I want to hear from some people who have actually fired a Yugo M-70 or similar with the gas valve closed.  I’ve been told two conflicting views.  One is that with the gas shut off it will operate like a straight pull bolt action, with significant accuracy improvement in single shot mode.  The other is that with the gas off the bolt won't open with the proper timing and it will jam making it hard to open the bolt manually if you fire live ammo through it.  

I’ve been toying around with the idea of installing an M-70 gas block on a saiga 308 so that I will have the ability to fire single shot for more precise longer range shooting and semi auto for close range but I want to make sure it will work before I have my barrel re-worked to fit the new gas block.

I appreciate any input from anyone who actually has experience shooting an AK pattern rifle with the gas turned off.

No one has actually tried this?

I havent.. the grenade sight is too tall to see down the sights - I do not have the desire to trim my grenade sight down

fired both my Yugo 59/66 SKS and my M70 fixed-stock with the gas valves closed.

there was a bit more felt recoil, no difficulty cycling by hand, and no noticeable improvement in accuracy.

I do it all the time when running a suppressor. Makes it very quiet.

BTW - It doesn't completely close the gas off to the piston.