I’m considering one of the Saiga IZ 240 AK 74 Rifle imported by Russian American Armory ,545 x 39 semi auto AK 74 Hunting Rifles from Atlantic Firearms.
I don’t want to change out the forend, but obviously I’d like to have the back end changed out to the pistol grip and stock from a standard AK. I’m assuming that there are people that do these kinds of conversions. who might they be, and what kind of cost would be associated?
Any chance the muzzle on these can be threaded?
I’d go over to the akforum.net or saiga-12 for some info on who does that work. Off the top of my head, I know Red Jacket Firearms does it. http://www.redstick-firearms.com/services/services.html I take it that you don’t want to try to do the conversion yourself? From what I’ve seen, the conversion wouldn’t be too hard, although it won’t be as well done as something by a professional builder.
As for the muzzle. I think it is possible to thread it for 14mm muzzle devices, or you could have the FSB replaced and use 24mm threads like that on an ak-74. I hope this was some help. I’m sure more knowledgeable people will be along to correct anything I got wrong.
I think this place has what your looking for I have never dealt with them though.
http://www.tnguns.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27_28&products_id=390
ETA: My bad the gun in the link is 7.62 not 5.45.
Why not just buy a SGL31? The price is right.
Rob,
My saiga 12 conversion for the back end cost me a tapco buttstock, a g2 trigger group, and saw pistol grip. I think I spent 40, 40, and 30.
Not counting labor obviously.
Chris
If you mean this then:
A) It’s not what I want
and
B) I wouldn’t pay that much for an AK if it was made of pure solid gold
I am not remotely interested in getting involved in this myself. I want to buy a gun, maybe some parts, and hand them over to someone else with a check.
You can try Jim Fuller at www.rifledynamics.com, although I’m not sure if they’re majorly backlogged at the moment.
Depending on how things go I may see about sending some work his way (I have a Saiga 5.45 and some ideas as well).
How is it different than what you want with AK buttstock and pistol grip and threaded barrel? Except for the forearm which could be added to the SGL31.
How about for $100 less?
http://www.k-var.com/shop/product.php?productid=17038&cat=354&page=1
What does the one from Atlantic cost? I figure with gunsmithing should be the same as the Kvar rifle.
I have one if you want to check one out in person.
Rob,
I understand if you think it is beyond you. I did as well when I first got into it. But between Saiga-12 forum and a couple of youtube videos which really are helpful I was able to figure it out.
I’m not sure about the 545 variant but I do believe you need to do some things near the barrel if you want the gun to take something other than saiga specific mags (they refer to it as a bullet guide for the 762 gun)
Chris
I think the 5.45 saiga only needed a bullet guide to work with 74 mags and didn’t require any mods to the mag catch.
I’m guessing he’s talking about this one.
http://www.atlanticfirearms.com/storeproduct796.aspx
Man, he wants to Convert his Saiga, guys…
I self converted my Saiga 12. You can’t go wrong. 
Edit: Sorry, link only does Shotguns. Sorry, no help here. 
Now I finally see the price, $359. So with parts and related gunsmith you are gonna be right around what the SGL31 costs.
I’ve seen the Saiga 12GA conversion by http://www.matchgradeindustries.com/products.html in the local store. It had new furniture, trigger, … and the store price was ~$1300.
Guys.
Yes, the one from Atlantic is $359. Yes that’s the one I was thinking of buying. You’ll notice that the topic of the thread is trying to find out the cost to change out the rifle stock for an AK pistol grip and stock (yes, I know it’s more complicated than that) to see if it would be cost-effective to have the conversion done. I frankly could take or leave the threading of the barrel.
If it’s $500 to do the conversion then no it would not be worth it as it would make it the same as the (overpriced) Arsenal. My silly mind thinks that work on cheap gun should equal cheap price, but I know that sometimes that’s not the case and things are more trouble (or money) than they are worth. Hence this thread.
I am not interested in this gun/project as any kind of collector, bragging rights, weird obsession with knowing obscure shit about some fat russian guy in a mountain factory who comes in on tuesdays to weld trunions, or anything like that. I’m looking for a cost-effective shooter that I could sell my Lancaster in 7.62x39 and cirlce-10 magazines to fund. I happen to like the longer Saiga forend because, as a shooter, I’ve found the exposed gas block on a standard AK to be a burn spot and I think covering it would be a great idea. I have been told in the past that you can’t simply add the Saiga forend to a standard AK and that there is some work involved. Which, as mentioned, is not something that interests me (tinkering with AKs).
The problem as I see it is that the cost of a professional conversion plus the saiga won’t be much cheaper than an arsenal(unless you can find some place that does cheap conversions). That is why the cheapest way to convert the thing is to do it yourself(unless you don’t have the tools). Just read this and see what you think, not everything applies, but it should give you a basic idea of what is involved. http://www.stu-offroad.com/firearms/saiga/saiga-1.htm
However if you still want a professional conversion done, I still suggest you go over to the saiga-12 forum and ask them who does a good job cheap. I’m sure they would know.
That’s pretty much all I needed to know to tell me this isn’t a worthwhile pursuit. Which was the point of the original post.
Thanks.
I think it still might be worthwhile. Mind you I’m basing my costs on this conversion if redjacket were doing it, which would be $350 for the whole conversion(I think that includes parts and everything else, you just send your rifle). My point was that the arsenal only costs a bit more and would be a better conversion minus the long handguard. If you would just do a little research you might find a place that does cheap conversions. I had planned on doing a saiga conversion myself since it seemed like having someone else do the work would be too much(of course I only checked a few places before deciding to do it myself). This all became a moot point however, after k-var started selling the sgl-21 for $500.
One other option you might have if you want a cheap 5.45 gun(minus the saiga forend of course), might be the TGI truck gun that is on sale for ak forum members for $400 this friday or something. It’s built on bulgarian parts kits so if it was assembled right it might be a good option(I’m not intererested in the gun so that’s all I know). Go to the TGI section of theforum.net and see what you think.
I would look into buying the full AK74 (SGL31) and replace the military handguards with the sporter handguard on the IZ240.
If you have to modify the sporter handguard to fit the real AK, then so be it.