Bulgarian Mags at K-VAR. Optico Electron Inc 25 marking, 10 in double circle, 21 in double circle, Are any one of these better than the other?

no not really.

+1 they are all pretty much equal, no real difference, they were just built at different factories, hence the different numbers.

The Optico Electron magazines I have seem to have a slightly different feel than the other Bulgarians; the plastic feels slicker or something. No difference in function, though. They all run great.

Thanks for the input.

Other than different markings, no.  I don't have any black circle 21 or circle 25 mags but the plastic of the black circle 10 mags feels slightly different from the circle 21 brown, saddle brown & firebrick that I do have.  I'd have to get some black circle 21 & 25 mags to do a true comparison though.

<eta>  The front metal "nub" that engages the trunnion is much larger on the circle 10 mags than the nub on almost all of my circle 21 mags.  Out of 5 circle 21 mags (3 brown, 1 saddle brown & 1 firebrick) only 1 has the large nub vs 4 out of 4 of the circle 10 mags.  I need more mags to compare though.  The small nub mags lock up OK so it doesn't really matter.

So there is no difference even with the different nubs? Strange they are so different. What size nub is on the E. German bakelite? Is that considered a large or small nub?

The "large" is the same as the Russian plum & EG.  The lip is the same depth on both kinds of Bulgarian,  the only real diff is that the "small" starts to curve back toward the mag body right above the engagement lip (more circular) & the regular goes straight up for ~ 1/4" & is beveled off toward the mag body right at the top (more oval shaped).


I got a few used circle 21 black mags from the jnewt group buy.  The plastic seems the same as the other "21" colors & the used circle 10 mags.  Maybe the black plastic just feels a bit rough/fuzzy when it's new & smooths up during use/handling?