Shopping for AK mags

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The best retail deal on AK mags at the moment is AIM Surplus, who has surplus Romanian 30-rounders for $8-$10 (depending on quantity). I bought some and am totally happy with the condition. They also have unissued 40-rounders for $13-$15, is you want some of those.
 
Hoppy590,

I recently bought 6 of the Bulgy "bullet" magazines to try out. They do have metal reinforced feed lips but lack the reinforced lugs.

I shot many rounds thru them out of my several AKs with no problems. I will warn you if you have a WASR chances are they are NOT going to fit. The profile for the magazine cut on these rifles do not allow the Bulgy magazines to fit into the mag well, its not even close. I have 3 WASRs, none would accept these magazines. The other 5 AKs I have (all non-WASRs) accepted them just fine.

My only issue is with the lack of metal reinforced lugs.....for that reason I bought some to supplement my already established metal magazine stockpile. I wouldnt buy ONLY these magazines due to possible durability issues, however if you have some good metal mags already.......I would buy them in a heartbeat.
 
Thanks Hoppy.

So what kind of shape are those mags you mentioned Ian?

I guess what I am asking is, should I buy 10 or so of those, but also a good amount of brand new ones still in vacuum sealed packages for safe keeping(ie, who knows what kind of bans we will have in the years to come) or would I be alright getting a "train cart full" of the used ones and just keep them in cosmo?
 
Bulgy waffle mags are regarded very highly and have metal reinforements.I bought these for my wasr and what little wobble I had went away.These mags are more expensive than the surplus steel but they work like a champ.
 
The best retail deal on AK mags at the moment is AIM Surplus, who has surplus Romanian 30-rounders for $8-$10 (depending on quantity). I bought some and am totally happy with the condition. They also have unissued 40-rounders for $13-$15, is you want some of those.

I split an order of 20 of them with a buddy of mine, and they're in good shape. Most of them looked new, and only a couple had worn finish. I was really happy with them, and would buy again.
 
Bazooka Joe71 said:

Thanks Hoppy.

So what kind of shape are those mags you mentioned Ian?

I guess what I am asking is, should I buy 10 or so of those, but also a good amount of brand new ones still in vacuum sealed packages for safe keeping(ie, who knows what kind of bans we will have in the years to come) or would I be alright getting a "train cart full" of the used ones and just keep them in cosmo?

AKs are not mag sensitive. You can smack an AK mag freshly dug from a farmers field in the Ukraine in your gun and fire away without issue. I have tons of used AK magazine, some with rusty followers and mag bodies - heck I have a couple where the followers were rusted tight in the magazine, I had to beat them loose with a hammer. I have had ZERO failures in any of my AKs.

All I ever do is take the mags apart, clean them up and dremel the flaky rust off......lube them lightly and put them back together. Alot of people will paint them with barbeque grill paint when there done, mainly so they look better but also to cover and bare metal after sanding/dremeling the rust. Its certainly a cheap way to "freshen" the mags up.

The only demise of AK magazines are dented mag bodies.....even then most of them time you can pop the dent out and go shooting.

New isnt as important as quantity......give me the train load of used over a handful of new ANYDAY.

Also no need to leave them in cosmo. After cleaning I wiped them down with a little RemOil and stick them away in a box - had boxes of them laying around for 5 years or so with no change in condition.
 
For those that have the Bulgarian "bullet" mags, they are fine for range use but don't ever take a real high-volume class with them as they will break at the mag lips (below the steel) or in the middle of the mag body.
 
I am a firm believer in milsurp steel mags (used is fine) for the AK platform. They are not fragile at all, unlike mini-14 and AR magazines.

The only downside is that steel AK mags are heavy.

Because of the weight, I really like the 20-round Hungarian tank-crew magazines for most uses, though I own a few 30's as well.

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I've used 20 and 30 round mags that I bought from Sportsmans Guide with no problems but Copes has some good prices right now. I may go through them to get a Tapco stock from my SKS along with some more 20 rounders for my AR.

jpwilly, what kind of scope is that on your AK? Is it a red dot and if so what brand? I'm about to try out a Barska 2 x 30, True Glo is the only other maker I have seen that offers a 2X red dot and none were in stock when I placed my order.
 
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