I bought a Saiga 223 and started to do the conversion and there are some things I am not equipped to do. So rather than try and screw them up. I would rather take it to someone who can do them. I have all the parts.

Ndenway is pretty darn good!

Bullet guide?

Most any of us here have the know how and tools to do a std conversion.

Yeah I do need the bullet guide riveted in,  but I also need the Gas block and front sight block  pressed off and the new ones pressed on.

Dan, Nden, FISTer. Dan's probably too old and feeble to handle a hammer anymore though.

That's right. It's too hard on my wrists. So I just sit on because I have enough lead in my ass to press one in.
Or I use John's press.

Genius!

that just ain't right, or at least it reads that way

I took my Saiga 308 to R&S gun services in Moore. They cut the barrel to 19", moved the FSB rearward, Crowned and threaded the barrel and installed a Vortex. I'll pick it up this weekend and leave the verdict here on the quality of work.

Guys if anyone would care to help me I would comopensate you for your time. I really want to get this done. Vexed i would love to hear how they did for you. I may try them out.

Picked up my saiga today. I will breakdown each part of the job they did and rate it accordingly.

Cut down barrel: A rating , the steel on saiga barrels is brutally hard, so good job here.

Reinstall front sight base after barrel cut : B rating, they had to remove the barrel and turn down the O.D. so the fsb would go back on. Excellent work on the lathe however, the installed the fsb with about a 3-4 de cant to the right. Not a deal breaker but not worthy of an A rating either.

Crown muzzle: let me first say that I have never crowned a muzzle. That being said, the crown was done at a consistent degree but the surface shows rough machine marks. Almost what it would look like you used a dull drill bit and did nothing further. Going with a C rating on this as I will probably have to fix it later myself. It looks like they did not do any finishing metal work ( sanding).

Thread the barrel for 5/8 x 24 and install AR10 vortex . A+ rating here. Clean thread job and accurate depth for the vortex.

As an aside: I have an ultimak ACR2 lower hanguard rail that I installed on the rifle before i took it to them. They reinstalled the rail with the front bracket, left the rear barrel clamp of completely and did not tighten the rear rail tenon. To me this is an attention to detail issue and If I were to do the job I'd take the time to put it back the way it was when it was dropped off.

Bear in mind that these folks are not Rifle Dynamics or Red jacket and i wasn't really expecting that level of specialized work from R&S. I would recommend them for work on a shotgun or a basic barrel thread job.

I cannot recommend them for serious Ak gunsmithing as i think I have given a fair evaluation of the job and I am not 100% happy with it.

The price was $238.00 for the work and a 4-5 week turn around.

Comparatively to RD or RJ, they quoted me a 8-12 week turn around and after the cost of shipping and labor i would say they would be much higher for the work.

I haven't had a chance to shoot the rifle yet but the crown will probably need to be dressed for any sort of accuracy. I didn't check the crown until i got home and twisted off the vortex.

I'll try and post pics of the work later.

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Funny. I picked up a Saiga yesterday.



http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=1195078

Good score get rid of the tapco garbage and the VLTOR stock and out fit it properly.

Thanks for the honest review I really need to get this stuff done so I can shoot me rifle since I removed the stupid shit already like the saiga stock and neutered trigger group. If I have to I will drve down to the firing line but I was hoping to find someone in OKC

I've seen some awesome builds from firing line but I didn't know they did smith work.

Nice score! I am really wanting one of those but then I'd have another caliber to scrounge for. Don't sweat all of the haters about the accessories, I like the inovations developed for the AK just as much as a bone stock one. My next one will be an RPK.

Yes they gave me a quote already 300 to do the conversion with my parts and $30 to ship it back I may go head and do that since I am having no luck in OKC.

For the quality of work they do I'd say that's a fair price IMO. Any future work that I can't do I'll send to them for sure. I'm slowly learning and amassing tools and hopefully in the near future I'd like to become an AK smith.

On a related subject, is there anyone in the OKC area that could help me install the bullet guide on my 7.62x39 Saiga? I have the parts and can do the rest, but don't want to screw up the trunnion doing something i've never done before.