Question by Scott: How do ak-47 design variations affect the quality of the gun?
My cousin just bought a Saiga 308. It’s the same type design as an ak, but obviously it’s not an ak, it’s a Saiga 308. Will his 308 show the same durability and ruggedness as an actual ak?
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Answer by SSG.Wentworth
With that design, the portion of the gun, which is the bolt, bolt carrier, and charging handle is a very heavy part of the firearm. With heaviness, also comes size. The mixture between a large size and weight makes the recoil of the bullet a lot more. The reason for this is because there is a normal recoil of the bullet leaving the firearm. The second is of the weight of the bolt jolting back in your shoulder, which also raises the muzzle more. With a firearm such as the AR15 or M16, the bolt has a very small peice inside that moves back and forth and it is much smaller to eject a bullet by moving backwards, whereas the ak’s wohle bolt assembly moves. Other than that the AK is a very simple design and that makes it’s reliablilty very good. It can take a lot of wear and tear and even heavy duty impact like smashing it on a cinderblock-wall and it will still function 100%, or running it over with a car.
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mack_9 says
I think the reliability of the AKs is over rated. They do have a looser fit so that dirt does not effect them too much. If you clean an AR it will work. If you want a tough rifle get a Mosin-Nagant. You can use it to beat on your AK if it quits working and both will work better when you are done.
Chris says
WHERE IT WAS MADE!!!!!!!! if it was made in china it will be a piece of crap the Russian is the best.
Kush Slayer says
yes because only thing different on a saiga is the trigger is moved back and on the other calibers the receivers lenght is changed, so yes it is an ak47 and is just as durable and rugged
stormgale89 says
Saiga is the company that supplies the russian army, so yes it will have the same durability as a real AK, it's been tested.
the difference is when guns are mass produced for export markets by money greedy nations that just copied the idea(china, romania, yugoslavia)
these guns are not of even military quality, they're just cheap knock offs, some may even be dangerous.
even some US companies are getting into producing them and from what I see, they're of good quality.
it really depends on who made it, someone looking to make money or make good guns, saiga is one that looks to make the best product possible.
Fatefinger says
It's not design variations. There are very few overall design variations between countries besides some minor design elements and asthetics. It's fit and finish and quality control that effects the gun. There cheap to make but there are differences in quality. Some countries like russia and Bulgaria tend to be much better quality while Romanian tend to be crap because there just pounding them out to make a profit, not to be given to troops. Romy G's are good quality and those are military designation.
kavekarst says
Saiga has introduced fixed magazine well to the newest models
making exchanges an easy one-hand operation. Previous 308.
magazine exchanges required two hands and patience. Saiga
sport weaponry has some of the durability and ruggedness of AK
but it helps to upgrade any export versions.
Passanger57 says
I don't know about Saiga specifically, but AK variants are generally all pretty reliable, regardless of the manufacturer. The design of the gun is what makes it so successful. It's a lot like the 1911. Even though Colt made the original, the replicas are all so similar in design that even the cheap ones are great guns.