recently got a Saiga .308 from a friend of mine and had some issues at the range. I had some  misfires  and light firing pin strikes then a primer blew on some Tula I was shooting. I took the gun apart and put shims between the bolt face and a couple of rounds to try and get an idea about headspace since I don't have .308 HS gages. I could put about .030" worth and still chamber a round. This is a huge gap and my next question is about the bolt. I think that this either has the wrong bolt or it has been modified from a different version or caliber. Can anybody look at these pictures please and let me know if this looks like a factory bolt or has someone "rigged" it??? Thanks in advance. -Justin

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Ill look at my bolt later and see if it looks drastically different but does it appear to have been Modified even polished. If someone wanted to polish it they could really screw it uo if they didn't know what they were doing.

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Kinda looks like a vepr .308 bolt. Check the numbers on the bolt vs the last three numbers of the serial on the gun.

 

Also head spacing is done with the main spring removed but with the bolt carrier, I'd suggest either getting the gauges or going to a smith that has them.

 

Also find out if your friend owns other AKs in .308... It would be very easy to have swapped bolts while cleaning.

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AK Monty, its wear unfortunately instead of polished..

 

Csspecs, The serial numbers are different. I was going to order gages but it was so far off I didn't think I needed them. My buddy has no other guns similar it was the way he bought it. I'm fairly sure it's the wrong bolt but cannot find one anywhere. Do you guys have any leads on one? Thanks again for the help. I just bought a Saiga 12 and ran about 250 rounds thru it yesterday. Cool guns….

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Find out what your buddy paid for it and where he bought it, that might provide a clue.  A saiga 308 bolt is almost impossible to find right now.  I think Legion has stated they will be bringing parts in after the start of the year but I don't think they have clarified that yet.

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I actually remembered I have a picture of the vepr and saiga bolts. Yours looks like a Vepr .308 bolt. Some poor soul has a vepr that won't lock up due to overly tight head space.... Also where is your extractor? Its not in the picture.

 

A gun smith that has built AK pattern rifles should be able to fix your head space issue, and make corrections to the bolt if needed. Correcting head space on an AK requires a shop press and resetting the barrel pin.. Its not easy, but its not impossible.

 

Some back tracking could find you the match for the rifle. Which is what I would try.. Its not like vepr .308 bolts are falling from the sky.

 

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Oh wow ill bet the bolt is no good after going through that. Id get on the Phone with importers abd beg for mercy. I think we have a few members that live in russia maybe a PM and some cash his way would get him to look and you might get lucky.

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DO NOT FIRE THE RIFLE!!  You may in fact be the most lucky SOB in the world.  That bolt does NOT look like a Saiga 7.62x51 bolt.  My opinion only here.  I will try to find the time to pull my Saiga 7.62x51 out of the safe and confirm that you have the correct bolt. 

 

Yep...already answered better than me....find somebody who has the mimimum number of needed head space gages and find out what your head space is.  You MAY have been very lucky here.  My read only.  Opinions will vary.  Damage?  Dunno.  HB of CJ (old coot)

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Csspecs, It didn't actually break the mag it just blew the follower and spring out from the bottom of the floor plate. Landed about 15ft away

 

Hb of CJ, I'm pretty lucky because I had already ran about 150rnds thru it the first time I shot it with no trouble at all. Nothing looks damaged but I can guarantee you I won't shoot it again til I get the problem sorted out. I was going to modify the bolt and machine it to the correct headspace but finding the correct bolt is my first choice. Thanks again for everybody's opinions.

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  • 1 month later...

Have any pictures of the magazine?

 

It actually does look like a 7.62X39 bolt now that you mention it. The third lug is missing.

 

Your lucky it did not do something more interesting.

 

I wondered how a pierced primer could harm that big sob.

That 308 bolt is one solid bastid.

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I'd say you have the wrong bolt (either a 7.62x39 or a VEPR or something else) and, if that's true, the head-space is possibly completely in question.  I would check the firing pin length after I had it head spaced and the front trunnion checked out by someone who knows AK's  The Ruskies put that extra lug on Saiga and VEPR rifles for a reason and if the bolt was replaced with something else, I'd wanna know why, or at least, that the replacement could handle the pressure of a .308/7.62x51....

 

Macbeau...

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