help with magazine, ak74 to .223

[gun addict]

Help

I bought a converted Saiga in .223 today, it's very well done, comes with bullet guide already installed. Problem is that the 2 East German Polymer ak74 mags would not feed. It has .223 followers installed, but which part do i need to grind/dremmel?

Let me know

Thanks

 

[Kurt_D]

You'll need to grind the feed ramps in the mags.

I'd sell the .223 followers, sell the E. German mags and purchase Bulgy circle 10 5.56 mags. Why? Because the rounds will start to bind after 10 rounds and won't reliably cycle more than 20. The circle 10s will hold and feed all 30 rds b/c they were made at the right angle for 5.56.

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

+1 get Circle 10's, Saiga mags, Orlite Galil mags, heck, even look into a an AR mag conversion.

 

[gun addict]

so even after grinidng feed ramp it still won't work?

 

[nalioth]

Don't bother doing anything to the mags.

The curvature of the 5.45x39 mag body doesn't match the shape of the 5.56x45 (.223 Rem) cartridges, and you're not likely to get any reliability out of them with more than 10 rounds - special followers notwithstanding.

You can see the difference in curvature here:

5.56x45/30 • 5.56x45/20 • 7.62x39/30 • 5.45x39/30​

Sell them to someone with an AK74 and buy yourself some actual .223 mags made for AKs (such as the aforementioned Bulgarian waffles).

 

[gun addict]

well they say .223 CAI on the bottom, i believe they're made for SAR-3? I'd love to buy some .223 mags but at $45 per pop

 

[nalioth]

well they say .223 CAI on the bottom, i believe they're made for SAR-3?

Yeah, I can paint "Ferrari" on the side of my chevette, too, but that doesn't make it one. Those are just "special" floorplates that Century had it's monkey's stamp ".223" on installed on a standard unmodified East German AK74 magazine.

These mags are probably the singular reason that the Sar-3/WASR-3 have such a crappy reputation.

It's not the gun at all, it's Century shipping mags for a whole 'nother caliber with them.

I'd love to buy some .223 mags but at $45 per pop

If you're seeing them at $45 a pop, you're looking in the wrong places.

Arsenal just had two big sales where you could have gotten Bulgarian 5.56x45 waffles for $20 each.

30 round SureFire 5.56x45 AK mags don't suck (for US made ones), and they run ~$15 if you look around

Another thing to remember is that once you buy a communist produced military grade (not commercial grade) AK magazine, you've got a magazine for life (unlike AR15 mags, which are thin and dainty, the AK mags are rough-and-tumble), so your cost is a little more justified, imho.

 

[Kurt_D]

K-var sells them for $33 a piece; they just ran 2 sales were they were $20. Look around the EE on ar15.com, etc. You can probably find them for ~$25.

You could probably sell the CAI mags to someone in a ban state (I think they're pre-ban) to recoup the price on the new circle 10s. Acually, CAI doesn't use a special followers they just grind the feed lips a little so they may work in a `74 still. A Roberson follower, if you can find them, are supposed to help them work but I wouldn't dump money into marginal at best mags.

 

[rangerruck]

you can also get surefiremags or promag mags, made for saigas, they will work as well. but the price can vary greatly; I know a dude in Houston, who sells them for 25 bucks a piece, which is stealing, and he is usually at the gunshows.
But the Bulgy mags are generally the most recommended, throughout a wide variety of usages, so either would be a good get; I am not sure how much the bulgies go for , though.

 

[wally]

As usual when it comes to AK stuff Nalioth is correct. AK74 mags are never going to be reliable with .223 the geometry is just wrong. I got an SAR-3 in .223 that came with an AK74 mag I thought I was took, since it didn't work with my Chinese .223 mags either, but then I got some of the Weigers and then it worked great! The AK .223 mags are not world standardized like the AK 47 & AK 74 mags are.

IMHO best bet for a Saiga are Galil mags since you say you have the bullet guide. The Bulgarian circle 10 .223 mags will need some grinding on the trunnion to fit, although they work fine in my SAR3 after I removed a little of the plastic on the top rear so they'd lock in.

--wally.

 

[gun addict]

got it, anyone want 2 AK74 mags?

 

[nalioth]

The Bulgarian circle 10 .223 mags will need some grinding on the trunnion to fit,

Not on a Saiga, wally.

All that's needed on the Saiga (aside from the bullet guide) is the removal of the 'interdiction tab' at the rear of the mag well:



This tab is only found on Saigas, and is designed to keep milsurp/milspec AK mags from fitting. The poly Galils fit w/o rifle mods, because they're not AK mags at all.

 

[Kurt_D]

+1 circle 10 5.56 mags fit a `74 magwell. Very minor fitting, if any (might be a little tight until broken in which is common for poly mags).

The reason I don't recommend Pro-mag, etc is because I've never had luck with "aftermarket" mags. Plus if you're going to pay $25 a pop I'd look for Bulgy mags that you know will last forever.

 

[gun addict]

man the cheapest Bulgy Mag i can find are on J&G and they're $35 plus $10 of shipping

 

[runner6m]

K-VAR. $33 right now, they sometimes run sales on them like the guys above mentioned.
http://www.k-var.com/shop/product.php?productid=16138&cat=248&page=1

 

[gun addict]

aww man, i'm so used to paying $7 for a Steel Rommy/East European mag, this breaks my heart/wallet

 

[nalioth]

aww man, i'm so used to paying $7 for a Steel Rommy/East European mag, this breaks my heart/wallet

It's supply and demand.

The commies didn't produce 900 zillion AK mags in .223, so you'll have to pay a little more for them.

 

[gun addict]

ehh, traded the Saiga for a Polish underfolder this morning, ya for $10 steel mags again