My Saiga Conversion

[88E30M50]

Did you shoot it today? Pics?

I had it out today but was having so much fun shooting it the camera never left my pocket. I ran about 140 rounds through it and the wire side folder was not a problem at all. I also had my Polish milled AK out and did not see a noticable difference between the two in terms of recoil or how the stock feels. With it being as warm as it was today, I was shooting in just a long sleeved shirt, so there was no jacket padding making it feel nicer than it was.

The only issue I had was with the front handguard. After two magazines, the front retainer popped off of it, letting it flail a bit. I reattached it and it was fine for the rest of the day. Then, I made the mistake of checking it when I got home and with just a bit of a twist, the cross bolt snapped on it. I'm also not as crazy about how bulky the Galil handguard is. Shooting it along side of my other AK, it really was noticable.

I had used the two stage Arsenal FCG on this and after shooting it side by side with the other AK, which uses the Tapco G2, I came away really liking the Arsenal trigger better. The two stage trigger has a rough take up, but is very crisp and predictible when it breaks. The G2 has a smoother take up, but breaks somewhere in the middle with little warning. My 14 year old thinks the G2 trigger will be easier to fire rapidly and favors it, but I like the feel of the Arsenal trigger better.

The side folder is very easy to open and close with your hand on the pistol grip. You can reach the stock locking mechanism with your thumb and quickly open or close it while maintaining a shooting grip.

I do need to think about what type of sights I want to run on this. Part of me likes the TechSights apeture sight that mounts at the rear of the dust cover and replaces the recoil spring lock. Another part of me likes the idea of running a red dot sight on this with either a quad rail mount up front or one of the rear dust cover mounts that attaches and pivots from the rear sight base. I've also toyed with keeping the stock sight position but with a Trijicon night sight set. Right now, I'm leaning towards the quad rail setup with something like an AimPoint Micro H-1 or an EoTech 512.

 

[mammynun]

Glad you like your stock and that your conversion went perfectly!

If you go with a red dot, make sure you look at the Ultimak rail. If they don't make one for your model, it's easy to mod a longer one. An Ultimak and an Aimpoint T1/H1/clone will lower 1/3 co wittness... solid, too.

 

[windellmc]

I am getting ready to convert my 5.45 Saiga back end. I am still on the fence about keeping the stock handguard or doing the full conversion. I know I am converting the fsb and adding a 74 brake at some point, and that is the time to do the handguard and gas block if I am going to do it.

 

[88E30M50]

The US made parts count was what had me doing the hand guard at this point. If you keep your hand guard, you may have to either use US magazines or change the gas piston out. The stock front hand guard is really not that bad and is nicer than the Tapco one I ended up with.

 

[windellmc]

If you leave the front end stock, you should be able to legally get by with stock, pistol grip, and the 3 fire control parts all being US.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

The US made parts count was what had me doing the hand guard at this point. If you keep your hand guard, you may have to either use US magazines or change the gas piston out. The stock front hand guard is really not that bad and is nicer than the Tapco one I ended up with.

I've seen various places that sell American-made wood furniture for AKs. Not sure if they fit Saiga, but search "AK stocks" and you should run across at least one manufacturer.

 

[Dorky_D]

I converted my .223 Saiga recently. I have heard that those Galil handguards for the Saiga often fall off just as you experienced. I saw a tutorial for adapting a standard AK handguard retainer to work with a Saiga without having to remove the FSB or gas block.
is this everything??? - forum.Saiga-12.com
I decided to get a side scope mount from Mounts.
I'll look for you at the range the next time I am there.