Quote History View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Quote History That is an issue which also affected some of VEPR-12 production.
Between the 2 (and based solely on internet reading lol) I think it’s less common of a problem in VEPRs.
I’ve only had 1 example of each, but I upgraded to the VEPR-12 and it was quite the upgrade indeed. I never had any reliability issues with my Saiga however.
The Picatinny rail, straight-insert mags, and automatic bolt hold-open on the VEPR-12 are all significant upgrades. I also got one of the early ones with “folding” stock that was spot-welded. (That weld is removable.)
Originally Posted By Kip4:
Are these more reliable than the USAS12? Why is the USAS 12 an nfa item? Is there a way to check to see if the gas ports were done correctly?
Originally Posted By ODA_564:
Take off the gas tube and stick an endoscope down there?
Yeah that’d be the only way to really check that during an inspection.
Originally Posted By giantpune:
IDK about the USAS12 reliability, my vepr is 100% reliable so far. I cant say if it’s more reliable, but it definitely isn't less.
Owning both, I’ll definitely say the VEPR-12 is more reliable.
Everything about it is better.
Only exception would be the 20rd drum of the USAS-12 is a better drum than the aftermarket 25rd VEPR drums, but the clear polymer rear plate of the USAS drum is prone to aging and cracking around the assembly screws.
Mine is cracked there, but still holding up. The USAS drum cannot accept S&B buckshot because the OAL is too long, but its 10rd stick mags work just fine with them.
Either type of mag is slower to reload into the USAS-12 and it only has a manual bolt hold-open (via the charging handle).
The 8rd Russian stick mags in the VEPR are my preferred option (for if I was employing it as a weapon, anyway). You can still kneel and get into various firing positions with those.
USAS-12 needs 100% hot shells to function reliably, but can still be finicky even with those.
For why the USAS12 is NFA, I think it just got caught up in some administrative BS by whoever was running the ATF at the time. That was in March 1994, right around the time they were pushing the federal AWB. They were on a roll declaring certain shotguns as DDs by name. They decreed that the USAS was too heavy to be sporting, and made it a DD.
The russian ones came in a decade later. By that time, the political climate had changed. And there were clear(er) rules about what could be imported as sporting. The AK shotguns came in as sporters and could then be converted after they were in the country.
Yep that’s basically it. ATF declared the USAS-12, Street Sweeper, and Striker 12 to be DDs all at the same time (and let people register them tax-exempt for about 10 years after that.) I got my USAS-12 very inexpensively because the original owner had never registered it, and was never shooting it because it was hidden.
I’ve got a Street Sweeper too, and they suck as a combat shotgun. Horrible. lol
I’m really not much of a shotgun guy in general, but IMHO the VEPR-12 is the king of high-capacity shotguns.
For LE work I favor something more svelte like my trusty 14” Benelli M1 Entry. (I don’t have an M4 but they’re great. Berettas too.)
I don’t have mag pouches for my VEPR-12 yet.
It would take an extremely specialist kit setup to go “full battle rattle” with one, and honestly I don’t see a good usage case when compared to other, more popular options. (Spetsnaz must’ve had their reasoning though.)