The rifle was quite striking. I immediately liked the heft, balance and features. It’s 41-3/4″ including the removable brake. Weight of the empty rifle is about 8-3/4 pounds.
It comes with the green hardcase with eggshell style foam interior that you see in the photos. Note it is really just for shipping as there isn’t room for an optic. Not a big deal but worth noting. I think most guys will want to get a better case anyways – I always make a case for my precision rifles to protect them and their optics better plus carry whatever accessories I want securely.
Let’s start our review at the back
The glass reinforced nylon stock caught my eye right away. I like polymer stocks and this is very well executed. There is a nice recoil pad and then two half-inch spacers that you can remove if so desired. The cheek piece allows for tall scopes. I found that I did not need to adjust it. I would recommend applying Vibra-Tite 213 VC-3 to these so they don’t shoot loose under recoil (Vibra-Tite stays flexible/gummy so it can be reused vs. many thread lockers being one time use).
Back to the stock, there is a comfortable hook for the supporting hand and the pistol grip is quite comfortable for me. Note, I wear XL sized gloves. Someone with small hands might find it too big. My bet is that if you wear at least a medium glove you will be ok.
Now, let’s look at the middle
On top, the rifle comes with a Picatinny optics rail, which is great. The bolt has an oversize screw on knob. The trigger is crisp with very little travel. I used a Lyman digital trigger gauge and 15 consecutive pulls and it averaged about 3-1/8 pounds. The bolt release is on the other side and is a small lever you actuate to remove the bolt.
The magazine is an AICS pattern and a 10 round unit comes with the rifle. The magazine release is on the front of the trigger guard. I found it a bit awkward at first but got used to it.
You’ll note the lower Picatinny rail at the front ready for a bipod.
Let’s look at the front
As you can see, it has a short thick bull barrel — it is 20.47″ (510mm) long and measures .86″ (22mm) at the muzzle. It has 1:11.5 twist rate and you can just make out the “MRR” logo for Multi Radial Rifling on the barrel.
I immediately had high expectations of it! The barrel is threaded 5/8″-24 and comes with a muzzle nut protector you can install if you would rather not have the brake. Let me jump ahead a bit, the weight and the brake really do a great job of controlling the .308’s recoil.
Last comment, note the front swing swivel that is out of the way of the rail. I thought that was a nice touch.
The Verdict?
I was very impressed to say the least. This rifle can be found on Gun Broker and other websites for under $1,200 and has an impressive list of features for the price.
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It’s interesting that a 400+ year old Italian firearms company is relatively unknown in the United States. In the early 1700s, Mr. Ludovico Sabatti was making flint lock pistols and barrels. Subsequent generations developed specialized barrel making capabilities as well as other parts. It’s worth noting this history – they have been making barrels for four hundred years!!
Following WWII, Antonio Sabatti formed a partnershp with Giuseppe Tanfoglio to make hunting arms and began to build semi-automatic pistols in 1956. By 1960, the two parted ways and the children of Antonio Sabatti formed what would become Sabatti today based in Trompia, Italy.
Today, Sabatti makes a wide range of firearms for target shooting, hunting. upland game and competition plus some niche tactical rifles including the Urban Sniper that will be covered in this post.
Italian Firearms Group
Of course, when you have a foreign manufacturer such as Sabatti, you need an importer and that’s where the Italian Firearms Group (IFG) enters into the picture. IFG was created in 2014 and represents four respected Italian gunmakers – F.A.I.R, Sabatti, Pedersoli and FT Italia.
I spoke with Justin Dodd, IFG’s Chief of Operations about their philosophy. He related to be that the US partners came out of the oil field service industry where customer service meant everything. It is critical to them to bring “…unprecedented levels of customer service to this industry – something we felt the industry as a whole was lacking.” I think most of us can readily agree with Justin on that – the US firearms industry is not known for great customer service in general.
I asked him what brought Sabatti to their attention. It turns out that Sabatti and the other three gun makers listed above were looking to create a sales, service and support hub in the USA. For Justin personally, the double express rifles in 450/400, 450, 470 and 500 NE were the initial draw.
Of course, I had to ask Justin why the Sabatti name was not better known in the US. His reply struck me as very pragmatic – “The past few years have been spent making sure the guns met with the USA’s standards. Historically, they have done quite well with their rifles in Europe but the features on those rifles did not sit well with the US consumer. For example, we started threading muzzles, shortening barrels, adding more US styled features like bolt knobs, sling swivel cups, and switching to the new bottom metal / magazine system. Now that the guns are where we want them, the marketing push will begin.”
