My Saiga is about a 2 MOA gun. It has a pretty darned good trigger for an AK, but it's been smoothed with a polishing stone.
There are several things that make Saigas very attractive.
1) They are genuine Russian AKMs inside. Just because they have some different furniture and the trigger is in a different position, doesn't mean that they are not genuine, 100%, made at the Izhmash factory where all other Russian AKMs are made.
2) They are quality rifles. They are put together well and have quality parts. The receivers and barrels are always in spec. They have chrome lined bores.
3) They can be modified to be a very, very nice AKM. You can swap out the unattractive external parts (furniture, etc.) for a configuration that is more of a traditional AKM.
4) Finally, they are inexpensive. For $250-$350 you can get yourself a rifle that shoots very well and is extremely reliable. Their low price and quality guts make them an excellent project rifle when you have time. If you want to convert it to a pistol grip, hi-cap magazine-fed rifle, you can do so yourself with a drill and dremel for as little as $150. Or you can get really fancy and put some really nice parts on it, but it will cost more, of course.
I went with the second route. The Saiga is an excellent base rifle for a project to build a really, really nice AKM. I chose the Saiga because I wanted a nice AK that would reliably shoot .223. Shooting 5.56x45 is not something that all AKMs do very well. The magazines often are an issue. The Saiga, however, will shoot .223 without any hiccups if you convert it correctly. I bought a Saiga that had been converted by Tony Rumore at Tromix in Oklahoma. He is about the best Saiga gunsmith around, in my opinion. Tony did a great job moving the trigger, installing a high-quality folding stock and installing a feed ramp which guarantees reliable feeding from Bulgarian waffle mags, and refinishing the rifle.
I did some work of my own, installing a Dinzag front hand guard retainer plate, a Bulgarian lower hand guard, an Ultimak gas tube that has a picatinny rail, an Aimpoint CompC3 (2 MOA dot), an Ace Galil pistol grip, and a Blue Force Gear - Vickers Combat Applications sling. I also smoothed the trigger contacts with a dremel polishing bit.
This is about my favorite rifle now. Trigger pull is excellent, it shoots 2 MOA with Russian steel-cased ammo, and zero failures so far. And it's quite light and ergonomical. I do have quite a bit of money into it (scope and all), but if you put a mount and nice scope on any rifle of this quality, you are going to wind up shelling out some dough. I have about $1375 into the rifle now, total. But that is still much cheaper than many other guns that shoot this well, like PTR-91s, DSA FALs, Colt ARs, etc.
The great thing about a Saiga is that the unconverted, sporter version is still a great shooting rifle (2-4 MOA all day) and only costs ~$250-350. You can put a $100 PSOP 4x24 Russian scope on the side rail if you want an affordable scope option. Or convert it to a standard AKM configuration exactly how you want it done, as you have the time and money. I think they are great rifles, one of the very best buys on the market today.
Here is mine now:
). I'm thinking the traditional 7.62x39 might be a better choice. Any input?