Merry Christmas to me.......

B

Boondoggie

New member
Ok, so I decided to treat myself to a Saiga 12 for as an early Christmas present.

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And I decided that it really needed to be converted to a pistol grip. So sit back, relax and enjoy the magic of time elapse photography.

First off, I want to say that this was a really simply conversion. All it took were the required 922R compliance parts –

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And the following tools –

Hand drill
Assorted drill bits
Center punch
Hammer
Dermal tool and cut off wheel.
Screw driver (you could also use one that isn’t as rusty!)
Needle nose pliers
Assorted punches

Total time for the conversion was approximately 4 hours, not including the 1 week cure time for the Aluma Hyde II (see below).

1. Clear the gun and make sure it’s unloaded.
2. Then check it’s unloaded and clear it again.
3. Field strip by removing the top cover.
4. Remove the recoil spring.
5. Remove the bolt carrier and bolt.

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6. Next, I remove the three screws securing the butt stock – two on top and one on the bottom.

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7. Insert (your rusty) screw driver and “gently” pry the butt stock loose.

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8. Once it started to move back about a ¼” or so, I moved the screw driver blade to the next pin and repeated step 7. above.

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9. This then allowed me to remove the stock.

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10. I used a step point ¼” drill bit and just removed the flanges from the two trigger pins.

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11. I then used a small diameter punch to remove the two pins.
12. The trigger group can now be removed.

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13. Once the hammer and sear pin retaining spring was removed, I gently pushed out the pins and remove the rest of the fire control group.

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14. If you own other AK variance, you will be very familiar with the FCG.
15. Next, I remove the trigger guard. This involved the same ¼” drill bit previously used. Firstly I center punched the front and rear rivets. Then carefully drill the heads off the rivets. Tip – use the slowest speed you can whilst applying pressure down. If you run your drill at high speed, you will only succeed in blunting your bit that much faster.

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16. Next, I used the small cutoff wheel on the Dermal to ‘grind’ the head off the rivet on the inside of the trigger guard.

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17. This then allowed me to remove the complete trigger guard unit.

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18. Since I will be fitting a folding stock onto this particular Saiga, I needed to first remove (cutoff) the top rear tang. Again, I employed the Dermal and cutoff wheel. Tip – go slow, if you try to rush it, you will burn up your cutoff wheels.

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19. The gun was next completely degreased and cleaned for painting. I masked off the section as best I could and used Aluma Hyde II in Matt black from Brownell. Tip – Aluma Hyde dries to the touch in about 20 mins or so. At this point you can apply a second coat if you wish. However, once it starts to cure, it requires about 6 – 7 days of actual cure time. If on day 1 or 2, you notice it requires a touch up, DON’T!!!! it will wrinkle up. The hotter you can keep it, the faster it will cure. For small parts, you can bake it in the oven at about 200 – 250 degrees F for about 2 hours. WARNING – it does produce toxic smells and should not be attempted in an oven you cook with! Besides, your wife gets really ******.

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20. Time to put it all together.

21. I started by installing the trigger guard.

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22. Next I installed the internal block.

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23. Next, the folding mechanism and stock.

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24. Before the Tapco hammer can be installed, I had to grind off the ‘hump’ on the back of the trigger and take about 0.050” off the pivot housing to allow the installation of the BOH (bolt hold open).

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25. I also cut a clearance slot in the BHO lever to allow me to install the selector / safety lever.

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26. Now, I have seen and hear of the ‘floss’ trick to installing the BHO spring and I have to tell you, I don’t understand why it’s required.
a. Install the trigger, sear and sear spring unit.
b. Push the trigger pin half way in, just enough to hold everything in place.

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c. Place the BHO on an angel and lean it towards you – do not insert it into the slot.

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d. I also put a very small bend in the BHO spring, just to help keep everything in place.

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e. I next ‘hook’ the spring on in the back of the BHO and whilst keeping everything tilted towards me a little, slip the spring under the trigger pin.

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f. Now, simply slide the BHO into the slot on the bottom, push down and install the trigger pin the rest of the way. DONE!
 
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27. The finished product!

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I hope you all enjoied my little presentation. I hope to install a muzzle device and maybe a rail forearm at a latter date. But for now, it’s off to the range….

Happy Holidays! :D
 
nice!

That looks nice did a job.these saiga's are so fun i did
saiga 223 and it was a snap and that was like the first
time i ever took a riffle all the way apart.there so simple
it was a big confidence biulder for me to do other
pojects so that was great .check t dinzag and carrolina shooters
supply. missisippi auto arms lots of good after market stuff.
isnt it fun drilling and grinding on a brand new gun
 
Ive read a lot of these conversions before and this one was written well, very simple and the pictures supplied helped even more. Nice job.

The 12 looks great now. Do they sell field barrels for those things? Imagine shooting clays with that!:p
 
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