Making a Windowed AK Magazine

[Thedubfather]

Hello again!

I felt like totally butchering a banged up surplus magazine today. I was thinking of cutting a window down the middle off a mag for easy round counting. Has anyone here ever done this? If so, any one have any tips?
Here is what I plan on taking out. Not sure if you can see it but there are some graphite marks designating the area.
View attachment 23497 View attachment 23498

Thanks for your consideration,
Dub

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

Has anyone here ever done this? If so, any one have any tips?
Here is what I plan on taking out. Not sure if you can see it but there are some graphite marks designating the area.

Thanks for your consideration,
Dub

I've never done it and would probably not recommend it .

However , if your set on doing it I'd say use a Dremmel with a cutting wheel and go slow .

Also I'd say reduce the amount your wanting to take out down to one ridge first . Start slow and small , you can always take more out later if you dig it .

Keep in mind that by cutting a hole in the mag you have an opening that will allow dirt and gunk to enter and gum up the works making your AK not so reliable any more .

I can't remember it's designation but I think I recall a WW 2 French / English mag fed MG that had a similar magazine design that worked great , when it worked .

There's a reason mags don't have holes in them .

 

[Thedubfather]

I've never done it and would probably not recommend it .

However , if your set on doing it I'd say use a Dremmel with a cutting wheel and go slow .

Also I'd say reduce the amount your wanting to take out down to one ridge first . Start slow and small , you can always take more out later if you dig it .

Keep in mind that by cutting a hole in the mag you have an opening that will allow dirt and gunk to enter and gum up the works making your AK not so reliable any more .

I can't remember it's designation but I think I recall a WW 2 French / English mag fed MG that had a similar magazine design that worked great , when it worked .

There's a reason mags don't have holes in them .

Thanks, ya I knew it would lead to weakness as far as dirt getting in but this would just be a range and display toy. I have cleaner, nicer mags for dirty work if need be.
I was planning on making a small cut at first like you stated before I knocked out the rest.

 

[BogWalker]

A lot of AK mags have witness holes in the back. Perhaps cut a few of these instead? Would be a much smaller opening, but would be harder to check round count on the fly.

 

[Leo]

Drill a hole at each end of where you want the slot to be and connect the holes with a cut off wheel on a dremel tool. Several short slots will maintain more strength than a single long slot. Have fun

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

How about just drilling a series of holes? If you could determine the alignment of every other round and drill a 1/4" or so hole at each, would that do the trick? With a drill press, I would think it would be pretty simple.

 

[leftsock]

I can't remember it's designation but I think I recall a WW 2 French / English mag fed MG that had a similar magazine design that worked great , when it worked .

There's a reason mags don't have holes in them .

The Chauchat.
Chauchat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lock N Load Machine Guns clip2.avi - YouTube

 

[red46239]

any one have any tips?

​Unload it first...

 

[indyk]

How about saving the mags life and get your self a traning mag over at the files? The window would be cut and done proper for ya.
Certainly might cost.