PPT of Saiga 7.62x39

[Junkie]

I just PPTd a Saiga 7.62x39 (featureless)

when the FFL entered Izhmash Saiga as make/model, it rejected it as AW

he called DOJ, they said to put importer (Arsenal) as manufacturer, and Saiga as model... was that the right thing to do? I just want to make sure all goes well.

[dvs762]

Doj has a model of saiga listed as an assault weapon s why. I usually list Russia as make and saiga as model and it's gone through ok

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[Junkie]

It's especially strange as it was a factory featureless rifle, and no Izhmash made rifles are named AWs as far as I see.

[dvs762]

Kalashnikov USA saiga imports are listed assault weapons. That's why it said it was an aw

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[Junkie]

Right, but it doesn't say Kalashnikov anywhere on it.

[Laurence927]

Right, but it doesn't say Kalashnikov anywhere on it.

Well to my knowledge, the non-converted Saiga's were imported by RWC who changed their name to Kalashnikov USA and Kalashnikov USA "Hunter Rifles/Saiga" are on the AW list in California.

That being said my old SGL had Izhmash/Saiga markings on the receiver along with "ARSENAL LAS VEGAS NV USA", so technically the manufacturer/importer was Arsenal since they did the conversion and importation. This is probably why they're telling you to label it as an Arsenal rifle.

[kemasa]

They have stupid "rules" which cause problems, so you have to work around it.

[OneFunGuy]

The Saiga saga is very confusing to say the least. I'll take a wack at clearing some things up and share what I know. Izhevsk is a city in Russia, so is Tula.
Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (IZHMEKH) built Mosins and such during WWII and some other stuff later. Izhevsk Machinebuilding Plant (IZHMASH) built AK-47s. Izhmash went bankrupt in 2012. In 2013 the Kalashnikov Group was formed to facilitate the merger of the Izhmash and Izhevsk plants and to try and Izhmash out of bankruptcy, which failed.

The Kalashnikov Group was owned by the Russian government, in late 2013 they sold off 49 percent to private buyers for $41 million dollars. The Kalashnikov Group is located in Tula, the plants are in Izhevsk Russia.

After the West placed economic sanctions on Moscow, it completely closed the American market to the Kalashnikov Group. At the beginning of 2015 the Kalashnikov Group made an agreement with an American company, the Russian Weapons Company, (RWC), to produce/import Izhmash products. It's hazy as to exactly what was what here because of conflicting press releases. At the SHOT show 2015, RWC stated they had started importing, at the same time Kalashnikov Group stated that they had given a domestic manufacture license to RWC. RWC is located in Tullytown, Pennsylvania.

There are two more players as well. EAA, European American Arms and RAA, Russian American Armory Company! These both appear to just be importers. From what I can gather, it appears that the CA DOJ added the EAA imported Saiga's to their list before being stopped by court order from just adding guns at their own whim. The RAA and RWC imports do not appear to have been added to the DOJ list. I have never heard of "Arsenal" before, new one to me.
If in fact, RWC changed their name, yes those Saiga's got banned. As best as I can understand, the RWC and RAA import marked Saiga's are CA legal.

So the question would be, what happened to RWC if they changed their name to Kalashnikov-USA and then those Saiga's got banned?

Last week I was finally able to take possession of my first Saiga .223 made by Izhmash in Russia, imported by Russian American Armory Company in Scottsburg, IN. Very long story but it took two months! My FFL said that he spent hours on the phone with the DOJ trying to get this rfile inputted into the Dealer's Record Of Sale system.
Here's how my final approval reads;
MAKE - Russia
MODEL - RWC Saiga 223
CALIBER 223
TYPE - Rifle
CATEGORY - Semi-Automatic
COMMENT - Featureless

Here's the kicker. I specifically sought out a Saiga 223, imported by RAA, but it seems that the RAA imported version is not in the DROS system.