10 Round 5.45 Magazines Tuning?

[Klassy Kalashnikov 1,393]

Recently I purchased 5x 10 round SAR-2 5.45x39 magazines for my Saiga 5.45. As you all know in blue states, finding magazines for the 5.45 is hell!

 

They were $20 each and I tested them out yesterday at the range. They are all metal and very compact. I had to grind down the tab on the back of the magazine, and make the front lip have a sharper angle, in order for it to fit into the Saiga 5.45.

 

Range testing was pretty unimpressive, all of them were jamming at least 1-2 times out of ten rounds. They're garbage out of the box, it seems, and if I could I'd just toss them and get circle 10's, but of course that is not an option. I am going to tweak them a bit before next range trip. I am hoping maybe they just need to be broken in (the follower is extremely stiff) so I'm gonna give them one more shot. After that, I will try maybe shortening the spring. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what will.

 

Anyone ever "tuned" a magazine before? I know that's a weird thing to ask as foreign AK magazines are not known to jam much

[JK-47 33]

Do you have a bullet guide installed in your rifle? If not, I wouldn't expect these magazines to work perfectly. While some 5.45 Saigas seem to feed better than others out of the box, it's neither a guarantee nor a promise. The guns are only set up to work with the OEM mag with it's built in feed ramp, untill you install a bullet guide in the rifle don't expect military mags (or any mags other than OEM 10 rounders) to work.

[Klassy Kalashnikov 1,393]

Sorry, forgot to add, the rifle has a bullet guide installed, I have some cut down circle 10's which feed perfectly.