Hello!
I am a long time gun enthusiast and NRA member. But I'm relatively new to the world of .223. I bought a Saiga a few months ago. I've never been happy with it, but it was all I could afford at the time. I started reading good things about the new Kel-Tec SU-16 lately, including the article here. Then I stumbled across one at a local gun shop. They wanted $459 for it, new in the box, and they made me a good trade in deal on my Saiga. How could I turn it down? Now that I've had a chance to take it to the range and put it to the test, I can say that the only practical use for a Saiga .223 is as a boat anchor. Which it actually would excel at given that it weighs as much as a boat anchor.
I love this little gun. When sighting the scope at 50 yards, my best 5 shot group was small enough to cover with a nickel. At 50 yards you couldn't cover a Saiga grouping with a $20 bill. Another pleasant surprise was the shell ejection. The Saiga used to spray them everywhere, which made it a bear to recover my brass. Some even flew forward completely out of the shooting booth. After firing my first few boxes in the SU-16 I was surprised to find that every one of the empty cases were in a nice neat little bunch off to my right.
The only thing with my experience that has been even borderline negative is that I wish the bipod would lock open. When firing from the bench rest, the recoil tended to make the legs walk toward me. I kept having to push them back out.
Thanks for listening all.
Mike
I am a long time gun enthusiast and NRA member. But I'm relatively new to the world of .223. I bought a Saiga a few months ago. I've never been happy with it, but it was all I could afford at the time. I started reading good things about the new Kel-Tec SU-16 lately, including the article here. Then I stumbled across one at a local gun shop. They wanted $459 for it, new in the box, and they made me a good trade in deal on my Saiga. How could I turn it down? Now that I've had a chance to take it to the range and put it to the test, I can say that the only practical use for a Saiga .223 is as a boat anchor. Which it actually would excel at given that it weighs as much as a boat anchor.
I love this little gun. When sighting the scope at 50 yards, my best 5 shot group was small enough to cover with a nickel. At 50 yards you couldn't cover a Saiga grouping with a $20 bill. Another pleasant surprise was the shell ejection. The Saiga used to spray them everywhere, which made it a bear to recover my brass. Some even flew forward completely out of the shooting booth. After firing my first few boxes in the SU-16 I was surprised to find that every one of the empty cases were in a nice neat little bunch off to my right.
The only thing with my experience that has been even borderline negative is that I wish the bipod would lock open. When firing from the bench rest, the recoil tended to make the legs walk toward me. I kept having to push them back out.
Thanks for listening all.
Mike
This is the 1st month I have noted that the local Gun Shops have had the SU-16 in the case for more than a day, so your a lucky guy. They are great rifles. Welcome to the club so to speak.
