cheap 8 round mag idea

[Caspian 32]

i come here from a different line of firearm families. my background is in FAL, 1919, and AK building. These guns typically require machining and improvising (th AK in particular, you'll see where i'm coming from).

 

anyway, on the AK boards, folks are having some pretty good success with those flat receivers. they are using presses from harbor freight and forming dies to shape the receivers. my thoughts are, why not use this method to make an 8 round magazine?

 

i don't have my Saiga yet, but it should be here within a couple weeks so i haven't seen what the mags look like. However, i'm thinking that it wouldn't be hard to make a die with the dimensions of the interior of the factory mag, bent sheet metal around it, duplicate the bend of the feed lips and form them in the die. you could use G2 or FAL mag springs, follower and base plate to keep fabrication to a minimum.

 

the rear seam of the mag would have to be TIG welded and locking lugs TIGed to the body. Once again, i haven't examined a Saiga mag to see what would be involved, but if folks can make an AK receiver that functions, then an 8 round mag shouldn't be hard.

 

also, i don't know what equipment members have here, but you'd have to have the basics (press, TIG welder) to make it cost effective.

 

Any thoughts from those who have the mags to look at?

 

Caspian

[Caspian 32]

Here's the Harbor Freight Press

[hardcorps1775 1]

basically it's an ak mag on steroids. works the same way. one thing that really sucks is that part of the locking mechanism of the mag is plastic and not metal.

 

a saiga mag made of steel would be great and i'd certainly like to see 'em!

[Caspian 32]

i forgot to add you'd need a milling machine to mill the form to the correct dimensions.

 

it would be a task, but definitely doable.

 

Caspian

[swiftvision 0]

Do it and I'll buy some mags from you.

[Caspian 32]

that's the catch. it's cheap for the DIYer because your time is "free". when you have someone do something, you have to add in their time, equipment and materials. If someone made a quality 8 round mag from metal, it probably wouldn't cost much less than factory. That's b/c they have to factor in the price of their milling machine, materials, time to get materials, time to cut materials, welding, gas, etc.

 

However, if you were doing it for yourself and had the equipment already, then you subtract out the time (1-2 hours /mag) which is worth $25/hour, then you save $50/mag.

 

If i can get everything together and make one for myself, i will offer them for sale. that's a long way off and if they are 100% reliable and professional looking, they won't be $10 per mag. Probably closer to $80. I'm so far off from doing it, i'm almost sure someone will have them to market before i do.

 

Caspian

[swiftvision 0]

8 rounders, 2 for $100 shipped would be a good deal.

[dragonetdreaming 0]

Not to rain on your parade, but, these mags are patented. Making a mag extension would be cheap lawyer repellent.

[G O B 3,516]

I like the mag extension idea. Market a "3rd. extension for 5rd. mags".

How many extensions you put together, and if they go on a 2 or 5 rd. mag- is NOBODIES business but your own! (unless you are stupid enough to tell the BATF guy hey lookie here what I have!)

 

G O B

[Caspian 32]

Not to rain on your parade, but, these mags are patented. Making a mag extension would be cheap lawyer repellent.

if that were the case, then USA brand magazines would have been sued by every manufacturer out there. Name a magazine and i'll name an aftermarket equivalent (except where there isn't a high profit margin due to the number of firearms available).

 

Caspian

[Control3 3]

I don't want to discourage you, but you should know what you're getting into....

 

First, Saiga 8 round mags are curved. I'm having difficulty seeing how you would bend one flat piece of sheet metal into a curved mag without making a complicated pattern with lots of cut outs and lots of places to weld.

 

Second, are the G2 and FAL springs long enough? The Saiga 8 rounder is a long magazine.

 

Third, the inside of the Saiga has grooves molded near the back that run up and down the length of the magazine. This groove guides the rims of the rounds and keeps them from moving back and forward in the mag. Since you're using sheet metal you can't cut the grooves, you'll have to add curved rails to the inside or bulk up the inside somehow.

 

Fourth, are the G2/FAL followers designed to move through a curved magazine? Can you convert a doublestack .308 follower into a singlestack 12ga follower?

 

Just some thoughts. Maybe these issues can all be overcome, but it seems like a lot of work and time.

[Caspian 32]

control,

 

thanks for giving me some insight and things to think about before i dive in. you probably saved me some time.

 

as for the mag springs. i was thinking about doubling them up (2 FAL springs/12 mag). I made a few double grease gun mags and overlapped a few coils of two springs to make a 56 rounder from two 30 rounders. i'd do the same with the S12 mag.

 

the follower isn't a big deal (i don't think). all the follower does is apply upards pressure to the shell. if it's pushing harder to the left or right side of the shotshell, it shouldn't make a difference. if it does, then i simply add JB Weld to make the entire follower flat.

 

the curved mag.....humm....very good point. i checked and the USAS 12 10 round mag is curved as well. it seems that may be necessary. since making a straight mag will be relitavely easy, i'm going to try it first and see if i get lucky. maybe it's a cosmetic thing (yeah, wishful thinking, i know). maybe it turns out only a 7 round mag will reliably function in a straight config. we'll see.

 

i appriciate your insight.

 

caspian

[shotgun_lobotomy 0]

also, wouldnt u have to use some thick steel due to the thickness of the plastic, the s12 was always made to take these thickass plastic mags, ud have to compensate for that too

[topmaul 42]

I think cheap high cap mags for the saiga is a dream if you want to do it as a DIY project great but for me I need no more then 4 hi cap mags so by the time I bought the machines, material, did the expermintal work, and got one built surely I could have bought a dozen. Our best chance is to lobby ramline of someone and demand that they start producing them. It would be great if they where made of see through plastic. The price of $50.00 each would be fair when you look at the price of other mags on the market.