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223 steel magazines


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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't have a need for AK style mags anymore, since I switched to (permanently installed) AR mag well.

 

HOWEVER, in today's anti-gunners' hysteria and buying frenzy, selling 30-rounders for healthy profit margin is a "piece of cake".

Two local FFLs I spoke to will be glad to pick more than a few; I'll keep them posted on progress.

 

Crank 'em up!

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Like Jim D. I have the Weiger mags for .223 in the 30 round size. They are the original SGM before they had the poly mag. Very nice and sit in the safe with the damn weapons (I value them that much!).

They are over an inch shorter than the poly SGM mags and do include the bullet guide! With a US follower. You can always spot Weiger mags as they have the dual button release on the floor plate.



Man Cat, Tapco did release a smooth sided 5.45x39 for the AK74! Look just like the Mil Spec (sure they don't have steel inside like the ribbed)

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Hey I love the idea of new steel .223 magazines for a saiga or vepr. I think it would be a good investment in the mag market if this AWB crap goes away. But one major point, bigger is better...... start at 30 rounds but I think most of us would prefer a 40 or 50 round magazine or a triple stack 60 round. I would buy some asap!

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

maybe you should try and get a slr-106 and see if you can make the mag work for it too they are very similar.

 

 

most .223 ak these days use the russian/ bulgarian design ie:

bulgarian slr-106

polish beryl "archer"

 

saiga's and vepr use this same design but they are the "sporting" versions a bullet guide and filing of the feed lips of the circle 10 and beryl magazines make them work

 

this is why promags .223 ak mags are designed after the bulgarian/russian design its the most popular

 

 

not my video

 

 

 

 

weiger mags are meant for romanian .223 ak's ie wasr3 and sar3

 

galil=galil/not an ak

 

chinese= chinese and theres actually two different kinds

 

yugo= i believe are there own animal as well

 

notice none of these are available anymore except the yugo

Edited by smeeg
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that's actually my video.

 

The Saiga/Vepr Russian 5.56 rifles are actually different from Bulgarian/Polish design, but only in one aspect really: Russian 5.56 rifles use an AKM spec trunnion, whereas the Bulgarian/Polish guns use AK-74 trunnions (Bulgarian has some modifications for short-lug bolt). Not sure why the Russians chose to do that, but they did.

 

FWIW the Promag .223 magazines have AK-74 magazine dimensions as far as the width of the feed lips where the magazine inserts into the receiver. However the front feed lips that contact the bottom of the trunnion locking lugs are made for an AKM spec trunnion - in other words it will fit loosely in something like an SLR-106 or Beryl, which uses an AK-74 trunnion, whereas it fits a bit tighter in a Saiga (AKM spec trunnion) or Romanian SAR-3/WASR-3.

 

I wouldn't say that the Promag .223 mags are great - they are made of cheesy material. All I'm saying is that going by the design approach they took, whether they intended to or not, they ended up with a magazine design that is very compatible with a wide range of .223 AKs. The Promag .223 AK mags are known to work with the Saiga and Vepr, SLR-106, SAR-3/WASR-3, Beryl, Galil, Yugo M85/90/21, and Norinco/Polytech 5.56 rifles. That's a pretty huge range of guns.

 

in closing: if the magazine is built with a forward feed lip that will accommodate the larger AKM trunnion, while also making the magazine body close to AK-74 magazine dimensions, it will likely fit in a very wide range of 5.56 AKs. the downside is that it may fit some loose, and some tight. if you design it just for the Saiga, you narrow your market a whole lot. There are a lot of people out there that bought SLR-106 rifles, for example, as they were sort of the go-to AK for AR collectors who wanted to share ammo but wanted to satisfy their AK craving.

Edited by mancat
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that's actually my video.

 

The Saiga/Vepr Russian 5.56 rifles are actually different from Bulgarian/Polish design, but only in one aspect really: Russian 5.56 rifles use an AKM spec trunnion, whereas the Bulgarian/Polish guns use AK-74 trunnions (Bulgarian has some modifications for short-lug bolt). Not sure why the Russians chose to do that, but they did.

 

FWIW the Promag .223 magazines have AK-74 magazine dimensions as far as the width of the feed lips where the magazine inserts into the receiver. However the front feed lips that contact the bottom of the trunnion locking lugs are made for an AKM spec trunnion - in other words it will fit loosely in something like an SLR-106 or Beryl, which uses an AK-74 trunnion, whereas it fits a bit tighter in a Saiga (AKM spec trunnion) or Romanian SAR-3/WASR-3.

