WASR-10 magwell hell_o

[Ad Astra]

It's one of the ones currently flooding the market. Nice piece, no sight cant.

But the mags- the 2 30 rndrs. it came with fit perfect. A little tight, compared to an American rifle in the same class.

A Chinese 5 rndr. fits perfect.

A 30 rndr. of unknown Euro make won't fit.

A said-to-be Romainian 20 almost won't, and has lockup probs.

Should I/Can I take a Dremel tool to the magwell? I know WASR-10's have a converted magwell...It looks a little rough. Are all AK's finicky about the maker of the mag? If I Dremel the magwell, will some fit and not others? Don't want the original Rom. mags to fall out or be loose. I know AK mags are made by half the countries on the planet and will have some variation... the magwell seems tight in the front.

Tried searching this forum on this sub.- didn't work, sorry if this Q. has been addressed. But Dremel-ing a firearm receiver is something I don't do lightly- can't mess it up. Many thanks for any replies...


Ad Astra

 

[MartinS]

I wouldn't do any re-sizing yet, but I would look, and feel, for obvious burrs. Are there scratches or gouges on the tight fitting magazines? Check the top of the magazine catch, smooth?

 

[MTMilitiaman]

Let me guess, the 20 round magazines sometimes fit but the mag release is extremely tight?

My brother and I did Dremel our magwells. Tiny burrs had to be removed from the corners to allow the Bulgarian polymer waffle mags to fit. I just buffered the lock points on the 20 rounders. Ours have fed and functioned with just about everything we have fed them and all the mags we have fit and function perfectly. It takes less than 5 minutes to do. Just be careful not to remove too much material at one time. Dremel for a couple seconds, try the mag, Dremel for a couple more seconds...

 

[MartinS]

http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/wasrwell.htm

Above for an illustrated tutorial on this. That website is very useful.

 

[Ad Astra]

Excellent! and thanks, MartinS.

I got the Rom. 20 rndrs. thinking that "well, the mags it came with were Rom., these must fit" - not so...

Just used to a clean fitting, fast changing mag. AK's are what they are...

File work maybe first- can't put metal back.

Thanks all.


Ad Astra

 

[Steelcore]

20rd'ers are Hungarian unless they are Chicom.Romanians didn't make 20 rd mags.

 

[clange]

Yep, hungarian. I thought they were the same size up top as other 30 rounders but I guess not.

Just file it out a bit where its hitting and permablue the edge when done. You're basically doing what century already did, you might as well get it done right. At least its tight and not loose, you cant fix loose as easily.

Even if you go a little too large, and some mags move around slightly, it wont affect funtion. Even mags that wobble back and forth should still feed fine.

 

[RecoilRob]

My WASR allowed most of my mag collection to lockup easily but a couple refused to go...including one of the mags that came with the gun.

Seeing as most mags fit, it seemed logical to attack the NON-fitting mags rather than the rifle. Careful measurement showed that the mags that didn't fit were more than .020 larger than the ones that did. I squeezed them down to the same size as the others and they fit fine WITHOUT touching the rifle.

You might give this a try.

 

[Ad Astra]

Tx. Clange and RR.

Would rather mess up a magazine than a receiver. Will try first. They ARE cheap these days. There is variation between two of the same.

Didn't know- the 20's were Hungarian - were advertised as Rom. Interesting. There's a lot to learn about AK's. If the mag's all fit like a Mini-14, I'd be completely happy. Some rough edges but a great shooter. Has the Galil style forend and the T-6 stock.

Just put a buffertech recoil buffer in there. I'm a fan of these after fixing a Marlin Camp Carbine in .45. uh, no thread drift intended, but any new auto rifle gets one, in my family.

 

[clange]

My SAR takes every mag I put in it, including the bulgarian waffle mags (which I think are the thickest, at least when new). The expense of this is smaller metal mags move slightly from side to side. Your WASR isnt tight because it was made that way, its tight because of a poor conversion.

When WASRs get here they take a single stack mag, century then opens up the magwell somewhat like this. You're just continuing CAIs work, not really modifying the gun from a 'new' state. Its already been filed and cut. You can either modify mags that wont fit, or fix the gun to take every mag you may ever run into. Most like the second option since the reliability of the AK is a main selling point in the first place and they want everything to work in it. If you open it up slightly the smaller mags may move slightly from side to side, but they'll still work fine.

Basically you just need to decide if you want tight mags at the expense of modding certain new mags you get later, or the ability to have the rifle take every mag made at the expense of some fitting slightly loose.

 

[444]

If I was you, I would find a good magazine that fits in the gun and buy a dozen or two of that magazine.
Or, find a magazine that you like, make the rifle fit that magazine and buy a dozen or two of that magazine.

You should consider yourself lucky that yours is tight. I wouldn't want to make it any looser. I wouldn't care it it could take every AK mag under the sun: just taking my own is good enough. I have one that is loose as a goose. The mag rattles around and makes all kinds of noise.

 

[clange]

Yeah, for awhile century was turning them out pretty loose, but lately they've been tight if anything. Tight is better though like you said, easier to fix.