Richard W. said:
I wish you'd try to be more specific. There are many kinds of Yugo AK's.
If all of your experience is with stamped receiver rifles, for instance, perhaps you might say so.
I have fired all kinds.. Both milled and stamped rifles.. RPK length, and standad length.. fixed stock, underfolder, buttstock removed by the user, etc.. Basically every type that was in regular Serb service... During the late 90s and early 00s, I spent about 24 months of my life in that area. 18 of those months, Every Sunday was spent at the range shooting... US stuff gets boring after awhile, so would shoot stuff from the captured weapons locker.. AKs from Serbia, Albania, Russia, Bulgaria, DDR, Egypt, Chicom, M1A1 Thompsons, MG53 (Yugo MG42),MG34s, Yugo M76s, RPDs, FALs, G-3s, PPsh41s, etc..
Only bolt hold open the AKs had was mag dependent. There might have weird internal mod, but the Yugo mags would also hold the bolt open on other guns as well. It locks the bolt open to let youu know you are out, then slams home when you remove the mag.
Here are some views of some Yugos-
I dont see a bolt hold open. Newer designs (M92, etc) dont seem to have one either.
Ezell's book I dont trust.. IMHO, this is the most overrated AK book out there.. 1/3 of the book is him regurgitating the history of Soviet small arms from some translation of a Russian book, other 1/3 is him telling about his visits with Kalashnikov, and the other 1/3 is him regurgitating stuff from product brochures and other peoples work. 90% of the photos are someone elses.. The guy is a book worm; The revision was written after his death by his wife, and she admits in the beginning of the book that she doesnt know what she is talking about.
A product brochure, they might have been talking about the standard magazine bolt hold open, or something else that was lost in translation.