Saiga AK .308

[RunningOnMT]

Does anyone have experience with the Saiga .308? These are available and going for very reasonable prices. Are these of good quality. I notice they have stamped receivers and that part concerns me. I don't really like buying Russian made weapons but I've wanted a hi capacity .308 for awhile now and an M1A1 is beyond my budget for the foreseeable future.

[Charlie the sniper]

I have 2 Saiga rifles (AK-straight pull), one in .223 and one in 7.62x39. The Saiga's are made by IZHMASH in Russia, were Mr Kalashinkov himself works.
I have never used the .308 version, we don't get many adapted for the UK.

I have owned/own Remington, Sako, Mauser, Steyr amongst other makes. If I had to sell my rifles, the last 2 out of my gun safe would be the Saiga's.

The Saiga your talking about is more of a hunting/target rifle compared to my 2 rifles. Just not sure how they work in .308.

Photos of my Saigas are in my photo album in my profile.

[Charlie the sniper]

Just found this link, it may be of use.
http://club.guns.ru/eng/sig308.htm

[RunningOnMT]

Thanks Charlie. This article and all the reviews I've read seem to give the Saiga high marks.

[Shellback]

I own a Saiga 12 and it's the fastest 12 gauge I know of, it will smoke high dollar Benellis, it's fast and durable, I've got well over 10,000 rds thru her and believe it or not, never a ftf, fte ftc never, thats hard to believe to me.
Tim

[Agentwil]

I own a 308 Saiga and it's a lot of fun. The only complaint is the trigger is terrible. I replaced the trigger spring from Carolina Shooters Supply and it helped a bit.

[wolfeyes]

They are excellent for the price................JH

[William Harper]

I have handled and dry-fired a Saiga. The trigger was rough, however, I have been shooting for 60 years and that is about all it takes for me to adapt to any trigger. I was not interested in a high capacity .308, though it is a nice little cartridge. I recall when a self-satisfied armorer had me turn-in my M1 and handed me a shorter, lighter piece that handled like a fine sporting rifle. Thus, I became acquainted with the M14, which did not feel robust enough to use as a mace to drive a few hordes from a Chinese platoon into the ground and remain unbroken, but did feel as if it would shoot fast and well. I did not like the flash-hider; it hid very little flash, nor did I feel it kicked too much. We were soon rid of it, though it puts in a sweet appearance now and then, and had a new service rifle that would not stop a 110 Lb man from throwing a grenade unless you hit him in the head with its bullet. Now, we are afflicted with an even shorter barreled version of it, though it is backed-up by a variety of other arms around it. I suppose I wondered as I handled the Saiga how they had changed the AK47, a 40,000 psi norm operator, to handle more pressure in the AK74 version, then yet more in the Saiga .308? The old man whose likeness graces the vodka bottle label is reputed to have said,"It is a thousand times more difficult to make something simple than to make it complicated." I don't like to be confined in hand-loading to a narrow range of weights and charges by the parameters of either gas operated or recoil operated actions. They offer rapidity of fire that means little in a peace-time hunting field to a life-long precision marksman. I fire one shot every three seconds from a bolt action 7.62-39mm CZ 527 Carbine lighter than the Saiga and more accurate, six shots, one in the chamber and five in the magazine, 18 seconds to fire. I'm certain the Saiga can pump them out faster. That may be useful if one is rushed by a boar. They are about as fast to my eye as a White-tailed buck on the run. I have seen an untrained man get knocked flat by one in maybe 3 seconds. I might get more hits with the Saiga than with the CZ 527. Once, being careless in my youth, 45 years ago, I had an encounter with a 300 Lb boar in a Carolina Swamp, and my right hand put 4 rounds of .357 in him from 20 to 5 feet, as my brain gabbled, because of 11 years of draw-fire practice. The last two hit the spine and brain respectively- no virtue of superior intellect- just synapses firing as Col. Eugene Long and others had driven them to be developed to do. They saved me from a mauling or worse. Maybe I have an innate distrust of external machinery and standards in a pinch. 6 shots in 18 seconds into 7" at 100 yards ought to be enough. On the other hand, maybe I ought to have another look at that Saiga .308, before becoming William the Pigger at my age. It has ca. 20-21" barrel and an 8 shot magazine, though I think a 5 might be had. The sights are excellent tangent sights but have only 100-300 yards marked on them, though there is much more elevation there. I had to praise its sights for woods use and acknowledge I could give a boar a more devastating pounding faster and with a greater weight of bullets that with my CZ 7.62-39mm. It would certainly out-range the latter. On the other hand it was much heavier and would demand for every 2 rounds of .308, as much as for three rounds of 7.62-39mm. No question, however, about its adequacy for the game. None at all. Its cost was ca. $569.00, ca. $100 cheaper than my CZ 527 Carbine. I still like the latter better.