Description
Most of the components of the Saiga are similar if not identical to an AK-47 rifle, but there are many cosmetic and functional differences between a Saiga and an AK-47. On the Saiga there is a notch that is used to secure the hand guard on to the front and a screw that is used to hold the hand guard in towards the rear. The 7.62x39 version Saiga is unable to accept standard AK-47 magazines; physically the magazine catch will not allow a magazine to lock into place inside of the receiver. Even if the magazine was modified to lock into place, cartridges may not feed well because the Saiga lacks a device called a bullet guide. The bullet guide allows a round to be stripped from the magazine and fed into the chamber without getting caught up on anything inside of the receiver; this bullet guide is specifically built into the magazine of the Saiga rifle. Any magazine that is used that does not have this feature may not feed reliably in the rifle.
Another difference of some later model Saigas is that they have a bolt hold open button. The Saiga bolt hold open is engaged by manually depressing a button by the trigger guard and pulling the charging handle rearward and does not automatically hold the rifle's action open after the last round is fired as seen on the AR-15. Some versions of the rifle lack a pistol grip and don't have a threaded muzzle, making it unable to accept muzzle devices. The trigger and trigger guard of some versions are placed farther back on the receiver than on a typical AK-47 rifle, and a transfer bar type system is used to release the hammer. This can result in the Saiga to have a considerably heavier and grittier trigger pull than that of other Kalashnikov-made firearms.
Read more about this topic: Saiga Semi-automatic Rifle
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