My Saiga 7.62x39 Conversion (PICS!!)

[Ryan9896]

I finally received my Saiga IZ-332 from Centerfire Systems. it took about a week and a half from the day i placed the order for the rifle to deliver to my FFL. everything went smooth, however my credit card wasn't charged until after the rifle was shipped?? but anyway, the rifle came in prestine condition. i was impressed with the packaging and the surface finish on the receiver and barrel. the front hand guards are very secure, there is a heat shield and it has the retaining clip to secure the upper hand guard. it came with cleaning kit, 10rd mag.

I immediately started stripping it down....removed the thread cover welds easily with a dremel. i installed the muzzle break with some blue loctite. there was also a spring loaded pin at the base of the threads which locked into a groove on the muzzle brake itself so it would not unscrew on it's own. so with the loctite and the retaining pin, that brake is on there pretty good. i will hit it with a few spot welds as well.

next, i started to grind down the retaining plates on the 30rd mags to they would lock into this receiver. also very easily done with a dremel, just need to take away about 1/16th of an inch. i did it little by little until i heard the click and the mag released easily. they fit very well, with very very little wiggle.

next i feild stripped the rifle and removed the stock, trigger group & safety. i realized then i needed a new drill bit to take care of the rest of the rivets to remove the old trigger guard. so that was as far as i could go for the moment.

so that's where i'm at for now.....tonight i will remove the tang on the rear of the receiver and the old trigger guard. i will also start to grind, smooth, and polish the contact points of the hammer and bolt to smooth the action. i also will teeter with the idea of stripping and polishing the entire bolt for a little bling factor. i ordered the bullet guide last night as well which will hopefully be here early next week. i will update this post as i move forward until completion

 

[Donvin999]

Nice it's a good start! Be careful though one becomes 3 quickly then u start building ak's from kits since its the next logical step... Then you begin spouting communist rhetoric and speaking in a Russian accent! ;-)

 

[Ryan9896]

lol, thanks!! that's what i hear, but i don't know. i have alot of other hobbies that require alot of time and money.....that 65 cutlass to the left u see is one of them. i can't really justify owning too many guns in my current situation. for example, i have a disc brake conversion, tubular front control arms, steering linkage, front sway bar, & springs going in the cutlass next week. just those parts are worth a $2000 bill right there. that could have bought 2 AK's, but i have other priorities. it's bad enough this conversion is gonna run me close to $1000, lol.

i have my carry gun, my AR, and soon...my AK. i will be content for a bit with those 3 i think, next will be a shotgun for skeet shooting on the weekends.

 

[Donvin999]

Nice I once was a car guy but haven't done much recently! I always wanted a 69 gto but now it's all about having a car get me where I'm going... Still got a v8 though! There are often times I think about picking up a project car but I'm just too lazy to commit to something that big! Good luck with the rest of the conversion!

 

[ChevyGuy91]

Nice! This makes me want to do an other one, or at least rip one of mine apart and redo it to spice it up.

 

[Ryan9896]

Just about done now!!! Damn, that went pretty quick!!! Just waiting on my bullet guide and Hogue grip to come in from CSS. I must say, I lost a limb with the price I paid for the fully polished G2 FCG with overtravel limiter, reshaped hammer and polished contact points. But, IT WAS WORTH IT!!! The action is like butter, no bolt/hammer catching going on. And it looks sweet!!! The pull is light, crisp, and short. We'll see how it cycles it's first rounds at the range. But I'm thinking it's gonna be good to go. Hopefully the mags feed well too.

Here is a few close ups of the FCG:

I'll update with the final result...I am still going to polish the bolt better, and might do a TWS Dog Leg with an optic, but not sure. Also the extended charge handle is awesome!! Improves bolt manipulation tremendously!!!

 

[ChevyGuy91]

What charging handle is that? I may have to add one to my current project.

 

[Donvin999]

Lookin pretty sweet man! I love the stock and muzzle brake! How did you like reinstalling that bolt hold open? I did it on my first one but never again! Lol

 

[Ryan9896]

Tell u what, I struggled about 10min with that bolt hold and spring. Pain in the ass, but I got it. I got a trick...push the spring down w/left hand, with a precision pick or precision screwdriver in ur right hand, just grab the bottom edge of the spring through the pin hole, then u can keep it in place with the pick while u wiggle the pin through the spring and through the hole. I'd bet I could get it in less than a couple minutes now. I like having the bolt hold for range safety purposes.

The charge handle is a Tromix, $22.

 

[mclina]

It is a whole lot easier to modify the mag catch than it is to modify every magazine that you buy. I modified the tab on my first 30 round mag, then I decided to be smart and just modify the mag catch.

The modified 30 round mag and the stock Saiga mags will still latch properly even after modifying the catch.

Since you will have to modify the stock Saiga mags anyway, after the bullet guide is installed, there is really no reason not to modify the mag catch. If you don't, then you will have to modify every mag that you ever get.

The rifle looks great. Good luck with it.

 

[Ryan9896]

It is a whole lot easier to modify the mag catch than it is to modify every magazine that you buy. I modified the tab on my first 30 round mag, then I decided to be smart and just modify the mag catch.

The modified 30 round mag and the stock Saiga mags will still latch properly even after modifying the catch.

Since you will have to modify the stock Saiga mags anyway, after the bullet guide is installed, there is really no reason not to modify the mag catch. If you don't, then you will have to modify every mag that you ever get.

The rifle looks great. Good luck with it.

Thanks, great tip. Although, I have 4 mags now which I already modified. And I doubt I would ever own more than 10. It took me about 10 min to modify the 4 mags I have now, so we're not talking about a whole lot of labor involved, but I still would prefer your method. Definately makes more sense that way. I'll live with mine the way it is now I suppose.

