Can anyone recommend any types of AK74 magazines that are actually available somewhere? I refuse to use Tapco magazines

Just got in 3 AK74's and ad states "magazines will vary" but surprise surprise 6 tapcos.

i wish those fit a 74

not much out there at the moment, a while back i bought a few of these at RobertRTG and they were awesome

I haven't kept up with the price of military surplus but know they aren't cheap like they used to be.  May want to wait for the new Magpuls.

Circle 10 or circle 21 Bulgy mags work great.

I understand the AR mag tapco hate but not the AK tapco mag. I've had nothing but reliability with them and there are videos out there where guys bash the fuck out of them and they still work.   It's not like you're going to war. I don't think there is anything wrong with a three to one tapco to "good" mag ratio. Especially since ten of the really good mags can run you $250 plus.

Don't get me wrong, I have a used car worth of circle 10's and 21's but most were given to me from my dad.

Yeah, Tapco catches a lot of (sometimes well-earned) flak for their products, but their AK line is actually pretty decent.  The mags don't look very good, but you know, they work.  I even like their Mini-14 mags for the same reason, they work.  You shouldn't discount them straight out of hand.

Military surplus is always the best when it comes to 5.45 mags.  It's a game of rarity at this point though.  The most common thing you'll find right now are the surplus Bulgarian Circle-10 or Circle-21 mags.  They used to be dirt cheap but seem to pull in $30-$40 a throw now.

Magpul is rumored to be doing a 5.45 magazine next year now that their feet are wet in the AK mag world.  I'd expect those, if they do release some, to work pretty well like their other mags.

CDNN has a "commercial" Bulgarian 30-round magazine that is known to be bad.  They're cheap, and there's a reason for it.  Promags are also hit or miss, mostly miss.

All that said, your info there says NY so should we take the bandsaw to them and shorten them down a bit?  I think I have a Romanian 5 or 10 rounder that came with my SAR-2 in the AWB years.

I've been out of the '74 game for a few years since I gave my AK-74M clone build to my son. My shooting buddy built a couple of Tantal kits back then as well. We used Bulgy circle 10 and East German phenolic mags with typical Com-Bloc ruggedness and reliability. You can't go wrong with either of these. I got a bunch of these mags for under $10 each but honestly they are worth more. If i were to get back into the  '74 platform again I would exclusively buy the above mentioned mags at the current market prices...  all for "Buy American" whenever possible, but with AK mags I go for the real deal.

1DD

CDNN AK-74 Mags