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The past couple months I have been researching and shopping variant to variant. Certainly alot to sift through.
I am just getting my first ak. Currently sitting in purgatory as bgc clears, anticipating a call today.... I settled with a pre owned Zastava, lunder 200 rds shot. It comes with two 30 rd mags. A Zastava steel bolt hold open and a P Mag. I would like a few more magazines (who has never thought that?) and short of spending $12 or $13 on a Bulgarian 30rd steel New Production or P Mag I would spend more to know I have a quality, functionally reliable mag.
Surplus, Circle ten and the like.
What have you spent on your magazines and what could I expect to pay?
 
Avoid ProMag and KCI mags.

I have had some MagPul P Mags not fit certain rifles due to width issues (the P Mag was too wide). Mag opening width can vary as can other fitment specs.

Beyond that, I will let others chime in on reliability/etc.
 
Anything with reinforced feed lips and steel locking lugs. KCI and PMAGs are good for range use when you don't want to dump your self defense ammo(I use 8m3 and 8v3). All of my self defense magazines are Bakelites, Bulgarian waffles and Bulgarian steel. I also own Romy, Yugo, KCI, and easy German magazines. However steel magazines are heavy which is why I usually stick with the bakes or waffles. Those ain't cheap nowadays. I paid 45 per waffle and 60 per Bakelite.
 
Only my opinion but, steel surplus is the way I go. Get something with personality, manufactured in countries that use Aks as their primary battle rifle. I little rust, some wear and tear. Oh yeah!

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about.... AK47-4PACK MAGAZINES - AtlanticFirearms.com
But you'r going to be hard pressed to find these I think in these times.
 
I like the Korean steel mags but I have a good mix of steel and Tapco. My AK in particular likes any type of mag so it just depends on my mood that day. If it feeds and shoots fine then it just becomes a matter of personal preference. Load it, shoot it and don't lose any sleep over it. Price is king.
 
Tapco suck but they are ok for the range.

Pmags are better but still plastic so they are for the range imo.

Steel is the way to go.

I have some of the Korean and they fit and work great.
 
There's a lot of different AK magazines out there, never had any issues with the steel surplus mags for 7.62x39.
I trust the long term durability of a steel magazine.
 
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I've wondered how those new Korean ones compare to surplus mags, since I've seen them inexpensive. I've never bought any though, since I've got a dozen or more surplus (Chinese, Russian, Eastern European), and I rarely even even shoot the old Mak-90 any more.
 
Don't mess with anything other than Bulgarian Circle 10 waffle mags ($25-30) or Russian, East European and ChiCom Mil Surplus (around $10-12 or less), everything else is garbage including but not limited to ProMag, KCI Korean crap, US Palm, Magpul, Tapco, the list go on.
 
I once bought a handful of old, beat up surplus mags, for something like $4 each (back in the '90s). I still have them, and I can't remember ever having a single problem with them. My favorites are the 20 round European mags (forget what country). They're smaller and handy. I can't remember the last time I put more than 20 rounds in a magazine. I haven't done a "mag dump" in decades.
 

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