Wednesday, July 30, 2014

American-made Saiga and Vepr Alternative: Firebird Precision TAC12A1

Via Oleg Volk

TAC12 in capable hands.

Despite the focus on the AK47 and AK74 clones affected by the import recent ban, the Russian rifles are the easiest to replace with imports from other sources. Some of the more unique manual actions also banned from import will be harder to replicate, and no one I know of makes clones of Saiga or Vepr shotguns. The feeble Chinese efforts hardly count; I tested one, and after two shots I didn’t feel safe to fire the rest of the magazine. The Turkish Akdal MKA1919 I mentioned earlier has much to recommend it: light weight, rifle-like manual of arms, and low felt recoil, but its long-term durability proved imperfect, leading to the beefed up BR99 variant. Fortunately, MKA1919 can be made much closer to perfect by Firebird Precision.

It takes a pretty major re-build, but the metal lower, an additional, non-reciprocating forward charging handle, and improved gas system all make TAC12 an extremely desirable shotgun. I shot one of the prototypes at 2013 SHOT show and was extremely impressed by the transparency with which it could be used to bust clays.

More @ All Outdoor

8 comments:

  1. The Century Arms Centurion 39 is a 100% American made AK 47 variant. Milled receiver and chrome lined barrel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Cheaper than I paid for my Bulgarian some years ago.

      Delete
  2. No prob. I was pissed after I found these, as I paid a little more for one of their cheapy WASR 10/63s awhile back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the Bulgarian though as I prefer wood and it has very pretty blond.

      Delete
  3. Wish I had bought more than one Saiga now. I have one in .223. Wish I had the 12 ga version too. Oh wait, I forgot, I lost mine when the boat turned over. dang dang dang.

    I've seen that Centurion online. Looks like a nice piece.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. . Wish I had the 12 ga version too.

      :) I have one. The brake won't fit on it in the case, so I need to remove and reattach each time. Shooting it with a Tapco stock really exercises your shoulder. :)

      http://s3.postimg.org/ndo8it2v7/Sa9ga12_Case.jpg

      Delete
  4. Well, the vice president did say to get my wife a shotgun. This is what he meant, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indubitably and he probably wouldn't mind if you also got 4 12 round mags. :)

      Delete