Project AK Mag Rescue

[Miggy]

Disclaimer: Yes, It might been cheaper to buy them already in good shape, but I did it for fun.

Centerfire Systems has a sale on rusty & dinged AK mags. I bought 10 in two batches ( 6 & 4) and recovered without much work 7 of them. The other three will need minor metal work. Here you will see the work I did on the second batch.





This is the condition they arrived. And you are looking at the good side.




And a close up.



Scary ain't it?

First I took them apart and shook them well to get any debris out, there was some but not much. The springs were amazingly in great shape with maybe a hint of rust in one of them. The rest of the parts were in various grads of "rustiness."




The followers were in a sorry state as you can see.

I started with a dremmel-type tool grinding away the thickest of the rust. I switched to a sandpaper bit (80) and then to a wire brush tip.







With most of the rust removed from the body of the mag, I took on the followers next with a thin grinding tip that IIRC it is used to file chainsaws. I used the tip also in the inside of the mag bodies.





(Next Post Please)

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Miggy]

And here is the lot ready for the next step.


NAVAL JELLY IS YOUR FRIEND


If you have not used Naval Jelly, please wear thick rubber gloves and face protection at least! That thing hurts when it touches your skin.
Follow the instructions in the jar and it will remove almost all the leftover rust that cannot be reached by brute force.


I could not get pictures of the mags marinating in Naval Jelly, but suffice to say not only removed the rust but the paint, so be careful.

After the Naval Jelly was washed away and the mag & parts were allowed to dry, I proceeded to paint them with regular spray paint.


After the paint was dry, a generous application of oil in the inside of the magazines and springs and reassemble.



One magazine out of this batch has a small dent right in the middle of one of the walls. It does not let the follower move freely so I am going to have to fix it but it shouldn't be a trouble. The other three mags are operational.

It was a fun project and it made me realize how strong the AK mags are built.

[B52]

Good job, I think I am going to do the same thing you did. I was thinking about cold-blueing the Mags after the rust is removed. I am glad to see you were able to restore them. I was worried if the springs and followers would be in working order. Have you tested them?

[Miggy]

Yes and they work fine. I was initially more worried about the springs than anything but amazingly all of them were almost perfect.

Three of the mags had body trouble. The one I mentioned with a small dent and the other two had rust creep in between the mag lips and the body so they have a comb of sorts also impeding the follower to go all the way up.

My guess is that this mags were left in a wet basement somewhere and nobody wanted to spend the time and money to fix them.

[mech1369dlw]

Those mags looked just like their "protective rust coating" that was on the last batch of G kits they sold about 2 months ago. Look pretty good considering what you started with.

[QKShooter]

Suggestion.
Buy a bottle of Muriatic Acid (Also Known As Hydrochloric) - Hardware Store item.
Used as a concrete etcher and brick cleaning acid.

This is BEST done OUTDOORS.

Wear eye protection just in case you splash.

Pop all of your rusty parts into the acid and just let them stay in there for awhile. Use a Stainless steel - glass - or plastic container. Rubbermaid should work OK.

Use rubber gloves and remove the parts.
Rinse them with the hose or in a bucket of water.

Dry the parts

The acid will remove all of the rust (even out of the pits - and also the original black oxide finish or blue.

Buy a wire brush wheel and a mandrel...put that on an old washing machine motor or similar type motor.

Then just wire brush them.
If there are any remaining traces of rust...pop them back into the acid for a few minutes then repeat.

They will be like brushed new bare metal but, will rust again quickly unless you coat them right away.
You can Duracoat them on the exterior the floor plares and the followers and then Break Free the interiors.

You should never acid bath springs. They will break when you try to use them.
You should replace those anyway if they show any sign of rust.

I am a FIRM believer in letting the acid do all of the rust removal on metal parts for me.

When you are all done you can neutralize the acid by dumping a few boxes of baking soda into it (it will FOAM UP like crazy) and then just dump it down the drain or into the sewer.

[wht06rado]

Interesting read. That's for sharing, they look good now!

Wht