Pressure max in Saiga shotguns?

[cpileri]

Anyone have any info on pressure safe maximums in the various Saiga (russian AK) 12ga's, or even 20ga or 410bores? are they as robust as the Ak rifles they mimic?
One guy, Tony Rumore, did a 444 marlin rechamber and rebarrel job on a 410 saiga; But that was alot of reworking. Still 444 marlins are up in the 44K psi (actually cup, so conversion) range vs the 410 bore 3" down below 13.5kpsi...
Thx,
C-

[xacex]

I dont know what pressure they can hold, but they are very robust and I have shot some stout Lyman 3" slug loads with blue dot that would make anyone develop a flinch after a stick mag full. You can find Tony Rumore sometimes in the chat room of saiga12.com. About 8-9 western time is when I have caught him in there. Good guy to chat with, and I am sure he can answer that question more thoroughly. He likes to talk about his builds and answer questions while having a beer later in the evening. Last time I chatted with him I tried to get his perspective on the 22TCM.

[GRUMPA]

I have to keep an eye on this thread, I know someone that has one and although easy to use was turned off by the synthetic receiver.

[cpileri]

Synthetic receiver?
the receivers are metal.
I believe the receiver of the Saiga-100's in 30-06 were steel covered in a synthetic coat. Are you thinking of that?
C-

[GRUMPA]

I'll have to take a closer look at it when they swing by again, when?..I have no clue. I do remember that it was synthetic though and was turned off by that. I know it wasn't just the butt stock and had concerns how well it would hold up. I know my wimpy/ultra lite loads in 12GA wouldn't cycle the thing.

[tomme boy]

They use a RPK receiver. It is all steel.

[xacex]

All metal, and most parts can be used off an AK with modification. I did some work on this one, and modified the standard AK47 handguard, and handguard retainer to get rid of the plastic saiga one. It eats lead fast,too fast
About 40 hours in polishing fire control group, re drilling gas ports,converting to standard AK trigger guard, and pistol grip, adjustable gas block with 5 positions, new gas puck, and now a poly choke on the end along with the folding stock block, and forend work. All the 922r stuff to keep it legal.
It likes powder with lots of gas. Blue dot, universal ect. It will eat any of the cheap bulk walmart packs if you don't feel like reloading. I need a buckshot mold for it someday. Problem really is how much lead you can go through. I can eat 25 pound of lead though it with lyman 525's in an afternoon. The beowulf is cheaper to feed and the 34 round drum is smaller than the 20 round saiga 12 drum.

[Lead]

I toyed with the idea of a Saiga 12. They seem like they would be a real hoot with a drum loaded with 1 oz roundballs! There is one at the LGS, and I was surprised that the sights aligned instinctively for me.....not aesthetically pleasing, but might be fun to shoot. LOL!

Mine is very fun with the twenty round drum followed by the twelve an then a ten round clip.lol starting to load 12 gauge an looking forward to slinging some slugs!

[cpileri]

New info (to me) , article by Tom Roster:
http://www.shotgunlife.com/shotguns/...pressures.html
"Now back to the worry that excessive pressures are going to cause shotgun barrels to blow up. While this can happen, it is rare. I once embarked under contract to Remington on a destructive testing regimen to determine how much pressure had to be developed in a Remington Model 870 12-gauge barrels chambered for 3-inch shells before they would explode.
SAAMI tells us that whether using 2¾-inch or 3-inch 12-gauge loads, the maximum allowable pressure level of such shells is 11,500 psi. In this gauge and shell lengths, by the way, SAAMI provides for a mean average of 19,800 psi proof loads for proofing such barrels. So, I started by firing loads which developed 20,000 psi in the test Remington 870 barrels. Nothing happened. I increased the pressure level to 25,000 psi; nothing happened. I continued increasing the pressure by 5,000 psi. Nothing happened even when the pressure level of the destructive testing load reached 50,000 psi! Finally, when I got to 55,000 psi I could get Remington 870 barrels chambered for 3-inch 12-gauge shells to blow up. And they would blow up spectacularly, banana-peeling into multiple segments forward of the chamber. Up until 55,000 psi the barrels wouldn’t even bulge. So we can conclude, at least, that’s how smart Remington is in building super-strong shotgun barrels to withstand excessive pressure levels.
Now let me make it clear that none of the above reporting is to encourage or to foster a blasé attitude about excessive shotshell pressures. "