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8,460 Posts
Hi everyone;
With all the insanity going on and FUD over the future of standard cap mags, I decided to go through my junk bin and see if there was anything salvageable. Lo and behold, an Eastern Euro AK mag with a couple of dents in the side that were big enough to keep the follower from moving. Be a shame to toss it when I may not ever be able to replace it, so....
Okay, so how do I fix it? First check online and see a bunch of "drill a hole" fixes that were not too appealing so no-go there. Now think and look at my tools....aha!
What I did was to use a set of old pin punches. Basically I inserted one punch end (fairly thick so it wouldn't bend) into the magazine and carefully positioned the edge of the punch against the dent by feel. Then, I moved the middle of the punch body so it "balanced" on the OTHER side of the magazine at the bottom (didn't want to bend the feed lips). With the mag on a sturdy bench, I tapped the free end of the punch with a weight so that the end that was positioned on the dent would "hammer" it out from the inside. It took a little practice and a couple of "whacks" but SUCCESS! Now the follower runs freely in the mag body and it looks like I can add one AK mag back into the inventory. Next time I get to the range I'll proof it to make sure it runs smoothly, but it feeds dummy loads over here so I think this one is a winner.
Hope this helps someone else out there!
All the best,
Grumpy
With all the insanity going on and FUD over the future of standard cap mags, I decided to go through my junk bin and see if there was anything salvageable. Lo and behold, an Eastern Euro AK mag with a couple of dents in the side that were big enough to keep the follower from moving. Be a shame to toss it when I may not ever be able to replace it, so....
Okay, so how do I fix it? First check online and see a bunch of "drill a hole" fixes that were not too appealing so no-go there. Now think and look at my tools....aha!
What I did was to use a set of old pin punches. Basically I inserted one punch end (fairly thick so it wouldn't bend) into the magazine and carefully positioned the edge of the punch against the dent by feel. Then, I moved the middle of the punch body so it "balanced" on the OTHER side of the magazine at the bottom (didn't want to bend the feed lips). With the mag on a sturdy bench, I tapped the free end of the punch with a weight so that the end that was positioned on the dent would "hammer" it out from the inside. It took a little practice and a couple of "whacks" but SUCCESS! Now the follower runs freely in the mag body and it looks like I can add one AK mag back into the inventory. Next time I get to the range I'll proof it to make sure it runs smoothly, but it feeds dummy loads over here so I think this one is a winner.
Hope this helps someone else out there!
All the best,
Grumpy