The Saiga in imported form is set up to completely follow the ATF's rules on being a sporterized gun, even going as far as not having a pistol grip (even though they could add one and still follow the rules). These guidelines only cover imported guns - anything built in America can ignore all that garbage. Once they are here is when they get modified in ways that would go against that rules, but so long as there are enough American made parts on it, everything is fine.
Now then, I've read that the Izhmash plant that produces Saiga firearms is shutting down for one reason or another and they are having issues tooling a different factory to resume. My question is - what percentage of Saigas produced end up in America anyway? Why not start making them here and just skip all the stupid laws, so that they can be built "fun" from the beginning? My next question is what are the copyrights on them? I believe the AK design was NOT copyrighted on purpose, so there should be no issue for an American company to design and produce their own AK pattern weapons, including shotguns. Seems like it would be a super easy way to start a company that could go FAR, considering the political climate and the desire for "evil black guns" along with the sheer amount of fun that can be had with a semi auto 12 gauge. Government sales alone could be huge if marketed right.