I guess I have read about them so much, but haven't spent time with one in hand. The LGS had it marked at $650. Seemed solid. Good finish.

Is it normal to have tons of mag wobble? Never in my life have I seen a WASR or any other AK with that much play front to back. Maybe the bottom of the mag moved 1". Had some side to side too. Guess those dimples are just cosmetic. Is that normal for Arsenals?

I actually considered buying it as I thopught it was an ok price, but I passed.

Otherwise it seemed like an ok rifle.

probably got bubba'd.

Are you sure it was an Arsenal made in Russia. Someone must have hacked on it.

Yes, Russian. The mag was a Tapco, if that matters. It had Arsenal and Saiga on the receiver. I really liked the rifle, just wasn't expecting any wobble. My WASR doesn't have much movement, so I was expecting the Arsenal to be about the same.

It did not seem bubba'd. It looked great with no crazy mods, and looked like it had been used very little. Mag well looked clean and proper.

I have just been thinking about another rifle, either another AK or, possibly, something like a 15/22. I already have the WASR and a 6920. You know, you always want more, lol.

You should divulge the LGS so someone here can go buy it.  That's a decent price, with xfer.  

My Arsenals all have some wobble, some have a lot.  They all seem to feed reliably, however.

None of my Arsenals have had wobble.  Could have been the Tapco magazine.  Who knows.

It was converted by Arsenal or imported by Arsenal and then converted by someone else?

Definitely sounds odd all my saigas have nice tight lock up using a variety of mags including tapcos.

Edit: PM me. Don't want to break any rules.  

I have no idea. I don't know that much about Arsenal. The rest of the rifle looked great. Would look 1000x better with wood IMO.

I know Saigas originally do not take reg AK mags. Are they smaller before converted? Or is it a different mechanism? Like I said, the magwell looked neat and clean. Usually Tapco mags fit even more tight than metal AK mags, don't they???

I guess I could always tell them to hand me a metal AK mag and see how it fits. Do you guys think I should snatch it up and fool with it? If so, I might go into work late Monday and buy the darn thing just to have.

I actually went in to check their prices on a 15/22, but that caught my eye.

The mag well are the correct size, the mag catch latch is longer on a Saiga, easily replaced or cut down to the correct length. Fair price on a factory Arsenal rifle, more then I'd pay for someone else home gunsmithing project. Im sure theres a way to tell the difference, but off the top of my head I don't know how Arsenal marks their completed conversions.

I have an Arsenal Saiga conversion rifle.
I have similiar problems with mag wobble on mine but it is only with certain magazines.
I bought some eastern european steel mags (unknown which country) and they have side to side wobble but front to back is fine.
A buddy of mine lent me one of his  steel magazines and it fit nice and snug.
I also have tried some circle-10 and USA-palm composite mags with no problems.
so you might just have to try some different magazines to get some that fit nice and snug.
or you can do what I am doing (probably waisting my time) which is opening up the width of the top of the magazine a tiny bit to make it fit more snug.
so far I have only done this to one and it didn't seem to cause any feed problems of anything else obvious.
for only $12 for steel mags I thought I could try it on one with no real financial loss if it didn't work.
or just live with the wobble which doesn't seem to cause any problems other than me not liking the lose fit.

good luck.

I have little to no mag wobble on my SGL21.  I use four different types of mags both steel and polymer, but no Tapcos yet.  $650 is a pretty good price nowadays.

No mag wobble here on my SGL21 either, but keep in mind Tapco mags are not a good base to judge by. Make sure it's not the mag first before writing it off.