Saiga M less accurate with poly handguard?

[mostholycerebus 415]

I took the Saiga 'M' out to the range last weekend, after installing my Canis adapter and Bravo B5 stock, Hogue grip, and changed the wood for used ebay polymer handguard. Everything operated fine, but accuracy was seriously degraded.

 

The last 3-4 times out, with the wood furniture, my Saiga M was shooting rings around my dads Vepr. We used identical Weaver 2-10x54 scopes. Extremely tight groups, using Golden Tiger, I was getting just under MOA on 5-shot groups while my dads Vepr was getting just over MOA. This time out, we were using Wolf, with iron sights, but the Vepr was still getting around 2-3MOA while my Saiga M was more like 6-7MOA. My dad and I swapped rifles, same thing, hes a better shot than me but both of our patterns were obviously better with the Vepr.

 

Is it possible the new polymer handguard is pressing on the barrel once it heats up? Or just different rifles reacting differently to different ammo?

Edited November 4, 2014 by mostholycerebus

[thebuns1 4,323]

Could be both. The only way to test that would be to put the old ones back on, and use the wolf ammo again.

 

Just curious, does your dads vepr have the factory trigger? The trigger on my 5.45 sucked. Still useable, but I got a noticeable gain in accuracy after putting a better trigger in it.

[Mullet Man 2,114]

Next logical step.... try again with golden tiger. Then, if accuracy is still failing, start looking at the parts you installed.

[JESS1344 508]

MOSTHOLY,

  AGREE WITH MULLET, GO BACK TO GT AMMO.

 

  YOU MADE THE CLASSIC MISTAKE (SORRY BRO) OF CHANGING TWO THINGS AT ONCE; ONE, ALL THE CHANGES ON THE GUN, AND TWO, THE AMMO.

 

  MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO PINPOINT THE CAUSE.

 

  DON'T FEEL TOO BAD, I'VE MADE THE SAME MISTAKE MYSELF, IN TIMES PAST.

 

  JESS1344