Saiga lower handguard retainer will this work?

[xlend]

Love the forums and have been lurking a while and joined to pick the forum's input on this lower hand guard retainer. I do not want to take off the gas tube mount or sights for the conversion. Also I heard the bolt on retainers really are not the best and can wiggle. This one is pinned in after a little filling. Is filling a big no no?

http://www.saiga-ak.com/saiga-ak_LHG_retainer_LHG01.html

Yours Thoughts, anybody else use this method?

Thanks

 

[halogrinder]

i used an AK retainer that was ground down/cut and a tab welded on to bolt to the factory hole. it never wiggled on me??

 

[dnepr0mike]

I used these on two of my saigas so far. Now that i got a hang of it, I'll do it on other two also.

You would need to cut a notch about 1.5mm deep and 3/16" wide.
I used 3/16x1" roll pin (spring pin) from home depot (like itsays in the manual on the website) and handguard sits very securely, no wiggle.

To cut a notch you can use dremmel or as I did round 3/16 chainsaw file from harbor freight. It was like 10-12 bucks for a set of three files. Good steal. One advantage of file over dremmel, you can really dial it down to the correct depth and with. I felt like dremmel was to fast and not precise enough for this delicate operation. Too easy to remove too much and then have to search for another larger spring pin and openup pin holes in the retainer etc... But I heard people are using dremmel with good results. I guess it's up to you, I prefer precision over speed.

I tried the regular AK retainer at first. Cutting out the center and grooves in the sides. it was such PITA. I marred and scratched up my barrel trying to force it on. i did not want to open it up too much so it would not loos integrity and can still stend up to recoil forces. such a waste of time and effort and ugly looking result.

i'd would be recommending 'no fusss' saiga-ak retainers over anything else any time of the day.
good luck