Saiga-12 drums

[Agent Akin]

Greetings all!

So, at the last OC gun show, I bought a ten-round drum for my Saiga-12. It didn't quite fit right... no worries, as I was warned that sometimes you have to take a file to it and remove a bit of plastic before it'll seat.

So, I *finally* got around to working on it today. Now the magazine clicks home properly and won't pop out.

Then I loaded it up to test it... not live fire, just wanted to cycle rounds through. Was gonna try it for real at my upcoming range day as soon as I get my Addax ZK upper... *grin*

Anyway, when the magazine has rounds in it... I can't even pull the bolt back. It'll go back an inch or two then stop, and nothing I can do will make it go back any further. This is, of course, not enough to chamber a round.

When I removed the magazine, the top round was fairly messed up and deformed, too.

Note that this weapon functions flawlessly with ten-round stick magazines, so it's definitely the drum.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks...

[peterabbits]

Have you tried loading on an open bolt? Has the bolt head been modified to facilitate loading / operating on a closed bolt?

[EBR Works]

^This. None of my drums will load properly on a closed bolt either.

[stix213]

I've never gotten my 10 round drum to even lock in when fully loaded on a closed bolt. All my Saiga 12 mags in fact need you to pull the charging handle back before locking in the mag.

[Agent Akin]

huh... well, I can't lock the bolt back on mine, so I'm not sure how it would be possible. What do you do, juggle holding the bolt back while seating the magazine? Sounds kinda awkward...

[hcbr]

hrmmm interesting to hear this...

[ArmedJackal]

Do you have the promag? I have the promag ten rounder and it works perfectly. Of course I did get the bolt profiled and tuned by Pauly but not sure if that had any effect.

[cc raider]

Did you leave the dummy round that comes with mag in? I think it takes the place of an eleventh round that pushes the last tenth round up to chamber.

[Agent Akin]

Did you leave the dummy round that comes with mag in? I think it takes the place of an eleventh round that pushes the last tenth round up to chamber.

Yeah, it has a non-removable dummy round. I can put ten real rounds in...

[Agent Akin]

Do you have the promag? I have the promag ten rounder and it works perfectly. Of course I did get the bolt profiled and tuned by Pauly but not sure if that had any effect.

Yeah, it's a Promag. I wasn't told that modifications to the weapon were needed when I bought it... what is profiling the bolt?

[peterabbits]

huh... well, I can't lock the bolt back on mine, so I'm not sure how it would be possible. What do you do, juggle holding the bolt back while seating the magazine? Sounds kinda awkward...

You didn't put the bolt hold open back in? You can always notch the safety lever to "catch" the bolt handle.

Check this thread out regarding polishing / profiling your bolt.

[Agent Akin]

You didn't put the bolt hold open back in? You can always notch the safety lever to "catch" the bolt handle.

Check this thread out regarding polishing / profiling your bolt.

One of the guys who was helping me also said not to bother as it was useless... despite that I tried, and it didn't work.

Well I could replace the safety lever with one that had somehow been "notched", it doesn't sound like something I could do myself. Never underestimate my ability to screw things up, even if I had the proper tools!

[GettoPhilosopher]

One of the guys who was helping me also said not to bother as it was useless... despite that I tried, and it didn't work.

Well I could replace the safety lever with one that had somehow been "notched", it doesn't sound like something I could do myself. Never underestimate my ability to screw things up, even if I had the proper tools!

Huh. Mine fit back in the converted weapon just fine. What do you mean it didn't work?

[peterabbits]

I'm guessing maybe the hammer wasn't cut down to allow room for the BHO.

[Firearmspro]

huh... well, I can't lock the bolt back on mine, so I'm not sure how it would be possible. What do you do, juggle holding the bolt back while seating the magazine? Sounds kinda awkward...

Well...It sounds like there are quite a few things going wrong for you in regards to this project.

First, the bolt hold open will work in a converted gun, and should have reinstalled during assembly. Not installing it, not only makes loading very difficult (not impossible) but your now your hammer may have too much slop side to side and that in a seperate mess....

The promag products are known to have issues...mags, drums, it really doesn't matter. I had to quit stocking them because it was taking too much time trying to get them to fit/run in customer guns. That said...I have never had a drum actually prevent the bolt/carrier from being pulled to the rear of the firearm. I may be able to assist if we can get some pictures of the drum seated in the firearm.

As for the safety lever, I would go with the Krebs Custom Safety Lever as it also has a nice finger shelf to allow you to use your trigger finger (if you are right handed) to manipulate the safety.

And last on the list....if you would like to send your gun to us we would be glad to install a bolt hold open for you.

PFIDude