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Well, Saturday I popped down to Bristol to buy this:



It's a Saiga M3 side-folder. Chambered in .223 / 5.56, 16" barrel, Bradley Arms side charge lever, picatinny dust cover (now with a Simmons WTC 1.5 - 5 fitted), upgraded pistol grip (for people with adukt sized hands).

The plan is that this will be used for CSR. Not the best rifle for that discipline, by all accounts, but a very affordable way to acquire a detachable mag 'practical' rifle, that I won't might getting weathered or scratched etc.

Mikaveli wrote:Well, Saturday I popped down to Bristol to buy this:



It's a Saiga M3 side-folder. Chambered in .223 / 5.56, 16" barrel, Bradley Arms side charge lever, picatinny dust cover (now with a Simmons WTC 1.5 - 5 fitted), upgraded pistol grip (for people with adukt sized hands).

The plan is that this will be used for CSR. Not the best rifle for that discipline, by all accounts, but a very affordable way to acquire a detachable mag 'practical' rifle, that I won't might getting weathered or scratched etc.

Nice.

I used a 7.62 x 39 for one CSR match - I managed ok - certainly nowhere near bottom of the scores list !

Ammo was cheap milsurp. I would imagine you will get better results in .223 with GGG ammo etc

breacher wrote: Nice.

I used a 7.62 x 39 for one CSR match - I managed ok - certainly nowhere near bottom of the scores list !

Ammo was cheap milsurp. I would imagine you will get better results in .223 with GGG ammo etc

Cheers. Reportedly, the .223 is supposed to have a group size around half the size of the 7.62 x 39 at 100 yds - although I'm still expecting to be at the bottom of the scores list. ...at which point, I will blame the rifle. :lol:

Very nice Comrade, you won't be disappointed though you will have to get used to folks at the range wanting their photo taken with it!!! :)
I'm on my third, I have a Romanian AKM and an AKMS underfolder,which i have just purchased after selling my Saiga MK/AK-104 and have always gone for x39 though i quite fancy a .223 with the skeleton sidefolding stock to turn into an AK-74s lookalike.Both the AKM and AKMS have been "Soviet-ised" with laminated wood handguards and pistol grips (and stock on the AKM), genuine AKM spec rear sight leaf and bakelite mags.

By the way, the more an AK gets weathered and worn the better they look!

Check the twist rate. I had an early one and its barrel had a 1 in 7 twist. Later batches had a 1 in 12 twist.

Sandgroper wrote:Check the twist rate. I had an early one and its barrel had a 1 in 7 twist. Later batches had a 1 in 12 twist.

How do I find that out?

With a cleaning rod, use a patch of a size that will engage the rifling when you pull it through.

Mark the top of the rod at the barrel. Pull the rod through and when the original mark has done a complete turn, mark the rod again and measure between the marks on the rod to get the twist rate.

I usually do it 2 or 3 times to make sure I get consistent result.

snayperskaya wrote:Very nice Comrade, you won't be disappointed though you will have to get used to folks at the range wanting their photo taken with it!!! :)
I'm on my third, I have a Romanian AKM and an AKMS underfolder,which i have just purchased after selling my Saiga MK/AK-104 and have always gone for x39 though i quite fancy a .223 with the skeleton sidefolding stock to turn into an AK-74s lookalike.Both the AKM and AKMS have been "Soviet-ised" with laminated wood handguards and pistol grips (and stock on the AKM), genuine AKM spec rear sight leaf and bakelite mags.

By the way, the more an AK gets weathered and worn the better they look!

Ha ha, funny you should say that - I took it to the range yesterday (didn't get to shoot it, as nobody brought a bore sighter ) and I had a few people tell me how ugly it was - put people did take pictures of it.

I'd also quite like to Soviet-ise my rifle, fitting the wooden furniture - purely for my inner gun-tart. That'll probably happen later though - if I stick at CSR and want to do it more seriously I'll buy an AR. Then I can sacrifice the shootability / configuration of my Saiga to give it that iconic look.

Ochen' khoroshiy tovarishch

I think we need to gather all the AK's and VZ58's in one location for a range day. (as not all members have clearance for Bisely etc we could use somewhere like SevernSide or Minesterly)

raybrown53 wrote:Ochen' khoroshiy tovarishch

I think we need to gather all the AK's and VZ58's in one location for a range day. (as not all members have clearance for Bisely etc we could use somewhere like SevernSide or Minesterly)

Sounds like a good plan, could open it up to Saiga/Vepr12 as well.......Might even drag the Dragunov along as well :)