My personal preferences and findings after owning 200+ various steel magazines from a variety of countries, this is how I would rate them if I had to take them into a fight (who cares what they cost or how rare they are at that point):
1.East German – Best fit, finish, and overall quality, stamping and welds are unmatched in quality, never had an issue
2.Chinese Polytech – Excellent fit and finish, sometimes have chrome followers and the three witness holes and spineless backs add to their appeal and functionality, never had an issue
3.Polish – Very nice fit and finish, never had an issue, nearly as well made as E.G. (have heard reports they dent more easily)
4.Russian – Fit is great, finish is more rough, stampings are more rough like the Romanian mags, never had an issue
5.Bulgarian - Very nice fit and finish, never had an issue, nearly as well made as E.G. (none of this applies unless milspec mags, most of the ones available are commercial junk with plastic followers and thinner steel)
6.Chinese Norinco – Good fit and finish, lots of sharp edges make them less desirable to me, I have actually drawn blood on the edge during a rapid mag change… but spineless is good
7.Egyptian – Good fit and sloppy thick painted finish, rougher stampings like Romanian mags, never had an issue
8.Romanian – Good fit and rough finish and rough stampings/welds, these vary the most in dimensions, so are sometimes too tight or wobbly in different guns. Have occasionally encountered underpowered spring issues as well
9.Hungarian – Good fit and finish, stamping and welds are on par with Polish/Bulgarian mags, but I have had several 30 and 20 round mags that were difficult or impossible to load to capacity, followers hanging up or binding while loading are common as well. They seem like they need a break in period or polishing on internals to work reliably.
10.Yugoslavian – Poor fit and good finish, stampings are nice, Have had floorplates pop off of several and some are so tight that they will not lock into any rifle without first being filed on the locking lugs. Easy fixes but new/excellent condition mags should not need to be fixed. I don’t find value in the bold hold open function as it slows down mag changes.
I have owned at least 5 of every mag I listed over the years and for most 20+ mags. In this analysis I am only considering how magazines in lightly used to new condition behave. A dented rusty heavily used mag is not indicative of anything about its origin, just that it is denty/rusted/abused… In the end they do almost all function reliably as they should, unlike many other magazines for other rifles… (*CoughCough..ar…) For the AK the magazines are actually a strong point of the rifle and add much to its legacy of reliability. Just test them out before trusting your life to them