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Recommend AK mags

4K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  Chuck808 
#1 ·
Looking to purchase some more AK mags. What AK mags do you use and what have you had good/bad service with? Are the newer poly-mags any good? Specifically, I looking at some Korean made steel mags. I know, I'm... frugal.
 
#3 ·
The better question is what ak or sks do you have ?

I ask cause cause some mags just dont work with some AK... I have a bunch of ak mags from chia/poland/romian/Russian and so on and some guns just dont work with some mags ... The issue is most AK now are de sported rifles where someone took a dremial to the magwell so it will take AK mags over 10 rounds ...


That said for the money Tapco mags are decent and lightwight and I have found that they seem to be made for de sported Aks ... Some of the orginal pre import ban aks and sks dont work as well with them..


Some of the best AK mags if you ask me are the Circle 10 bulgrian but they are pricty and are made for pre importan ban or well converted Aks... Persoanl I like the bakerlight AK mags but they too are very pricy..


IMOP for the money buy a bunch of Romiain AK mags .. Basic and they seem to work in most AK/sks out there and are about 10 bucks or so a pop if you look around (Seen 10 for a 100 deals )... Imop korean mags are ok but like the other Bulgrian non circle 10s they are no mil mags they are commerical mags ...


So if your trying to be cheep buy Tapcos if you want light weight or if you want rock soild mags get most any surplus Mags Rominan etc ...
 
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#4 ·
Just to add some of the mil mags will have cosmoline on them .. Simply green and a dryer brush are great for that ( I let them sit outside in the hot sun for a while then soaked and scrub with gloves on ) then oil .... But usually they are not that bad
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
Also shoul be notted that VZ58 mags are not AK mags though they look like it ..

And if we are talking a 223/5.45 etc AK then again differnt mags and more limted and pricy in options

And also if we are talking a saige that is not converted same issues





So for the money buy most any surplus mag from a country that was a user of the AK and you should be ok ... China and russian mags are great but harder to find ... E german are great and Romianin etc will work great and yugo mags as well..
 
#9 ·
I have owned AK variant rifles since the 80's and I can tell you that I stick with surplus steel mags... period. I prefer the chinese with 3 witness holes and chrome followers but any [real] steel surplus mag will do. There are simply to many available for cheap to ever really consider the aftermarket. I will make an exception for MAGPUL due to their outstanding reputation. I however do not have any plans to buy any of their AK mags but have been very pleased with their AR mags and have read good reviews of their AK mags.
 
#11 ·
For the 7.62x39 I prefer the Chinese mags but any European surplus steel mag is fine. ALL of the plastic mags other than the Circle 10's (expensive) are junk! If you are serious, get the steel surplus mags, excepting for the Korean steel junk. The spotwelds break on them, weak springs, etc.. Been playing with AK's for 50 years!
 
#13 ·
Steel surplus always seem to work. Bulgarian Circle 10 and Russian Bakelites are great for serious work if you can find them. The Yugo mags with the bolt hold open do work however they only lock the bolt back while the mag is in. As soon as you remove it the bolt goes forward so you still have to run the bolt when you put a new mag in however it does give you a visual reference that the gun is empty.

I have not had a chance to use the new magpul's yet. Tapco's either work or they don't there seems to be no middle ground with them.
 
#16 ·
The Korean steel mags are fantastic. I used some steel wool or 1,000 grit wet/dry paper (can't remember which) to polish up the finish where the mag inserts into the rifle. The parkerizing, or whatever it is, was a bit sticky during reloads. They are like butter now.
 
#20 ·
I'm running Serbian BHO mags, Bulgarian ((10)), & Russian bakelite these days. No problems out of my VEPR with fit or function. You can buy brand new Serb mags for around $19 apiece, and Aim currently has Russian bakelite mags for $30. Now the circle 10's are usually around $40-$45 apiece, but I think they'll go down once magpul releases their gen 2 ak mags with steel reinforcements and they've got some real competition in the polymer mag market.
 
#22 ·
The baker mags are very nice ... Circle 10 can be iffy unless I am wrong with some AK as they were made for mil spec guns not some of the single to double stack guns out there ..

And yeah the lack of steel in the magpul mags is a bummeer
 
#23 ·
I have quite a few of the US Palm AK30s and they work great, but if you don't get a deal (I got a bunch for $18 each when steel ones were going for $12-$15 each) they are running $25-$30 each, and that is ridiculous. I only had one of their mags that didn't work right with my rifle (Rifle Dynamics build, so it definitely isn't a monkey with a dremel!) and when I contacted them about it, they had me send it back and replaced it with TWO new ones for free, even though the guy said it worked fine in his AK.

My other favorites are the Hungarian 20s, but they are darn near unavailable now. I bought three back when they were just as available and cheap as 30s, but now you can only find them on a few sites and they are close to $30. Why, I have zero idea.

I'm sure any decent surplus mag will be fine in your rifle. The AK generally is not too picky.
 
#24 ·
I would guess that since the hungirans sepical bulit the 20 rounder for the amd rifles and only they made them that there is a lot less out there then the old banana mags .. Combine that with the pop of them for ak handguns
 
#25 ·
I have been picking up used 30-rd AK mags, $110/10, from Apex Gun Parts.

https://www.apexgunparts.com/product_info.php/cPath/50/products_id/4195

Mainly Romanian, I take them apart, clean them up, check for function. All that I have bought from them are in used, but good to very good shape. Would recommend that you steer clear of Classic Firearms used AK mags, rusty, beat-up. Out of ten that I purchased form Classic Firearms, 3 were nonfunctional, no returns, "sold as is" deal.

YMMV.
 
#26 ·
I have a plain old WASR and Ive used the regular steel 30rd mags it came with, and also bought some polymer 40rd mags. Ive shot maybe 5 mags worth of the polymer mags, and about 1500-2000 rounds through the steel mags, and so far, both have been 100%.

The fitment of the steel mags is MUCH better. The polymer mags are tight, and are much less forgiving when inserting the mag. The steel mags pop in securely, but rattle, shake, and wobble like a you know what, but at least they go in easily. Main difference is weight. A fully loaded 40rd polymer mag weighs the same (at least just holding one in each hand, I cant feel much if any difference) as a fully loaded 30rd steel mag.

Personally, next time I buy mags, Im probably going to go with the 10/$110 deal for the steel mags that was posted. Hard to beat the fitment of the steel mags. Everything else on my gun is loose as a goose, so why not the mag fitment, too? Seems to work well.
 
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