Irritated with Tapco 7.62x39 30 round mags.

[JesterPgh]

I got a few when I purchased my 10/63 a little while back, never gave 'em much thought, but I'm super bored tonight, and figured I'd load mags to pass the time while I listen to "Too Tough to Die", the Ramones Tribute. I mostly own steel mags, and have personally purchased 2 Tapco mags separately just because they were dirt cheap, which function normally. So, I proceed to load the first one, no problem, 30 in, good to go. Grab the 2nd. By #28 they weren't going in real easy, and once #28 was in, no more. Ok, maybe I miscounted, and really put 30 in, but it's odd I have 2 rounds sitting here. Grab the 3rd, same as the 2nd. Now I have 4 loose rounds sitting here. Unload all the Tapco mags, count my rounds, 90 loose rounds, including the 4 previously homeless rounds. Disassemble all three mags to compare the guts. Two of the Tapco mags have longer springs in them, looking to me like plenty enough to generate coil bind early (easily, uncoiled, 4" longer than the ones that work right). I know, minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but really, a 30 round mag should hold 30 rounds. Anyone else ever run into this particular issue with Tapco mags? I don't feel they're worth putting new springs in, they were, for all intents and purposes, free, but they throw my round count off. I always figure 3 boxes for 2 mags loading 30s, 2 boxes per mag for 40s, and this throws a monkey wrench in the count. I suppose I could use them to learn the seemingly popular art of stippling. For now, I've penciled on the feed tower "28".

[brownman]

Cut a couple coils off the longer springs (make'em even with the one that will take 30rds) and see what happens. Keep them for range use, your steel mags are your SHTF mags.

[rovert97]

Never had an issue with mine. Got the 3 pack from sportsmansguide when they were 3/$24.

[ruggerio]

i have one tapco and one promag , they are the last plastic mags i will ever have for an ak, i have had problems with both.

[internet troll]

i have one tapco and one promag , they are the last plastic mags i will ever have for an ak, i have had problems with both.

I have found Tapco 30 round mags to be junk. I never have a problem with steel mags. They jam up and cause me problems every time I use them. I have not had a problem with their 10 round mags.

[knight0334]

I had the same problem with a Tapco AR mag. It would only fit 28, sometimes 29, of the advertized 30rnds. I ended up cutting 2 turns of the spring and reforming the end.

[JesterPgh]

Well, I'm not opposed to reshaping the springs, I was just kind of thrown off with the whole thing as I've always had good experiences with Tapco stuff in the past. Next time I'm bored, I'll open those two back up and correct the springs.

[LostinGermany]

I had two of mine do the same thing. After I loaded and shot them a few times the springs loosened up and I could fit the last rounds in. Actually had a random steel mag do the same thing but it was only short one round.

[maxxram]

I have 15 of the Tapco AK Mags, Could not pass them up for $6 each.
I haven't had any issues. All took 30rds right out of the package and haven't had any jams or misfeeds with them. It could be just the fact that when i converted my Zastava PAP to Hi-cap i used the Tapco Mag as the template.

[JesterPgh]

I didn't have an opportunity to mess with them at all today. I can say with certainty, it's definitely spring bind. I could load them 1000 times, and they're only going to take 28; they're dead stopping, like trying to put an 8th round in a 7 round 1911 mag stopping. I'll pull a known good one apart, and the two goofballs apart, and I'll actually take pics.

And no, I didn't get pics, because there was just nothing to get pics of. Disassembled all of my Tapco mags this evening, and I must have been mistaken, because all of the springs are identical in length. Maybe I had a 40 rounder apart last night when I looked (sorry, I was tired). My conclusion is I have 2 of these Tapco mags that are just going to be a problem, and they'll just be removed from the "active duty" inventory. I had 4 Tapco mags containing 120 rounds of ammunition. Two of these had 30 rounds apiece in them, load and unload properly, and are remaining in the inventory. The other two had a combined 60 rounds in them, but both were extremely tight, and one had 32 rounds in it, one had 28. The one with 28 would not move another millimeter, and in fact the overloaded mag had about 1/16" of "play". So, none of it makes sense. These two are being relegated to "training reserve", and will be permanently marked as such. Just thought I'd share, and update, whether it's a mistake on my part or an out of spec mag; maybe both. I won't go out of my way to get any more of them though, just prefer to stick to surplus steel.