I thought I'd review my Saiga-12 shotgun.
The Saiga-12 is the fastest semi-automatic shotgun on God's gray Earth.Now, I can hear someone saying,
"No way, dude! My Benelli Tactical (or what
ever)
cycles faster than your Saiga ever could!"To which I would reply, "OK, let's have a race: the first one who can fire 50 shots, wins." I start with loaded magazines, and you start with two boxes of shells.
I'll even let you shoot the contents of your mag tube once before I start shooting.
I'll win.The Saiga will fire as many shells as you have magazines for, as fast as you can pull the trigger (and swap mags, which is guaranteed to be quicker than loading a magazine tube). Mine sits in a closet, with 8+1 shells loaded, and 50 more in the bag of loaded magazines next to it.
Saiga-12's are only imported with five-round magazines: the BATFE threatened to classify it as "destructive" if the importers (first EAA, now RAAC) offered the Russian-standard 8-round magazines. For a while, the larger Russian magazines sold for $200 each online. Now, American companies make 8-, 10- and 12-round mags, and 20-round drums, so you are spared the expense of paying five times too much for a 1200-ruble ($40) Russian magazine.
(I've been to gun shops in Russia, where they sell Saiga-12's with 8-round mag, 18" barrel, pistol grip, and folding stock. I held one in my hands. The worst part was letting go of it).
The shotgun is sold in the USA with a fixed shotgun-style stock, as pictured above. It looks a bit crude. I ordered one, bought it, and brought it home in its box without ever having fired it. When I opened the box, I looked at its Mattel-quality plastic stock, and the "barbecue-black" paint job, and wondered if I had made a mistake. Then I took it to the range. No mistake.
It's a natural pointing gun. Look at a target, lift the Saiga, and you are aimed at that target. The bore is perfectly lined up with the top of the stock, so the gun has almost no muzzle climb... you can put nine shells -- or 11, or 13, or 21 -- through the same ragged hole. Mine has a fixed, ultra-tight choke: I can't run slugs through it, but everything else from birdshot to #00 buck works fine. I shot a round of trap with it, and broke 23 clays.
Newer Saiga's have a bolt hold-open, which makes it much easier to stuff a loaded magazine into place... but you can learn how to do without well enough. I would like to buy a newer one someday. When I do, I'll sell this one... for more than I paid for it.
I've had it since 2002, and I haven't cleaned it since 2003. After all, it
is a Kalashnikov, and it has never misfed or jammed in the last seven years and at least 2000 shells.
Maybe I'll clean it this summer.
The bottom line: i
f there be zombies, or TEOTWAWKI, or just four home-invasion robbers, you want a Saiga-12.
