Rounds need to be loaded one at a time, and under stress this can be agonizingly slow. In reality, loading a traditional shotgun is no faster than loading a French Mle. 1886 Lebel, and that was obsolete before World War I. Luckily, a tube full of 00 buck is all that’s required in a typical self-defense scenario. However, if you’ve ever longed for a tactical shotgun that was a bit more modern, there is one to consider. It’s the Saiga-12, and it’s a

The man behind transforming the Kalashnikov into a shotgun was not Mikhail Kalashnikov, but another famous Russian designer, Gennady Nikolayevich Nikonov. Unlike Kalashnikov, Nikonov was actually born in Izhevsk, which is about 1,500 kilometers east of Moscow. Both his father and mother were employed by Izhmash, so it ran in his blood. His father worked as a mechanic at the huge facility, which employed tens of thousands. At the age of 18, Nikonov graduated from technical school. While there, he became obsessed with underwater rifles. He won his first professional recognition by designing a trigger mechanism for an underwater rifle

Other than the problem stated, standard plastic shotshell performance is quite acceptable. Shells load into the magazines with little effort, and once you get the hang of it, magazines lock easily into the rifle if you load down one round. Pulling back the bolt and releasing it chambers one of the big shells smoothly. That still surprises me. Squeezing the trigger five times as fast as you can puts five empty hulls in the air. Cycle time is very fast, with empties being thrown five to 15 feet to the forward right depending on the load and gas port setting. Keep in mind, you do have an adjustable gas port. For best performance, run it on the lowest setting that will reliably function.

How does the Krebs-modified Saiga-12 pattern? To find out, I posted a large piece of cardboard at 15 yards. This is a practical distance for a shotgun intended for self-protection inside the home. Most encounters are likely to take place at this distance or much closer. Ammunition utilized for patterning was Federal’s Power-Shok 2¾-inch buffered 00 buck load. Five rounds were fired with measurements taken after each round. Performance was quite acceptable from this 12-pellet load. Average spread at 15 yards was 10 inches, and the patterns were very uniform in density. Switching to Wolf Performance Ammunition’s 2¾-inch one-ounce slug load, I tried my hand at 50 yards. Four five-shot groups averaged a respectable 4.9 inches. Recoil was fairly stout, though, thanks to the narrow buttplate.

Lately, there have been a lot of rumors circulating that the BATFE was going to halt the importation of Saiga shotguns. The worry here is that they were going to declare that the Saiga-12 was not a sporting gun. This was likely stirred up by the sudden surge of high-capacity drum magazines. While this has not happened, it is a worry that has certainly stimulated current sales.

The Krebs Custom-modified Saiga-12 is a very interesting gun with some excellent features. While it won’t win any beauty contests, it is extremely robust. When fed from AGP magazines downloaded to nine rounds, there are a lot of rounds on tap. Reloading is quick and easy. Controllability depends entirely on load selection. Full-house buckshot and slug loads pound on both ends. Low-recoil LE loads, on the other hand, are very controllable. Bred from the most reliable assault rifle in the world, it is an impressive-looking shotgun. Is it perfect? No. Mags will always be the weak point of this design due to the rimmed shotshells. Plus, in my experience the Saiga-12 is less tolerant than a 7.62x39mm gun regarding lubrication. However, properly lubed with good mags and low-recoil buckshot loads, the Saiga-12 is an impressive piece. If you are in the market for a tactical shotgun, the Saiga-12 is worth a look.