essemgy
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Posts posted by essemgy
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You most definitely got a "bad magazine".
I've never ever heard of a milsurp mag "breaking apart".
Ever.
It's not like it cost a small fortune, so I'll probably buy another one at the next gun show and give it another try. I've never had any issues with my magazines, but I guess there's a first time for everything. The magazine didn't APPEAR to have any defects, and it while it did show some use, it wasn't a clunker. Hell, I have some older magazines that look like they've been to hell and back, and they work just fine every time.
Hopefully it was a fluke :]
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You also did not tell us what KIND of "Bulgarian 40 round" magazine you have.
Some of them are made to commercial standards and are in the same league as Surefire, ProMag or [barf] Pro-Mag.
It was Steel and advertised as surplus. It was in great shape, from what I could tell. I put it side by side with a mil-surplus steel Bulgarian 30 rounder (which has never given me a single problem) and they appeared to be identical (aside from the obvious difference in capacity).
I threw the magazine away (I wasn't thinking about posting this at the time, I apologize) but I found a picture from a sale on Gunbroker.com which advertises the same magazine.
It looked identical to that one.
EDIT: I should also say that in my original post, I referred to the magazine as "new". I meant that it's "new" to me. The magazine itself was in great shape, but it was definitely not straight from the factory.
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Hello :]
I recently purchased a new Bulgarian 40 round magazine for my 7.62x39 Saiga. I've done the conversion (with Dinzag's awesome bullet guide), and it accepts standards AK-47 magazines. In particular, the Bulgarian 30 round magazines have worked really well for me; there have been no jams with those. I decided to try a Bulgarian 40 rounder. I examined it, when I bought it, and it appeared to be in good shape. When I got it home, I put it side by side with my 30 rounders, and they looked identical, except for the overall length (obviously).
I took the 40 rounder out to the range yesterday, and the first shot fired, then the second round jammed. I ejected the shell, and I tried again. It fired one, then it jammed again. The magazine is a double stack (like any other AK mag) and the left round would fire, but the right would jam every time. Every other round was getting hung up somewhere and jamming the bullet way back into the casing. It was a mess! While trying to figure out where it was getting hung up, the magazine broke apart. I trashed it.
I also brought a couple of 30 rounders to the range, so the day was not ruined, thankfully. I had no problems with the 30 rounders for the rest of the afternoon.
I just thought I'd give a heads up to anyone who might be thinking about buying a 40 rounder, be cautious. Maybe I just had a bad magazine?
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essemgy, it's great to hear you are yet one more satisfied Dinzag customer and a Saiga owner. Welcome to the forum!
The only thing I would like to add, that even though many people "discover" him anew as they get into the whole Saiga thing, he's been around for a very long time and is well known for his extremely high quality workmanship and business practices. All you need to do is to search this forum for things like "dinzag rules/awesome/great".
I figured as much, he came very highly recommended by all sorts of people, but I figured one more opinion on these forums might do it's part to persuade someone else to buy from him.
One thing I DIDN'T read on these forums(perhaps they're there, but I didn't see them), is that the steel is 4140. I'm sure most people(at least the kinds of people who browse these forums) know what that is, but I was fairly surprised when I got the part. Most of the custom made parts I've ordered in the past (which is why I try not to order custom parts) are very cheap and scream low quality. 4140 is good stuff.
I also didn't read anything about the tap he sends, which was WELL worth the extra 2 bucks, imo.
Btw, thank you for the welcome. I've browsed these forums for a long time, I just never made an account. Back when I did my 7.62 conversion, all of the answers were already on the forums, so I didn't need to make an account.
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I wanted to convert my Saiga to accept standard AK magazines, and upon recommendation from users of this forum, I found myself ordering from Dinzag. I found a few bullet guides, but I am VERY careful about ordering parts made by an individual. There are some really half-assed "machinists" out there. I can't compare Dinzag's parts to anyone elses, because this is the only bullet guide I've purchased.
The shipping only took about 2-3 weeks, but his site says 6-8, and either way... it's well worth the wait for the parts you get. Just be patient and they will come. I have so many projects going, that 2 weeks was nothing for me. I was very surprised that it came in so quickly, to be honest!
I ordered the entire kit(round trunnion, 7.62x39), and I would STRONGLY recommend the whole kit. Why? It's about 2 dollars more for the drill bit and tap, and the ones I received were very high in quality. I do all of my work in a machine shop with probably over half a million dollars in machinery, and there are boxes and boxes of commercial grade bits and hardware in there. It was well worth the 2 bucks to not have to dig through all of that stuff. If you follow the directions he provides, you'll have no problems with the tap breaking. In my experience with taps, they can break very easily, and it's a pain in the ass to remove fragments. TAKE EVERYTHING SLOWLY LIKE DINZAG SAYS, and you won't have to learn the hard way. I will say that I didn't think the tap was taking, because there wasn't very much resistance. To my surprise, it was. This entire process of installing the guide was VERY, very simple and painless. What you order, will be high quality, and the outcome of your Saiga will depend ONLY on how careful you are in your installation. That's how it should be. If you follow the directions EXACTLY the way he explains them on his website, you will have 0 problems.
I used an industrial-grade drill press to do my conversion. I spent probably 10 minutes on the whole thing, and the majority of that time was spent taking my pistol grip off(so I could make sure my receiver was level with the drill), and marking the spot which I punched/drilled/tapped. The actual punch/drill/tap part only took about 4-5 minutes total.
The only negative is that the business card he sent with my parts (which is pretty cool looking btw) did not fit into my wallet. lol. I'll definitely be recommending this man to some of my friends/co-workers who will be doing Saiga conversions. A+++++ parts and service. This guy is the real deal; don't hesitate to order from him.
