Saiga 12 Shotgun

Performance: 10

This gun has had a huge variety of rounds through it, from 2 3/4" #7 1/2 shot all the way up to 3" magnum 1 oz rifled slugs. As long as I used the factory five round magazine, it worked fine. It has had a bit over 100 rounds of 00 Buck and slugs and about 70 rounds of various low brass field loads through it, and of the malfunctions it has had, all were because of aftermarket mags. More on this in the summary.

Features: 5

This gun's Kalashnikov roots are obvious, and because of this, the features are few. There is a mounting rail on the left side of the receiver, but I haven't found a mount I'd want to use for it yet. The factory sights are a simple bead front and u-notch rear. The rear sight appears to be drift adjustable, but the base where you would put the drift pin/punch is curved, and the fit of the sight into the receiver slot is very tight, so attempting to drift the sights to the left resultd in banged-up knuckles and no change in point of impact. I understand wanting the sight to be firmly in the groove with the recoil of a 12 gauge, but the sight base should be flat to allow a good contact with the drift pin. The gun has a two position gas regulator but since it cycles with all the types of ammo I use, I see no need to adjust it. I may get some low-recoil ammo to test this feature for a later edit of this review.

Appeal: 9

Well hell, it's a magazine-fed, semi auto shotgun that looks like an AK. Who wouldn't want one?

Overall:

Performance: 

This gun has had a huge variety of rounds through it, from 2 3/4" #7 1/2 shot all the way up to 3" magnum 1 oz rifled slugs. As long as I used the factory five round magazine, it worked fine. It has had a bit over 100 rounds of 00 Buck and slugs and about 70 rounds of various low brass field loads through it, and of the malfunctions it has had, all were because of aftermarket mags. More on this in the summary.

Performance Rating: 

10

Features: 

This gun's Kalashnikov roots are obvious, and because of this, the features are few. There is a mounting rail on the left side of the receiver, but I haven't found a mount I'd want to use for it yet. The factory sights are a simple bead front and u-notch rear. The rear sight appears to be drift adjustable, but the base where you would put the drift pin/punch is curved, and the fit of the sight into the receiver slot is very tight, so attempting to drift the sights to the left resultd in banged-up knuckles and no change in point of impact. I understand wanting the sight to be firmly in the groove with the recoil of a 12 gauge, but the sight base should be flat to allow a good contact with the drift pin. The gun has a two position gas regulator but since it cycles with all the types of ammo I use, I see no need to adjust it. I may get some low-recoil ammo to test this feature for a later edit of this review.

Features Rating: 

5

Appeal: 

Well hell, it's a magazine-fed, semi auto shotgun that looks like an AK. Who wouldn't want one?

Appeal Rating: 

9

I've has less than 200 rounds total through this gun and yesterday I discovered the magazine release pivot pin was beginning to walk out of the hole. This is not an easy thing to fix at a range unless you take a vise out with you (I didn't) or have the extra set of hands of a range buddy (I didn't). Izhmash obviously knew the recoil of this gun was above what a standard AK-based system could take, as they added a retaining pin with spring detent on top of the top cover retaining button (the button of the back of the top cover you push to begin disassembly), so they should have stipled the mag release lever pin into place. The sights, as I stated above, leave much to be desired as far as adjustment goes. My biggest problem so far has been magazines. The factory mag works fine with all kinds of ammo, but the two different brands of aftermarket mags, Surefire (not the flashlight company) and Promag are both terrible. The follower of the promag 10 round magazine I bought binds against the inside of the mag body, and the Surefire 12 round magazine won't work fully loaded and won't work at all with 3" buckshot rounds. This is not a problem with the gun, but the lack of good quality extended magazines is something to think about. I have a nine-shot Mossberg, so the five rounds of the factory mag really doesn't make up for the semi-auto firepower. As far as shooting the gun, if you see my video, the first ten rounds are 2 3/4" 00 Buck and you can see how controllable the gun is, even in rapid fire. The buttplate is a hard plastic, but the gas operation takes a huge amount of felt recoil away. Overall, it's a fun gun, but until I can find reliable spare mags and get some competent gunsmithing done on it, My Mossberg will be the go-to shotgun when things go bump in the night.