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Info about surplus mags

3K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  cjive134 
#1 ·
I ordered 3 metal surplus mags from sgammo.com and they arrived today. Two of them have a sticky goo on them. Is that cosmoline? What's the best way to clean it off (the inside too)? Also, I don't know what the terminology is, but the metal part that pushes up the lip is pretty crooked on one of them. See the one on the far right in the pic. Is that bad or does it even matter?
 
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#4 ·
I'm not an ak expert, but it looks like the follower is being pushed up in a weird way by the spring. And the follower looks different than on the other two mags.

Why don't ya see if it works first. It's an ak, not supposed to be pretty.
 
#6 ·
The magazine on the left seems to have a damaged (badly bent downwards lip on that one side). Could just be the angle shown in the photo but it doesn't look right. If its bent, it probably won't work right. You might be able to bend it back to the correct angle but I'd be surprised if it ever works right.

As to the cleaning? You've got to get the grease off and then wipe the metal surfaces down with some oil or they'll rust on you.

Can you take the mags. apart? So you can clean the parts better and inspect them? The bottoms (floor plate) should come off and then the spring and follower will come out the bottom and you can see/clean/inspect everything before putting it back together.
 
#7 ·
the goopy grease is indeed cosmoline. I spent 4.5 hours this past Saturday cleaning it off my Mosin Nagant. I used hot water and dawn dish soap in an aluminum lasagna pan, put the parts in it and took a gun cleaning brush to them. I recommend disassembling the mags and doing the same. After done dry them off and put a light coat of your favorite lubricant on them.

I can't speak to the other question you ask about the followers and such, as I'm new to the AK platform myself. Best suggestion I have is to number each magazine and then shoot them and see what they do. If they're reliable, use them. If not, toss them and try to find some that are.
 
#8 ·
The magazine on the left seems to have a damaged (badly bent downwards lip on that one side). Could just be the angle shown in the photo but it doesn't look right. If its bent, it probably won't work right. You might be able to bend it back to the correct angle but I'd be surprised if it ever works right.

As to the cleaning? You've got to get the grease off and then wipe the metal surfaces down with some oil or they'll rust on you.

Can you take the mags. apart? So you can clean the parts better and inspect them? The bottoms (floor plate) should come off and then the spring and follower will come out the bottom and you can see/clean/inspect everything before putting it back together.
Yeah, I was thinking I should probably take the mags apart so I can clean out the inside too. After looking at the base plate though, I'm not sure how to do this. What's the procedure to remove the base plate? Does it just pry off? I need to look at it again.
 
#9 ·
On a side note, where do you guys buy your surplus mags from? Is the quality of the condition of the mags always a crapshoot? I ordered these from sgammo.com because they were the cheapest place I found these particular yugo surplus mags. They do tell you on their website that the condition of the magazines can range from good to excellent and state that some of the ones in the good category may "require some light repair.". I rolled the dice and took my chances. Only time will tell whether they function properly or not, but in the future, I would be willing to spend a bit more to get better quality surplus mags.
 
#10 ·
There's usually a square lug protruding from the bottom of the mag.
Push that up into the floor plate and slide the floor plate forward or backwards.
 
#12 ·
I bought some surplus mags at the same gun show I bought my WASR at this past weekend. that way I could shop around for prices and inspect the surplus mags before buying them. may look into that if you have one coming to your area. Every show I've ever been to has a bunch of guys selling tons of com bloc surplus mags.
 
#13 ·
I guess I'll just clean these up and see if they actually work ok. I don't think I'll buy these sight-unseen anymore unless the seller can offer a guarantee that they are in very good or excellent condition. I am anxiously awaiting the steel reinforced Magpul AK mags to come out. I may just wait for some of those.
 
#16 ·
The pics suck. From the angle you show, bot the right side of the right mag and the left side of the left mag look flat. the right side mag follower looks fine, as do the others. Clean'em and use them. If they give you any issues, swap followers. Don't let the lack of reinforced feed lips stop you from buying mags unless you are going to use the thing that would require it. i have mags that are all polymer and haven't had an issue, yet. Then again, I haven't did the javelin throw with any of them in a while either.
 
#18 ·
I've got some TapCo polymer AK mags that cost about $6 or $7 each and so far they've all worked just fine. They make good range/practice magazines.

I've not yet bought any of the new MagPul AK polymer mags but most folks say they are great magazines.

I've bought some Korean (sort of leery of those after the Korean Glock mags. failed so badly) AK mags and some combloc (don't have a clue what country they are from, just advertised as surplus communist country AK mags) and so far every magazine has worked for me.

I plan to buy 4 or 5 of the Magpul magazines and try them.
 
#19 ·
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#20 ·
Man those are some busted mags...you can get Bulgarian Mags on the cheap and they def don't come looking like that. When in Doubt...buy Bulgarian
 
#21 ·
As long as these function ok, I don't really care what they look like on the outside. I can always refinish them and make them look new again. However, if I buy more steel mags, I'll try to make sure they are at least in very good condition.
 
#24 ·
Why not Hungarian, Chinese, Polish, or Romanian?? Bulgarian steel mags aren't as cheap as some. And they are no better quality then most.
15 dollars for a good mag is expensive? I will go Bulgarian any day of the week
 
#25 ·
On a side note, I finally got around to cleaning all the cosmoline off the mags last night, both inside and out. It made a big difference in how they feel and the followers don't stick anymore. I did notice some light surface rust on one of them, so I'll need to take care of that soon, but otherwise, I think these will work out fine.
 
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