A few AK questions

[Strakele]

Hey guys,

I just picked up a WASR-10 Romanian AK clone with a couple mags and all the goodies. Made sure there weren't any of the common problems with it. I have a couple questions though.

Who makes the best mags and where do you get them? I want standard looking 30 round mags. Does any American company produce them or can you only get surplus mags? I've seen all the polymer waffle mags but I'd much prefer the standard looking steel ones. I specifically bought an original looking rifle with wood furniture, so I want original looking mags.

I haven't gotten to fire the rifle yet, but I have loaded the mags and chambered a few rounds to make sure everything works right. I bought some basic Wolf hollow point ammo. Upon ejecting the round, the tip of the hollow point is moderately dented and scraped from the edge of the chamber as the bolt forces it from the mag into the chamber. Should this be happening? Is it just part of the design? I would think that could slightly affect accuracy if the bullet isn't symmetrical. I know the AK isn't designed to be a precision weapon, but still...

Anything else I should know about the AK platform?

 

[saigafreake]

Stick with steel surplus and bulgarian waffle mags best there is.

 

[briansmithwins]

The mags from 44mag.com are very good. http://www.44mag.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AK30GB

Stay way away from any American made AK mags, there just aren't any that are worth it. The only plastic mags that are any good are the Bulgarian waffle pattern mags as those have steel reinforcement molded in.

Shoot the rifle and see how it groups. I expect that the minor bullet damage isn't going to degrade accuracy in any noticeable way. BSW

 

[briansmithwins]

doublepost

BSW

 

[ByAnyMeans]

I wouldn't worry about the mark on the rounds, mine does the same on hp until i polished the bullet guide down a little. It didn't hurt accuracy though so don't worry.

As said steel mags are best.

 

[Kymasabe]

30 rounders can be a bit long for some shooters. I've had great luck with 20 round "tanker" mags.
Keep in mind, if you're trying to stay 922 compliant and need an extra USA part, DPH Arms has US stamped mag base plates which count as one extra US part.

 

[cuervo]

WASRs are coming packaged with foreign magazines, so hopefully don't need any more US parts to be compliant.

Classic Arms is still advertising they have Romanian and Bulgarian magazines, but look around and you might still find some for a little less.
http://www.classicarms.us/

 

[Mike U.]

I have mags from several former Eastern Bloc countries. Some have rust and all are obviously used, but, they all function with no problems. All are steel too. Buy whats available and be happy after thoroughly testing them by burning ammo.


BTW, I've read almost nothing but bad news about American made AK mags on several AK forums. Just an FYI for thought.

 

[chris in va]

Cope's Distributing has a variety of AK mags. I personally prefer the 20rd version...more compact.

 

[nalioth]

[quote='Mike U."]BTW, I've read almost nothing but bad news about American made AK mags on several AK forums. Just an FYI for thought.[/quote] Pro-Mags suck.

Master Molder and Surefire mags work great, but some folks don't like that they're plastic (these mags are not "bad news", you just can't do pushups with them).

 

[Strakele]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll stick with the basic surplus mags.

About the bullet deformation thing, ByAnyMeans, where exactly did you polish to help the rounds feed smoother? There's no real 'feed ramp' on mine... the round is forced directly from the mag into the chamber without anything but the hard edge of the chamber to help guide it up and in to the correct position. I'd be afraid to round off that edge because I think it's part of the chamber and that would present an unequal force on the bolt and maybe let gas escape the wrong way. I'll post pictures if that would be more helpful.

Anyway, I'm going to shoot the rifle today to see how it performs.

EDIT:

Ok, just shot it. Using the mag that I had a bad feeling about, the gun jammed nearly every shot. Bullets would get stuck halfway in the mag at an upward angle as they tried to enter the chamber. I quit after 5 rounds. The other mag that the gun came with jammed 2 or 3 times in 30 rounds. I'm going to do some filing on both mags to see if I can get them to feed smoother. Is there anything else I should do?

 

[cuervo]

Is there anything else I should do?

How easily do the followers move up and down? You could have dirty magazines that are causing the followers to bind. You can remove the floor plate and pull the springs and followers out and flush out the magazines if you have to.

Wolff has magazine springs if yours are bent or worn out, but you may still be better off finding some new magazines anyway.
http://www.gunsprings.com/RifleShotgun/AK47_RsNF.html

 

[Kymasabe]

If you like 30 rounders, there are some brand new, wrapped in plastic, coated in grease, Bulgarian mags for sale here and there.

 

[Mike U.]

Sounds good to me, Nalioth.
It's also good to know there is a reliable domestic source for good AK mags in case the imports dry up completely.

 

[collateral]

I use Yugoslavian surplus and bulgarian polymer mags in my M70AB2 and have no problems whatsoever.

In my polish tantal I use surplus russian polymer mags.

The only bad mags (that were in new condition) Ive ever really encountered were from promag. They would fail to feed about every 2 rounds.

 

[Strakele]

I did take apart the mags and clean them before I shot the gun. They were pretty dirty. After shooting and encountering the problems, I did quite a bit of filing and a bit of hammering to the mags. I only had 30 rounds left at that point, but had no jams with either mag after that. I'll hopefully be able to pick up some more today to make sure the gun still feeds perfectly with a full mag load of spring compression.

Should I ever lubricate the piston or tube that it runs in?

 

[Kino74]

Just keep it clean.