Saiga .223, my "pimped" Kalashnikov

[Darth AkSarBen]

Worked on a load last night of 25.0 gr Hodgdon Benchmark, with a 55 gr JHP BT Sierra GameKing (not Speer) I took picture and then realized that it was not the Speer bullets but the Sierra bullets, so rather than re-take the pictures, I edited on the target and figured I'd just mention it in here. 100 yards, and 6 shots. Normally I shot 3 shot groups testing, or a 5 shot group for point of impact, but last night I ended up making one extra bullet, so thought.. what the heck. Group on the furthest holes measured 0.891" center - center. It seems to open up a bit more with an extra .5 grain of powder, and it could also be to the fact that I'm shooting hollow point as opposed to FMJ (same bullet mfg, Sierra). Another thing is these hollow points don't have a cannelure for crimping lightly, so I probably don't have an "exact" crimp as I did before.



I'm off a bit from the bullseye, but I had the scope and mount off of the rifle the other day, shooting with iron sights, and when I put it back on, I tried to adjust a bit down and over to the right from a previous target I shot and over corrected a bit on the down part, but the L-R windage seems pretty good.

[INDIANA556]

Originally Posted by Darth AkSarBen

16" with SAW pistol grip, polished hammer/let-off FCG, Tapco Intrafuse fore grip, Tapco T6 collapsable stock and the TuffForce side mount scope mount. Converted and shoots quite well.


Recent target with Hodgdon Benchmark powder and Sierra GameKing 55 gr FMJ BT bullets:



And me holding the rifle and target from an earlier shoot at home when I was using some Hodgdon BLC-2 powder. Daughter took the pic.

nicely done!

[Bunker]

i havent ever re-head spaced a saiga but i have re-head spaced plenty of bulgy, romy,polish, and amd 65's. Not sure what size pin saiga uses. we start by head spacing with a .302 if something moves we go with a .315, .327,.338. after that the reamer will start to break thru the top of the trunion ( sometimes the .338 will break thru.) i believe the saiga starts with a pretty small pin, so you shouldnt have a problem. If your going to go thru the trouble of truing the bolt face, you might as well lap the lugs on the bolt to. Keep us posted on your work!

[1biggun]

What kind of group will one of these print at 300,400 yards?

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about like any other 223 that shoots that good at 100.
my target build will do quarter sized groups at 250 yds. i kill prairie dogs at over 600 yards .

my factroy stock Saiga will do 3/4" groups with the loads for my other guns. I havent had a chance to develope a load for it yet,

with a little wrok the saiga 223 is the best bang for the buck in a autoloading 223. to bad they dont make a target version with a heavy 22inch barrel.

[sniper69]

Originally Posted by Darth AkSarBen

Well, j427x, If you ever reload, or the supply of 5.45 x 39 dries up, you may be left with a nice wall hanger. Without becoming part of a new thread, just check out the ballistic difference between the 5.56 x 45 and the 5.45 x 39, check around for re-loadable brass and re-loadable bullet. My Lyman manual doesn't even have one load for it, and neither does a website I go to for other reloading data that has some really obscure calibers.

Darth AkSarBen - nice rifle and nice shooting.

As for the 5.45x39 and reloading, there are a few threads here about reloading,etc http://www.gunco.net/forums/f266/rel...-5-45-a-53201/ is one and one where the dies were available as a group buy (group buy is closed, but it has good info in the thread) http://www.gunco.net/forums/f266/who...es-35-a-52601/