AK magazine changes

[EvoRich]

I wanted to take some friends with me to the range. One who has been eyeing up a Mossberg 500 12 gauge, but has never shot one. The range I'm a member of is usually very calm, laid back and rarely many people there. But it's a pain to invite guests. I'm allowed, but it's just easier to go to a public range. So we get to the public range and there were about 98256798245794 people there. I hate being at the range with a lot of people. So I'm already flustered for that reason, but I was having A LOT of trouble with magazine changes with my WASR 10/63 that I took along with my AR15. Sitting around in a safe area, I can change mags with the slightest ease. They rock right in and pop right out, then suddenly I'll have a bitch of a time inserting one, having to fiddle around with it for like 10 seconds, then suddenly it'll snap right it. These mags suck to begin with. They're single stack Romanian mags. One of the mags, if it's fully loaded with 10 rounds, it sometimes jams up chambering the first round. I made a marking on it so I know which one it is.

Is it me, or the mags? I'm thinking me (except for the one with chambering issue). I can pop these things in time after time after time, the suddenly, about 4 attempts in a row, I have to fiddle around with one. It gets irritating. I love shooting this guns so much, and I've only had one jam, due to the stupid magazines. It's reliable, fun, fairly accurate, but trying to do quick mag changes seems like it's an art form and takes years to master. Is it just me? Hahaha...

I am planning on hollowing it out to accept 30 round mags, and I'll probably get plastic mags as they seem like they'd snap in much easier.

[victory]

The AK was not designed to be a single stack gun. A proper emergency mag change on an AK involves knocking the empty mag out with the full one, plant the front of the fresh mag in at a steep angle and rock back. I don't think it takes any more practice thanany other platform.

Anyway, when you do the conversion, I recommend sticking with surplus steel mags. You can get Bulgarian ones for less than $10.

[EvoRich]

Yeah, at the time, I bought the single stack because it was $100 cheaper and I knew I could do the conversion for free later on. Now, I've been putting it off. I know it's not difficult and I have decent skill with a grinder, as I've worked with them before in the automotive field. BUT, the fact that it's not automotive related, I put off doing the conversion in fear that I make the hole too big, or off center and cause the mag to seat wrong and jam every single time.

But damn, mag changes are a bitch. I've never had really any issues until today. And my first jam, which I think was the magazine. Once I stopped using that mag it was malfunction free. That I don't care about, it's just trying to consistently insert the mags is a pain.

[victory]

It almost never pays to do the conversion yourself. Some single stack guns need modifications to the front trunion. All of them require US made compliance parts.

[EvoRich]

It almost never pays to do the conversion yourself. Some single stack guns need modifications to the front trunion. All of them require US made compliance parts.

I believe the later single stack WASR's are built with 922R parts already. I could be wrong. What needs modified to the front trunnion? I've seen "how to's" and it's literally just grinding out the mag well and the little "L" shaped pieces inside.

I wouldn't mind paying some money to have somebody local do it for me

[Jay_Cunningham]

A proper emergency mag change on an AK involves...

Unsure I'd call this way "proper"; I would call this "a way" to perform a mag change. There are other "proper" ways.

[RaisedByWolves]

It almost never pays to do the conversion yourself. Some single stack guns need modifications to the front trunion. All of them require US made compliance parts.

Why not?

Will it be easier and cheaper for someone else to do it?

[Nate7667]

Whats wrong with sitting around and practicing mag changes at home with an empty mag/weapon?
You dont always need to be at the range.

[gold cup abuser]

The only time you might need a gunsmith in coverting a single stack AK to a standard/real mag is with the Sagia AK series. The Sagia will need to have some internal mods done, I belive remove the bullet guide, and that is best left to someone with some experience.


As far as making the 10/63 take hi cap mags I did a quick google and found this from Gun Central.net:

http://guncentral.net/Articles/LoCap-HiCap.html


For rapid AK mags check out this video:

[markheck1]

Yeah, ain't none of them workin like that in my WASR, my mags are a lot tighter...