I got some new Bulgarian polymer mags for my Bulgarian Arsenal SLR-101S and they aren't seating in the magwell.  The magwell is really tight as it is but I have 2 other Bulgy polymer mags that fit fine (and are extremely tight fitting), and my 3 steel Bulgy mags fit good as well, albeit also somewhat tight.  I bought some Bakelite colored polymer Bulgy mags which are the exact same as my two other polymers, only difference are those ones are black in color.

One of the 3 new mags I got I can get to seat if I hit it after I try seating it, but the other two I can't get to seat at all.  I'd rather just remove some material than return them, but I am wondering where I should be removing material from.  I have a dremel I can use for this.  I attached a picture of the magazine lug and the magazine when pushed into the magwell where you can see it not fully clearing the mag release paddle:

yeah you don't need a DREMEL, just a file and file the top of the lug a pass or two,  then check to see if it fully seats, if not do it one more pass, there is still going to be enough "meat" on the lug so it doesn't fail.

I had to do that on a TAPCO GAILIL/GOLINI mag for it to seat fully in my SAR 3

Thanks Billy!  I filed a few passes over the top of each lug as you said and tested fitment after each couple passes until the mags seated normally.  Thanks for the help!

you're welcome

you can also do that to your mags that are "tough" to seat, it'll probably only take one pass

I had this issue.  Are you having this problem with arsenal "Circle 10" waffle mags or are these the smooth side Bulgarian mags?

They are the smooth side Bulgarian mags.  These are the exact ones I got: https://gunmagwarehouse.com/bulgarian-ak47-7-62x39mm-30-round-steel-lined-polymer-magazine.html

I got 2 black ones which both work fine, but the 3 the bakelite ones I got wouldn't fit so I had to file some material off the lugs.

Link didnt work.  I am confused you said smooth side bulgarian but you had trouble with bakelites?  The smooth side ones are bulgarian commercial mags and they are hit or miss in my experience.  Got rid of the commercial bulgarian and polish mags which I purchased for this reason.  The only bakelits I have are either russian or chinese milspec mags, never had a problem with any of the milspec stuff  (these are all older / NOS stuff I guess).  For newer production, I like the bulgarian circle 10 mags - really good mag but pricy these days.

Sorry, they are bakelite-ish in color but are Bulgarian mags.  Should have clarified a bit better.  All of my mags are Bulgarian and are a mix of new production steel and polymer.

Here's a pic of the mags since the link won't work for some reason:

Attached File

Got it.  Those are the bad commercial ones.  I know its an easy fix but I decided not to trust an out of spec mag when there are so many other options.  I would think that I am just being paranoid and they should work fine after the mod you did.  Good luck with them.

I'd personally have the magwell worked on. It's one thing to not have a shitty mag fit but you're having issues with good mags hardly working too.

Honestly it probably is the magwell.  All my mags fit really, really tight in the gun.  It has even tighter tolerances than the SAM7 I used to have.

I think I've read in the past that other people with the SLR-101 rifles had really tight fitting mags.

I kinda laughed when I saw your link that you got yours from gunmagwarehouse. I bought my 1st three magazines from Atlantic firearms, 2 steel and one ploymer Bulgarian magazines. All three fit fine, not loose or tight.

I bought 3 more Bulgarian magazines from gunmagwarehouse (2 polymer and 1 steel)around Halloween and none of the Polymer mags fit.
I don’t know why it’s  like  this as both sets of polymer mags I got from Atlanticfirearms and gunmagwarehouse have the same sticker, packaging, and the cuts and other details are the same.

It must just be the lots they're from or something.  The two black ones I got both seat perfectly, but the bakelite colored ones all had issues.

No.  The commercial mags are garbage.  Do not buy!