 

I wouldn't say that the Promag .223 mags are great - they are made of cheesy material. All I'm saying is that going by the design approach they took, whether they intended to or not, they ended up with a magazine design that is very compatible with a wide range of .223 AKs. The Promag .223 AK mags are known to work with the Saiga and Vepr, SLR-106, SAR-3/WASR-3, Beryl, Galil, Yugo M85/90/21, and Norinco/Polytech 5.56 rifles. That's a pretty huge range of guns.

 

in closing: if the magazine is built with a forward feed lip that will accommodate the larger AKM trunnion, while also making the magazine body close to AK-74 magazine dimensions, it will likely fit in a very wide range of 5.56 AKs. the downside is that it may fit some loose, and some tight. if you design it just for the Saiga, you narrow your market a whole lot. There are a lot of people out there that bought SLR-106 rifles, for example, as they were sort of the go-to AK for AR collectors who wanted to share ammo but wanted to satisfy their AK craving.

 

thanks for all the info.......nobody wants a loose mag though

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...

With 7n6 being banned demand continues to increase. For .223 ak and there magazines Folks are looking to the round as their AK salvation. This has strained the already limited supply of beryl and bulgy .223 magazines (wich are currently selling for ($25-$35$

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  • 2 months later...

Even though I have a lot of .223 mags now, I would love to buy a couple if you made them. I think it's a good next product to work on, especially since some of the US-made options are a little cheesy.

 

I don't know what your price point is, but with the quality Beryl and Circle-10 magazines being around $25-30, I think you would have to come in around there, hopefully a little less. I have no idea how much it actually costs you to make these things.

 

Also, you have an opportunity to make a magazine that is marketable to more than the Saiga. Most Euro .223 AKMs have generally similar magazine feed geometry specs. The differences are mostly in the receiver cutout size, width of the trunnion, and whether or not the trunnion uses square or round head rivets on the inner lower rivet position.

 

It seems like the Saiga and Vepr .223 have very similar mag wells. You could at least target those two models. The SLR-106 comes in very close. It would be nice to be able to target the SAR-3 and WASR-3 as well. Maybe get some guys on here with those various rifles to take dimensions of the receiver cutout and lower trunnion width?

 

You could always just copy the general Weiger or Galil design, but tailor the feed angle and height to fit most Euro .223 AKMs. If you were going to do this, I would think the Galil design would be a better option, because by default it has the ability to use AR mag springs and followers. You could cut out part of your manufacturing process right there by just using common US-made parts.

 

My personal preference would be to have a mag without built-in bullet guide, as once again it could be used with other common .223 AKMs other than the Saiga/Vepr, but I have no idea what it would cost you to make both if you feel that the stock Saiga/Vepr market is a necessary niche.

Totally agree with this ^

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We still intend to build these.. However the recent sanctions have changed our product order around a lot. As of right now I don't know the production order.. I do know anything Russian just got pushed down the list.

 

We would like to build something that is more universal as there are more than a few non-AR pattern .223 rifles that could use additional magazines.

 

I hope to add basic in house CNC milling before the end of the year to speed these projects up.. Mark has been going through training books to get ahead on whatever training we send him for.

 

You can guess I'm in almost panic mode trying to figure out what we do to salvage the values of our existing product lines.. 

 

 

Edit: 7/28/14

 

We are going to delay the project for a short while until we can source a number of .223 rifles that need a lower cost magazine. 

Currently I have about 5 rifles that need to be purchased to compile the information 

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We still intend to build these.. However the recent sanctions have changed our product order around a lot. As of right now I don't know the production order.. I do know anything Russian just got pushed down the list.

 

We would like to build something that is more universal as there are more than a few non-AR pattern .223 rifles that could use additional magazines.

 

I hope to add basic in house CNC milling before the end of the year to speed these projects up.. Mark has been going through training books to get ahead on whatever training we send him for.

 

You can guess I'm in almost panic mode trying to figure out what we do to salvage the values of our existing product lines.. 

 

Sorry to see this happen to your business. You make great products, though, and I'm sure you can adjust and find new markets.

 

I'd love to see some steel Saiga 223 mags, but my advice to you is not to bother. Because of today's news, I don't think you would be adequately compensated for your development time and money.

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