The Urban Sniper
What caught my eye was a product announcement for their Urban Sniper rifle. It is a relatively compact rifle at 41-3/4″ overall, is chambered in .308 and 6.5 Creedmor and claimed sub-MOA accuracy from a 20″ (510mm) barrel. They claimed to be using a proprietary rifling method known as “Multi Radial Rifling” (MRR). Sabatti also said it was intended for use within 400mm.
My very next thought was “what the heck is MRR”? So I started digging on the WWW and found numerous posts and attempts at explaining it. Justin finally helped me sort it out – imagine polygonal rifling but without the points – that gives you an idea now let’s look at a cross-section of a barrel in a photo Justin sent me:
To make a long story short, I bought an Urban Sniper in .308 because I have quite a bit of .308 match ammo to try it out including rounds from Federal and Remington.
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David told me they did have a few quality control problems early on and that he wanted to replace my four magazines. Note, David said they have sold over 3,000 magazines with just a few problems and given that I haven’t heard or read about others having problems, it must have just been bad luck for me. At any rate, I was impressed that he reached out so quick and a few days later the replacement magazines arrived.
To make sure I didn’t have further problems, they had opened each package and tested the followers, which I appreciated. Let me tell you, the difference was night and day. The replacement magazine followers were much looser as they approached the top of the mag and felt great from the start. Exactly what I would normally expect. Of course, this then begged the question of how would they perform?
About a week after that, I finally got a chance to take the Lynx and the new magazines to the range. I could tell the Lynx was still wearing in. Whenever you have a weapon with parkerizing, it is to be expected. We put about 25 rounds of 2-3/4″ Remington 00 buckshot through it the first time and then I put about 70 more through on this trip. I’d say somewhere between cumulative round 40-50 (meaning from the fist session and this one), the SDS really started to smoothen out.
How could I tell? It was cycling faster and it was kicking rounds out very aggressively so I turned the gas port down from wide open to the third widest setting. I bet I can turn that down again for these higher-power rounds in the near future.
Those 12 gauge rounds are stout. It’s been years since I shot more than 25 in one session so I was feeling it. You’ll also notice that my JMAC brake loosened up. I had hand tightened the jam nut and forgot to secure it with a wrench. I fixed that problem as soon as I got home.
At any rate, the new SDS 10 round magazines worked great especially once the action started smoothing out. I tried them all the way full with 10 rounds as well as starting with only five rounds. I also fired both buck shot and some Brenke slugs. Thus, I’m happy to report that the SDS magazines appear to be good to go.
There is a good lesson here for all of us – including me – definitely test your gear before you need to rely on it. Thankfully this was just me getting embarrassed by my buddies at the range razzing me vs. a critical situation.
Now, I next need to point out that I took the CSSpecs magazines with me also and all they did was jam so I need to contact those folks and work on them next.
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Well, Scott, Brooks and I went shooting a few weeks back. I was really excited to take my new SDS Lynx out and I had bought four brand news SDS 10 round magazines that I took out of the wrapper and threw in my range bag. That turned out to be a mistake. The photo above is of Scott trying to clear yet another jam from the Lynx with one of the 10 round magazines inserted – they had feed failures constantly.
One of the things I was told years ago was to test everything before you rely on it. Now granted I was just going to the quarry to shoot with my friends but I really should have tested those magazines. Of the four, only one kind of worked. The followers were all hanging up about an inch from the top. The five round SDS magazine that came with the shotgun ran great but five founds at a time is not the most exciting thing. It was frustrating and disappointing at the same time.
The Lynx and the mags went back in the gun case and I felt pretty stupid for not checking the mags before going. On the other hand, they were brand new and should have worked. I was more than a bit miffed also – clearly there was a manufacturing issue, Followers should spring to the top of a magazine like a rocket – not get stuck part way down. A person should not need to buy magazines and then tune them inside – getting them to fit an AK-style weapon, sure that happens all the time, but not needing to redo the internals.
In the following photos notice how the followers are not all the way to the top compared to the small 5 round magazines.
At that point I made a decision – the SDS magazines really did look well made and rather than send them back, I decided to tune them and document what I did to share with others.
The Lynx shotgun uses Saiga magazines so this design is common and writing up what to do might very well help others out. So with my mind made up, it was just a matter of finding the time to do it.
A couple of weeks went buy before I could dig in but finally the time came. I’m going to try and show you what I found and explain what you need to do to correct it. You’re going to need a Dremel (or similar rotary tool), rubberized polishing bits, felt/wool polishing bits, and a plastic polish – I use Plastix a lot but even toothpaste would work. Yes, toothpaste is a very fine grit polish – you can even use it to polish plastic headlights.
