A buddy just gave me two orange bakelite mags with the tops painted black and stamped .223 CAL on the floor plates.  He said he tried them in his 223 Norinco, and they would not cycle.  Comparing them to my 5.45 mags, it looks like the followers are slightly different and the walls have been thinned a bit towards the front.  They cycled by hand just fine through my SAR2.  Just curious if they will be functional at the range.   It's going to be a while before I can get there, so was wondering if anyone has tried these in their 74 and how/if they work.  I posted a couple of comparative pics, loaded and unloaded.....

5.45 bakelike on top, .233 bakelike on bottom



5.45 Circle 10 on top, .223 bakelite on bottom

When they first came out, the SAR-3s (basically the AK74 in .223) used 5.45 AK mags like those orange ones, with the feed lips sanded/ground back some to change the presentation angle.  They didn't work very well, and were for me the reason I eventually sold my SAR-3.

However, they should still work pretty well for 5.45 in a SAR-2, though replacing the ".223 followers" with originals may help reliability by changing the feed angle back to where it's supposed to be, and hopefully the relief grinds won't negatively affect things TOO much.

Thanks for the reply Circuits.  I was also figured I would probably have to change the followers.  If they work or not, I sure can't complain for what I paid for them................nothing.

Did they paint the tops black to identify them as 223 mags?

Not from the factory - must have been done by a previous owner at some point.

Century painted the tops . The couple I owned worked well for 5.45 with no mods .

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Interesting - must have started after I got my last batch from them in 2002/3.