What color are these? are they bakelite or black? how do you like them? I am pondering some for my SAR-3 to AK-102 project and need some feedback

The one I have is a bakelite that they put a black pebble type finsh on that is fairly durable. The mag works great and actualy is esier to change out than my Bulgarian Waffle mags. I also ordered some of their followers and converted some AK 74 mags. KVar has them that are solid black and it is easy to do. The Robinson mags work great too.

The mag that came with my .223 VEPR-K, and the two other RAs I bought from the dealer, are, I suspect, East German AK74 units with the RobArm follower installed, because they are unribbed and have a number, uncircled, near the baseplate, and where the RA-applied black finish has been scratched off there is a definite orange color showing through.  They all work very well, no insertion/removal/feeding issues at all after almost 500 rounds.

Just got in 3 Bulgarian 5.56 black waffle mags from K-Var, Double Circle 10s, and they will not insert without some fitting. The outside edges of the rear of the feed lips needed to be rounded off some with a file before they would insert into the magwell; all I had to do was compare their profile to the RA mags to see where to start filing. After modification they are working well with snap caps, but I haven't tried them out at the range yet.

I suspect that a do-it-yourself mag build for a .223 double-stack Kalashnikov would be to merely use an RA follower in an AK74 5.45 mag. Less expensive too, since used EG units are about $8 and the RA follower is $6, whereas RA charges $25 for the units they are selling and the K-Var Bulgarians were $20. Unconfirmed reports are that if a .223 mag will work in a VEPR, it will also work in an SAR-3.

What I didn't know until I checked into it was that the OAL of the 5.45 and 5.56 rounds is almost the same: IIRC, 57.0 mm for the 5.45 and 57.4 mm for the 5.56. But the 5.56 has a slimmer profile and won't feed reliably from a 5.45 follower unless you get it higher in the mag by either dremeling out material from the underside of the feed lips, or by leaving the mag alone and replacing the follower. And when you load them, just tap the mag on its backside to make sure the rounds seat fully to the rear.

JoeInCT has hit the magazine issue on the head; only a few points to clarify.  

The EG Bakelites will function as is (no mods) if you keep the capacity between 15-17 rounds (it varies between magazines).  More than that and the bolt will not strip off a new round.

The RA follower replacement will address most of the feeding issues, but the feed lips need to be relieved to accomodate the shoulder on the 5.56 case (it sits further up than on the 5.45).  Without the dremmel mods, the last few rounds tend to cant towards the center of the magazine, causing some failure to feed issues on the last two or three rounds.

Thanks, good info to know.