Ive been thinking about purchasing a pile of steel surplus AK mags.  My local shop had a giant pile of them for sale last time I was there.  I dont know what country of origin they are yet, Ill look next time I go there.
Im just curious if there are any I should avoid, like Korean or something.

Also, is there any way to distinguish their country or origin?


Thanks.



EDIT: Oh yeah, Id also like to know if there are any that are considered to be the "best"?

Korean steel magazines are the only steel magazines that come to mind. They're commercial products, not military surplus.

Romanian, Polish, Yugoslavian, Russian, Chinese, East German, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Egyptian steel magazines will all be good to go and are the most common stateside.

As far as use and abuse they're all going to be damn near the same. It's just a matter of collectability vs shooter mags.

Good to know.
Thanks!

There are a number of good resources here and elsewhere to help in identifying country of origin. Here's a good one to get you started.

As far as actual surplus mags are concerned, you should be good to go with any of them. The biggest differences of note will be will Yugo magazines (which have bolt-hold-open followers) and Chinese magazines (most of which lack the prominent spine), otherwise they're virtually all the same. There are some rare and/or collectible variants, but they'll stand out like a turd in a punch bowl so you won't need help spotting those.

The ones to steer clear of are commercial steel magazines. These will be advertised as being made in Korea (South), Croatia, or the magazines made by Gibbs-Matra in Bosnia (not to be confused with the uber-collectible Bosnian mags made during the implosion of Yugoslavia). The Gibbs-Matta and Croatian mags probably aren't that bad, actually, but they purportedly often require significant fitting in order to work properly.

On the subject of fitting mags - because so many countries manufactured AKs and AK mags, there is no "standard" set of dimensions. Regardless of quality or country or origin, expect that you might have to fit some of the magazines to your rifle. This is normal. Do NOT fit your rifle to the magazines.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

^ good advice as it's same as my experience!

I bought 5 mags.  I chose the grade 2 ones because they were a little cheaper and just had some finish worn off.  Other than that, they seem good.  I was told all the mags were Polish, but they are missing any markings from the guide that Notyouratty linked to.  

2 of them have distinct markings on the spine, one has a D and the other has an S.  Someone in the guide that Notyouratty linked to mentioned Hungarian mags have a "D" stamped on them, but also said they are 20 round mags.  These are all 30 rounders.  Maybe 30 round Hungarian mags do too... I havent gotten a chance to do that much research.

The other 3 mags also share a similar marking in similar spots along the spines, but they just look like scratch marks to me.  But, they all have the same marks near the same spot on the spine, which is why I thought they might be some kind of markings.  I dont know.


Anyway, they are actually my first steel AK mags.  All my other AK mags are Circle 10 waffle mags.
Im oddly in love with the steel though.