AK mags and drum question
Hello - I was just wondering if AK mags were universal (standard) to all AKs or do some fit certain makes better than others? (I have a Romanian AKMS I'm wanting to add mags to.)
Also for the AK, I've recently seen these 75 round drums that do not require winding, but simply load like a conventional mag, from the top. Anyone use this before? Is any drum worth buying or avoiding?
Thank you for any advice.
Also for the AK, I've recently seen these 75 round drums that do not require winding, but simply load like a conventional mag, from the top. Anyone use this before? Is any drum worth buying or avoiding?
Thank you for any advice.
0
-
Pretty much all AK's, Chinese, Russian, Serbian, Romanian etc use the same standard 30rd mags with the exception of some that were built to accept only a proprietary, smaller capacity mag. I dont recall the maker of those guns.
I have a couple of the Chinese 75rd drum mags that are wound up after loading. These are much easier to load than the models built to only load thru the top one round at a time. My 75 rounders are reliable. I have not used the models loaded from the top.0 -
AK mags are standardized, but AK build quality can vary.
If you have a gun built originally as a single-stack AK for import, then converted later to standard double-stack configuration, the magazine fit can be too tight or too loose. The same can be true with home-built AKs.
Obviously, there is some variation in mag quality/dimension too, so for any given gun some mags may fit a bit snugger/looser than others.
I can't speak to the quality of the various drum mags, but my understanding is that these were designed primarily for use in RPK type light machine guns, not the infantry AKM carbines.
The 75 round mags are actually more than 2.5x as heavy as standard 30 round "banana" mags. In other words, in addition to their extra bulkiness compared to ordinary mags, and extra expense, you also pay a weight penalty merely for carrying one.0 -
quote:Originally posted by piper
Hello - I was just wondering if AK mags were universal (standard) to all AKs or do some fit certain makes better than others? (I have a Romanian AKMS I'm wanting to add mags to.)
Also for the AK, I've recently seen these 75 round drums that do not require winding, but simply load like a conventional mag, from the top. Anyone use this before? Is any drum worth buying or avoiding?
Thank you for any advice.
Other than the already mentioned "single stack" AKs, the 7.62x39 magazines are pretty much all interchangeable. If you get into a .223 AK, there is variability in magazines depending on the country of origin. I believe the 5.45x39 AKs have the same interchangeability as the 7.62x39, but would look for others (like Mark C.) here to comment about that.
The "Russian design" top-loading AK-drum is less common (at least here in the U.S.; I'm not sure what the situation is world-wide) than the "Chinese design" one with the rear-lid and winder. I have only handled Romanian top-loading drum mags; I much prefer the Chinese-design one -- the rear lid is SO much easier to open and drop rounds into than trying to be feeding rounds individually through the top.
I would avoid any U.S.-made AK magazine (I'm not sure if anyone is making a U.S.-made drum, but if they are I'd avoid it).
I always considered the "best value" in AK magazines to be the basic steel 30-round foreign-made ones (country of origin isn't really important for functionality, but some are "prettier" than others). With prices right now, I'm not sure what the best value would be -- some of the Korean-made 75-round rear-loading drums seem to still be "fairly reasonable" in price compared to the jump in prices on the 30-round steel mags.
Even if we end up getting little-to-no new legislation on magazines, I think we can be certain that we will see importation of any new high-capacity magazines blocked by the Obama administration (that can be done without Congress; it can be a "stroke of the pen" action by the President). So I'd be concentrating buying (if I were buying AK magazines) on imported magazines and drums as I expect that supply to dry up completely.0 -
All of the various mags I've tried in my guns (Romanian, Chinese, Bulgarian, and converted Saigas), fit and work. Some are a bit looser than others. These mags include Yugo, Hungarian, unknown 'other' East bloc, Chinese, and U.S. Tapco.
I've never tried the top-loading drums, only the rear-winders. But drums make the gun unwieldy, and when a loaded drum is placed in an NHM-91 with a bipod, offhand shooting for any length of time will have your left arm becoming the envy of Schwarzold Arnenegger.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
4 comments