“There is a lot of appeal in a Saiga shotgun,” Mike Searsen writes over at ammoland.com. And yet . . .”The factory versions with their sporting style stock and diminished capacity magazines leave much to be desired. Some individuals and a few companies have made conversions to these shotguns. Yet the reliability of them is more ‘miss than hit.'” An assertion Lone Star Arms would strenuously challenge. Anyway . . .
Judd Foster of Fostech decided there’s a market for an American Saiga-style box-fed shotgun. (Not to mention their bumpfire stock the Bumpski, which somehow fell off its website). And so he created the Fostech Origin 12.
The shotgun was originally developed by now-defunct Alliance Armament of Indiana. Fostech’s version uses proprietary magazines and parts which are not interchangeable with an AK.
Suffice it to say, the Origin 12’s ugly as AF, even without the wheel of death hanging from its underparts. But seems to cycle OK. We’ll have a full review ASAP.
Why did you put on Iraqi veteran 8888 such a douchebag and sell out.
Bitter much, Jimmy?
amen to that. him and new barry.
What’s the deal with Iraqi veteran 8888? I have watched his videos but don’t know anything about the guy.
Hoorah, American made. Like the stuff.
Ugly, ~ anh. I do hope they get their weapons running even faster.
Ugly? This is how all shotguns should look. They even got the color right.
I am old. I have a few quality guns that I have kept over the years. I have many satisfying memories and I am happy to be alive. I am mature in thought and deed.
I NEED THIS GUN.
The Saiga 12 (and many existing and upcoming semi 12;s) clearly recommends high DRAM loads to cycle the heavy bolt and it was designed to Russian military standards afterall. Either way, from what I understand most cycle just find with 12-1300+ loads after broken in – like any firearm cliche. I don’t understand the complaint when it doesn’t cycle “finch loads.”
I watched some videos of this in action and the controls seem like an issue.
$2700+ for the gun. $50 for 8 round mags. They don’t even offer the drum as far as I can tell but their 5.56 drum is $209.
It’s cool as a toy but I’d say it’s a bit pricey for what it is. Unless you do a lot of house clearing I’m not really seeing the use.
How about $2,750 for the shotty alone, plus $1,050 for the SBS “upgrade” plus $900 for the suppressor, plus $400 for the proprietary 30 round drum, plus $400 in NFA tax stamps. With the additional proprietary 20 round drum, and stick mags, sales tax and transfer fees, that rig is over $6,000!!!
Anyone else notice that the supressor rotated during that first string of shots ?
That’s because it’s mounted upside-down.
I’d say that Kalashnikov USA’s KS-12 is more of a “Modern-Day American Saiga” and not this overpriced, ridiculously heavy monstrosity by Alliance Armament, whore were notorious in the Saiga community. In order for their $400 30 rd drum mag to work with your Saiga-12, you had to send the shotgun to them, in order to be custom fitted to the damn drum. They claimed that there was no other way for it to work. Then, MD Arms released their cheap, well-made and very effective 20 rd drum, which required some very minor, DIY style fitting with certain guns, and it was all over for these guys. But really, if you want an AK style shotgun right now, you should grab a Vepr-12 before they are all gone, following the importation bad. Those guns are fabulous and are still around, as they imported quite a few of them.
If i pay over 2k for a shotgun it better say benelli or beretta on the side….
Can’t afford one, but I had a smile on my face the entire time I watched that video…
I picked up an AK12 made in China from Acadamy. $499? Can use saiga stick mags, has a screw in choke and 4 position gas adjust, and a rail on the top. Shoots everything. It’s worth every penny.
JTS M12AK. I set mine up for Turkey hunting using 3 inch magnum turkey loads with the gas adjust set to 0 to keep from beating the action to death. Using Truglo ported turkey choke. Truglo Triton r/g/b dot scope. Shot an armadillo with 2 3/4 #7.5 Win Walmart bulk at 25 yards and the wad was inside the dillo. 🙂 No $hit. Very pleased with the chicom “garbage”. I wish they would do a review on here.
As an actually owner of a Origin-12 my review:
Unless a short barrel (I have the full length) it is bulky, and unwieldy. Need a damn shoulder strap to pack it.
My PRIMARY complaint.
The 20 round drum they sold me at ludicrous price – doesn’t even feed properly. They only way this works, and cycles is with the stick mags (10 round).
Sure it gives the wow factor and all that. Why did I drop the money?
Well I plunked down $400 for the receiver in fear of a ban (that never came) so I was already in the rabbit hole. Then Fostech raised the price from $1700 to like $2100 bare bones with without all the nickle addon. By that time – and 2 years of waiting I was just happy to get something, just to see if they would actually deliver. They did.
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