Disassembling a SDS Magazines
The SDS magazine comes apart just like any AK magazine – you push the button on the bottom with a screw driver and slide the floor plate off of the magazine body. Now take a look at it. It can only push off one. All of the magazine Parts in the SDS can only go one way.
So push the button down and shove the floor plate in the direction of the opening. You may need to use a small Mallet or something hard to give it a little bit of a whack to get it started.
Now once you get that floor plate off the rest is going to want to spring out so use your thumb to keep it from flying across the room or in your face.
Fixing The Problem Area
The problem area in the magazines seem to be in the upper inch to inch and a half. You’ll see a mold seam that needs to be erased using the Dremel tool with the rubberized abrasive tips as well as it being tight in general all the way around.
So the first thing I did was to use a small rubberized abrasive tip to erase the mold seemed entirely that runs around the inner area of the magazine. In the next two photos you’ll see a shiny protruding lip inside the magazine that is just above the follower — that is the mold seam I am speaking of. It’s important to note that the follower is binding even before getting to that seam.
I used a small rubberized fine abrasive tip in my Dremel to literally erase the mold seam flush with the rest of the mold body.
At this point I blew out the magazine body with compressed air and the overall fit of the follower to the magazine body was just too tight. It and the body needed to be thinned a bit – not a bunch, just a bit.
In terms of the trimming, I would definitely recommend that you use the abrasive tip to remove just a little and test over and over. I can’t stress this enough – don’t try to do it all at once. As the saying goes, it’s easier to take more material off than to try and put it back on.
I wound up switching to a bigger rubber abrasive wheel when I did the follower and as far as I could reach in with the bit on the Dremel. The bit is still fine, I would not recommend using anything very aggressive. I used this bit on the follower and the inside of the magazine body. You just need to take a little bit of material off. I went all the way around the magazine body and the follower in that top area. You’ll see just below the scene there is a little elevated area inside the magazine that guides a follower up into position that is too tight.
Now I found I needed to do a second step to really smooth things out. The abrasive bit leaves a rough surface and the next thing I did was to use a felt bob/bit with felt on the end in my Dremel along with Plastix polish to finely polish all the surfaces. I tried skipping this step with a couple of the magazines and the end result was so much better that I went back and polished the surfaces I worked on in all of the magazines.
The polishing with the Plastix really made a big difference and I would recommend you do it as well. You could tell the parts were smoother. Definitely wipe everything down and do not leave the grit in the magazine.
Next, I sprayed the Dupont Teflon dry film lubricant in the magazine body and on the follower. I would not recommend using oil or anything that leaves a residue that dirt will stick to. Instead you want something that is going to leave a dry film behind. This really fixed everything once and for all.
9/21/23 Update: Dupont no longer sells a Teflon spray due to environmental and health concerns. They sell a ceramic-based spray now that I use instead.
I then reassembled the magazines. As mentioned the parts can only go one way. I never took the spring off the bottom plate so I didn’t have to worry about its orientation.
I went ahead and did one final spray of Teflon around the follower and let it run down in. While it is still a liquid, the lubrication will not be very good. You need to let it dry. In my case, it shot up like a rocket. Job done.
End Result
The magazines all seem to work fine now. I think the problem was a combination of the mold seam and that inside area being just a tad too tight. I hope this post helps you out. Small side note to SDS – you really ought to fix this.
10/15/18: First thing this morning SDS reached out to me and is sending replacement magazines. I will test them and report back. They have sold over 3,000 magazines with just a few problems so I might just literally have a bad batch.
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My wife and I were walking around downtown Dowagiac, MI, when I spotted a memorial with an odd little piece of artillery sticking out above a bush located by the intersection of South Front and Main Street.
I walked over and realized I had no idea what it was. Given it was a WWI monument, it had that “WWI Look” and the wooden steel clad wheels – even I could figure out it was a WWI piece but what was it? Somebody had spray painted part of it with some brass/bronze paint that was fading but it was actually in surprisingly good shape.
My first thought was that it was some kind of short barreled howitzer but didn’t turn up anything. I then realized it might be some type of large mortar so I searched on WWI mortar photos. Being a visual person, I can scan a ton of photos fast and I found it pretty quick. It was an early generation Imperial German 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer (17 cm mMW a/A) made by Rheinmetall.
