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North Korean "Star" Type 58 AK Mags

  • Thread starter Deleted member 67409
  • Start date
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In all three pictures, the mag on the left is the North Korean Type 58 mag and the mag on the right is one of my Yugo M70 mags.

The T58 mag had a dent in it when I took it out of the package - that's why I took this one out, because the follower wasn't sitting properly at the top of the mag body. I fixed the dent and the follower appears to be properly at the top now. Both of the T58 mags were in some light grease and basically seem very lightly used. My other T58 mag is going to stay wrapped in its package.

I have no evidence as to where these came from, but my suspicion is Albania, where the recent caches of Chinese SKSs are coming from via PSA and Atlantic.

The T58 mags are painted and seem fairly well built, although the M70 mags, which are blued, appear to be slightly heavier and better built. There's a few differences between the mags, like the followers and lugs. But they're otherwise fairly similar.

I'm going to take this T58 mag out this weekend to try in my ZPAP and Beryl 7.62 S M1. I'm probably not going to use this mag much, I mostly wanted these to say I have them.
 
More resources went into those two mags than went into the average Nork laborer's belly. And I'm barely even joking.

It's hard for me to pay a premium for AK mags, but I'll confess that I'll chip in a few extra for a Chinese flatback.
 
More resources went into those two mags than went into the average Nork laborer's belly. And I'm barely even joking.

It's hard for me to pay a premium for AK mags, but I'll confess that I'll chip in a few extra for a Chinese flatback.
I got my two Chinese flatbacks as a "toss in" with an AK I bought FTF. Much better than any Punisher logo dust cover or other "custom" gizmos in most classifieds listed as accessories.
 
Interesting - I usualy only pay a premium for Russian stuff and more -particularly bakes - I always felt that a surplus comm block streel AK mags gets the job done.

However- cool from a collection standpoint. I have been tempted to grab some Finn 7.62 mags for collecting but always found a better use for the dollars.
 
I’ll have to look through my AK mag stash some day. No idea where they were made except the Chinese flatbacks which I have several of. Doubt any of my others are NK but who knows.
 
I’ll have to look through my AK mag stash some day. No idea where they were made except the Chinese flatbacks which I have several of. Doubt any of my others are NK but who knows.
If you post some pictures of any that you are interested in knowing more about, I can probably help. I have a few reference manuals and have dove deep into the English-language knowledge base on AK mags.

As to Mr. Stockwell, nice buy on those T58 mags. I see lots of people asking $150+ for those nowadays, so that price from a reputable dealer is a good deal! Saw one on the AK files recently with two star stamps on the spine go for something like $250.
 
Follow up: the mag I removed the dent from worked fine today with my ZPAP and Beryl 7.62 S M1 (I have to get rid of the 922(r) compliance junk furniture on those). Glad I bought them. Obviously not going to be shooting these North Korean mags a lot, but nice to have.

Who knows, might get a Type 58 parts kit one day.

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