WEC-SAIGA ...Now with O.S.T.

[Captain Wheelgun]

How does it do with slugs?

[Netpackrat]

How does it do with slugs?

It seemed to be fine at 19 inches, so I don't have any reason to think it won't also be fine at 14. Part of the agenda this evening will be to re-set the front sight base since I had to remove it, and I'll do that with slugs at 25 yards. Function wise, it has always been better with slugs than anything else, whether factory or my reloads.

[Netpackrat]

Test fired it tonight...

Given that it was awesome before it became an SBS, I lack the words to describe how it is now. I wish I had done this a long time ago. With the increase to the size and number of gas ports I made, I not only did NOT lose any functionality, I actually gained a little. The 3" slugs and buckshot that would previously only function on setting "3" of the MD Arms 5 position gas plug, are now totally reliable on setting "2", which is the next most closed off position. I still can't get anything to function on setting "1" (the most closed position), but given that the 5 position plug is designed to take control of an over-gassed gun (to keep it from beating itself apart), that's not necessarily a bad thing. And some of the light trap loads that were previously not 100% reliable even on plug setting 5, now run without a hitch, even from the drum.

I did examine the carrier after I was done shooting, and noted that the crack grew a little since the last time I fired it, and the extension is a little looser in its threads. So, while this was fun, I am definitely not going to take it shooting again until after I get the new bolt carrier.

I will note that I first shot it with 3" Remington slugs on paper at 25 yards to get the sights readjusted. There's basically not enough height adjustment in the front to bring the POI down to exact zero at that range, but I got it to within an inch or two high. That's certainly within one minute of griz, which was the main objective.

[Netpackrat]

Even the bears are starting to hear about my shotgun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbA-XfotMHQ

[Netpackrat]

Had a message on my voice mail from R&R targets saying that the new carriers were ready. Called to give my credit card info, and was informed right at the end that "oh by the way" the right hand charging handle on the new carriers (they offer a left hand version as well) is relocated to the rear, and I would have to relieve the dust cover about 2" to use the new carrier. That has to be one of the more asinine things I have ever heard of in a replacement part. Order cancelled, I will weld up the crack in my existing carrier.

[strike]I posted this in their subforum over on the Saiga forum, but I expect it will be deleted since that is the kind of crap they do over there.[/strike]

Edit: I was wrong about that last, although I have seen it there before.

[Netpackrat]

Another update. The R&R guy on the other group reminded me that they currently have a few OEM factory carriers in stock for a little less than the new ones. I ordered two of them, so I will hopefully be able to shoot my Saiga for a long time into the future. The guy I talked to had some advice on possibly preventing them from cracking in the future. I mentioned welding up my original for a spare, and he wasn't really optimistic about the chances of a weld repaired carrier holding up due to the fine russian metallurgy (even if he did it, he said). Hence the reason I bought two.

[Netpackrat]

And, the Saiga 12 is ready to go to the range once again. The two stock bolt carriers I ordered arrived last week, and they both looked like they had been taken from shotguns that were new and unfired. On one of them, the "operating rod" was quite tight, so I set that one aside for now. The other was a little loose, and so I took that one out into the shop for rework. From my conversation with the proprietor of R&R targets, and reading old forum posts, it seems like there are two reasons why the carriers crack. First, the rod doesn't bottom out in the carrier against anything solid. They screw it in to the necessary length, and then press dimples into the carrier to retain it. So, all the load when the gas piston impacts the rod goes straight into the threads. Second, looseness of the threads. With the load path being through the threads, any looseness is going to result in wear and metal fatigue. With a standard AK rifle, you want the piston to be a little loose in the carrier at this location for reliability purposes, but the rifle only sees the force of a gas impulse, and not a direct mechanical impact as you get when the shotgun gas piston (the puck) impacts the rod. The shotgun carrier takes a beating in this area.

The first thing I did was to make a reference mark on the carrier so I could measure to the end of the rod, and maintain the same overall length when I was finished. Then, I drilled out the two dimples retaining the rod in the carrier, which I then unscrewed to remove. I got some small, thin washers that just fit inside the hole in the front of the carrier. I stacked 3 of them in there, and then slightly ground the face of the threaded end of the rod until the original length was achieved when tight. Next, I drilled a 3mm hole all the way through the carrier and the threaded portion, and countersunk each end. Locating the hole 90 degrees off from the original dimples (the dimples were too far back to use to start the hole), this ended up vertical in relation to the carrier. Next, I removed the rod again, cleaned the threads, applied Rocksett, and reinstalled tightly. Then I installed a standard 3mm AK gas piston rivet from ak-builder.com in the hole, and ground the ends flush with the carrier.

It's $%^& tight now, not going anywhere. Hopefully that will keep the new carrier from cracking again in the future. I polished the bottom of the carrier where it rides over the hammer, like my old carrier was, and then installed it in the shotgun. Looking forward to shooting it again.