Saiga semi-automatic rifle
semi-automatic rifle
The Saiga semi-automatic rifles (/ˈsaɪɡə/, Saiga) (Russian: сайга, romanized: Sayga) are a family of Russian semi-automatic rifles manufactured by Kalashnikov Concern (formerly Izhmash), which also manufactures the original AK-47 and its variants, Saiga-12 shotguns and Dragunov sniper rifles. Saiga rifles are a sport version of the Kalashnikov rifle, and are marketed for hunting and civilian use. They are sometimes referred to as Saiga Sporters.
History
Named after the Saiga Antelope, the Saiga series of rifles is based on the AK-47 weapon system originally designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. The series was developed for shooters who wanted the reliability of an AK pattern rifle in a non-military package.
Originally designed in the 1970s, the first rifles were chambered for .220 Russian (5.6×39mm). The project was not a success and only about 300 rifles of this design were produced.
The Saiga was reintroduced in the 1990s and was marketed as a rifle that was capable of hunting medium-sized game. Improvements were added to the initial design from the 1970s which made the rifle capable of handling stronger cartridges such as the .308 Winchester/7.62×51mm and the more prevalent .223 Remington/5.56×45mm, 5.45×39mm, and 7.62×39mm calibers. These improvements contributed to the modern line of the Saiga rifles being adopted by various hunters.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saiga semi-automatic rifle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.