Saiga 223 (AK-47) and Reloading Brass

[seagiant]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone shot this weapon and if the brass was reloadable afterwards??? I heard the rifle mangled the brass pretty good! True? Fixes? Thanks!

[TreeKiller]

Did not mangle the Tula steel cases but I have not tried to reload them yet.
Dan

[tomme boy]

It puts a dent in the side. Most of it comes out when sized again. I reloaded them 2 times and then they went to the scrap bucket. Mine also liked a faster powder. If the port PSI is too high it put bigger dents in the case. I used a lot of H322 in mine. I got mine down to 1.5" grops for 5 shots. After that the skiny barrel would heat up too much. It would open up to about 2.75"

[94ranger]

I've got one of these and I'm hoping to reload for it. Do you happen to know the barrel twist?

[Danderdude]

Saiga .223's have a 1 in 9" twist rate.

Kalashnikov designed the AK to have very "positive" ejection, but as a result the cases like to hit the dust cover on the way out. There are fixes for this.

The first and least permanent of the bunch is to apply an automotive door edge cover, like this one made by Bell (http://www.drillspot.com/products/427842/bell_sports_inc_00102-8_door_edge_guard?s=16) (also come in chrome (http://www.drillspot.com/products/427841/bell_sports_inc_00101-8_door_edge_guard)) to the dust cover likewise:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v155/MDWillington1976/Firearms/Saiga223/Hpim1338.jpg

The second option is to cut back the dust cover until the brass misses it. The DC has no structural purpose anyway. If you mess up, new OEM replacements can be had from Carolina Shooters Supply (http://store.carolinashooterssupply.com/servlet/-strse-989/Saiga-rifle-top-cover/Detail) for $30.

The third option is the best, but most permanent and risky. It requires filing back the curve on the ejector EVER SO SLIGHTLY to move the point of initial contact from the very edge of the case head closer towards the center. This slows the rotational velocity of the spent case, so that rather than it spinning into the side of the dust cover as happens normally, it passes the dust cover at a different point in it's rotation and clears it completely. This is the method I used and it works with 7.62x39. Beware that it is tedious. This method boils down to:
Test fire once
Chase down brass
Strip the action
Make a few strokes with a file
Reassemble
Rinse and repeat until you stop getting dings
This is the video that showed me how to do this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXuv4-5GEBA)

[Plinkster]

There were rifles in that first picture?!

[DCM]

There were rifles in that first picture?!

Yup some AK-74s, a Draganov ....
You know you are getting old when...

[EDK]

There were rifles in that first picture?!

Comrade Cupcake!

:redneck::cbpour:

[historicfirearms]

I've got a few ak's and one I built in 223. With that one I also wanted to save my brass for reloading. It literally would throw the brass ten paces away. What I did was drill and tap the gas block for a #10-32 screw. The screw can be adjusted to control how much has gets to the piston. Now it can be tuned to throw the brass just a few feet or back to stock and it will cycle mild cast loads too.

[Danderdude]

What I did was drill and tap the gas block for a #10-32 screw. The screw can be adjusted to control how much has gets to the piston. Now it can be tuned to throw the brass just a few feet or back to stock and it will cycle mild cast loads too.

I would REALLY like to see a picture of that mod.

[HARRYMPOPE]

my 308 Siaga isn't that rough on brass with 1900 fps cast loads.Full power jacketed stuff is pretty abusive to the brass though.