Joined
·
12,957 Posts
Went to the gun show last Saturday and was minding my own business looking for "Chip" mags for my TRP Operator. One of the vendors that I was talking to said that while handguns are excellent weapons and do the job alright, he had a different solution. He sait that if there were 10+ guys getting ready to start something outside his house, he'd just grab his Saiga-12. My next question (which got me into trouble 
) was . . . "what's a Saiga-12? He then laid it on me of what it does and pointed to a booth up front where he thought they had one. I went, found out a little more, and held it. Well, that where it started.
Bottom line is, after all of the "been hard to find" business and "price gouging" from dealers that has been going on, my guy called and said he just got in a few. So, as of Wednesday, I joined the Saiga-12 club. Even sprang (so far) for the UTG Pro quad rails, Tapco stock/grip kit, and Troy front grip. Changed the appearance night and day. Next to get is the MD-20 rnd mag and a new choke. They recommended the Polychoke (the sharkteeth one but I can't find it in the Polychoke brand). I see them in other brands and believe some guys fefer to it as the "doorbuster" style. Also, a different puck like alot do for shooting lower loads like birdshot, etc., but said it really wasn't needed.
Last thing that really concerned me when I started looking at it all that evening was the white label in the box (it's the long, white label on the trigger guard). The one that has the serial #, tracking # barcodes. Found out that they get their weapons from Century Arms and they all have white lables. Anyway, I was shocked to see this on it:
"Caution: This is a used firearm. Like all used products it should be carefully inspected before use". And on the back it says in effect, if this is used, let a gunsmith check it out, etc., etc.
Well that really popped my bubble alright and was now thinking how did I end up getting a used weapon??? I even drove back to the gunshop yesterday (45 min. each way) to get to the bottom of it. You could tell she was ready for me (as I called before I went) because she said as I walked in the door that I must have read it wrong. I then showed her the tag that clearly said "used" . . . Even though I didn't accuse them of selling used for new, I just wanted to understand the meaning. She said they would never do that and tried to explain what the label possibly meant (as best she try and not sure herself of why, it wasn't a good and clear explanation to me). Just curious, I asked to see the other Saiga-12 boxes that went to the ones on the rack. Sure enough, both of the other labels said the same thing. She said that she better have gotton "new" weapons for what she pays and again she doesn't sell used. Said that she's calling them for a better explantion. At any rate, I was just trying to understand the terminology of what appeared to indicate they were used and for her to get the info for her own safety as well.
I called Century Arms themselves this am and asked the same question to get the final explanation. He did put my mind at ease though and said that all of their white tags (evidently denotes Century Arms) says that. They just have one tag for everything. Just easier for them to do one tag for everything. He verified it when I read the numbers off and the key letter which denotes new is " - N " at the end of the numbering. Surplus, refirb, etc. ends with different letters. He said that I wasn't the only one that asked that. I said that they may want to think about the "used" part on them though.
Anyway, didn't mean to get into all of it but thought it may help someone else feeling the same way that I did. Looking forward to the few more goodies and actually shooting it. All this from going to the gunshow, not even looking for a shotgun, and asking for "Chip" mags . . . lol.
) was . . . "what's a Saiga-12? He then laid it on me of what it does and pointed to a booth up front where he thought they had one. I went, found out a little more, and held it. Well, that where it started.Bottom line is, after all of the "been hard to find" business and "price gouging" from dealers that has been going on, my guy called and said he just got in a few. So, as of Wednesday, I joined the Saiga-12 club.
Even sprang (so far) for the UTG Pro quad rails, Tapco stock/grip kit, and Troy front grip. Changed the appearance night and day. Next to get is the MD-20 rnd mag and a new choke. They recommended the Polychoke (the sharkteeth one but I can't find it in the Polychoke brand). I see them in other brands and believe some guys fefer to it as the "doorbuster" style. Also, a different puck like alot do for shooting lower loads like birdshot, etc., but said it really wasn't needed. Last thing that really concerned me when I started looking at it all that evening was the white label in the box (it's the long, white label on the trigger guard). The one that has the serial #, tracking # barcodes. Found out that they get their weapons from Century Arms and they all have white lables. Anyway, I was shocked to see this on it:
"Caution: This is a used firearm. Like all used products it should be carefully inspected before use". And on the back it says in effect, if this is used, let a gunsmith check it out, etc., etc.
Well that really popped my bubble alright and was now thinking how did I end up getting a used weapon??? I even drove back to the gunshop yesterday (45 min. each way) to get to the bottom of it. You could tell she was ready for me (as I called before I went) because she said as I walked in the door that I must have read it wrong. I then showed her the tag that clearly said "used" . . . Even though I didn't accuse them of selling used for new, I just wanted to understand the meaning. She said they would never do that and tried to explain what the label possibly meant (as best she try and not sure herself of why, it wasn't a good and clear explanation to me). Just curious, I asked to see the other Saiga-12 boxes that went to the ones on the rack. Sure enough, both of the other labels said the same thing. She said that she better have gotton "new" weapons for what she pays and again she doesn't sell used. Said that she's calling them for a better explantion. At any rate, I was just trying to understand the terminology of what appeared to indicate they were used and for her to get the info for her own safety as well.
I called Century Arms themselves this am and asked the same question to get the final explanation. He did put my mind at ease though and said that all of their white tags (evidently denotes Century Arms) says that. They just have one tag for everything. Just easier for them to do one tag for everything. He verified it when I read the numbers off and the key letter which denotes new is " - N " at the end of the numbering. Surplus, refirb, etc. ends with different letters. He said that I wasn't the only one that asked that. I said that they may want to think about the "used" part on them though.
Anyway, didn't mean to get into all of it but thought it may help someone else feeling the same way that I did. Looking forward to the few more goodies and actually shooting it. All this from going to the gunshow, not even looking for a shotgun, and asking for "Chip" mags . . . lol.
