PoS's Gun Review: Saiga-12

[PoS]

PROS:
- Semi auto allows a massive rate of fire
- Magazine fed for rapid reloading
- Lots of parts and accessories in the market

CONS:
- Hard to place magazine with closed bolt
- Factory stock next to useless
- Handgrip thin and rough

BASICS
The Saiga-12 is essentially an AK-47 adapted to fire 12 gauge shotgun shells. This combines the massive firepower and spread of a shotgun (if youre using buckshot) along with the reliability/dependability of the AK-47 upon which its based on. Since its fed via a magazine then theoretically it allows for much faster reloading than a traditional tube fed shotgun.

WHAT I DID
I got a Saiga-12C which is the long barrel version and essentially had a gunsmith chop it down to about 2 inch barrel from the foregrip. I might also change the pistol grip to a more comfortable one as well as get a new, recoil absorbing stock. I'll definitely be getting much larger capacity magazines as well.

RANGE EXPERIENCE
With the factory stock (which happens to be plastic and has an all metal buttpad) I actually bruised my shoulder after firing 50 rounds, damn thing has got a kick- probably due to the fact that the stock was just a basic POS (pardon the pun) with no recoil capabilities (and it wasnt comfortable either) at all. The shooting however was near flawless, I used 12 gauge 00-buck and did not have a single FTF and was able to empty the factory issued 5 round magazine in under 2 seconds. No need to aim with buckshot as I literally tore the paper target to shreds- just point and shoot and see things disintegrate before your eyes!

OVERALL
I think this will be a superb home defense weapon, it can lay out a massive amount of lead balls in a very short time and can be reloaded fairly quickly. It does need time to break in though as well as a lot of modifications, namely to the stock, barrel, grip and others. All I need now is my flamethrower...

[jimmyz]

looks like you took my advice to go with a shotty for home defense. Good choice.

Here's your flame thrower -
http://www.firequest.com/G12-013.html

[PoS]

[jimmyz]

[PoS]

Judging from the receiver to the barrel it looks to be between 10-11 inches. No rules for barrel length here, though military weapons are restricted to law enforcement and military, special foreigner permits get issued but only about a dozen per year, thankfully I got the government contacts to make proper arrangements for me.

However I think I cut the barrel too short, its starting to have cycling problems so Im working with a gunsmith about the gas tube.

EDIT: We got it working fine by enlarging the holes in the gas port and replacing the recoil spring. Now it fires anything!

But now I got another problem, it seems that the US export version is different in regards to the rear stock so I wont be able to use any custom built US stocks for it.