Saiga .223 mag options???
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The following options require a bullet guide.
Polymer Galil mags are the easiest (and hold 35 rounds, too). Only need to relieve a small bit on the mag for them to work.
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No other mods needed to gun.
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Bulgarian 5.56x45 waffles work great and only need the rear of the mag well cleaned up. No messing with the mag latch or mag bodies required (in my experience).
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I've not used Weigers, so have no direct experience with the actual fitment of 'em to the Saiga.
I'd recommend against using AK74 mags because they are hit or miss in the reliability department. You can see why in Mike F's excellent pictorial.
The curvature of the AK74 mag will cause the .223 cases to bind up at some point.
Polymer Galil mags are the easiest (and hold 35 rounds, too). Only need to relieve a small bit on the mag for them to work.
No other mods needed to gun.
Bulgarian 5.56x45 waffles work great and only need the rear of the mag well cleaned up. No messing with the mag latch or mag bodies required (in my experience).
I've not used Weigers, so have no direct experience with the actual fitment of 'em to the Saiga.
I'd recommend against using AK74 mags because they are hit or miss in the reliability department. You can see why in Mike F's excellent pictorial.
The curvature of the AK74 mag will cause the .223 cases to bind up at some point.
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Nalioth, in order to get my Bulgy waffle and my Polish Beryl mags to lock up in my .223 I had to grind a little off the tops of the mags...:neutral:...YMMV
Maybe they changed something in the front trunion recently? My Saiga is brand spanking new.
Maybe they changed something in the front trunion recently? My Saiga is brand spanking new.
The Bulgarians will fit the .223 with out any mods to the rifledecodeddiesel said:
if you don't want too, just have to grind a little bet on the top
front of the mags as they are for AK74 mag well and the Saiga
have AKM mag well, the Saiga have bigger lugs.
Some people use to grind down the lugs on the Saiga well
to make it like ak74 lugs and the mag fit with any mod
to the mag. But after that any mag like Galil orlites
will rock and miss feed a lot on your gun as they are
for AKM mag well.
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215 Posts
I was a little off...the Bulgarian deffiniatly would not lock up without grinding the mag, no way no how. The Beryl mags would lock up, but man are they tight. The latch doesn't click so much as slide into position with the Beryl mags. I may grind them a little for a better fit, I like hearing that click when a mag goes in.
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1,560 Posts
There are always these..........
http://www.rusmilitary.com/images/223mag_saiga.jpg
http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/c-deact_magazines.htm
http://www.rusmilitary.com/images/223mag_saiga.jpg
http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/c-deact_magazines.htm
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1,560 Posts
I am not talking about deacts. Every magazine they have offered on that site (page) is meant to be used in a functional rifle(AK/Saiga/SVD/Tigr). I have bought just about every mag type they have offered and they function 100% in all of my rifles. RusMilitary is the only overseas company(Besides that guy in Poland that was selling the Beryl mags on GB) I do buisness with. The only deactivated mags I see on that site are with deactivated rifles. They say (....c-deact_magazines) in the page,but we all here know that isnt the case. They even call the furniture and accessories "deacts".nalioth said:
http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/c-deact_accessories.htm
How in the hell do you deactivate the furniture? Remove the finish or fill in the screw holes so they cant accept screws? http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/c-deact_furniture.htm
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297 Posts
Now my 223 Saiga was built on a dimpled 7.62x39 receiver (Can see the marking they obscured) so some of this might not apply to others.
I didn't want to modify mags, so instead of grinding down the tops of the mag I removed some material from the trunnion. I used the side of a fiber reinforced cutting wheel in a dremil tool. It worked slick.
I removed the tab at the back of the magwell as mentioned above.
Since mine was built on a 7.62x39 receiver the magwell was already wide enough to accept Bulgarian, Polish and Yugoslavian mags.
But in order to fit the Yugo mags I had to remove a bit from the center support.
Here is the Yugo mag. They are really nice but very heavy.
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I didn't want to modify mags, so instead of grinding down the tops of the mag I removed some material from the trunnion. I used the side of a fiber reinforced cutting wheel in a dremil tool. It worked slick.
I removed the tab at the back of the magwell as mentioned above.
Since mine was built on a 7.62x39 receiver the magwell was already wide enough to accept Bulgarian, Polish and Yugoslavian mags.
But in order to fit the Yugo mags I had to remove a bit from the center support.
Here is the Yugo mag. They are really nice but very heavy.
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1,331 Posts
So if the Galil Orlites can be modded to work, can the metal Galil mags work also?
I have 4 or 5 of the 30 round metal Galil in 223, and 5 or 6 of the 12 round blank mags that have been modded for real ammo, and they do NOT work in my Galil build. If I can grab a Saiga like I've been seeing for sub-330 prices then maybe I can use the mags anyway.
I have 4 or 5 of the 30 round metal Galil in 223, and 5 or 6 of the 12 round blank mags that have been modded for real ammo, and they do NOT work in my Galil build. If I can grab a Saiga like I've been seeing for sub-330 prices then maybe I can use the mags anyway.
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From what I've read at the S12 forum, the metal Galil mags are a PITA
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