CONVERSION OF A SAIGA 308

[Triggerh4ppy]

I don't know about you but im tired of these tools selling the psl rifles for 700 dollars and up...the rifles got a thin barrel and you cant fire heavy ball in it or you damage it AND its got cooling problems....lots of money to pay for something like that.

My question is how hard would it be to convert a saiga 308 to 7.62x54 r ....its a better rifle overall....nicer quality for less the price...and the 10 round magazine thing thats freaking old......

bs if you ask me somebody needs to make a 20 round mag that's holds 7.62x54 r with all that said such a platform would a great platform for the poor man......the ammo comes in many varieties so you can stick it to high ammo costs..

I have big ideas yet no ability to carry them out ......Very very frustrating problem

[Triggerh4ppy]

I don't know about you but im tired of these tools selling the psl rifles for 700 dollars and up...the rifles got a thin barrel and you cant fire heavy ball in it or you damage it AND its got cooling problems....lots of money to pay for something like that.

My question is how hard would it be to convert a saiga 308 to 7.62x54 r ....its a better rifle overall....nicer quality for less the price...and the 10 round magazine thing thats freaking old......

bs if you ask me somebody needs to make a 20 round mag that's holds 7.62x54 r with all that said such a platform would a great platform for the poor man......the ammo comes in many varieties so you can stick it to high ammo costs..

I have big ideas yet no ability to carry them out ......Very very frustrating problem

and yes jg sales has em for 500 but hth sales are better

[Chilly Willy]

I'm no expert by any means but the first thing that pops into my mind is that the 7.62x54R is a slightly longer round and is wider at the base, so I assume it would require larger magazines. If that is the case, can the .308 magwell be made to accept the larger 7.62x54R mags?

[jon'76]

7.62x54R Saigas exist, but I have not yet seen one for sale. I believe they are going to be imported soon though, but take that with a grain of salt.

[Triggerh4ppy]

7.62x54R Saigas exist, but I have not yet seen one for sale. I believe they are going to be imported soon though, but take that with a grain of salt.

that would be nice :]

[Bama Man]

There are a couple of problems with trying this that I can see:
The bolt face would have to be opened up and the magazine would need to be for a RIMMED cartridge.
Compare a .303 1914 Enfield mag to a model 1917 .30-06 mag, the .303 being a rimmed cartridge, the .30-06 being rimless.
The .308 chamber can be reamed into a 7.62x54R, but the distance from the shoulder to the base on the .308 is 1.560 ", and on the 7.62x54R it's 1.553", which is .007" shorter for the Russian round.
This would make a slight "bump" or ring at the shoulder base of the fired round, but wouldn't be dangerous, but would make a fired round only fit that chamber if reloaded.
Your would probably need to pull all the .310 bullets and replace them with .308 also, which would mean resizing the neck on your surplus ammo also.
Once fired surplus ammo would be junk anyway,if Berdan primed, so no problem as far as the odd fired brass.
Is the barrel easily pulled on this rifle?
If so, the .007" can be machined from the tenon, and the barrel "set back" and the chamber reamed to take the extra .007" from the old .308 chamber.
I have already looked over the possibility of chambering a .308 to a 7.62x54R
and it is very feasible for that change, once the barrel is off the receiver.

[Tim Ault]

I don't know about you but im tired of these tools selling the psl rifles for 700 dollars and up...the rifles got a thin barrel and you cant fire heavy ball in it or you damage it AND its got cooling problems....lots of money to pay for something like that.

My question is how hard would it be to convert a saiga 308 to 7.62x54 r ....its a better rifle overall....nicer quality for less the price...and the 10 round magazine thing thats freaking old......

bs if you ask me somebody needs to make a 20 round mag that's holds 7.62x54 r with all that said such a platform would a great platform for the poor man......the ammo comes in many varieties so you can stick it to high ammo costs..

I have big ideas yet no ability to carry them out ......Very very frustrating problem

The money it would take to convert a 308 to 54R would buy you a REAL Draganov or neutered Tiger model. You'd be better off buying the Saiga 308 and selling off the milsurp 54R ammo and buying 308 ammo.

Tim

[Azzy]

I thought the problem with heavy ball in the PSL was because the recoil would beat the thin steel receiver apart, not the thin barrel .

There is also a mod out there to use a latvi magazine of some sort to fit 20 rounds in one.

[Stooperzero]

theres 30-06 saigas out there as well.


If I ever saw another I'd convert BAR mags for it.

[Kb! Bob]

Not to hijack here, but what rifle would one choose in .308/7.62x54r/.30-06 semi-automatic? I like the idea of having caliber commonality in another platform, for instance I have AK's and SKS's. I want to get a full caliber MBR that I can add a long range rifle of the same caliber to. But, it seems like they all have their donwsides:

CETME: Have to use NATO spec and can be unreliable
Garand: Have to use light ball
PSL: Been discussed
Siaga: Good, but the propriatary mags are expensive as shit
M14/Dragunov/etc: Cost prohibitive

So what do you guys think? FAL have any drawbacks? Any other reccomendations?