These large mortars were for destroying fortifications in trench warfare. Interesting minenwerfer means “mine projector”. About 2,360 of them were made between 1913 and 1918. Only 150 were available at the start of WWI.
The minenwerfers played a critical role in destroying fortifications – notably those containing machine guns and artillery as well as clearing field obstacles such as barricades and barbed wire.
They were compact but at 525KG (about 1,157 pounds), they were difficult to maneuver in a rush.
As far as I can tell, the Dowagiac minenwerfer is a 17cm mMW a/A with the last meaning Alter Art which means it is the early model before they increased the barrel length in a newer model known as the 17cm mMW n/A – with the last part meaning Neur Art – or the “new alteration”
The next photo caught my eye due to the Rheinmetall logo that I also have on HK G3 magazines made my Rheinmentall.
The monument is for the men who lost their lives in WWI from Dowagiac and also Cass County. Note the quote “It is an investment not a loss when a man gives his life for his country”.
I can’t help but wonder how the German mortar wound up in Dowagiac. I didn’t see a plaque anywhere but hope to research it more some day. I also hope they preserve it. Unless I missed it, the mortar is standing on its own wooden wheels and it would be a shame if it fell.
In case you are interested, here are some great resources to learn more about the 17 cm mMW a/A:
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I like M4 stocks and did some digging around. In the past, I have used Ace/Double Star and other modular adapters. The problem with them is that unless you cut the tang off the rear trunnion, you have a rather long receiver block sticking out of your rifle and I wanted to avoid that.
The unit comes with clear instructions but do read the little yellow supplement they include. After getting feedback about the angle the unit positions the buffer tube at, they added two small Delrin washers that need to be installed also.
Installation took about 10 minutes – in large part because I was snapping photos but also because I didn’t want to rush and make a mistake.
So the big L-Bracket just goes under the tang and is screwed into place. I put Blue Loc-Tite on both screws to prevent them from loosening up. Based on past experiences with stocks that loosened up using modular mounts, be sure to use some form of thread locker. I did not tighten the screws down yet because I wasn’t sure if I would need to wiggle the tube adapter into place or not.
So with the L-Bracket in place, I then attached the Tube Adapter. The Delrin washers go between the Tube Adapter and the L-Bracket. I applied Blue Loc-Tite to these screws also.
I then tightened down all the screws and that was it.
Adding a C&H Mercury Buffer to the M4 Buffer Tube
Based on past experience with other similar firearms, I knew the Lynx would be front heavy plus I knew 12 gauge shotguns in general have a fair amount of recoil. Both of these could be addressed by installing a C&H Mercury Recoil Suppressor. I use the model 100785 as I know it will slide down the buffer tube of an M4 given the suppressor measures 7/8″ x 5″. You wouldn’t use this in a normal AR because the buffer tube would have the buffer and spring inside. However, in our case, an AK does not use the buffer tube so that means we can do whatever we want. I ordered by unit from MPC Sports, where I have bought them in the past.
I’ve used these a number of times over the years in shotguns and rifles to add weight to the rear and to reduce the recoil. This last part is interesting. Basically you have a 7/8″ diameter heavy tube that is 5″ long that is hollow. Inside it is partially filled with liquid mercury and then very tightly sealed — there is no way it is coming out.
What happens is that when the firearm is fired and the rearward motion starts, the mercury liquid sloshes in the tube. The tube goes back and the mercury partially stays in place until it is hit by the front of the tube. This helps to split the recoil impulse into two parts – the initial impulse and then when the mercury hits.
If you can’t afford a mercury buffer you could always fill the rear 5-6″ with bird shot and then cap it with a thick layer of epoxy.
The Mil-Spec six position buffer tube is a straight forward unit made by Expo Arms and I bought it from Primary Arms. You will still need to get the castle nut and end plate of your choice. Primary Arms, Brownells and Palmetto are all good places to check. I really do not recall where I got the castle nut and end plate I used on this project – they were in a parts bin.
Installation is very simple because all you need to do is epoxy it into the buffer tube. I would recommend scuffing the tube with a bit of sand paper so the epoxy can stick well and then spray down the supressor and the inside of the buffer tube with brake cleaner.
Not all epoxies are up to the task. I’d recommend Brownell’s Acra-Glas liquid epoxy for this (not their gel version). I use 10cc syringes to meter out 4 parts resin to 1 part hardener. I mixed up and used 4 batches so 16 cc of resin and 4 cc of hardener. Make sure you stir it completely. The stuff has a long pot like so really mix it well.
