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Just purchased a Saiga 12. Question about serial number and markings.


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Hello,

 

I just purchased this saiga 12 at a local gun expo. I'm new to these guns and have a few questions. It is a 22 inch version with full choke built into barrel. Was told it's an older model and more desirable. It dosent appear to have any importation marking and is marked with a 99 right before the serial number. I'm assuming that is the year it was made? Also I think I'm going to get the barrel cut down to 18 inches. I have been reading that saiga's have different gas ports depending on barrel length. Does anyone know how many gas ports my version has andone will taking the barrel down to 18 inches make it not cycle correctly?

Thanks for any help in advance.

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It can work, it will just be more difficult to control than one that is made for setting rivets.   Edit to add; my AK riveting tools:     Usually for the rear trunnion rivets I use one of the r

Convert it. Anything else is teh ghey

Rivets can be set by hand with a buck and a ball peen hammer, followed by a homemade set to 'pretty it up'. I made the cavity for the set with a dremmel.

dont enlarge the ports yet. when you cut it, if you cut it, then maybe, but maybe not.

 

the importer on that is kalashinikov usa, and they only brought in several thousands of them.

 

ask more questions first before you do anything. also does a dime drop into the muzzle?


moreover - punching the pins and block and barrel the older ones is usually pretty difficult. so you cant use the more recent instructions to do it.

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After putting some thought into it. It dosent really make sense to shorten the barrel. I cut it down to 18 inches and then by the time I put a screw on choke I'm back to about 20 inches anyway depending on the choke. I don't think I will cut it unless I decide to go sbs.

What does a dime going into the muzzle indicate? I will check tonight when I go home. Can I still shoot slugs through this barrel?

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a dime wont drop into a 12 gauge full choke.


use remington domed slugs or similar and you are fine regardless. you have a few option that you can do as far as modifying it, seeing as how you have the sight rail and such. keep in mind you will have to remove that and retrue it if you take the gun down to its basic parts....

 

me personally? i would leave it and change out the stock to a drop in pistol grip aftermarket version, myself, on that exact gun. it should be mad accurate, as the internals were high quality as far as assemblers at that date and importer.

 

Im a fanatic with these, and i would keep yours as is except for the butt and trigger.....but thats me

 

see if a dime fits in the muzzle for true full choke or not. keep in mind if you cut it, its got a thick chrome line on the bore that you have to address, as well....

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an afterthought and comment to this, that should be one shootin gun right there. even if you want to modify it, shoot the crap out of it first.

 

you have a good one there.....the other numbers indicate the choke and such on it, and if that hasnt been touched, you really need to shoot it a bit before you go modifying it permanently.

 

so what that it isnt as short as possible? it should be mad accurate. before you do anything shoot the crap out of it is my advice.


when i got my first one, they were 200 and change for a lesser model than that. mind me asking what you paid for it?

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Yeah I will probably just do the folding stock, pistol grip, and trigger. I definitely want to add a bolt hold open to it because it's a pain in the ass to load.

 

Should I bother to get the reliability kit from Carolina shooting supply? Or are those parts already good on this version?

I did want to add the tac 47 auto plug because not having to adjust the gas setting sounds nice.

I paid 800 bucks for it. I was at the expo and there were two vendors out of the 1300 that had a Saiga 12 and a veper 12. Veper was priced at 975. It had the folding stock and was brand new. He wouldn't budge of the price so I went to the vendor with the saiga and he was asking 900 originally and I talked him down to 800.

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I did shoot it Saturday. I put about 75 rounds through it of Remington 00 buck High brass. It shot great but it was an indoor range didint get to shoot that far. Only problem I had was the pro mag 20 round drum was failing to feed. The 5 round mags and the 12 round sgm mag had no problems. I bought 250 rounds of the federal tactical LE 00 buck with flight control wad at the expo for 160. Planning on shooting that next weekend and seeing how it does. Going to go on the 50 yard range this time.

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Being that old it may actually be a 3 port gun, maybe. IM me your address and I'll send you an Autoplug. I have a few rattling around in a coffee can somewhere at the shop. I'm not a fan of them.

 

ETA: :You are thinking right. Leave it factory or go radically short SBS.

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It's funny you say that because I actually took this picture last Friday when I first got home with the gun lmao.

