Straight to the point: my accuracy is down, I want it up and with other brands of ammo than Remington (the 123 grain rounds).

Normally that isn't possible on an AK. Any brand, even the "sporterized" Saigas won't hit 1" groups at 100 yards (unless you've found the proper balance of ammo, rest, and scope). BUT, I'm pretty darn sure that if I could get a heavier barrel, I could improve my accuracy.

So does anyone here know of anyone who makes heavier, more accurate barrels for the Saiga 7.62/x39?

You'd have to press out the barrel, drill out the new one and this is not trivial. Maybe your accuracy problems are due to how you barrel resonates.
Before you invest time and money in a heavier barrel, try to place a barrel resonator at different spots on your barrel :

I'm not quite certain a de-resonator would work. Mine has the 16" barrel. The room between the sight and the furniture (as well as the gas tube) isn't much. Would a de-resonator really work on a barrel that small?

What about a Muzzle Break? Can those improve accuracy?

sorry to say but you are pretty much stuck with things the way they are, paladin.. The 16" is a rather stiff barrel for a .223, and you will just have to accept the fact that you are shooting an AK platform not an AR or target bolt gun...

Feed it multiple brands, find the ones that work the best, and go with that... that is about the best you are going to come up with... without serious tweaking...

The muzzlebreak may or may not improve accuracy.

I'm well aware this is an AK (see first post). However, two months ago I was getting below 4 inches at 100 yards with Remington 123 grain target ammo (this is a 7.62x39, not .223), a rest and scope. Now, the same ammo is flying all over the place. I'm back to the 6" groups a box of Wolf would do. The only thing I could think of is either: A: Someone played with my sights (but re-sighting did nothing), B: The rest has worn down/broken, C: Remington changed something on their ammo, D: I changed somehow (sight, hands, heck maybe even my tearing my back muscle had someone to do with it).

Either way, sitting down on a rest SHOULD produce the same result everytime right? So long as nothing changes (at least nothing that I've seen change). I'm not trying to turn it into a target bolt gun (if I wanted MOA, I'd have bought Remington 700), but having consistent groups would be nice.

There has GOT to be something. I'm willing to spend $100-$150, hell $200 dollars to try and get this thing back to what is was when I bought it.

I would spend that money on a couple different boxes of ammo weights and brands... Chances are something changed from the manufacturer... I have found that even DIFFERENT LOT NUMBERS of the EXACT SAME STUFF will give different performance when shooting... and by different performance I mean that one box will shoot 5 rounds into a cloverleaf one ragged hole group... the next box of the same exact brand/weight/load, etc... will not give me anything less than an inch to an inch and a half... I am talking about target guns, now, mind you... benchrest, 40 power scopes, zero wind days, 6 ounce triggers... the works... but the point is, I DOUBT its your rifle... if you feel that nothing has changed... and I wouldnt be surprised if the factory cut down on powder by a half grain or more to cut back increased costs... you would notice that effect instantly, and it may be all it took to throw that load from perfection to potty with your specific barrel's preferences.

the saiga barrel from what i understand has an odd twist rate (1 in 10.1 or some odd #), so different grains may be what you need to find to really get great results. i get 2-3" groups at 100 yards with iron sights...i'm using 123 grain FMJ rounds on a sandbag, i plan on putting a 24mm muzzle brake on the gun as well....i'm not looking for great accuracy, but if i was...i would start sniffing around some various ammo, from super light to super heavy,some people have had luck with 154 grain ammo and 130 grain ammo (corbon i think) but i like to keep it cheap, so cheap ammo is good nuff for me

Muzzle brake is to keep the front end down for a follow up shot. I'm going to have mine done here before long. It's more for hammer pairs and other tactical shooting. Not for cold bore shots that you want.

A compensator is for keeping the muzzle down, a muzzlebrake is for reducing recoil (which indirectly helps keep the muzzle down)

We will be making a few small runs of improved 7.62x39 barrels for the AK and SKS sometime in '09. I'll post details once we get tooled up for them.

i really hate to say this, but 4" at 100 yards, provided your hitting in the inner three rings is good enough for an ak. it was developed, like the m-16/ar, as a main battle rifle. unlike the ar, it's still used that way. you want a sub-moa 1" or smaller grouping, go with a high end ar or bolt action that's designed for it. i've never had a problem getting three inch groups out of mine btw. that's using silver bear hollow points. haven't shot any of my golden tiger or wolf ammo yet.

oh, and the ultimak stuff is supposed to help balance it out too. they have a video on their website of them shooting clays with a wasr/ultimak/aimpoint setup.

I would agree with you too, I bought my AK's for the reliability and how durable they are. At 100 yards I'm in the kill zone and that's all that really maters if the first shot doesn't do it the next few sure will.

hmm, a heavy barrel, you could always try to use a AES-B barrel....

Where would I find one?

Ok,let's start off with the fact that for some unknown reason 7.62x39 AKs have 1 in 10 twist barrels.In a 308 a 1 in 10 twist barrel is specifically used for bullets over 150gr in weight.

Try using heavier bullets for serious accuracy.

slug your bore and measure your bullets to make sure you are using ammo that gives a good seal(some 7.62 ammo is .308 rather than 310/311)

Try recrowning your barrel with a high quality crown facing cutter and chamfering tool.



Cryo freezing might also give limited success but I will say that heavier bullets and a high quality crown are at the top of my list of suggestions.


Now if you wanted to get radical you could make a harmonic barrel tensioning device by using an AK104 style FS/GB and threading the exposed muzzle and then using a section of tubing that slips over both a 22mm muzzle device and the 22mm portion of the AK104 FS/GB(yes I thought of it first so give me credit,lol).


Or you could toss all of this out and stick a big fat RPK barrel on it(there are US made RPK barrels that are quite accurate)or even get a fat barrel blank(one in 12 twist would be better for 123gr bullets than the factory 1 in 10).

Added:Consistency is the key to accuracy,if your handguard is imposing impingement forces on the barrel,if your piston is nudging the gas block because something is cockeyed you will get "flyers".

I weld a shim into my handguard retainer to make it tight and repeatable so the forces do not change,I align my RSB.GB,FSB with a laser using the bolt carrier,piston and rails in a vice with a level to remove these inconsistent impingement forces and ensure empirical accuracy.My Saiga 308 will haul the mail consistently with milsurp ammo(1.25-1.70") and I assume that a 7.62 possessing the same attributes(mandrel formed barrel,heat treated receiver,etc) is theoretically capable of the same kind of accuracy once you resolve the fundamental flaw of trying to shoot 130gr and lighter 30 cal bullets out of a 1 in 10 twist barrel that modern testing says is optimized for 168-180gr bullets.

Just some ideas.

I don't know how many rounds you've put through the barrel, or the cleaning you have done to it, but... Could your barrel be copper fouled? Have you tried cleaning out the cooper with something like Sweets 7.62? Or has anyone beat up the rifling while cleaning it, like by using one of those sectional cleaning rods maybe, or anything like that? Have you had a big change in the weather/seasons between the last couple time you shot it?