AK-74 magazine question

[classcpl]

I just received my AK74 from Atlantic firearms yesterday. Its my first AK type rifle. Shot it, loved it, I'm sold. I do have a question regarding the magazines though. The rifle has the plum furniture and came with two magazines in addition to the four extras I ordered. I was initially disappointed to see that only one of the magazines was plum and the others were all black. Upon closer inspection Ive found that 4 out of five are actually plum that has been painted black.

My question is this: How can I remove the black paint without damaging the plastic underneath?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[nalioth]

Those are original that way.

They're painted black at the Russian factories (the Russians were trying for "black", not "plum"). The formulation they used brought the plum color to hundreds of thousands of mag.

IMHO, you should leave'em the way they are.

 

[briansmithwins]

Not a lot will touch cured bakelite. I suspect lacquer thinner or paint stripper will take the pain off without harming the plastic.

I'd probably strip the paint myself. Plum is a cool color. BSW

 

[nathan]

LEave it as is . Better that way.

 

[classcpl]

Paint is flaking off some of the magazines and plum IS cool. Id rather just get it off now AND color coordinate....lol. Would Rubbing Alcohol (91%) do the job?

 

[briansmithwins]

Maybe. try a little and see what happens.

BSW

 

[classcpl]

I'll try that, thanks.

Btw, Nalioth, thanks for the info regarding the "plum" color furniture. I always wondered why the Russians would use such an odd coloring for a service weapon.

 

[briansmithwins]

The explanation I've seen is that they were trying for black but the dye they used weakened the plastic. They added less dye which came out as plum.

BSW

 

[X-Rap]

Strong solvents beyond paint/lacquer thinner or alcohol might destry the magazine. Paint remover I wouldn't try unless the base was metal.

 

[classcpl]

Well I decided to tackle the job with a bottle of Goo Gone Extreme. Took a little doing, but the end result was very satisfactory. It doesn't appear to have damaged the plastic either. Whatever the original paint/primer combo was used was pretty tough. I now have two "show" magazines. I will probably eventually strip the others ....but not anytime soon.

 

[zoom6zoom]

Several users on the ak forum have reported that "citrastrip" removed the paint just fine and they looked great.

 

[classcpl]

Update: after reading around a bit I tried the Citristrip. GREAT STUFF! Was vey fast and thorough without he foul smell. Anyone who needs to strip an ak mag....this is the stuff.