AK mag experts please come in!

[Hwy Htr]

It looks to me that it has a dent on the side. It may be just enough to have pushed in the side to hold up the round going by. If you can mark as close to the affected area as possible then use a dremel tool to get in there and grind it down a little. Then test the rounds in it till it works without a problem. Not a lot of money, just your time.
Good luck.

 

[Terminator03]

It looks to me that it has a dent on the side. It may be just enough to have pushed in the side to hold up the round going by. If you can mark as close to the affected area as possible then use a dremel tool to get in there and grind it down a little. Then test the rounds in it till it works without a problem. Not a lot of money, just your time.
Good luck.View attachment 42787

Thanks. That is my plan. I may try a square file first, and if that doesn't work, I can set up the flexible shaft attachment to get in there with the Dremel. I'm just glad that this time I was able to jamb the round in there so it stayed in place after removing the others, and the spring/follower. Prior to that, I couldn't figure out why, or what was getting stuck.

 

[Terminator03]

Ok, this mag issue is really starting to piss me off, and making me regret moving into this platform altogether. Obviously that one mag I identified as having an obstruction/high area internally that was causing it to not be able to take more than 15-20 rounds. I feel I can resolve that issue with a bit of metal removal in the offending area. So yesterday I finally got a chance to bring the other 3 to test for function in the gun. I was able to run one perfectly which was an old looking one, with worn finish, but had issues with the other 2 that looked nearly new. One functioned perfectly while firing, but when it was empty, I could not release the mag lever at all! It was jammed so tight that I had to use a hammer to lightly tap the lever to break it free! That one I can resolve by removing the sharp edges on the stamped mag release lever, as it seems to be digging in and grabbing the mag with the sharp edge of the lever. The one that really concerns me, though, is another of the newer looking mags. The feed lips don't allow for the round to come up high enough to allow the bolt to strip the round into the chamber. I took the top cover off so I could carefully observe the action while operating the bolt. Here is a picture that shows what the problem is. On the right is the good mag, and on the left is the new looking mag, and you can see how much lower the round sets.

What is the best way to correct this? Should I just bend the lips up a bit? I wish this state wasn't so f@#ked up so I could just buy some decent currently made mags so I didn't have to deal with this old crap from who knows what foreign land!

 

[atilla]

Ok, this mag issue is really starting to piss me off, and making me regret moving into this platform altogether.

when you're ready to give away your shit in a rage--i'll be here.

just squeeze the mag, yeah. it's an AK, that's how you do stuff. grab some vise grips and go nuts.

 

[drgrant]

Ok, this mag issue is really starting to piss me off, and making me regret moving into this platform altogether.
!

Throw it downrange and shoot it, and move on. I would have smashed the ****ing thing with a hammer already and thrown it away.

I wish this state wasn't so f@#ked up so I could just buy some decent currently made mags so I didn't have to deal with this old crap from who knows what foreign land!

Whats with all the drama? Most AK mags pass as preban, and they're ALL OVER THE PLACE. They're pretty much disposable.

-Mike

 

[flintoid]

for the original magazine: look at the magazine. See the striking point on the spine? If you can't see that this magazine was used as a hammer at one point in it's life, then you need better eyes. The spine flattens and the magazine bent, causing a relief bulge where you are having issues with cartridges hanging on the inside. Dremel it out or shoot it at the range with your AK.

for the second one: dremel out the U channel where the bolt grabs rounds. This isn't rocket science. If not? Shoot it at the range and learn how to spend less on AK mags It's an egyptian magazine based on the spot welds (it could also be bulgarian, but it's hard to tell from that one picture, but given it's finish it looks to be egyptian... they don't have any markings on them unless you see "steyr" which means it was stamped for import with those rifles)

and whatever you do- don't modify your AK mag release unless you built the god damned thing. You can modify your $30 magazines with a dremel by taking off material on the bottom of the magazine catch tooth so it isn't as tight of a fit. Or you can dremel out the U notch for the bolt pass through.

But DON'T **** WITH YOUR RIFLE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. This is a quick recipe for disaster- you **** up the mag release lever by removing material where you shouldn't, and then NO magazine works in your rifle, until you remill the trigger guard and lever and re-rivet another lever into there. You don't want to do that, because it's an involved process. So do yourself a favor and modify the magazines, not the rifle. Unless you built the rifle and you built it like a dipshit.



as far as identifying the first mag, it could be romanian judging by the spot welds. Again, I don't see any proofs from the pictures you took.

 

[flintoid]

Whats with all the drama? Most AK mags pass as preban, and they're ALL OVER THE PLACE. They're pretty much disposable.

