2 AK-47 Questions

Factual Questions
1

I had an SKS with a stock that allowed it to take magazines. To me, it was totally worthless. To put the magazine in, you had to have it in just the right place before you manipulated it to be racked. There were no guides or rails to ‘hinge’ it against to know where you had to leverage it-just guess work.

I need a weapon with the kind of magazine that you can just slam in, as one does with a semi-auto pistol-get it in the right hole, push, and chamber.

I am just about ready to get an AK, but, a guy that I work with said that magazine insertion worked the same way as an SKS. I think he’s full of it, but, he just got out of the military. OTOH, he also said that he never handled an AK, so, what he said is worthless.
It did get me to think, tho. So,
Question 1: Is AK 47 mag insertion the same as an SKS, or the same as a semi-auto pistol?

Question 2: Are all AK 47 mags interchangable?

I bought a 308 semi-auto rifle from Century Arms, a Zastava (Yugo). It was really cheap, and works like a dream. I wanted to buy some 20 or 30 round mags for it. When I went online, I found out that to buy one costs 85 bucks! And, IIRC, there is only one place to buy it, at that. I don’t want to make the same mistake with an AK, and one can pick up AK mags dirt cheap, but, they wouldn’t do me any good if they didn’t fit into my rifle.

Those are my questions, with appropriate background. Can anybody help?
Thanks,
hh

2

No experience with the SKS but I do have some hands on with multiple variants of the AK. The magazine hooks on the front then rotates into place to latch. Not sure if that’s like your description of the SKS but it’s not like a typical semi-auto pistol.

I’d guess magazines are interchangeable but I’m not a private gun guy and there’s many variants of AK made in many countries over the years. I’d assume that most variants use the same magazines as the most common type in the same caliber. Key words are guess and assume.

3

Someone with more expertise should be around shortly, but part of the deal here may be that the original SKS was not made for the removable magazine in the style of assault rifles, but for one that was fixed to the weapon and you opened to load with clips. The detached-magazine “SKS” weapons as I understand it are modifications or derivatives. How sloppy was the modification or derivation may come to play.

As **DinoR **mentions, AK mags don’t go as far “into” the receiver relative to magazine size as, say, an M16’s (never mind a pistol magazine) and you don’t just slam them straight in as you would those or a pistol’s; but neither are they extra-fidgety. Video of unloading and loading an AK.

As to interchangeability, I understand that* standard* mags for all AK47/AKM derivatives are suppposed to be interchangeable but some makers’ processes lead to slight variations accumulate along repeated production runs and may make a magazine that’s stickier or wobblier or does not always play nice with your bolt catch.

4

why?

closer to the SKS. you hook a “lip” on the front of the mag onto the magazine well, then rock it back to lock it in place.

for a given caliber, they might be. there are some oddball single stack mags out there for ones like the Romanian WASR which are for locations with capacity restrictions.

that’s because the only “offical” calibers for the AK-pattern rifle are 7.62x39mm and 5.45x39mm. Any one chambered in .308 is a custom design and that’s why mags are so expensive.

5

This.

Most SKS had fixed magazines that were loaded from the top using stripper clips.

The rifles could be modified to use detachable mags, but every one I saw that was modified did not work in the manner that other semi-auto rifles did. Hence, the OP will not be satisfied with an SKS no matter what. Get a different weapon. An aK, depending on the variant, should suffice.

6

This sounds alright, as long as I can hook it onto the lip without the fuss that the SKS entails.
So, will I be able to hoop the lip on pretty simplY? My 308 has a hook then rock process, and it’s quite easy.

7

Of course you needed to ask that.

8

Some SKSs have standard AK-type magazines that don’t require lining up the duck bill. These are the Chinese commercial (e.g. not Type 56) SKS-D (military-style) and SKS-M (sporter). I think they are identical to the AK magazine. As far as I know, otherwise they SKS and AK magazine process is different.

You could’ve bought a replacement fixed magazine.

9

Thanks, guys!