 

[Ryan9896]

I ground and smoothed the underside of the bolt that ridesthe hammer, polished it up pretty well. Then lightly oiled the bolt assembly and greased the contact points of the FCG, cycled it about 50 times...WOW!!! I swear this trigger breaks between 3-4lb. I have a geissele SSA trigger in my AR that is around 4.5lb as comparison and this one is noticeably easier, softer and smoother. I can also manipulate the bolt and chamber a round with my pinky!!

And here it installed in the gun. There are still imperfections on the surface when u look closely, but it is stripped, buffed, and polished pretty good.

 

[Parker Duofold]

The piece that holds the cleaning rod underneath the barrel was ground off on both of my Saigas. Not so on your rifle.

 

[lancecolonel]

can you please tell me what kind of stock you put on? i'd love to build a tacticool ar with one of those....

 

[Ryan9896]

So I got a good one!!! Is the cleaning rod supposed just jiggle around freely? Or should it be snug? The only thing that keeps the cleaning rod from sliding out is the muzzle brake. But I like the cleaning rod look.

The stock is an Ace skeleton 9.5". U need the adapter block to use this stock.

 

[Ryan9896]

Here is the final product!! I'm loving it....

I ordered some desert camo 550lb paracord which I'm going to wrap the bars on the stock with to see how it looks. It will serve a purpose in a survival situation, and act as some insulation for the shooters cheek weld.

 

[Parker Duofold]

So I got a good one!!! Is the cleaning rod supposed just jiggle around freely? Or should it be snug? The only thing that keeps the cleaning rod from sliding out is the muzzle brake. But I like the cleaning rod look.

It screws in on the preban AK-74 that I have.

Not really....

Well, after pulling the AK74 out of the safe and taking a closer look, Flintoid is, of course correct!

 

[flintoid]

cleaning rods do not screw into any AK. They nest into the front sight block via a tension fit between it's FSB nest, handguard retainer, and handguard.

The screws on a cleaning rod are for cleaning attachments that should be found in a AKM cleaning kit, usually housed in the butt stock's trap door.

On a AK74, it nests in between the bayonet lug guide and the forward most FSB pin

nothing is perfect, so it could jiggle around a bit. It's a tight fit on my bulgarian AK74 FSB, but I don't know what a Saiga FSB looks like in detail.

I'm guessing yours is loose because the rod guide on the saiga gas return block has been milled down and isn't providing some tension to the rod along the barrel's length.


that's a good looking conversion. Nice work.

 

[Ryan9896]

cleaning rods do not screw into any AK. They nest into the front sight block via a tension fit between it's FSB nest, handguard retainer, and handguard.

The screws on a cleaning rod are for cleaning attachments that should be found in a AKM cleaning kit, usually housed in the butt stock's trap door.

On a AK74, it nests in between the bayonet lug guide and the forward most FSB pin

nothing is perfect, so it could jiggle around a bit. It's a tight fit on my bulgarian AK74 FSB, but I don't know what a Saiga FSB looks like in detail.

I'm guessing yours is loose because the rod guide on the saiga gas return block has been milled down and isn't providing some tension to the rod along the barrel's length.


that's a good looking conversion. Nice work.

Thanks man!! I'm sure u've seen ur share of conversions, so I appreciate your compliment. Considering this is the first time I've ever had my hands on any type of AK variant, I'm pretty impressed myself. And I started with the model number u suggested, which gave me a nice start. So thanks again!!

 

[Ryan9896]

Here it is with the paracord on the upper stock bar. It feels better against the cheek, and has a good look, IMO.

Also, can someone confirm for me if I'm 922r compliant? My USA parts are as follows:

Pistol grip
Stock
Gas piston
Trigger
Hammer
Disconnector

 

[Donvin999]

From my understanding ak's have a max of 16 countable parts so if you have 6 us parts u are a ok! And all the parts you listed are countable parts!

 

[Ryan9896]

From my understanding ak's have a max of 16 countable parts so if you have 6 us parts u are a ok! And all the parts you listed are countable parts!

Sweet, that's what I thought!! I like the handguard that came on this rifle so I was hoping I wouldn't have to switch it with a US made to be compliant. Looks like I'm all set!!

 

[loki32687]

For the conversion, do you have to do anything to the magwell to accommodate the magazines?

 

[Ryan9896]

For the conversion, do you have to do anything to the magwell to accommodate the magazines?

No, all u have to do is EITHER:

-modify the catch tabs on the mags themselves like I did

OR

-modify the mag catch itself


I did nothing to the magwell or receiver itself. The rounds feed perfectly.

 

[loki32687]

I'm considering doing the conversion to the 5.45 saiga in the future(if there is a group buy, even better ) and someone was trying to tell me the magwell needed to be widened to accept the mags

 

[Ryan9896]

I'm considering doing the conversion to the 5.45 saiga in the future(if there is a group buy, even better ) and someone was trying to tell me the magwell needed to be widened to accept the mags

I don't believe so, unless the 5.45 is different. But I don't see why it would be??

 

[SKS Brad]

Beautiful job on the conversion!


Posted with my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChevyGuy91]

I'm considering doing the conversion to the 5.45 saiga in the future(if there is a group buy, even better ) and someone was trying to tell me the magwell needed to be widened to accept the mags

I have used Russian plum mags in my S 5.45 with no mods to the mag well.

 

[Donvin999]

I have used Russian plum mags in my S 5.45 with no mods to the mag well.

Yeah I believe my 5.45 mags are Bulgarian and only required the typical mag catch level filing

 

[ChevyGuy91]

I didn't even mod the mag catch on mine.