Unconverted Saiga 12

[Lunker]

I live in the People's Republic of New Jersey. Here, any shotgun with a pistol grip or that can hold more than six rounds in the magazine/tube is considered an illegal "assault weapon". I am considering getting the Saiga 12. I already have a Saiga 223 that I did the conversion on and love it. The one thing I will say is that the pre-conversion trigger was god-awful. The post-conversion Tapco trigger is excellent. Since I would need to leave the Saiga 12 in its stock configuration, is it worth it to buy? Are all the improvement mods aimed towards converted Saigas? This would be for home defense and bird hunting, and maybe one day a 3 gun match. tHANKS.

 

[Technosavant]

Personally, I probably would go with a more traditional autoloading shotgun. For 3 gun a Saiga might not be a bad choice, but I think you're likely to be disappointed for bird hunting and for home defense it's going to be awfully unwieldy- it just has a really long receiver, so the thing is just not that easy to handle.

 

[jaymce]

Either way they are a ton of fun to shoot.

Not great for hunting etc I would imagine.

If you can run a thumbhole/dragonov style stock then go for it and do the conversion as well.

California specifically notes no Thumbhole in their laws. Most states governed by the arcane AWB of 94' do not however.