I wanted to ask about the Gibbs Matra AK-47 mags. How are they? I watched a couple videos thst I could find and they seem good to go and are like most surplus mags.

Anyone using these or have used them? Thoughts about them?

I will be using these in my GF3. Hopefully they don't need modifications to fit.

I also have some Bulgarian mags coming. Both metal and polymer. I think I'll be set on mags for a while after this next buy. Thanks everyone for the help. My journey back into AK's has been a learning experience.

Please don't use all caps in thread titles. You will notice nobody else does it.

I fixed this one, because you probally didn't know all caps are shouting on the internet. dryflash3

I didn’t have much luck with these.  Very poor fit in mag wells, also had issues with unreliable feeding.  Occurred in Wasr-10 and MAK-90.  YMMV, but I couldn’t  even use them for range mags.

Watch the video of their manufacture, might be interesting.  A surly looking crew of disaffected east Europeans working on Soviet era machinery.

There are better magazines out there for the same or marginally more money.

I just found some surplus mags for a little more. Thanks for the info. I think I may go with some of those.

Surplus mags are best mags.

Avoid any new asian mags. They have plastic followers.

I'm going to order some surplus mag.

I have some absolutely beat to crap surplus serbian mags back from the early surplus days with the BHO follower (I think 2 of them even have bullet strikes on the mag body) and they work 100% regardless of rifle they go into. Surplus all the way in my opinion!

The Gibbs mags are garbage. I bought some when they first came out after watching the video of the mags being made. The video is cool but the mags are not worth the problems they are known to have.

I think the Gibbs-Matra base plates and weld lines can be sloppy but they're beefy and run fine. The BHO feature is iffy, despite the magazine springs being quite strong. The finish is slightly rough, they should take paint very well, be sure to oil those welds though. The spine is a little rough, likely from a drum or brake press being a little aggressive. They fit tight in the magwell.

Honestly I think the SHK are fine. They load and feed slick, no BHO, lateral play in the magwell. Yeah they're a little thinner than others but they're welded the best and the metal finish is high polish. Yes they pick up little dents from hard drops easier than others but the polish - welds - paint combo should keep them rust free and you're not going to break the welds without a sledgehammer. I personally hate how shiny they are but I'm not upset about it enough to strip the paint off them (yet). I found some once that were parkerized, they're sold as royaltigerimports but look at those welds and ribs, they're SHK: https://www.royaltigerimports.com/product-p/ioin0206.htm no more shine and takes paint easily.

Lol