Who has an AK (and variants)?

Agree. I have several Tapco mags, and they were cheap enough that I do not feel bad about beating on them, and they work fine. Just need to watch the rear lug (i.e. do not fall on the ground with the magazine sticking out and absorbing your fall.)

I had 2 bad AK mags.
1st was Romy surplus. Body was dented pretty bad. I can usually straighten out 99.9% of mag bodies and they function 100%. This one would hang up after 15 rounds. Swapping a nylon follower from a WBP mag fixed the issue permanently.
2nd was the above mentioned WBP Polish plastic mag. The front locking lug on it cracked after a couple of uses. It made a good donor for the Romy above.

Had a PTR32 with a mag release that was too long. Only Magpul AK mags would fit it. Surplus mags would get stuck and be VERY difficult to remove. Tried Polish, Hungarian, DDR, Romy, 2 or 3 generations of Bulgarians, Russians. Same result.

 

I noticed Zastava had a 10 pack of Serbian mags with last round bolt hold open in the blem section for $125 kinda tempted but idk if the lbh is really anything to worry about or not I guess just used to ar’s

 

BHO (Bolt Hold Open) feature is particular to Yugo and Serbian mags. They have a differently shaped follower that catches the bolt after the last round.
AKMs does not have a bolt catch in the receiver, so, once the mag is removed, bolt will go into battery. Unless the safety lever match is notched to hold the charging handle, and you move lever into Safe position to keep the bolt back after mag is removed.

Long way to say, Serbian mags will work fine, but they will be different from other AK mags.

 

Serbian rifle so I was just thinking it might work well

 

I got this optic mount for the rifle I’m not sure about it. It fits fine but is kinda tall I’m looking at the Swampfox Raider with a low mount for it so it may be perfect

 

I replaced the front sight pin on mine and
the rear was replaced with a krebs .
Accuracy on that one was outstanding to 200yds . Then I sold it .

 

Zastava has their own optic mount

https://zastavaarmsusa.com/product/zastava-m70-scope-mount/


I’m only looking at mounting a small prism optic. Y’all know way more about this than I do I’m welcome to suggestions understanding we all have our own opinions on what we like. I’m not stuck on a side mount either but do like the idea of a QD mount for this rifle.

 

Being in Canada my son has a both a russian SKS and a chinese SKS and just recently bought a chinese type 81. In the middle of the SKS's is a Keltec RDB bullpup. Think our first SKS was about $300 but prices have gone up a lot since then

 

Side rail on AKM/RPK based rifle is designed to be QD and side rail mounted optics will keep its zero.
If AK has a solid factory Pic rail, I will use that, like on a Beryl, Galil or Zenitco, otherwise I use side rail. I have used everything from Mepro M21 sights, to Russian POSP 4x scopes to Russian red dots to Holosuns to Vortex small prisms. They all work, depending rifle's purpose.

I never use gas tube mounted sights. They do not keep zero, overheat and too far away from the eye to be usefull on my experience.

 

As you and I discussed previously I bought one which mounts properly but it sits about an inch above the rear cover and worse, to me, it’s pretty off center with the barell and sights. Zastava sells one other than that about all I know to look at is Midwest industries or RS Regulate

 

That's a traditional position of the AK mount. Russian POSP scopes sit about an inch above the cover and to the left of the center bore. The best I can tell, it was to allow use of iron sights and to keep the optics out the way of ejected empty cases. Some AKs eject to 1 o'clock. Was it necessary? No, but some mounts are still made that way. RS and MI are good options for mounts. Description will say if they are centered over the bore.
Modern Russian AKs have adjustable cheek rests on the stocks, in addition to having a centered Pic rail on a rigid top cover. Modern Russian red dot sights are centered over the bore now also.

 

Poverty State Armory AK with Slavic inspired paint job.

 

What's the meaning behind гофман?

 

Palmetto State Armory and old Norinco with US parts.

 

I’d love to find one of those Norincos that was affordable even as a MAK90. I just wish I wouldn’t have had my head in the sand back in the 80’s and 90’s

 

I bought the Norinco MAK90 brand new in 1993 for $156 when I was in college. The gun store had a stack of them in their boxes, maybe 15 - 20, and the sale was advertised in the local newspaper. Believe it or not, this was in Sacramento, CA.

 

Shot some Saturday and more impressed with the rifle. Shot out to 120 with open sights not much problem lots of fun. 9x12 steel target ring a ding ding

 

Anyone have experience with these vs the Circle (10) 5.56 mags? Looking for some for an SLR-106FR to supplement my Circle (10) mags.



https://gunmagwarehouse.com/bulgari...ctID=19224&indexName=magento_default_products

 

They are not ((10)) Kazanlak Arsenal JSCo/Arsenal AD. They ISD mags. Which is not a bad thing. I have not used ISD's 5.56 mags, but 7.62x39 variety run great, do not break and are cheaper than bakes.
Rear lug is not milled, like in bakes, stamped steel, and strong enough. Front lug and lips are metal. Front lug does not extend as far down as in bakes, but I have dropped loaded mags on gravel and asphalt and they still functioned.

History rabbit trail.
ISD was a part of 3 state factories in socialist Bulgaria involved into AK production and armament in general (they were ((10)) or Arsenal AD today, ((25)) Optico Electron, and ((E)) or ISD today).
ISD makes stamped AK rifles still (as well as artillery systems, artillery shells and coastal defense systems, in addition to civilian sporting goods, such as binocs, rifles, etc), and, at one point, ISD supplied Arsenal with stamped receivers for US exports. ((10)) makes milled AKs for Bulgarian army and military export. I believe they have gotten their own receiver stamping presses a while back, though.