My buddy offered me this NIB Russian made Saiga 410 for a price that could not be passed upon. It is designed around 3” shells and ran 100% with them in the mag. The 2.5’s were hit and miss, but I already knew that would be the case.

This gun is so much fun to shoot and at $300, I would be a fool to pass on it.

If anyone has any of the 2.5” magazines for it, I would be more than happy to purchase one.

those are cool, nice score, I was watching History/Military show the other day on the AK, and they discussed how Kalashnikov started the Saga line and this was one of their new firearms for public consumption...

The worker's garden gun, comrades!



https://www.themoscowtimes.com...s-were-golden-a80203

When Rabbits Were Golden
In the 1930s the USSR pushed rabbit meat as the country's salvation.

By Pavel and Olga Syutkin
Feb. 11, 2023

Food shortages almost always plagued the Soviet people. Before WWII, there were only a few years in the early 1920s with relatively good food supplies. The new economic policies stimulated private enterprise and promoted food production. But the needs of industrialization soon forced the authorities to look for a source of funding. They focused on the peasantry, forcibly driving them into collective farms. The result was soon felt. By 1929 ration cards were introduced in Leningrad for bread, cereals, sugar, butter, eggs, meat, and potatoes.

In this dire situation, the authorities began to search for alternative sources of food. One source was rabbits. "You can literally do wonders with rabbits," Sergei Kirov, the leader of Leningrad, declared in 1931. And gave the order to raise the number of these animals to 220,000 in a year.

Journalists pushing the party line began to explain all the benefits of this meat that was not historically part of Russian people’s diet. The magazine "Worker and Peasant Woman" wrote: "Rabbit meat is white and delicious. If necessary, it can be preserved, salted or smoked. The head, skin, and feet make a delicious aspic."

There was a simple explanation for this propaganda campaign: collectivization had sharply decreased the number of cows in the country. The domestic cows which had been herded into collective farms either died of starvation or produced several times less milk.

quote:

Originially posted by HRK:
..they discussed how Kalashnikov started the Saiga line and this was one of their new firearms for public consumption...

Apparently the permitting system in Russia requires people to own shotguns, or shotguns that are technically shotguns, for five years before getting permits to buy rifles. That's why there are guns on the Russian civilian market with "non-rifling" (oval-shaped interior) Lancaster barrels.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/...-9-6x53mm-lancaster/

I fell into a similar deal a few years ago on a Colt SAA revolver. I'd always had kind of a yen for one just for the cool factor, but I could never justify the prices they command. Then one day a buddy said he'd been asked to help the widow of a friend of his Dad to liquidate the dead guy's gun collection. He showed me the list and there was a 5 1/2" SAA in .45 Colt. I said "How much?", he said "$750", and I said "Sold!", sight unseen. Three weeks later I had it. I don't think the guy had ever shot it. I checked the serial number and it appears to have been built around 1980. I've fired it just enough to make sure it goes bang every time. Mostly it just sits in the safe, but dammit I GOT ONE!

2.5-inch shells? Is this a Russian thing?

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
2.5-inch shells? Is this a Russian thing?

A quick look on Academy shows lots of 2.5" options in .410
Actually, most of the results on the first page are 2.5" with 3" being fewer.

That Saiga looks like it'd be fun, much more shoulder friendly than a 12ga option.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
2.5-inch shells? Is this a Russian thing?

2.5 is because of the governor type revolvers.

–———————-
OP, couldn’t you fabricate some type of spacer for the mag or have someone 3d print a follower for the shorter shell

That’s pretty cool. For $300, I can see why you succumbed to the temptation.

quote:

Originally posted by Spiff_P239:
That’s pretty cool. For $300, I can see why you succumbed to the temptation.

It is a great price and the cool factor is undeniable.
Feeding it will test your financial stability.

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:

quote:

Originally posted by Spiff_P239:
That’s pretty cool. For $300, I can see why you succumbed to the temptation.

It is a great price and the cool factor is undeniable.
Feeding it will test your financial stability.

I’m pretty financially stable.

Good to know!

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
2.5-inch shells? Is this a Russian thing?

The original 410 was introduced as 2.5”, later when Winchester introduced the model 42 pump it was “ magnum ize” into a 3” version with slightly heavier payload

Great find! The conversion alone was probably $300.
I always wanted the .410. I had the 7.62 that I bought new for $350 and spent a couple hundred on the conversion using an Arsenal trigger group.
After the Russian import ban prices went through the roof and I got stupid money for it.