20160930_200519_zpssultbmnd.jpg

 

Also what do I have to do to get this pro mag 20 round drum to feed correctly? Do I just need to use it more and wear it in? If clicks in nice right out of the box I didint have to do any fiLing. How ever it dosent feed the shells very well.

20160930_200703_zpsa2kzitug.jpg

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The 1.0 marking means1MM choke restriction, about a USA Full choke. NO STEEL shot, and only lead slugs.

Keep it like it came and enjoy! Make changes only after much time with it to determine what you REALLY,REALLY want!

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you got one of the good ones there. and you got a foot pic too. yer alright.

 

uh, get one of the drop in stock sets, dont modify that.

 

the trigger is prolly a bit squishy to what you know, but get a bunch of cheap hollow core slugs (rem or win) and shoot the shit outta that with the factory mag. I bet you its pretty damn accurate.

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One more question. I've been reading about the 922 r compliance or what ever. Magazine counts as 3 parts and then you just need 1 more which most people say muzzle break. If mine isint equipped with a screw on muzzle brake. Does that make my gun 922r compliant being that it has one less foreign made part?

When I'm using an American made magazine that is.

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You need to lose 5 foreign parts. Yes, mag is 3. Muzzle threaded or not is of no consequence on a shotgun. You still need to lose 2 foreign parts. US puck is an easy way to lose 1. Tapco handguard would be another cheap and easy one. They look good with that angled part chopped off.

No a full length, but you get the picture....

eSPg7tb.jpg?1

 

If you convert, just using a US made FCG gets you 3 less foreign parts. US puck and US grip, stock, or handguard in conjunction with that FCG will allow you to run foreign mags.

 

http://gunwiki.net/Gunwiki/BuildSaigaShotgunVerifyCompliance

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I was looking at tromix website and the basic conversion for 550 sounds like a pretty good deal considering they weld everything. Went to a local gun smith to see what they would charge out of curiosity and they guy was out of his mind. Said 800 in labor without parts. He obviously didint wasn't to mess with it so he gave me an outrageous quote. I like to support the local businesses but I'm not gonna pay for inexperience. I'm going to check a few more local places first. I may just end up doing it my self. I do like the idea of everything being welded though.

Edited by 703 CamaroSS
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i could do the job for ya. but i cant because -- im not licenesed right now. theres plently of guy here that can perform the work you need done. its fairly simple, but if you go with someone like tony rumore? you definately get what you pay for. if you can afford somoen like tony, go for it. if not there are plently of other folks here that can do the requried work that you need done and for a good price. like i said, i can do the shit in my sleep, but i am not a licensed manufacturer(which is what you need). still, you need to get a case of ammo and shoot the shit outta that thing, either way......just my opnion.....

 

 

thatss pretty clear i aint editing that......you get the point apparantly my spelling is non existant as well

Edited by Ben Vampatella
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Lol I'm always using my phone so my spelling is messed up as well. I am capable of doing the conversion my self. But i like the idea of everything being welded up. I'm an auto tech so I'm pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together lol. I'm going shooting again this weekend then I will decide what I'm going to do. I'm definitely set on pistol grip folding stock and moving fcg forward. Undecided on barrel as of now. Probably going to leave barrel alone unless I decide to do a sbs some day.

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There are some really clean looking bolt on parts available. And some pretty crappy quality and functioning. Any kind of folding stock is going to require you either cut off the rear tang and weld/bolt in a new plate to attach it too, replace the entire rear trunnion (factory style), or be left with a funky looking extension that uses the factory rear tang style mounting points.

Trigger guards, there are some you can rivet in place like MDarms trigger guard or AKbuilders trigger guard. Pressing a couple rivets is relatively simple, especially for someone mechanically inclined.

Don't get to caught up on the HK sights. They're OK but there are better options out there in my opinion, even bolt on type.

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Lol I'm always using my phone so my spelling is messed up as well. I am capable of doing the conversion my self. But i like the idea of everything being welded up. I'm an auto tech so I'm pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together lol. I'm going shooting again this weekend then I will decide what I'm going to do. I'm definitely set on pistol grip folding stock and moving fcg forward. Undecided on barrel as of now. Probably going to leave barrel alone unless I decide to do a sbs some day.

 

If you work on cars, you will have no problem at all with it.  If you wante it all welded, you could also set it all up and take it to a welder

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