I've not acquired a rifle yet, but a PSA is in my near future... I want to start acquiring some mags while the getting is good... I know nothing about the AK platform, and what prices are acceptable.

I don't really have any expectations or favorites... I mean, if some surplus stuff is good, that works... if some outfit like Magpul is the way to go, that's all good too.

I just want stuff that works, is available/readily obtainable, and is affordable to stock up on... I will say those bakelite russian mags are really fuggin' cool looking, but a quick price check looks like those are not so affordable... ... maybe one or two for kicks at some point in time..

thanks for the help!

Surplus steel mags are the most reliable. Chinese,Russian,Bulgarian,Romanian,Hungarian,Albanian,Yugoslavian,German,polish etc. Anything from a country that issued AK's.

Should be able to find some for under $15, few years ago under $10 few years before that under $5 the price is going up and availability is going down.

Tapco mags for $5 are good until the plastic locking tabs or feedlips wear out.

Commercial mags such as South Korean or Croatian are not as good as surplus.

thank you for being specific, I appreciate it... that's exactly what I was looking for.

Arms of America and What a Country for ak steel mags

What he said.

And keep in mind different countries have SLIGHTLY different specs for their mags. So what works in one AK might fit differently in others.

I manly stick to Romanian mags as they seem to fit the best in all mine, with Hungarians coming in second. I have a WASR, Draco & AK63DS so that's probably not a coincidence.

WASRs are not opened up for double stack mags at the Romanian factory, that's done here after importation so there's a lot of variation there.

if you want steel mags the better grade surplus are still a good bet, but I wouldn't buy a crate til I knew what country mine likes.

And when a good price pops up on surplus mags they go FAST. So if someone posts "This site has Polish mags CHEAP" you can bet they're gonna be gone in days, or hours.

I'd pick three countries and try one of each, then settle on your preferred fit and wait for a good sale, then stock up.

For new mags I like the polymer Tapcos (cheap & reliable) & Magpuls (good feed geometry and better follower than Tapco).

EE is also a good place to check.

CDNN has Tapco mags $7 + $5 shipping

The "commercial" Bulgarian steel magazines are fantastic too. Each magazine is built on original equipment, and original thickness. The bodies of these steel magazines actually outweigh some foreign made surplus magazines. They feature paint over parkerizing, and a poylmer follower. Excellent, excellent magazines.
CDNN was probably one of the biggest sellers of them, but they are currently sold out. Highly recommended.

Stuff like the wasr will have threads on what to dremel to make the drum mags fit.

My ak stuff runs commie surplus mags and I have a bunch of commie surplus mag holders as well.

I am new to the AK-47 and bought a WASR 10. I ordered some Croatian AK-47 magazines and I to use my Dremel tool sand the upper portion a bit to make them fit. Not to hard too do but hand to clean off the metal dust first before you try to test fit. Once I got to fit I had a few magazines that were very difficult to remove so I had do some grinding. I just got done touching up the bare metal with some flat black kylon paint.

Attached File

Recently in the same position as you having just got a Gen3 Palmetto. Steel surplus mags are tried and true most people will tell you to go that direction. I'm not a fan of buying used mags because I'm a little OCD so I ordered the steel Bulgarians to see how they are. Right now they're cheaper than the going rate for surplus too as you can get them on sale for $12 and you get free shipping if you buy 7+.

Link to mags

The wasr 10 is converted from single stack mags to double stack mags.  So sanding or machining it a bit to work with everything is not uncommon.  The early ones usually worked with double stack mags fine, but you had to open it up to work with the drum mags.

I have a lot of surplus mags.  The bolt hold open ones are bringing a premium so I never got into those.

Buy some 20rd and 30rd and maybe even 40rd surplus mags.  I like the cheap mag holders that are surplus commie stuff, some remind me of vinyl seats in 80s station wagons and some are cloth, but usually have a nice shoulder strap and hold enough mags for a quick range trip.