hunkylynch 0 Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 I've heard that AK 74 magazines work very well in the Saiga 223 rifle, is this true? I'm also hearing there is an adaptor for using AR 15 magazines as well. Is the adaptor easy to install? Is one better than the other or do they both work well? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted March 26, 2013 Report Share Posted March 26, 2013 (edited) AK-74 mags are hit or miss, usually miss. In most cases they won't fit without filing down the front feed lips, you may not be able to get them to feed at all. If they do feed, you may only be able to fit 20-25 rounds of .223 in there before things bind up. Really.. .223 mags for the Saiga cost less than 5.45 mags now. If you have a bullet guide, you can use the Polish Beryl or Bulgarian Circle-10 magazines, both of which require the same mod as an AK-74 mag before they'll fit in, but once they're in they're solid as hell. The ProMag .223 (the ones billed as being for SAR/WASR-3 and Norinco 5.56 AKs - NOT the Saiga-specific ones with the built-in bullet guide) and Tapco Galil mags are cheesy all-plastic, but in my experience both of them work 100%, and they're dirt cheap - so stack 'em high. There's no real point to using 5.45 mags unless you have a garbage bag full of 'em. I'll leave it up to people that have the AR adapters to field that part of the question. Edited March 26, 2013 by mancat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RoughRider666 47 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 if you can get them, use Galil 35rd mags! you get the bonus of having 5 extra rounds and they were MADE for 223/556 to begin with so you know they're gonna feed as long as you have a feed ramp installed... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paulry 50 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 No they don't! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jaba1017 71 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 The don't work. I have some SAR3 mags which are 5.45 mags converted to 5.56. The curvature of the mag is too sharp for 5.56. These will work with 10 rounds. The last round wont feed. So load 10 and shoot 9: that is what you get using 5.45 mags for 5.56. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jdub23 21 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 My galil mags work w/o any mod besides the added bullet guied. I would have saved my money and trouble on the other mags if I had of known it would run galil w/o any hassle. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew Hopkins 1,065 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) The don't work. I have some SAR3 mags which are 5.45 mags converted to 5.56. The curvature of the mag is too sharp for 5.56. These will work with 10 rounds. The last round wont feed. So load 10 and shoot 9: that is what you get using 5.45 mags for 5.56. the whole problem with the 74 mags that came with the SAR3s is that CENTURY didn't change out the follower, the 5.45 profile on the follower doesn't work with the profile of the 5.56 rounds, it has nothing to do with the curvature. I know this for a fact, because that is what mine was doing as well, until I changed out the follower. well, actually I ground down the 5.45 profile on the follower and took a follower from one of the many 20 round M16 mags that I have, cut the "tails" off of it and epoxied it onto the 5.45 follower. now I can load 29 rounds and they all chamber and extract with no issues. ROBINSON ARMS at one time were selling 5.56 followers for the 5.45 mags, and a lot of people changed that out and it worked. but they haven't been for sale in years and years. the TAPCO GOLINI/GALIL mags also work in the SAR 3 as well, I bought a few of those before the panic buying frenzy hit. that was the cheapest way to go instead of buying E. German WEIGER mags. but since the panic buying frenzy started those mags aren't cheap anymore. Edited March 31, 2013 by Matthew Hopkins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 if you can get them, use Galil 35rd mags! you get the bonus of having 5 extra rounds and they were MADE for 223/556 to begin with so you know they're gonna feed as long as you have a feed ramp installed... Galil 35 round steel magazines are problematic in many of the newer Saigas with dimpled receivers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RoughRider666 47 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 if you can get them, use Galil 35rd mags! you get the bonus of having 5 extra rounds and they were MADE for 223/556 to begin with so you know they're gonna feed as long as you have a feed ramp installed... Galil 35 round steel magazines are problematic in many of the newer Saigas with dimpled receivers. seriously? ive never had any problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) yep, they sit too low for many of the Saigas. do you have a flat or round trunnion? I believe they work better with the flat trunnion due to a slightly different bullet guide height. in mine, they sit low enough that although they work 90% of the time, every so often the bolt will ride-over a round and dig into the case about halfway through its length, rather than pushing from the rear of the case rim. even after adjusting the latching tabs on the magazine so that the mag sits extremely tight in the magwell, as high up as possible, this still can happen. mags that have been rebuilt with new AR springs and followers still exhibit this problem. the mag seating height is clearly the problem when you inspect it very closely. if they work 100% for you, great. my mag preference lies elsewhere due to these problems. they also will not work with a 5.56 AK-74 I'm building, due to trunnion differences - the Galil mags will not fit into an AK-74 trunnion. Edited March 31, 2013 by mancat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RoughRider666 47 Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 yep, they sit too low for many of the Saigas. do you have a flat or round trunnion? I believe they work better with the flat trunnion due to a slightly different bullet guide height. in mine, they sit low