I secured the buffer tube in my vise and made sure it was vertical. Next, I poured a bit down in the tube first – just enough to put a thin layer at the bottom and inserted the suppressor into the tube and poured in the remaining epoxy. It will need to sit and cure for 2-4 hours before you can handle it. I keep an eye on the remnants in the mixing cup to see when it is hard enough to handle as the temperature will affect how long it takes. Note – it needs to cure 24 hours to reach full strength and you’d want that before firing the weapon and subjecting the epoxy to stress.
At any rate, after pouring, wipe off any epoxy you may get on the tube. Brake cleaner on a rag will help until it cures. After that, it would likely require sanding to remove so be sure it is clean before you walk away.
So with that done and curing I moved on to the grip.
Installing the Ronin’s Grips AK-12 Grip
The Lynx comes with a basic pistol grip but I wanted to use one of my AK-12 grips. These are very ergonomic and feel really good to me. I wear an XL-size glove and both the size and angle work for me.
I replaced the small 5mm bolt with one of our 6mm alloy bolts and also used a 6mm grip nut that I had in my parts bin to secure the grip in place.
In the same manner as other AKs, the grip nut sits in the square hole behind the trigger guard and then the grip sits on the other side and the bolt pulls them together with the receiver sandwiched in the middle.
Adding a Chaos Saiga 12 Apollo 12 Extended Rail
The Lynx can use Saiga handguards so you have a lot of options. Note that I am using a Chaos rail and Chaos has since gone out business. The rail in question was their Apollo 12 Extended M-LOK Rail.
Installation is pretty easy. You will need to remove the original sights though. A small punch can be used to drift out the rear sight and either a small wrench or pliers can be used to unscrew and remove the front sight. I’d recommend having a Zip Loc bag or something to store these parts in just in case.
Unscrew the four screws on the sides to split the rail system into its two halves. The bottom slides into position. Use their screw to secure the front. Use Blue Loc-Tite on it too. In the rear by the receiver is a set screw. Back it out, apply Blue Loc-tite and then screw it down. It will push on the barrel lock the handguard into position so it will not wobble.
With the base secure you can install the top half when ready. Notice how I said that. What I found is that the bolt carrier must be installed and the dust cover installed before you install the top half. So, I went ahead lubricated the shotgun and closed it up before I installed the top rail. This also brings to light that the screws will need to be removed to gain access to inside the shotgun for cleaning. Time will tell how well that works out. If it drives me nuts, I’ll cut the rail off flush with the gas tube seat. Right now though, I sure like how it positions my red dot.
Lubricating the Lynx
As mentioned above, I had to install the bolt carrier assembly and dust cover to then finalize the rail. I am doing something different with the Lynx. A month back I started using Super Lube synthetic grease on my Uzi and it worked great. With the Lynx having the heavy parkerization on everything, I used Superlube to grease the rails and all sliding surfaces. I used a precision oiler with Mobil 1 5w-30 full synthetic on all of the rotating parts. Boy did this combination make things operate smoothly!
Installing the M4 Mil-Spec Buffer Tube
By now, the buffer tube with the mercury suppressor was cured enough to be safely installed. Basically, it is installed the same as on an AR but it is much heavier. Thread the castle nut all the way to the end of threads, install the end plate and then screw the tube into the Rifle Dynamics stock adapter. Note need to buy the end plate and the castle nut – they typically do not come with a buffer tube.
When you are almost out of space to screw the buffer tube because of the end plate riding in the groove, stop, push the end plate into the adapter and tighten the castle nut down using your favorite tool.
While I used the above pictured wrench, I’ve since switched to the Magpul wrench and swear by. It’s the best wrench I’ve found for stock work including castle nuts.
In the next photo you can see that I am using a end plate with sling loops plus you can see that I staked the castle nut. Because of the recoil of the 12 gauge, I created a small divot with a center punch – this is known as “staking”. It will mechanically lock the castle nut in place. I could have put Blue Loc-tite on the castle nut but I went old school.
I then used a cotton swab and some Brownells Oxpho-Blue to cold blue the bare metal to a black color and then wiped it down with WD-40.
Installing the Magpul ACS Stock with Limbsaver Pad
I like the Magpul ACS stocks. They are comfortable, have a locking lever to keep them from wobbling and have storage compartments you can either really use for storage or fill with epoxy and bird shot to further adjust the weight and balance of a rifle.
As luck would have it, I don’t have a photo of the stock before installation but will tell you that the one challenge is to lift the locking pin. Magpul gives you a dummy cartridge to help with this but I made a tool to hook the pin and lift easy as can be.
