Bolt catching on magazine plate

[trgl317 0]

I bought a new AK magazine for the saiga. The bullet guide hasn't got here yet but I put it in there to see how it fits.

First of all, it's very very tight. I have to put it in dead straight with the edge perfectly aligned and jam it in, or it will not go in. There's not even room for a strand of hair to slide past. That's how tight it is.

Is this usually the case with new magazines? I notice that after doing this a few times, the paint on the side of the magazine is completely scratched up.

Second, the plate above the magazine spring that push the bullet up, that bolt in the rifle will catch on the bulge of that plate and get stuck.

 

This only happens if I ease it in slowly, not cock it back and let it slam forward. I assume that it's still catching on to the bulge but there's enough force to push it past.

Is this a case of new parts not having enough use to work itself out? I remedy the problem temporarily by using the plastic plate from my stock saiga magazine in this 30 rd ak magazine, which does not have this problem.

 

To permanently solve this problem, should I slightly file the part of the bolt that catch on the plate or file the magazine plate itself? Will any of this filing ruin the finishing on the parts and cause rusting in the future?

Edited June 23, 2009 by GoodFriendlyNeighbor

[Bizzarolibe 5]

The only AK mags I've tried out in my Saiga actually fit very loose (after you file down the catch of course). What you're doesn't really sound typical of an AK mag. A pic might help.

 

Now I will say that my Saiga-specific Surefire magazine fits extremely tight in the Saiga, and the first couple times I put it in I shaved off some plastic. IMO that's a good thing, as it provides the perfect fit after a couple insertions.

 

As for the bolt catching the mag plate, I'm willing to bet money on it that you have a magazine with a built-in BHO. It's *supposed* to catch the bolt when it's empty.

 

And no do NOT file any part of the bolt. To permantly alter your gun so you can use ONE magazine variant (that's probaly working just as it was designed to anyway) isn't a good idea at all. If anything, alter the magazine if there's really something wrong with it. If you screw up, you just lost 20 bucks. If you screw up your gun, you just lost 400.

[trgl317 0]

I don't know much about the BHO but that seems like a pretty crude way to do the job. I'm sure it's not the BHO because it catches at a very thin edge and scratched a thin line off the paint of that plate. Over time after a few thousand cycles, both the bolt and the plate would probably wear down to the point where it doesn't touch anymore.

I'm just concerned about it doing damage to the bolt.

If it was the BHO, there would be no reason why it doesn't do that on the original saiga mag. Like I said in my first post, I replaced the metal plate with the plastic plate from the factory saiga mag and it doesn't catch on there anymore, or maybe it does and the plastic is not hard enough to hold it back.

 

If the factory plastic mag plate work reliably then I won't bother putting the metal plate back in since I only have 1 ak mag right now, but if I get more in the future, it may happen again with other ak mag.

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

What type of "new AK magazine" are we talking about? Milsurp steel? If so, do you know if it's of Yugoslavian manufacture?

[trgl317 0]

What type of "new AK magazine" are we talking about? Milsurp steel? If so, do you know if it's of Yugoslavian manufacture?

I don't know who made it. I bought it from CSS brand new and it came yesterday. When I line up the two plates, one from the factory saiga mag and one from the new ak metal mag, you can tell that the bulge on the new ak mag is slightly higher.

I threw in the factory plastic plate and the bolt slide forward smoothly, no catch. It's not a problem now, but if other ak mags are like this, I would have to file down that plate every time I buy a new mag.

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

Well, how did CSS advertise it? European steel? It's not one of the grey Korean steel mags, is it?

[trgl317 0]

Well, how did CSS advertise it? European steel? It's not one of the grey Korean steel mags, is it?

http://store.carolinashooterssupply.com/se...-30rd-30/Detail

 

The magazine is very grey, so according to what you said, I assume it's korean.

[shades_of_grey 1,092]

Yep, I think it is. The "new production" and grey color give away the Korean mags. These are commercial mags, not built to military spec. They're fine, (I own 4), but they are a bit lighter in construction than milsurp combloc steel mags. Since they are slightly different from standard milsurp mags, that may account for your rifle's bolt catching on the follower. If I were you, I'd buy standard, (European), milsurp steel in the future, both because they're sturdier and they are the standard. I find it interesting that this mag fits so tightly in your rifle, because of all the mags I own, the 30-round Koreans are easily the loosest fitting in my gun.

 

Of course, if you don't mind spending a bit more, I recommend Bulgarian "circle-10" polymer mags above all others, (but be sure you're ordering the milspec "waffle-pattern" Bulgarians with the circle-10 stamp, and not the inferior commerical "bullet-pattern" mags). Those mags can be found here and there on various sites, but it's easiest to just order them from K-Var, (and usually less expensive).

Edited June 23, 2009 by post-apocalyptic

[trgl317 0]

Yep, I think it is. The "new production" and grey color give away the Korean mags. These are commercial mags, not built to military spec. They're fine, (I own 4), but they are a bit lighter in construction than milsurp combloc steel mags. Since they are slightly different from standard milsurp mags, that may account for your rifle's bolt catching on the follower. If I were you, I'd buy standard, (European), milsurp steel in the future, both because they're sturdier and they are the standard. I find it interesting that this mag fits so tightly in your rifle, because of all the mags I own, the 30-round Koreans are easily the loosest fitting in my gun.

 

Of course, if you don't mind spending a bit more, I recommend Bulgarian "circle-10" polymer mags above all others, (but be sure you're ordering the milspec "waffle-pattern" Bulgarians with the circle-10 stamp, and not the inferior commerical "bullet-pattern" mags). Those mags can be found here and there on various sites, but it's easiest to just order them from K-Var, (and usually less expensive).

It's a good thing I only bought one. Thanks for the info, I checked several place online and it seemed to verify what you said.