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How to double mag capacity

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RyanM

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At least in a 5-round Norinco AK-47 mag. After all, the thing's the length of a 5-round single stack mag, so double stack should hold 10, right? It's about 1/3rd the length of a 30 round mag, so it should still hold 10, right?

One of these:

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Basically, you just take it apart like a normal AK mag, then cut the follower about here:

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The easiest way to figure out precisely where to cut is to put the follower in with finger pressure only, and load eleven rounds. You then want to cut the follower so that it's flush with the bottom, like so:

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That way, when the floorplate is on, you basically end up with enough room for 10 and a half rounds. Enough space to squeeze the last round in, and to seat the mag on a closed bolt.

File it up, round the corners a bit so it doesn't hang in the mag body, and you're done. I decided to add a witness hole, however, since I have trouble counting to 10 if I'm holding something (like the magazine, while loading it) in one hand.

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A bit of cold blue, and it's done. You've got a 10 round magazine, when you only paid for 5!
 

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Dang I was hoping I could make my 30 rounders into 60 rounders :p

Good job, does it feed as reliable as stock? No follower binding or hangups?
 
Haven't had the chance to do anything more difficult than dry cycling by hand, with a pencil. The rounds pop up quickly and positively. I'm betting it'll work, but we'll find out for sure this weekend.
 
Makes sense. The 5-rounders probably use milspec followers made for 30-round magazines, meaning the wings on the follower that prevent the spring from being overly compressed are much longer in a 5-rounder than they really have to be. So cut it shorter to be proportional to the shorter mag, and you have a 10-rounder.

I'd be leery of cutting the wings off a 30-rounder, though (the follower wings are right-sized for a 30-round magazine).
 
I'd be leery of cutting the wings off a 30-rounder, though (the follower wings are right-sized for a 30-round magazine).
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Yep. That definitely would not be a very good idea. This is something that should only be done on a Norinco or similar 5-round mag. In fact, there used to be aftermarket followers available that are basically what I made, but I haven't seen 'em in a long time.

I spent a while figuring out the best length for the "wings," first by compressing the spring as far as I could, and penciling a line where it ended up. Then I put the follower in without the spring, loaded rounds, and found it ended up flush with the end when 6 were loaded. So I loaded 11, drew another line, and that was further down on the follower than the maximum spring compression line (but trying to make an 11 round magazine would have been too much), so that's where I cut.
 
yup, did the same about a year ago with 2, 5rd mags I had after I sat them right next to 2, 10rd ones, and the light went on as I noticed they are the exact same dimensions...:scrutiny:

took them apart, trimmed, and viola, 10rds! I had no use for 5rd ones anyway, as I use them in my sks-m, and dont hunt with it, so....
 
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