Now one thing that is nice with hard recoiling firearms is a decent recoil pad. I’ve long been a fan of Limbsaver pads and they make a model specific for the Magpul ACS, ACS-L, CTR, MOE, STR and UBR. It’s nice and thick and provides a lot of cushion especially compared to the original pad it replaces.
I purchased the Magpul ACS for Mil-Spec buffer tubes from Primary Arms and the recoil pad off Amazon.
Installing the JMac RRD-4C 12 Brake
If you want to tame recoil, a good brake is essential. Justin McMillion and his company JMAC Customs make some great brakes so reaching out to him for a brake made perfect sense. He recommended their RRD-4C “12” brake.
The first thing I noticed was it’s size – it’s huge and badassed looking. Installation is a breeze. Unscrew the thread protector from the Lynx to expose its threads. Screw on the jam nut as far as you can and then thread on the brake as far as you can. Back it off enough that the brake is flat and the chambers are venting up as shown below. Then tighten the jam nut up against the back of the brake to lock it in place.
Installing the Crossfire Red Dot and American Defense Quick Release Lever
My go to red dot these days is the excellent Vortex Crossfire unit. It’s small and only has a 2 MOA dot. It comes configured for an AR but you can remove the tall base and use the supplied shorter one for a lower mount. Recently, I started using American Defense bases because they have a solid quick release lever so you can remove the red dot quickly. The base required is the AD-T1-L STD.
You just unscrew the four little screws on the bottom of the optic, apply Blue Loctite on the screws and attach it to the new base. Not hard at all! The results are totally worth it.
Caution about eBay: Watch out for cheap counterfeit products on eBay. I would recommend buying the optic and mount from a reputable dealer to make sure you are getting the real deal. The cheap knock offs just do not hold up.
Streamlight TLR-2 HL G
I installed a small 5 slot Magpul M-Lok aluminum rail section on the bottom front of the handguard to hold a Streamlight TLR-2 HL G 800 lumen light and green laser. I have found they hold up remarkably well. In this age of cheap Chinese products, I would recommend buying a light that will work when you need it most.
To mount it, follow the directions with the light to install the key for the Picatinny rail. It comes with several and then it just screws onto the mount with the thumbscrew,
Caution about eBay: Watch out for cheap counterfeit products on eBay. I would recommend buying the Streamlight from a reputable dealer to make sure you are getting the real deal. The cheap knock offs just do not hold up.
The End Result
I am very happy with how it turned out. The balance is great and the red dot is located just right – when I bring the shotgun up – the dot is right where I need it. I definitely need to take it to the range and like how it turned out. By the way, the magazine you see is the new SDS 10 round unit.
I hope you enjoyed these blog posts. There will be more to come 🙂
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
In the first post, I documented my favorable first impressions of the SDS Lynx 12 shotgun. After posting, at least 10 gentlemen have come forward stating how much they like their Lynx 12 shotguns and nobody reported any problems. In this post, I’ll write about taking the shotgun apart in order to install my planned customizations, which will be in the next post.
Call me old school, but the first thing I did was to read the manual 🙂 The next thing was to hose down the hole shotgun and wipe it down to remove all the odd smelling rust preservative. I really didn’t care for the tacky feel to be there while working on it. Once removed, I sprayed on Rem Oil to prevent rust while I was working on it. Rem Oil is nice and thin and doesn’t have too much of a smell. It’s my go to for situations like this. If you do remove the preservative, just be sure to apply whatever oil or rust inhibitor you prefer.
Removing the Dust Cover and Recoil Spring
The dust cover comes off by pushing the release latch (the little button that sticks up) on the recoil spring and pushing the whole assembly forward while lifting the dust cover up and off the receiver.
You’ll notice I have the Lynx sitting in my Tipton vise. I’ve had it for years and it really makes working on long arms way easier.
With the dust cover off, you can get a good look at the recoil spring assembly. Some guys will call this the operating spring or the return spring but basically it absorbs the energy of the bolt carrier assembly coming back after firing and then when the spring has enough energy, it pushes the bolt carrier assembly forward to then cock the trigger and strip a round off the magazine and go back into battery.
Compared to a regular AKM, you will notice the release latch and the rubber buffer assembly at the rear. I find the use of a buffer interesting. Normally the spring should absorb the energy and my bet is that the designers put it there in case the user either adjusts the gas regulator such that the system is over-gassed and the carrier comes back with more force than the spring alone can handle or they put it there just in case of a round that generates more pressure than what the spring can handle but the gas regulator doesn’t exactly have the right setting — imagine needing a gas setting of “3.5”. At the third position there is too much gas but at 4 there is too little. I have little doubt it is a good idea. I’d recommend to keep a spare buffer on hand and inspect the one in the shotgun regularly. It ought to last a long time under most conditions but the buffers are dirt cheap.