-Mike

no kidding. And for the election, Apex is selling them for $6.50 a pop if you want to order a 100 unit lot! ****in cheap as shit. And no- they won't sell them to you if you live in MA, so forget about it unless you have the "means" to be creative.

You know that FFLs in MA will order a batch, and then mark them up to $25+ a piece. LOL. I just order my mags from free staters on other forums when they feel like sticking it to Martha. I got a "batch" of them for $5 a piece.

 

[MFP4073]

That one mag you have with the round stuck in it def looks dented. Sounds like you have a plan for repair.

Your mag that does not allow the bullet to come up into the feed lip high enough - check in around the feed lip for slag or other metal burrs that may hold the bullet and / or follower down.

It is hard to know what you have. I have had problems with the Chinese mags in the past. I find the Bulgarian, East German and Yugo mags to work well. I like the Bulgy mags the best. They always run great.

Yugo mags are typically blued with a bolt hold open on the follower. The Bulgy mags work very smoothly and typically have some kind of flat black finish that is slightly textured. Mine had made in Bulgaria labels stuck to them. The Chinese mags had floor plates that said China or Made in China.

Some vendors will tell you the source country for the mags. If you buy more try out some Bulgarian mags.

 

[Terminator03]

when you're ready to give away your shit in a rage--i'll be here.

just squeeze the mag, yeah. it's an AK, that's how you do stuff. grab some vise grips and go nuts.

Ha, I figured someone would come in with that offer pretty quickly!

Throw it downrange and shoot it, and move on. I would have smashed the ****ing thing with a hammer already and thrown it away.



Whats with all the drama? Most AK mags pass as preban, and they're ALL OVER THE PLACE. They're pretty much disposable.

-Mike

Mike, I know they aren't too difficult to come by in most areas, but around my area they don't seem too easy to find (at least in shops). I do plan to pick some up at the gun show this weekend. As for the drama... it's just frustration because I literally just spent $85 on 4 mags, and only 1 actually works at this point so I'm just pissed, and frustrated that's all.

for the original magazine: look at the magazine. See the striking point on the spine? If you can't see that this magazine was used as a hammer at one point in it's life, then you need better eyes. The spine flattens and the magazine bent, causing a relief bulge where you are having issues with cartridges hanging on the inside. Dremel it out or shoot it at the range with your AK.

for the second one: dremel out the U channel where the bolt grabs rounds. This isn't rocket science. If not? Shoot it at the range and learn how to spend less on AK mags It's an egyptian magazine based on the spot welds (it could also be bulgarian, but it's hard to tell from that one picture)

and whatever you do- don't modify your AK mag release unless you built the god damned thing. You can modify your $30 magazines with a dremel by taking off material on the bottom of the magazine catch tooth so it isn't as tight of a fit. Or you can dremel out the U notch for the bolt pass through.

But DON'T **** WITH YOUR RIFLE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. This is a quick recipe for disaster- you **** up the mag lever by removing material where you shouldn't, and then NO magazine works in your rifle. So modify the mags. Unless you built the rifle and you built it like a dipshit.



as far as identifying the first mag, it could be romanian. Again, I don't see any proofs from the pictures you took.

Yeah, I agree on that first mag that that was likely what happened, and I can fix that issue without too much effort (if not, it will make a great target!)

On the second one, I at first thought that I could dremel/file the u-notch, but after carefully watching the bolt while trying to cycle it, it doesn't hit that area. It is that the lips were bent, then welded with too much downward arc when compared to the mags that do feed properly, so it appears that I have to work on the lips a bit to get the rounds to raise higher so the bolt can grab them.

I do understand your caution on the mag release and definitely considered that if I removed too much material it would make other mags sloppy. I wasn't planning on that, just polishing the razor sharp edges a bit with a slight radius to deburr it/not alter the length. I do agree that the mag catch on that mag is where the material actually needs to be removed a bit because all the others release ok, other than that sharp edge dragging on the catch a bit. Don't worry, I'm very careful about material removal on the firearm itself.

I didn't build this particular rifle, but as a competent machinist I can identify many areas that were not deburred at all (such as the magwell itself), and this just causes issues when inserting, or removing the mags - especially the poly type that came with it. That one was getting chewed up from the razor sharp cnc'd magwell.

As for spending too much on the mags, you're right, but I didn't have a lot of options in my particular area (at least that I know of), and just wanted to grab 4 for now to be able to play with the rifle for now as the single 10 round one got old really quick! I will be looking at the gun show this weekend though, so hopefully I can find some better ones, especially now that I know some potential "problem areas" to watch out for.

 

[Terminator03]

That one mag you have with the round stuck in it def looks dented. Sounds like you have a plan for repair.

Your mag that does not allow the bullet to come up into the feed lip high enough - check in around the feed lip for slag or other metal burrs that may hold the bullet and / or follower down.

