Saiga 12 opinions

[rjh4758]

Thinking of buying a Saiga 12. Looking for opinions from people that have hands on experience with them. How is reliability with different ammo? How is ergonomics?

[RenegadeRebel]

Converted the ergonomics are to die for. Especially if you get a chaos rail and put a forgrip. Those handles are better to fondle then a porn stars tits.

Reliability is a different issue. Keep in mind these guns were made by people who work with a camel hydration backpack full of vodka strapped up and ready to go.

When you get them they likely wont run 100%; especially so when you use birdshot. They are military shotguns designed to run magnums only. There are lots of mods that can be done to make them run 99.99% on any ammo though, even weak walmart bulk. Booster pucks, auto plugs, internal polishing, opening the ports (emergency option!), etc.

I say wait two months for them to drop in price and buy one. You wont regret it!

Just be forewarned...They are like potato chips...You cant have just one!!!

[rjh4758]

Definitely going to wait and see if the price drops much. Really kicking myself for not getting one like 10 years ago when they were like $250-300. They were not popular at the time and I assumed they would be gone from the market and parts and accessories would not be had in the future, boy was I wrong.

Still would like to hear other opinions.

[stix213]

The shotgun is simply bad ***. Its a very fun gun to shoot. With it converted its basically got standard AK ergo's, though I have the long barrel version so its a little front heavy relatively. I primarily use mine for shooting clays with my buddies, and I think its great for it.

As already mentioned, its not uncommon to have problems cycling the cheap low power ammo, though some people report no issues with the cheap stuff out of the box. I personally ended up drilling an extra gas port in mine since mine would only cycle high brass initially, which got it working very well with the cheap walmart ammo. Lately though I've been buying the more expensive 1300 fps 7 1/2 shot "Nitro" Remmington ammo which I have been getting 100% reliability with.

If you're wanting good info on the Saiga 12, you should also check out the forum over at saiga-12.com

[Rob454]

Mine is ok. With the factory plastic stock it's pretty awful as far as ergonomics. Your trigger hand is positioned with too far forward of a tilt. its like trying to shoot something with a stock that's straight like a 2x4. IF you get the conversion then it becomes a "normal" hand position. What I did to mine was i did not want a converted one so I got a set of 308 Saiga wood stock and fore grip and modified them to work on my S12. HUGE improvement in ergonomics. I think mine is ok. I also feel that for the price you spend on one now you can buy a way better semi auto shotgun. Back when they were 500-550 yeah I was willing to spend that but would I spend the 800-1000 that people demand now? Highly doubt it. In that price range there are way better guns. In fact I would go as far as selling mine to get a better one. I bought one cause I wanted to see what the big deal was. yeah its a fun gun but I was not overly impressed with it.

I also don't feel that there is anything particularly wrong with the Saiga as far as shooting it. I don't think it was ever designed to really shoot low powered wally world ammo. Sort of like running a Corvette on regular unleaded. yeah it will run but wont run as well as it could. Ok sure there may be a few problematic ones but show me a gun maker that has 100% reliability and never had a bad one out of the box. And the only wally ammo mine jammed on was winchester green box. The remington was a lot better with only one jam. I shot a mag of slugs and buck and had no problems with higher powered ammo.

[chaseface]

There are definitely reliability issues for some people with the birdshot out of the box. Though as stix mentioned some people (including myself) have no problems with it straight out of the box. I LOOOVE mine and I don't know anyone who has regretted buying one. Having said that, they can get EXPENSIVE with aftermarket parts. That Chaos Titan Quad Rail that RenegadeRebel has is almost $200 and if you get it with the Choas H&K sights its another $100, muzzle breaks are around $60, conversion parts to add the pistol grip can run around $200 depending on what stock and parts you choose. Ten round drum mag is $80, ten round box mags are around $30, twenty round drum mag is $100-120. Im not trying to scare you off, just trying to give you some insight into the true cost before you take the plunge. But I say GO FOR IT!!! I have not regretted one dollar spent

[SJgunguy24]

I hate when somebody brings in a brand new Saiga 12 crying about reliability issues. I ask how many and what type of rounds, the usual reply is less then 50 and cheap wally world crap.
I was talking to a cop last night on the bus about this very thing. My reply to everyone, run 200 rounds of high.brass or magnum rounds, then if your gun won't cycle the low brass loads, come see me.
Saiga 12's are solid guns and when properly broke in will run like a champ.