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Here's mine :]
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I needed another US part and as much as I like the Saiga handguard, I decided to replace it. I thought I ordered the Galil style handguard from DPH. My package arrived yesterday.
To my surprise, the handguard didn't look anything like the one on the website. Actually, I like this one better. It's thinner and looks more modern than the Galil. The top is open and allows for cooling. There are 3 accessory mounts and a sling attachment. It mounted very easily and it appears to be a solid attachment. I'd recommend it as an alternative. $49
I do have to admit, that's pretty neat. You can't go wrong with too many rails! You never know what you might want to add to your rifle later on :]
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Ok, so the handguard I want to use requires an $80 retainer and a new $30 tube, I got looking for stocks that are designed to work with saigas. Don't want another guard covered in rails (my other one has a quad rail on it) and I got looking at the Tapco Galil for the saigas.... yeah, tapco makes shitty stocks, but they make decent FCG's, so how are their hand guards??
Personally, I like the Tapco Galil! It's very comfortable, for my hands. I've had 0 issues with it coming loose, and I've never had a problem with it overheating. It's not uncommon for me to go shooting in 95-105 degree F weather (Texas is hottttt), and it's not an issue at all. I'd recommend this piece any day :]
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Your welcome. Brian at Dinzag is a great guy. Shipping on the bullet guide kits is usually much faster. He ususally does his packaging on week ends, if I remember right. You will be very happy! Welcome to the Siaga addiction!
It says on his website that it's because of the large amount of orders (which is a good sign, because it just means his parts are popular!), but I don't really care all that much. 4-6 weeks is well worth the wait, when it comes to a quality-made part. I'm very excited :]
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DInzag Bullet guide is AAAAAA++++++. Put one in a 223 and one in a 7.62x39. Feeding 100% with all magazines. Takes about 15 minutes to install. In the 223 ita used Galil mags, and in the 7.62x39 , it uses ANY magazine! The $30 kit comes with the guide, the correct size drill, the tap, the screw, and if I remember right, the allen wrench.
I went ahead and decided to go with adding the bullet guide (now that I have a couple of people confirming that it's a part of quality [and exceptional quality at that]). Thank you very much for the input, it definitely swayed my decision. The shipping time says 4-6 weeks, and I'm sure I'll install it the day it comes in the mail, so I'll make a post confirming as to whether or not this solved my problem (which I'm more than sure it will). Thanks again, Imarangemaster!
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Hmmm. $30 and 20 minutes will give you a bullet guide and the ability to use: Com Block Military Surplus metal, Chinese, and Korean (indestructible and can replace follower and base plate for about $5 from KVar for 2 US compliance parts). ALso allows Bulgarian circle 10 Polymers, Russian Bakelite, Tapco, Thermold, Promag, and other standard AK mags.. If you go back to stock, you are limited to Surefire (which cost more than Bulgarians!), since Promag Saiga mags suck.
Which bullet guide would you recommend? Through Google, I found "Dinzag", who makes them, but I couldn't find any feedback on the quality of this piece. I was a little weary of purchasing this piece, and making changes to my weapon without really knowing whether or not the part was a quality piece. The 922r compliance parts of the magazine really aren't an issue either way, my current parts count allows me to use any magazine I wish.
I've replaced the stock, handguard, gas piston, trigger group, and added a pistol grip and muzzle break. All of these parts are made in America, so I think I should be able to use foreign magazines.
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Find a good welder and add some material to the mag catch then file to catch the Surefire mags ....
I work at a Boat dealership, which has a very well equipped machine shop, and a welder with 40 years of experience. He's offered to do it for me at no charge (after hours), and claims that this would be a very quick and easy fix to make. I was just making sure there wasn't a vendor that I could purchase a new mag-catch-lever from, before I ask someone for a favor. It's starting to look like repairing the lever is my best bet.
I don't know what the man I bought this rifle from was thinking. Why would someone file the lever down, and not add a bullet guide? Maybe he just didn't know any better? Who knows. I suppose at 125 bucks, something was bound to be wrong with it, I should consider myself fortunate that it wasn't something serious/expensive.
Either way, thank you VERY much for your input :]
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I recently acquired a Saiga 7.62x39 in like-new condition, for 125 bucks. It was at a gun show, and I made a very thorough evaluation of the rifle before I purchased it. Unfortunately, examining the mag-catch lever was not something on my list of things to examine. Doh.
The lever has been filed down, but no bullet guide has been installed. This leaves me with a rifle that will allow standard magazines to fit (but not load the rounds), and Saiga magazines to loosely fit (causing jams left and right).
I think I have a couple of options here: 1. I can install a bullet guide and my rifle can accept standard AK mags, 2. I can either repair or replace the mag catch lever, and use the Surefire magazines.
I would prefer to use the Surefire magazines, because it's 3 compliance parts, and I love the wiggle room for any future mods I might want to make. Not to mention I try to reduce weight anywhere I possibly can.
Is there anywhere online that I can buy a magazine catch lever for an unmodified Saiga 7.62x39? I've been looking for a couple of hours now, to no avail. If not, I can always repair the lever I do have, but it would take more time than I really want to spend on it.
Any comments on or advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you :]
*EDIT* Other than this issue, the rifle works perfectly. For the longest time I thought that it was just my Surefire magazine causing these problems, but upon further inspection, it's VERY obvious that the mag-catch lever has been filed down a bit.
Bulgarian 40 round
in Tech Section
Posted
It was advertised as a Bulgarian surplus magazine, and I can verify that it was made from steel. The vendor I purchased this magazine from is very reputable, and I have made SEVERAL purchases from them without a single issue.
I'm going to purchase another one and see if I have the same problem. Hopefully it was a fluke, but I thought it needed to be documented somewhere.