Saiga-12

The   Saiga-12  is a 12- gauge  combat shotgun  available in a wide range of configurations, visually patterned after the   Kalashnikov  series of assault rifles. Like the Kalashnikov rifle variants, it is a   rotating bolt,   gas-operated  gun that feeds from a box magazine. All Saiga-12 configurations are recognizable as Kalashnikov-pattern guns by the large lever-safety on the right side of the <span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  receiver<span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">, the optic mounting rail on the left side of the receiver and the large top-mounted dust cover held in place by the rear of the recoil spring assembly.

<p style="margin:4.8pt0in6pt;line-height:14.4pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Saiga-12 is manufactured by the arms division of Izhmash, in Russia. It was previously imported into the US by European American Armories, although their agreement expired in 2005 and Izhmash then began exporting through the Russian-American Armory Company. The current export import partner is Wolf Performance Arms.<sup id="cite_ref-1">[1 ] Izhmash also manufactures Saiga 20s and Saiga 410s in 20-gauge and .410 bore, as well as the Saiga semi-automatic hunting rifles in a number of centerfire calibers.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">The Saiga-12 incorporates several features absent on the <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">AK-47 <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">and similar firearms.Since shotgun shells are nearly twice as wide as <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">7.62x39 <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">rifle <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">  <span style="line-height:14.4pt;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">cartridges, the extraction port in the side of the dust cover had to be increased in size. However, since the bolt had to remain the same length to fit inside the AK-47 sized receiver, the rear section of the bolt is covered by a sliding metal flap that rides on the recoil spring. This allows the gun to be sealed against dirt when the bolt is forward, but the compression of the recoil spring during firing moves the flap rearward to clear the extracted shells.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.8pt0in6pt;line-height:14.4pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"">For the likely reason of simplifying production of <span style="font-size: 10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family: "TimesNewRoman"">  <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"">Izhmash's other Kalashnikov-pattern guns, the Saiga-12 extractor does not rotate, but instead delegates the bolt-locking function to a caliber-neutral lug directly behind the bolt-face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:4.8pt0in6pt;line-height:14.4pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"">The Saiga-12 incorporates an adjustable two-position gas system, for the reason that firing high power loads such as slugs and buckshot generates so much force that the receiver will be damaged if the full power of the gas system is employed without some sort of <span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"">  <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family: "TimesNewRoman"">recoil buffer. The problem is that making the gun durable with the higher power loads would make it useless with low-power loads such as bean-bags and flares since the gun would fail to cycle – becoming in essence a manual straight-pull action or producing a "stovepipe" malfunction.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;border-style:none;padding:0in;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size:14.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"; color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">Users <span style="font-size:14.5pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"; color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt19.2pt;text-indent:-0.25in;line-height:14.4pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black; mso-themecolor:text1">·          <span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family: "TimesNewRoman";color:black">  <span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Kyrgyzstan: Used by police forces.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt19.2pt;text-indent:-0.25in;line-height:15pt;background-position:initialinitial;background-repeat:initialinitial;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black; mso-themecolor:text1">·          <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black; mso-themecolor:text1;background:#F9F9F9">  <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black; mso-themecolor:text1;background:#F9F9F9">Russia:Used by special police forces,law enforcement,military and Spetsnaz <span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">