Converting a Saiga

Saigas are available from European American Armory

We will start out our conversion with a standard Saiga carbine, in this case, one that is chambered for .223 Remington (aka 5.56 NATO or 5.56x45).

A word on this chambering: .223 Remington/5.56 NATO/5.56x45 is one cartridge.  While the military has different ways of measuring pressure than industry, physics does not change.  If a 55 grain projectile from a .223 Remington cartridge leaves a given barrel at 2800fps and a 5.56 NATO cartridge dispenses its 55 grain projectile at the same velocity, then the mean pressure for both cartridges is roughly the same.  Fortunately, for military rifle shooters this is true.  The main difference between .223 Remington and 5.56 NATO is the chamber dimension specification.  Military chambers are cut larger than commercial chambers in order to remain functional in the presence of the dirty environment of combat.

Now, let's get to work.

The first step is to field strip the weapon.  Here is what we are going to do:

1.  Remove the magazine.
2.  Check to see the weapon is unloaded.
3.  Remove the dustcover.

4.  Remove the recoil spring assembly.

5.  Remove the bolt and bolt carrier assembly.

Next, we remove the furniture from the weapon:

1.  Remove the tang screws from the buttstock.

2.  Tap the buttstock off (gently) with a padded hammer.
3.  Remove the fore end retainer screw.
4.  Slide the hand guard off.