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Fishpaw

15 Round AK Mags

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This same technique can be used for many different gun mags. Ive used with with AR mags, but thats a bit more difficult as the lips bend the other direction. Ive also used it with VZ58 mags. Ive also seen this done with the polymer mags, but thats a different tutorial.

First , this should be done outside of NJ, as having a 30 round AK mag in the Garden State is a no no. This tutorial was done in PA where it is 100% OK to have an evil 30 round gun magazine. No NJ laws were broken in the making of this conversion.

 

Step 1. Take a 30 round mag apart into its parts.

 

akmag1se3.jpg

 

Step 2. Put the follower & spring into the body and hold it in with your hand. Load in the amount of rounds that you would like to convert the mag to. In this case I loaded 15 rounds. You can make the mag hold as many or few round as you would like.

 

akmag2ht9.jpg

 

Step 3. Once you have loaded the rounds into the mag, use a ruler to determine the measurement from bottom of the follower to the bottom of the mag, then transfer this measurement to the outside of the mag, adding about 1/4 inch. This is the space for the bottom plates. For demonstration purposes, I have put the rounds and follower on the outside, so you can see what Im talking about. Again, this must be done with all parts inside the mag. This should be done on both sides of the mag.

 

akmag3lz3.jpg

akmag4ob6.jpg

 

Step4. Once you have transfered the marks, then make some marks slightly below your first marks. This extra bit will become the lips that hold the bottom plat onto the mag.

 

akmag5yl5.jpg

 

Step 5. Now with a Dremel tool reinforced cutoff wheel, or hacksaw, cut along the lower marks you have made. This is done on both side and split the mag into 2 parts.

 

akmag6gr8.jpg

akmag7fv3.jpg

 

Step 6. Now mark from the edges of the lower mark to the original mark you have made. Do this on both sides and cut away the extra material leaving just the sides of the mag.

 

akmag8ct3.jpg

akmag9ph3.jpg

 

Before the next step, put the follower & spring back into the mag body and load the 15 rounds back in through the top feed lips. Make sure the bottom of the follower is where you have marked on the outside of the mag. If you need to remove more material from the mag, this is the easiest time to do so.

 

Step 7. I like to use a drill press vice for this step as it has sharp edges and makes a better bend. Take the mag and put one of the sides of the mag into a vice, and tighten down tight.

 

akmag10vr0.jpg

 

Then bend the mag over, forming the sides into the bottom mag lips. The remove from vice, and do the other side.

 

akmag11jb4.jpg

akmag12cj4.jpg

 

Step 8. Now take the bottom plate and line it up with the bottom of the mag, Mark the edges and cut them off to the same size as the original bottom lips.

 

akmag13dc4.jpg

akmag14gl4.jpg

 

Step 9. The trim the new lips comparing them to the originals. You will have to thin them on the top and bottom as the ribs will make it difficult to slide the bottom plate back on. You will have a bit of fitting until the bottom cover will slip on the new lips easily. Go slowly until it fits well. You may want to clean up the edges of where you have cut as tiny slivers of metal will often occur. If the inner plate is tight, you can also file down the sides slightly to make it fitter better.

 

akmag15pv5.jpg

akmag16bt7.jpg

akmag17bd5.jpg

akmag18dr5.jpg

 

Step 10. Onto the spring and inner bottom plate. With a screw driver , carefully bend up the tabs that hold the spring to the inner bottom plate, and remove the spring. Then cut to length. I usually take about 5 or 6 rungs off the spring. Then bend the cut end to resemble the original end of the spring, and put back onto the inner bottom plate and carefully bend the tabs back to hold the spring again.

 

akmag19xg3.jpg

akmag20rm5.jpg

akmag21fg5.jpg

akmag22ph1.jpg

 

 

Step 11. Then reinstall the follower/spring/inner plate assemble and replace bottom cover.

 

akmag23hw7.jpg

akmag24mf2.jpg

 

You now have a NJ legal 15 round AK mag. Enjoy. Once you have a mag that is the correct size, it can be used as a template for making more converted mags. Be sure to mark from the bottom of the magazine and not the bottom of the magazine floor plate. If you find that your mag only holds 14 instead of 15, you can always trim a little extra off of the bottom of the follower to make up for the shortage.

 

akmag25up4.jpg

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Thanx for the instructions. I thought that this could be done with AR magazines and next time I go to my friends house in PA for a weekend I'll try it.

 

 

Ive done some AR mags, but they are a bit more difficult. The mag body is aluminum which is softer and doesnt like to be bent. Also the tabs that hold the bottom plate on bend inward , unlike the AK mags which bend outward. Just be careful and more or less replicate what the original bottom of the mag looks like. You may want to make the tabs larger, which will make the process easier.....Ive also seen a conversion done with the plastic mags, but I havent tried that yet.

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What about this idea?

 

take your modified AK mag length, drill 3 holes through the magazine as i showed in the picture attached, insert 3 steel dowels whose length matches the thickness of the mag and fuse them with a tig welder. you would still have to modify the spring length but the dowels would act like the magazine bottom. 2 dowels and 2 holes might even suffice. you'd have a "30 round-looking" 15 round magazine that is permanently modified and "should be" legal.

 

thoughts?

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Welding, to me, would be considered permanent, but I'm not a lawyer.

 

But then, I would consider a rivet to be permanent too, and I would argue there are hundreds of bridges throughout this state that are constructed with rivets - show me how they're temporary... ;)

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Some people prefer to have the mag shortened so as not to have the look of a normal cap mag. There are many do-gooders out there who will tell you you have an illegal cap mag at the range if they see it still has the original length......

+1

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