New Saiga 20-inch barrel 5.45x39

[SilverCity]

Rumors are true.

These are out now. JG Sales, Classic Arms and others are listing them for $349. And get this....they have a thicker barrel profile (.70) than the 16 inch (.56). Also note different front sight.

Hmmm. May have to take a drive. :bandito:

SC

[Eat Beef]

Remember when the 16 inchers were 279?

Still, I wouldn't mind having one of those souped up if they shoot as well as my S&W ARs in 5.45. I wonder what the MV is?

[SilverCity]

We are waiting for one of the guys on the Saiga forum to chrono one.

Here is his conversion:

[illuminate10]

I thought the 5.45x39 was designed for the 16" barrel much like the 5.56 was designed for the 20"?
Just wondering if that would take away from the ballistics any that's all.....

Still want me a 5.45 :s11:

[Fiat Metaler]

Rumors are true.

These are out now. JG Sales, Classic Arms and others are listing them for $349. And get this....they have a thicker barrel profile (.70) than the 16 inch (.56). Also note different front sight.

Hmmm. May have to take a drive. :bandito:

SC

is that for a new weapon? sounds like a remarkably inexpensive price.

[SilverCity]

Okay, one of the guys on the Saiga forum finally chrono'ed his twenty inch:

"My 16" and 20" were chronoed back to back using the same lot of 7N6 surplus. Doesn't get more consistent than that lol. The chrono was 15' from the muzzle and elevation roughly 5500'. Humidity 15%. Results over 5 shots for the 16" are as follows:

2930
2962
2904
2923
2969
Avg 2937.6 fps

The gentleman only shot 3 rounds through the 20" and stopped. Not sure why, maybe he thought the results were consistent enough after 3. I didn't want to wear out my welcome and he was such a nice guy so I didn't pester him to take more shots. Results:

3051
3051
3072
Avg 3058 fps

So there ya go, according to my limited testing, the 20" Saigas shoot ~120fps faster. The interesting thing to me is that it appears the 20" is more consistent. Perhaps the longer barrel sort of evens out irregularities in the powder load? If this admittedly limited testing turns out to be correct, then I could certainly see the 20" grouping more consistently just due to the more consistent velocities."

end


Looks like a pretty good bump in velocity. Dunno if the weight of the heavier barrel is too cumbersome. I'll have to eventually get my hands on one. JGSales is currently out of them. I'll have to look elsewhere.



SC