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We always talk about Soviet era Com-bloc steel magazines as being indestructible and maintenance free, so I thought I would share some observations from using them for the last 30 years or so...

 

First, they do rust inside.  I have had them where the spring actually rusted through.  The rust can also cause the steel followers to bind, especially with the spring degraded.  Granted, in all those years, I have only seen a few where they rusted that bad, that the spring snapped, and those were part of a large case lot I bought (for resale at gunshows and Shotgun news back in the day) stored in questionable conditions.

 

Second, springs can degrade.  Out of the 20 or so mags I still have now, when recently broke them down for cleaning and service, two had significantly shorter springs.  I replaced them with NOS ones from APEX.

 

Third, I am not a fan of the original steel followers.  I have always replaced the followers with Polymer K-Var or Tapco US followers.  ALL of my AK mags have Tapco followers.

 

I have 8 that had some signs of pitting inside and out, and some of these were fairly dented The two that had degraded springs were from these.  The 8 were part of a that batch of mags I bought in case lots for resale at gunshows and Shotgun News.  They were in my "cull" box, and since i had a dozen VG to EXC com-bloc steels that I kept when I went out of business before the 1-1-2000 California ban, I did not worry about them.  Recently, however, I resurrected them by replacing the dented/rusted bodies and floor plates with Tapco smooth side bodies.  6 still had good springs, but the two I replaced.

 

Moral of the story:

Break them down

Clean and lube them

Check you springs

Replace the metal followers with polymer ones.

 

About 10-12 years ago, I was talking to a Russian expatriate who now lives in Sacramento.  He had been a Spetsnaz in Afghanistan in the 80s.  Our conversation was interesting for more than one reason.  One was that he thought we were stupid for not learning from the Russian's debacle in Afghanistan.  He reminded me that even Alexander the Great  could not conquer them. The second reason was that he told me the way they cleaned their weapons and magazines was to soak them in a barrel of diesel oil.  They swished the unloaded magazines (fully assembled) in the oil to flush out sand.  Then they just pulled them out and shook them.  They would use the diesel residue to lube them.

Edited by imarangemaster
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I'm all for breaking down magazines and testing them several times before they are deemed trustworthy, but what's wrong with the original followers?
I know people change them out for compliance, but I've never heard of any other motivation than that.

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I'm all for breaking down magazines and testing them several times before they are deemed trustworthy, but what's wrong with the original followers?

I know people change them out for compliance, but I've never heard of any other motivation than that.

 

+1

 

when I buy a magazine, I disassemble it to see what condition it's in. and very, very  few were bad enough that I had to clean or knock off some rust that was inside.

 

as for the followers, unless it's for compliance purposes or it's damaged,  I see no reason what so ever to replace them.

Edited by Matthew Hopkins
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