WTSherman

If anything can shoot the ammo, the Saiga can. This is a supremely reliable rifle. If something doesn't fire right its likely the ammo. I've fired many rounds of primarily Silver Bear, Winchester, various surplus, never had the slightest problem with loading or firing this rifle.

16" is fine, only a small difference in accuracy if at all, that is in comparison with the version that's a little "long in the barrel" for my taste.

Looking forward to getting one of those Surefire 20-25 rounders. I only need to save up the money, nothing left over for fun by the time everybody else gets their share lately!

I resent any of these no steel cased bullet rules, not to mention the "No kalishnikov Style Rifles" requirements at some of the places I've been. If this is the case I have no regret in taking my business and firing my guns somewhere else.

You said it, all in all its a nice reliable rifle, I agree. Accurate too I might add.

They are going for around $450 in Michigan.

I generally clean my guns obsessively. My mini 30 jammed regularly, and my brother's mini 14 as well. When I traded in the Mini Thirty on the .308 it was a huge upgrade. 7.62 x 39 is a nice round, I like it more than .223. I want something with a little more punch and .308 is perfect in my opinion. Ideally any rifle in .308 that doesn't jam, is fairly accurate, and is reliable.

My .308 Saiga won't jam and I'm confident enough to bet my life on it. I've not had a single jam shooting cheap Brown bear ammo exclusively. In my estimation the .308 Saiga has a similar level of reliability as the 7.62 x 39, not that there may be legitimate reasons why it shouldn't. For me its a definite step up from the mini 30 I traded in on the Saiga which could scarcely fire 20 rounds without some kind of embarrassing mishap not to mention the accuracy issues.

This is funny, because the guy at the gun store where I just bought my Saiga told me a completely different story about why they won't be importing them. He claimed that the factory is in Georgia, and when Russia invaded they seized control and shut it down!