enough that although they work 90% of the time, every so often the bolt will ride-over a round and dig into the case about halfway through its length, rather than pushing from the rear of the case rim. even after adjusting the latching tabs on the magazine so that the mag sits extremely tight in the magwell, as high up as possible, this still can happen. mags that have been rebuilt with new AR springs and followers still exhibit this problem. the mag seating height is clearly the problem when you inspect it very closely. if they work 100% for you, great. my mag preference lies elsewhere due to these problems. they also will not work with a 5.56 AK-74 I'm building, due to trunnion differences - the Galil mags will not fit into an AK-74 trunnion. I have a Flat trunnion in mine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jdub23 21 Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 Flat in mine too. My bolt grabs the same for all mags, weiger, galil, wasr and chinese .223. Mines an 08 Saiga .223 16" w/o any magwell changes just a flat guide bolted into place w/ red loctite. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikebaker1129 19 Posted April 16, 2013 Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 The don't work. I have some SAR3 mags which are 5.45 mags converted to 5.56. The curvature of the mag is too sharp for 5.56. These will work with 10 rounds. The last round wont feed. So load 10 and shoot 9: that is what you get using 5.45 mags for 5.56. You want to sell them ? The plastic Orilite galil mags work great in my Saiga with just a small amout of material removed from the sides on the front. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vinni83 148 Posted April 16, 2013 Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) The don't work. I have some SAR3 mags which are 5.45 mags converted to 5.56. The curvature of the mag is too sharp for 5.56. These will work with 10 rounds. The last round wont feed. So load 10 and shoot 9: that is what you get using 5.45 mags for 5.56. I do not have SAR3 mags, but standard russian magazine Ak-74 non correct working with cartriges 5.56 Nato. Once tuning, they can work only with 10 rounds, and not ideal model of reliability. Edited April 16, 2013 by vinni83 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bigdust80 10 Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 I've got an 09 223. To make the Galil mags 100%, add weld to the bottom of the locking tabs on the front and back of the mag. File the weld until you have the feed lips on the mag sitting flush to the bottom of the receiver rails. You don't want them too tight or the bolt will hang up on the rounds. On my rifle, I've got a little side to side movement on mag fit with my Beryls and Galils but they are both 100%. Another thing I would recommend on Galil mags, is polishing the legs on the followers and giving the mag body a good cleaning and coating with Remoil. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikebaker1129 19 Posted May 26, 2013 Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 [/url]"> The don't work. I have some SAR3 mags which are 5.45 mags converted to 5.56. The curvature of the mag is too sharp for 5.56. These will work with 10 rounds. The last round wont feed. So load 10 and shoot 9: that is what you get using 5.45 mags for 5.56. I do not have SAR3 mags, but standard russian magazine Ak-74 non correct working with cartriges 5.56 Nato. Once tuning, they can work only with 10 rounds, and not ideal model of reliability. Take a look at this German 5.45 magazine, you see where the red area is colored in ,this area needs to be opened up on both sides and The old 5.45 follower removed and replaced with a Robinson Armament .223 follower as seen in the picture. Once this is done, about 10 minutes with a dremel or even less with a drill press ,the magazine will feed and function with ALL 30 rds of .223 ammo. The key is you must swap out the follower or modify your old one to look like the one in the picture. Most of the Century sold rifles had the work done to the body ,but they did not perform the follower swap and that is why these magazines have the bad reputation. It has nothing to do with the curvature of the magazine body and everything to do with the follower allowing the .223 round to sit up higher in the magazine and slide straight into the chamber and not nose dive into the barrel . The curvature of a Polish Beryl .223 magazine is almost the curvature as a 5.45 mag, the whole curvature myth on the 'net is a bunch of crap. I have 5 or 6 of the conversion magazines and they all work flawless. My RA Vepr even came with a converted magazine from the factory. [/url]">http:// Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mancat 2,368 Posted May 27, 2013 Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 Maybe it's worked for you, and that's awesome. Others have tried it with the Robinson arms followers with no luck for a full 30 rounds. At this point, the 5.45 mags are usually more expensive than 5.56 mags, and Robinson Arms doesn't even make the 5.56 followers any more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikebaker1129 19 Posted May 27, 2013 Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 Maybe it's worked for you, and that's awesome. Others have tried it with the Robinson arms followers with no luck for a full 30 rounds. At this point, the 5.45 mags are usually more expensive than 5.56 mags, and Robinson Arms doesn't even make the 5.56 followers any more. You are correct on all accounts. Like convertings Saigas, converting magzines may not be in everyone's skill set. I totally agree on the 5.45 mags and costs versus the current .223 magazines. I just wanted to point out that while no longer cost effective, when done correctly they do work. There was a time when .223 AK mags were hard to come by and this was an option, that time has passed and these are no longer cost effective . I would be happy to take off your hands any of the non working converted mags and RA followers that anyone has that do not work for 30 rds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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