need some info on saiga rifles plz.

[mrfishy34]

my older brother jus called me and said he could find no used good 223 or new except for 1. its a saiga 223 and it is russian made i think he said it was for 239 brand new or 259 for one with a bipod. anyone know anything on these rifles and how realiable they are. all i know is that it is a semi auto and it has flip up sights in the back and the scope mounts from the side instead of top. thnks for ur help

[frizzellr]

What they are is the AK 47 design with a non pistolgrip stock. I haven't heard anything about them yet one way or the other, but they are based on a design that has been around a long time and is still going strong. I looked at a few and for the price they may be ok for a plinker.

[mrfishy34]

yes i just looked at one. the way my brother was talkin seemed to me like a regular rifle only semi auto. but he said it was the only gun for under 300. so i dono. he had one more place to look but i dono. i realy dont think i would like it such as a short barrel plus the fact that it looks like a machine gun. i might have to go with the hr ultra varmet rifle.

[Nomercy]

Ok, here are my thoughts on the Saiga's, I've had two of them, and another that was a .410 shotgun...they're imports, and NO ONE imports parts for them, they're cheap though, so if something breaks, just buy a new one. They're pretty tough, but they've got a lot of moving parts-but any competent AK-47 smith should be able to work with one if you've got a non-break glich...You've GOT to keep them clean, they're based on the AK, but they aren't it exactly, the finish isn't one that I'd call my favorite, treat it like VC did the AK's in Nam and your production rifle will be finished.

They're fun rifles, but there are better choices, I won't say don't buy one, I knew everything I mentioned above before I bought my second and third Saigas, they aren't terribly accurate, not a varminter if that's what you're looking for, maybe a little better on average than your typical non-russian, non-chinese SKS.

If you're looking for a varminter on a budget, buy a H&R handi rifle, order one with a heavy bbl and call it good, if you want to hunt bigger stuff later, send in your receiver and have a bigger cartridge bbl fitted for $100 or so.