new to the 922r thing, im buying a saiga ak 7.62x39mm

[RaistlinJ]

im buying a saiga ak and i was wanting to put a us made hi cap mag on it what else do I have to replace or do to keep it legal. this whole 922r thing is confusing haha.

 

[wabashman]

this might help you.

Gunwiki: 922(r) Worksheet for AK-47 Builds

 

[TheWabbit]

im buying a saiga ak and i was wanting to put a us made hi cap mag on it what else do I have to replace or do to keep it legal. this whole 922r thing is confusing haha.

Why U.S. mags? Use European steel mags or Bulgarian polymer. Don't count on magazines to make your rifle "legal".

922r on AK is easy. You need 5 U.S. parts if you don't have a muzzle attachment or 6 U.S. parts if you do.

U.S. parts Tapco G2 trigger group (3 parts), muzzle attachment, handguard (Damage Industries), buttstock.

Section 922r Worksheet

 

[RaistlinJ]

cool, thanks guys I appreciate it

 

[JettaKnight]

Why U.S. mags? Use European steel mags or Bulgarian polymer. Don't count on magazines to make your rifle "legal".

922r on AK is easy. You need 5 U.S. parts if you don't have a muzzle attachment or 6 U.S. parts if you do.

U.S. parts Tapco G2 trigger group (3 parts), muzzle attachment, handguard (Damage Industries), buttstock.

Section 922r Worksheet

922r on AK is easy, but you are describing it the hard way; you are thinking about backwards. You don't add US parts "to make it legal". You remove foreign parts to keep it legal.

If you only have 9 foreign parts and you insert a Tapco mag, it's not more legal. But, if you insert a Bulgy, then it becomes illegal. Again, if you have 12 foreign parts, add all the US stuff you want, you can't make it legal until you remove foreign parts.

Everyone say it with me, "The legality only depends on the total number of foreign parts, not the US part count."


I made mine compliant when I converted it, but I've only ever heard of 922r applying to mfgr and distributors. No one has shown me a gun owner who had an issue with this.

 

[RaistlinJ]

922r on AK is easy, but you are describing it the hard way; you are thinking about backwards. You don't add US parts "to make it legal". You remove foreign parts to keep it legal.

If you only have 9 foreign parts and you insert a Tapco mag, it's not more legal. But, if you insert a Bulgy, then it becomes illegal. Again, if you have 12 foreign parts, add all the US stuff you want, you can't make it legal until you remove foreign parts.

Everyone say it with me, "The legality only depends on the total number of foreign parts, not the US part count."


I made mine compliant when I converted it, but I've only ever heard of 922r applying to mfgr and distributors. No one has shown me a gun owner who had an issue with this.

so if its legal now and I add a us mag is it still legal?

 

[RaistlinJ]

basically my question is since in its current build its completely legal would adding a hi cap us made mag. make it illegal since its not in a sportsman config?

 

[TheWabbit]

No, you are fine. 922r deals with changing the approved imported configuration (when dealing with Saigas)

Jetta is right that 922r applies to importers. If you change the configuration (move the grip forward), I would follow 922r, just as if you built the rifle yourself. And the Tapco G2 trigger is better anyways.

 

[tradertator]

I would be reluctant to count the magazine as a US part, because what technically happens when you remove it from the gun?

This is one of the dumbest rules we as gun owners face when dealing with scary looking imported guns, and as Jetta pointed out, there is no record I am aware of either where an individual was charged for not meeting 922. The parts are not required to be marked as US made so I'm not sure how it could even be enforced, and if an agent is counting parts on your firearm, I'd say you're already in trouble for something else. That said, I don't want to be the first.

 

[JettaKnight]

so if its legal now and I add a us mag is it still legal?

YES.

I would be reluctant to count the magazine as a US part, because what technically happens when you remove it from the gun?

Stop counting US parts! Again. it doesn't matter how many US parts you have. If you remove a US mag, the US parts count goes down - no one cares.
If you add a foreign mag, the foreign parts count goes up - the BATFE cares.

It's not a sum of US parts.
It's not a ratio of US to foreign parts.
It is strictly a sum of foreign parts.

This is one of the dumbest rules we as gun owners face when dealing with scary looking imported guns, and as Jetta pointed out, there is no record I am aware of either where an individual was charged for not meeting 922. The parts are not required to be marked as US made so I'm not sure how it could even be enforced, and if an agent is counting parts on your firearm, I'd say you're already in trouble for something else. That said, I don't want to be the first.

Most US parts are indeed stamped. Look at a Tapco G2.

basically my question is since in its current build its completely legal would adding a [STRIKE]hi cap[/STRIKE] standard us made mag. make it illegal since its not in a sportsman config?

If you take a stock Saiga, shove and normal capacity (30 rounds) mag into it, then it's no longer sporting and must then be checked for compliance under 922r. I speak technically, of course. As others have said, I built mine to comply as that's the law of the land and I do my best to live under the law, whether I agree with it or not.

FWIW, Royal Tiger was shipping a rifle with a cheap US mag buttstock. In a separate package the original foreign buttstock was shipped to the buyer.* Read into that what you will.



* Now they ship the good stock, but keep the foreign magazine to sell to later for $45.