Opinions on different AK magazines?

the polymer-blend waffles are considered the best, but they are expensive.

The Hungarian steel ones (ones you find on AIM and Cope's) are awesome. The finish will suck and rub off like it will on any AK gun or mag, but they are sturdy and will last a very, very long time. And the best part? You can get five of them for the price of two of the Bulgy waffle mags.

plus, the steel one doubles as a sophisticated hand-thrown projectile or boomerang should you be out of range to club your opponent with your AK

RP88 the polymer-blend waffles are considered the best, but they are expensive.

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Excellent mags, well worth the investment.
I also like Chinese steel mags.

Any military surplus magazine is fine, be it 20, 30 or 40 round capacity. These include the Bulgarian milspec waffle mags referred to above.

Avoid the bulgarian 'bullet mags', as they are not milspec, and don't have the reinforcements of a military mag.

These are 'bullet mags' (for obvious reasons) >

Also do your research on US made polymer mags. One particular manufacturer of them has a reputation lower than a snake's belly.

Bulgarian 30rd waffle mags

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I can see cracks in the feed lips of my only mag of this build. The mag is brand new, with the rifle being only a few weeks old. I can't see the cracks until the mag is loaded, and I can't tell if they are terminal, or just aesthetic, but I am dissappointed.

The Thermold nylon mags can NOT be left loaded for any amount of time, another dissappointment.

I like my metal mags right now.

I bought a couple of the waffle mags with my new AK a few weeks ago. They suck! They are clumsy to load and don't drop out of the magwell reliably when I try to speed load. My bolt also sticks on them occasionally during feeding. This is a high-quality Arsenal AK, too.

She runs steel mags like a champ. That's all I will feed her from now on.

My rule of thumb is to stick to eastern-bloc steel mags. Never had any issues with my mags (although I don't know where any of mine are from).

maddog1775
I bought a couple of the waffle mags with my new AK a few weeks ago. They suck! They are clumsy to load and don't drop out of the magwell reliably when I try to speed load. My bolt also sticks on them occasionally during feeding. This is a high-quality Arsenal AK, too.

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Maddog are your mags the Belgian mil-spec mags, or the promag copies?

*Pulls one out to check*

Only mark on them is a little "10" near the bottom in a little bull's eye. So... not sure.

Belgian waffles versus Bulgarian waffles... you have to be really careful which you feed to your AK and which you have for breakfast!

Circle 10's are Bulgarian waffles. Ordinarily excellent magazines. I own what El Guapo would call a "plethora" of them and none have a problem with cracks as I understand your description of them. All function flawlessly. I will say the molding in some areas is rough. At any rate the feed lips are steel reinforced as is the locking tab on back.

I've had the best luck with the 20-round Hungarian "tanker" mags. They seem to have less wobble than other mags and every one I've had has been 100% reliable. I usually scrub them real well before using them for the first time, lube them up with a dry lube and that's it. They run forever.
I've never had much luck with poly mags of any manufacturer.

The "circle 10" Bulgarian polymer waffle mags are widely considered among the very best AK mags out there, this is probably the first bad review I've ever read about them. I have several, they've been great, and I'd get more in a second if I stumbled on a deal on them.

FYI, my bulgy 'waffle' mag says PMag on it.

Wind-up 75rd drums vs top loading 75rd drums

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The benefit of the wind-up mags is they can be stored loaded with no tension on the spring untill you are ready to use them.

I only use the standard steel mags, I was able to find a few Romanian steel mags for my WASR-10. Romanian mags for my Romanian gun.

I always only bought the standard eastern European steel mags. I guess I just always figured they work, and have worked for 50 years so why bother with anything else.

I will say I just got 6 of the Bulgarian waffle mags in a rifle trade and I'm pretty impressed. They seem to be of very high quality... but I'm still sticking with my basic steel mags.

anymanusa said:

FYI, my bulgy 'waffle' mag says PMag on it.

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Then it's not a Bulgarian waffle mag.

It is a dreaded Pro-Mag.

Good for malfunction drills, though

I do like the 20rd Hungarian mags the best just because they are handier than my 30 rounders. That being said I do prefer the metal mags to plastic because they aren't quite as "sticky" in the magwell when loading or reloading. In full disclosure I have used steel Chinese, Russian, Hungarian, 75rd Romanian, and plastic Bulgarian. I have never had a failure in either of my Vectors with any of them.

Then it's not a Bulgarian waffle mag.

It is a dreaded Pro-Mag.

Good for malfunction drills, though

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The rifle was advertised as coming with a 'bulgy waffle mag'.

Oh well.

Funny to read through this thread and see the evolution of certainty in a thing only to watch that certainty evaporate over the course of the thread.

I also only use the Bulgarian "circle 10" Arsenal waffle magazines. I initially had some sticking issues in my Lancaster but those went away with a little filing of the magwell (done because I only plan to shoot these particular magazines, and very little needed to be taken off anyway) and actually getting out and running the rifle and magazines to break in the top portion of the magazines.

They have gotten stupid expensive though. I have 10, and want 10 more, but am unsure if I want to shell out the $250 that 10 more would cost me.