To remove it, push forward on the rear part that normally protrudes from the dust cover. It should slide forward in the slot that holds it on the trunnion until it is free and you can then lift up and pull back to remove the assembly from the bolt carrier and shotgun overall.
You will also note that the designers made the recoil spring assembly two parts – the rear is a tube like an RPK or older milled AKs with one spring. There is then an additional cover that rides on that rear tube and normally closes the otherwise enlarged ejection port in the dust cover. In front of that is then a floating spring.
Removing the Bolt Carrier Assembly and Looking Inside the Receiver
First, remove the bolt carrier assembly. It slides to the rear of the receiver and can then be lifted up out of the receiver. Note – it must be fully to the rear or the receiver’s guide rails will retain it.
It’s interesting how the bolt carrier is short. In the gas tube, which is pinned in place, is a disc, that some call the “gas puck” or just “puck” which is the gas piston. Unlike an AKM, the gas tube is held in place by the gas tube seat (it reminds me of a rear sight block in a way) that would need it’s retaining pin to be punched out to be removed. When you tilt the shotgun forward and back, you can hear the puck moving back and forth in the gas tube. I didn’t take the gas tube assembly apart but it looks straight forward enough.
The carrier is holding a really massive bolt. It operates very much like any AK – the bolt head has a cam that travels through a slot in the carrier that in turn rotates it into or out of battery.
By moving the bolt head to the rear, the cam can be rotates out of the slot and the bolt head then removed from the carrier.
Look at the size of the extractor!
Interestingly, the firing pin has a spring pushing it backward compared to the floating firing pins you normally find in an AK rifle. In this photo you can see the tail of the firing pin pushed out the back of the bolt body by the spring.
Looking down in the receiver was a very typical looking fire control group. Note, it has been tweaked slightly to work in a Saiga or Lynx so if you want to replace the fire control group you will need to either buy one made for the the Saiga or Lynx or you will need to make some modifications.
Normally I replace the fire control group (FCG) with a US made set but the Lynx’s trigger is surprisingly decent. Not great, but decent. It was gritty from the parkerizing and lack of use but I figured grease and time could cure that. I may well swap it out in the future but time will tell.
The Pistol Grip
Now I did run into one surprise that I did not expect – see the grip nut below? I figured it would be a regular AKM nut meaning threaded for a 6mm diameter x 1.0mm pitch screw. It’s not. I did not expect this but the grip screw is actually smaller than an AK’s. The screw is actually 5mm diameter x 106mm long. I did not bother finding out the pitch by the way because it would not be staying! Instead, I focused on the hole in the receiver – it was the same size as a normal AKM grip nut. Whew – Problem solved. I would replace it with a beefier AKM nut and one of our high-strength alloy grip screws (I’ll detail that in the next post).
To remove the grip, there is a blade screw head on the base. Simply unscrew it and remove the grip and the grip nut.
Removing the Buttstock
The plastic buttstock is held in place by two machine screws on the top of the rear trunnion. The rear trunnion is an AK-74 forked style with the front portion open. The stock with its lightning cuts on the side harks to the 74 also other than having a recoil pad thicker than what you would find on a 74.
Given how front heavy the shotgun felt, I was not surprised to find out that the buttstock was actually hollow. The Chinese installed threaded inserts for strength. I think that is commendable actually. The fit of the buttstock to the receiver is both well done and very tight. This is what will bear the recoil – the screws are just there to hold it together.
Because of the tight fit, I secured the rifle in my vise after removing the selector lever. I then used a wood dowel and hammer to tap on the lip of the stock to push it backwards out of the receiver. It really didn’t take much force to get it out. For those of you who have tried to get an old varnished AK-47 stock out of a receiver, you know exactly what I mean and the Lynx requires just a small fraction of that.
The Forearm
The sporting looking forearm is held in place by a 5mm diameter x 11mm long screw. Unscrew it and push the handguard forward past the gas tube and then pull it off the barrel. Mine was a tight fit so I did need to pull it off the barrel and not just lift. I did use a small piece of wood and a hammer to get it started out of the receiver.
Done
At this point, I had the shotgun all the way apart other than the muzzle cap. I left that on to protect the threads while I worked. The next blog post will detail the customizations and a few surprises that happened along the way.
