old vs. new AK mags

I have some old AK magazines. Some even have rust on them, and most if not all are made in China. But I have never had a singel problem with any of them.

I use to have some brand new SKS mags(30 rd), and they sucked. If you put 24 rounds in them , they wouldnt feed. So what Im getting at is I wanted to know if new AK mags are the same way. I was going to buy one, but didnt know if it was reliable. So are new issued AK mags (30 and 40 rds) reliable?

Certinally someone has had an experince with a new 30 and 40 rd AK mag?

Nobody has used one of the newer 40 rd AK mags?

You mean that out of the 90+ people that have viewed this thread know nothing about the new issued AK mags? Cmon, someone here must have used a 30 or 40 rd new mag. Id hate to end up buying one and have all the problems I did with new SKS mags.

Someone help me out.

Can't comment specifically on your problem. Maybe the new mags have to be "broken in" a bit, or may have some cosmolene gunking-up the spring in the mag.?

I have the AK-74, which fires the 5.45x39mm round. To my knowledge, the mags (made of bakelite) for this weapon have a max. capacity of 30 rounds. I have not seen larger-capacity mags. for my weapon.

As for the SKS, I have had problems with that. I attached the 30-rounder and had problems loading the weapon - 10 rounds with the stripper-clip loaded fine, but after that, I could load no further with strippers. had to manually load each round individually - kind of defeats the purpose of getting the 30 rounder. I inquired on gunboards.com, and found this to be a common complaint. One piece of advice was to go back to the original mag designed for the SKS - the 10 rounder. I took off the 30 rounder and gave it to my brother-in-law to use on his Yugo SKS (mine's Russian). Even with 10 vs. 30 rounds, I can fire and reload faster now than if I'd kept the 30 rounder on my SKS.

Ya, the new SKS mags are very unreilable. That's why I was wondering if people had problems with the new AK mags like the SKS mags.

Ya, the new SKS mags are very unreilable. That's why I was wondering if people had problems with the new AK mags like the SKS mags.

Dont put 20 rd mags on the SKS! It wasnt meant to have 30 rd. mags and everyone I have ever heard of that did that had problems with their SKS.

Originally posted by XphilesPhan
Dont put 20 rd mags on the SKS! It wasnt meant to have 30 rd. mags and everyone I have ever heard of that did that had problems with their SKS.

Ya, every SKS 30 rd mag I have seen was very unreliable.


So I guess the new AK mags are just as good as the old AK mags.

Ok, don't panic here's what you need to know.

Reliability: any new steel or Bulgarian waffles probably tie here for tops

Weight: Polish synthetic wins (lightest), Finnish SAKO mags come in a close second, bakelites come in third, Bulgarian waffles fourth, any steel mags a distant fifth.

Corrosion resistance: Bulgarian waffles are first here, bakelites a close second


Durability: Bulgarian waffles are on top here, anything else is second by a long shot


Combining all 4 above traits: Bulgarian waffles are the winner - available from Kvar for $19.99 plus shipping, I know because I just ordered 3 for myself.

new AK?

thought PLA is replacing their aging AKs with Type95 assault rifles?

I guess that implies the AKs are not as good comparing to newer types of rifles.

Originally posted by Retseh
Ok, don't panic here's what you need to know.

Reliability: any new steel or Bulgarian waffles probably tie here for tops

Weight: Polish synthetic wins (lightest), Finnish SAKO mags come in a close second, bakelites come in third, Bulgarian waffles fourth, any steel mags a distant fifth.

Corrosion resistance: Bulgarian waffles are first here, bakelites a close second


Durability: Bulgarian waffles are on top here, anything else is second by a long shot


Combining all 4 above traits: Bulgarian waffles are the winner - available from Kvar for $19.99 plus shipping, I know because I just ordered 3 for myself.

And these Bulgarians looks black just like the Chinese ones right?

I am not a firearm buff, but i watched a show on rifles and I heard that the Ak mag's are interchangable from weapon to weapon old and new, that is why the Special Forces use them.

Wouldnt they basically be the exact same thing just made of like...stainless steal or something?

Originally posted by Full_Auto77

And these Bulgarians looks black just like the Chinese ones right?

They come in black, plum, and I think maybe "earth" or a light shade of brown as well. Mine are black.

K-Var were great, low cost and prompt delivery.

Originally posted by Retseh

Originally posted by Full_Auto77

And these Bulgarians looks black just like the Chinese ones right?

They come in black, plum, and I think maybe "earth" or a light shade of brown as well. Mine are black.

K-Var were great, low cost and prompt delivery.

Ya I think I saw those. They have a square pattern on the side of the mag right?

If you decide to get Bulgarian waffles, make sure to get BULGARIAN waffles, Not the us made imitation crap.

With that said I own around 30 or so Bulgarian Waffle magazines in 7.62x39 and 5.56, best mags you can get imho, k-var is the place to get em.

I have about 40 mags that are a 50/50 mix of 30 & 40 rounders. I have used them in my WASR-10, Yugo m70 and m71, AMD65 Hungarian, and one ak thats a mixed mut I built and they all work flawlessly.

Mr Pat

Originally posted by C0le
If you decide to get Bulgarian waffles, make sure to get BULGARIAN waffles, Not the us made imitation crap.

The U.S. one are Polymer Promags. Those are the only ones Ive found. Are they reliable?

And are the Bulgarians steel?

You need to order these:

www.k-var.com...

These are Bulgarian manufactured - don't buy US manufactured magazines, cars, household appliances, or chocolate

But K-Var has sold out of black and only has limited numbers of the other 2 colors.

Be quick if you still need them.

This may not be the problem the OP is referring to, but I've had trouble with some mags not feeding.

What I discovered my problem to be was actually a slight variation in ammo.

Some rds are actually about a 1/16 or 1/32 of an inch. The shorter ones have a tiny hollow point, whereas the longer ones do not, they are longer and end in a fairly sharp point.

Several of my 30 rd. mags choke on the solids but not the HP. Either kind will fire through my SKS, but not all will feed up the magazine equally well.

A fellow at a gun show told me that hollow points are illegal for use by armies, according to the law of land warfare. It doesn't matter if the hollow is an artifact of the manufacturing process. ANY hollow is not allowed. So some SKS and AK 30 rd mags are made specifically for HP.

Of course, if that were true, it would be the opposite. The military mags will hold either; but the civilian will only take civilian rd. Maybe the Soviet bloc planned to use hollow tipped rounds in the event of an actual war, but could claim that they made different types of ammo for civilians, and thus obeyed the law of land warfare.

I do know that carrying a solid pt. rd with me has kept me from buying a magazine that was barely too small to hold the larger rounds.

.