It is hard to know what you have. I have had problems with the Chinese mags in the past. I find the Bulgarian, East German and Yugo mags to work well. I like the Bulgy mags the best. They always run great.

Yugo mags are typically blued with a bolt hold open on the follower. The Bulgy mags work very smoothly and typically have some kind of flat black finish that is slightly textured. Mine had made in Bulgaria labels stuck to them. The Chinese mags had floor plates that said China or Made in China.

Some vendors will tell you the source country for the mags. If you buy more try out some Bulgarian mags.

Thanks for those tips, I will try to look for those at the show this weekend.

 

[Terminator03]

no kidding. And for the election, Apex is selling them for $6.50 a pop if you want to order a 100 unit lot! ****in cheap as shit. And no- they won't sell them to you if you live in MA, so forget about it unless you have the "means" to be creative.

You know that FFLs in MA will order a batch, and then mark them up to $25+ a piece. LOL. I just order my mags from free staters on other forums when they feel like sticking it to Martha. I got a "batch" of them for $5 a piece.

I will eventually enlist help (use of shipping address) from our relatives up north to purchase some of these cheaper mail order alternatives, this was just a situation of wanting "instant gratification" so I got hosed a bit. I just didn't expect that out of 4, that only 1 would function without issues. Obviously I can resolve most of the problems, but after spending top dollar on these mags, it wasn't what I was expecting to have to deal with that's all.

 

[flintoid]

Ha, I figured someone would come in with that offer pretty quickly!



Mike, I know they aren't too difficult to come by in most areas, but around my area they don't seem too easy to find (at least in shops). I do plan to pick some up at the gun show this weekend. As for the drama... it's just frustration because I literally just spent $85 on 4 mags, and only 1 actually works at this point so I'm just pissed, and frustrated that's all.



Yeah, I agree on that first mag that that was likely what happened, and I can fix that issue without too much effort (if not, it will make a great target!)

On the second one, I at first thought that I could dremel/file the u-notch, but after carefully watching the bolt while trying to cycle it, it doesn't hit that area. It is that the lips were bent, then welded with too much downward arc when compared to the mags that do feed properly, so it appears that I have to work on the lips a bit to get the rounds to raise higher so the bolt can grab them.

I do understand your caution on the mag release and definitely considered that if I removed too much material it would make other mags sloppy. I wasn't planning on that, just polishing the razor sharp edges a bit with a slight radius to deburr it/not alter the length. I do agree that the mag catch on that mag is where the material actually needs to be removed a bit because all the others release ok, other than that sharp edge dragging on the catch a bit. Don't worry, I'm very careful about material removal on the firearm itself.

I didn't build this particular rifle, but as a competent machinist I can identify many areas that were not deburred at all (such as the magwell itself), and this just causes issues when inserting, or removing the mags - especially the poly type that came with it. That one was getting chewed up from the razor sharp cnc'd magwell.

As for spending too much on the mags, you're right, but I didn't have a lot of options in my particular area (at least that I know of), and just wanted to grab 4 for now to be able to play with the rifle for now as the single 10 round one got old really quick! I will be looking at the gun show this weekend though, so hopefully I can find some better ones, especially now that I know some potential "problem areas" to watch out for.

good that you know what you're doing... I was just making sure. I couldn't remember if you were part of the recent build thread or not, but I thought you might have been.

there are reasons why these mags usually are listed only at $15. It's because they aren't all that hot. It's a shame you got so many of them.

 

[gearjunky13]

Fsguns had a hole box of pre ban 30rd AK mags call them up see if they got any

 

[Terminator03]

good that you know what you're doing... I was just making sure. I couldn't remember if you were part of the recent build thread or not, but I thought you might have been.

there are reasons why these mags usually are listed only at $15. It's because they aren't all that hot. It's a shame you got so many of them.

Yeah, I guess I should have expected them to not be perfect, but I definitely drew the short straw on this particular batch with 3, out of 4 being non-functional. I have worked on them a bit since I posted earlier, and was able to fix the one that got stuck, as well as the dented one that was from the original post. On the one with the feed lip issue, I did fix the lips by removing material. After carefully measuring the openings on known functional mags, I determined that the opening was out of spec by close to .100", and after fixing that the rounds sat high enough for the bolt to grab them. I thought that I was in the clear until I started loading rounds, and had another jamb up with the round being too long and binding, so I guess I still have some internal "massaging" to do on that one. I obviously haven't had time to test fire them again yet, but the other 3 at least seem to be feeding properly now and functioning with the rifle. I won't know positively though until I can wring them out at the range again.

Fsguns had a hole box of pre ban 30rd AK mags call them up see if they got any

That's good to know, thanks!