What mag should I file my catch to fit?

[MightyMouse 0]

I have converted my Sagia 7.62x39 rifle to pistol grip and have done the bullet guide. I have collected a few AK mag's and I'am confused as to what mag I should use to file the mag catch to fit? I have a Tapco plastic mag, a couple plastic Bulgarian "bullet mags", and a couple of random steel mag's could not tell you where they are from. Is there a partictular mag I should use to file my mag catch to fit, and then file the other mag's I have to fit my gun?

 

Any help would be appricated.

 

Thanks,

Tony

[L5K 162]

Go very slow and fit it to both of the steel ones.

 

Your rifle should accept any cheap steel military magazine you could ever find. Then if you need to go a bit further to get it to accept the ones with plastic lugs you could, but I wouldn't bother personally. I run just military surplus magazines through my rifle, and I had fit it with just a few of them. It now accepts every military surplus magazine I tried to put in it with no work at all. Also, it's an AK, a slight bit of slop with some magazines is perfectly normal and desirable to ensure it will work with any magazines.

 

Some will disagree, but I think it's a bad idea to have a rifle that you must work over every single magazine you use in. Instead, I made my rifle, so that all the magazines I may ever buy will work in it. That way I know that if they don't, it is not the rifle.

[stnls1911 55]

Measure the magazine lips. Most of them should be very close in terms of the tabs thickness. Take the thickest measurement and file very slowly. File a small bit of metal off then insert your magazine in-between files to ensure positive lock-up.

[hutchsaiga 93]

Filed

Mine to fit the one tapco I had. I got whole bunch of steelies and they were a little loose. Shoulda waited for the steel ones to come in

[bigsal 757]

I think you have it a bit backwards friend. File the magazines to fit the rifle not the other way around. Your saiga should have a standard magwell and should be more or less within spec to fit a number of magazines. Also, do not use the tapco magazines or the "bullet" magazines. Get some surplus steel or some ((10)) Bulgarian mags.

[Mullet Man 2,114]

Hes talking about the mag latch, not the magwell. File the mag latch to work with any and all AK mags.

 

EDIT, i would file it to fit the steel mags and sell the other plastic pieces.

Edited December 27, 2010 by Mullet Man

[VaiFanatic90 360]

I found that filing it to fit the US Palm AK30 mag made everything else from 20 to 40 rounders laying around the house fit nicely. Your mileage may vary, but the AK30 seemed to have the thickest tab out of all the magazines I have.

[hutchsaiga 93]

I disagree with bigsal on this one. Make your rifle take all mags not your mags work in one rifle. Could benifit you in the long run.

[dobravery 49]

Does you mag catch have a safety stop catch installed between it and the receiver? Just curious as without that, the mag catch would be too close to the receiver.

My .02 cents. Don't mod anything. Do all you shooting with a mag that fits until you can buy at least 10 of the same mags that you feel confident in. Then file as little as Godly possible on the catch for the designated mags to fit. Often with time everything sort of wears in smoothly anyway.

 

I'm with bigsal and hutchsaiga that surplus steel or bulgarian 10's are the way to go.

 

Then sell or mod any of the variety mags that don't fit.

[MightyMouse 0]

What do the Bulgarian 10 mag's or are they circle 10 mag's look like? When I bought the Bulgarian "bullet" mag's I thought I was buying the 10's. I think I will pickup a few more steel mag's and file till all the steel mags fit good enough.

 

Thanks,

Tony

[JBski 6]

Does you mag catch have a safety stop catch installed between it and the receiver?

 

From what I've seen, they all come with the safety stop catch.

 

But in my defense, I've only converted one 7.62x39, which was a non-dimpled and y'ed receiver, with the pistol grip nut hole pre-cut. I've fondled several of them at the funshop, dimpled, or non dimpled, and they all seem to have the safety stop.

 

I don't know if the shotguns have it, though.

[Klassy Kalashnikov 1,393]

The shotguns do have a safety stop from the factory, but after conversion usually do not since most people use the trigger guards that double as a pistol grip nut and they don't have a selector stop on them. But a lot of people have either made their own selector stop or used a trigger guard that has one.

[scoutjoe 276]

If you are filing you mag catch to fit the thickest "tab" you'll find is either going to be a Bulgy Circle 10 mag or a Romy drum (not the wind up Chinese copy, the Russian copy)

[BuffetDestroyer 969]

I did mine to fit Bulgarian Circle 10 Mags . My surplus steel ones (I have 20 & 30 rounders) fit great and none are sloppy after I dremeled and fitted the mag catch until the Circle 10 fit without force or wobble.

 

You can tell these as they have the waffle texture, steel lined lips, and a 10 with two circles around it towards the bottom of the magazine on the 30 rounders and towards the top on the 40's. Here is a pic of the 30's:

 

 

Beware of US Manufacturers trying to make theirs look like these... ProMag did this and you aren't getting the same quality as the real Circle 10 mags. KVar is the only US Manufacturer that can have US Compliance Parts (floorplate and follower) that are still Circle 10 magazine bodies (the steel reinforcement is the key). KVar imports the real Circle 10's and they typically run around $30.