Okiegunner
Member
I have a small collection of AK rifles from different countries. To be honest I have always been kind of a magazine snob. For the main part I had always owned Circle 10s and Russian Bakelites. A while back I bought some Hungarian surplus all steel spine-backs. Wow! Fantastic magazines.
Recently, because of my good fortune with the Hungarians, I purchased some East German and Romanian magazines (along with some Bulgarian polymer slabsides, commercial I think). To look at these steel mags, they all look the same. To be honest, they all "look" the same. I sort of wondered if I had been had and they all came from the same place. Not so...
The firearms I used to try them out on were an Arsenal SAM7-A1R and a SAM7K. Both milled and Bulgarian. I tried three each of the various magazines.
The Hungarians were outstanding. They went into the magwell with ease, zero forward or side to side wobble. These mags were rated good to very good.
The Romanians (two of the three did look a little rougher, they were rated fair to good). All had a very slight side to side wobble but the vertical locked up tight.
The East Germans (I was excited to get these and really expected something exceptional). Two of the three magazines would not fit into the magwell of either firearm. I tried everything I could think of, they just would not go. The other magazine went in very tightly, however once in it had the ever so slight side to side wobble (in a milled magwell).
Let me say. All of the magazines that fit were loaded with 30 rounds and all 30 rounds fired with zero malfunctions.
For the $$ the Romanians are hard to beat. They seem to be less expensive. For everything else, the Hungarian mags are really, really hard to beat. The one East German magazine that I could get to go worked very well...however it was the most expensive.
Anyhow...just my experiences and observations, thought you guys might want to know. I would post some pics of the mags but figured you would know what steel spine-backs looked like, so no need. Curious about your experiences with these...
Recently, because of my good fortune with the Hungarians, I purchased some East German and Romanian magazines (along with some Bulgarian polymer slabsides, commercial I think). To look at these steel mags, they all look the same. To be honest, they all "look" the same. I sort of wondered if I had been had and they all came from the same place. Not so...
The firearms I used to try them out on were an Arsenal SAM7-A1R and a SAM7K. Both milled and Bulgarian. I tried three each of the various magazines.
The Hungarians were outstanding. They went into the magwell with ease, zero forward or side to side wobble. These mags were rated good to very good.
The Romanians (two of the three did look a little rougher, they were rated fair to good). All had a very slight side to side wobble but the vertical locked up tight.
The East Germans (I was excited to get these and really expected something exceptional). Two of the three magazines would not fit into the magwell of either firearm. I tried everything I could think of, they just would not go. The other magazine went in very tightly, however once in it had the ever so slight side to side wobble (in a milled magwell).
Let me say. All of the magazines that fit were loaded with 30 rounds and all 30 rounds fired with zero malfunctions.
For the $$ the Romanians are hard to beat. They seem to be less expensive. For everything else, the Hungarian mags are really, really hard to beat. The one East German magazine that I could get to go worked very well...however it was the most expensive.
Anyhow...just my experiences and observations, thought you guys might want to know. I would post some pics of the mags but figured you would know what steel spine-backs looked like, so no need. Curious about your experiences with these...