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For some reason, I never really got into the Saigas when they were the hot conversion ticket. I guess it was because I was mainly working on rifles and had a Vepr 12. At any rate, when I heard from Paul Popov that SDS was importing a Saiga-12 clone known as the Lynx 12 from China where it was made in the same factory that made the Type 56 AKs. Even better, it did not need the conversion and the street price was about $499, I contacted Scott Igert, my friend who owns Modern Antique Firearms in Benton Harbor, MI, to order me one.
In short order the shotgun arrived and then promptly sat idle as I was busy with a ton of other projects. Scott nudged me along to take a look as he was curious about the Lynx 12 also as were clients of his. That prompted me to get my act in gear and take a close look at the shotgun by taking it apart to install a bunch of modifications I had planned.
The first step was to give it a careful external exam. The Lynx had a nice heavy uniform dark parkerized finish – probably a manganese “park” given the color. There was some type of preservative on it that had the most interesting smell. I have no way to describe it other that to say it did not smell like the typical cosmoline-ish anti-corrosion coatings I was used to. Note, parkerization does not prevent rust but what it does do is create a textured surface that oil, preservatives or even weapons finishes can “grab” hold of an stay in place. For example, when I build an AK, I have found that abrasive blasting, followed by manganese parkerization and then Norrell’s Molyresin is a remarkably durable finishing process. By the way, I have a post on how to do make and apply your own manganese parkerization.
The rivets were pretty good – in a few cases the domes were flatter than others, which is me nit picking, but they all were sitting nice and snug against the sheet metal. Rivets are pretty amazing and result in strong attachments of the forged trunnions to the sheet metal as long as they are formed properly and the Lynx’s rivets are solid.
I found it interesting that the front trunnion sits on top of the sheet metal receiver. The fitment was pretty good.
There were reports of early models having sharp edges but I did not see any. All edges and the parkerized finish were well done.
I did notice that the rear stock screw as a bit chewed up by whomever installed the rear stock. Normally you see this when someone uses a screw driver blade that is too small. Not too bad and since I planned on replacing the rear stock, I really wasn’t worried about it.
The selector lever was noticeably loose. On most AK rifles, it takes a bit of effort to move the lever between the safe and fire positions. The lever on the Lynx moves very easily. I’ll bend the lever slightly or use a center punch to increase the depth of the detent. Again, not a big worry.
Because the shotgun is brand new and the fire control group and the inside of the receiver are all parkerized, the action was pretty rough. This was to be expected – the parts need to wear in. I knew from experience that cleaning and better lubrication would help.
The muzzle cover was easy to remove and threaded nicely. It is threaded to use Saiga chokes and brakes.
The dust cover has an additional retainer spring and pin that you do not see on most AKMs to hold the dust cover in place. Notice the attention to detail that the retaining button is shaped to allow the dust cover to clear it better.
A nicely done optics side rail is already installed and begging to be used.
It’s a good thing that is there because I really think you will want to run a red dot either via a scope mount or on a front rail. The Lynx’s sights are to the front and rear of the gas tube. The rear has a dovetail and can be drifted with a pin punch to the left or right. The front sight is threaded and can be adjusted up or down. They definitely are functional but I don’t care for them at all to be perfectly honest.
…smallest dot = basically no gas, no rounds will usually cycle when the regulator is on this position. Next smallest dot = “00” buckshot, high velocity rounds and slugs. Next to largest dot = all things in between your results and field testing will be required to see what your individual shotgun will run in this setting. Largest dot = birdshot and other lower powered ammunition.
You’ll notice it has an AK-74 looking buttstock but it is actually hollow and very light. It’s nicely formed and installed but the net result is that the shotgun is light overall but very front-heavy. I planned to replace the buttstock, grip and forearm from the start and I will describe what was one and why in future posts in this series.
It uses Saiga magazines also. One five round mag comes with the shotgun and SDS now sells 10 round magazines also that you can readily find. It’s actually harder to find spare five round SDS-brand magazines right now than the 10 round units.
By the way, if you are interested about how it shoots, I haven’t had a chance to take it out yet. In researching the shotgun and how durable it was, I talked to Paul Popov and he has 350 rounds through his with no signs of trouble. I also talked to Justin McMillion at JMAC Customs and they have put through about 500 rounds also with no problems showing up. Here is a great overview video from Justin and his wife Ashley:
To sum it all up, I was pretty impressed with my initial just out of the box assessment. I’m certainly not done though as I bought the Lynx specifically to customize and blog about. The custom Lynx 12 blog series will have two more posts – one about disassembly and then one with the customizations I made.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
