Day: January 9, 2021

Categories
Apex Gun Parts Atlantic Firearms BHO bolt hold open Bulgarian Croatian Gun Mag Warehouse KCI polymer Tapco

Do You Need AK mags?

I bought my AK mags from the following places.  I mention this because I see folks with new AKs always asking where to buy mags.

Atlantic Firearms

Apex Gun Parts

Gun Mag Warehouse

Each of those sites have reasonably priced magazines.  They also offer a variety of types (polymer, steel, new, or surplus) from different countries.

Check those sites often, as much of their stock tends to be sold out due to the pandemic.

Keep in mind that cheap doesn’t always mean good.  KCI mags tend to have reliability issues and are flimsy in build quality.  Croatian mags tend to be hit or miss when it comes to latching in place (see here for my experience with the Croatian mags).  The reason I wanted Croatian mags was for their bolt-hold-open (BHO) capability.  Croatian mags are also not surplus…they are new.

Good mags that are usually cheap are Bulgarian surplus mags.  I have not reviewed the Bulgarian mags I have but they just work and do not feel flimsy.

I also have 6 x Tapco polymer mags.  Folks LOVE to hate on those.  I didn’t buy them.  They came with the first AK I bought (the AMD-63).  They work, which is something the Croatian mags wouldn’t initially do.  They will also fit in every AK I have, which is, again, something the Croatian mags wouldn’t do.  They’re perfectly fine for range use and have yet to fail on me.

UPDATE (1/10/21):  PSA has a sale on Croatian mags right now, marked down from $19.99 to $12.99.  Also, if you order 10+, shipping is free (per the product page).  As well, Mrgunsngear stated that they’ve changed the mag tab (probably narrowed it slightly) so that there’s less of an issue with latching.

Categories
1911 American Classic Commander Metro Arms plunger spring Rock Island Armory safety lever

My 1911s Have Loose Thumb Safeties

Today, I was handling my three 1911s and noticed that two of them had safeties that were rather loose.  What do I mean by loose?  Well, a good 1911 will have a safety that will have a positive click when being manipulated.  It will also take a conscious effort to actuate.  It should not actuate (on or off) by being bumped or pushed by an object that is not a finger.  The last time I took my Metro Arms American Classic Commander (that’s a mouthful) to the range, both my wife and I noticed that after loading a mag into the firearm and trying to shoot, the safety was unintentionally enabled.

Since it was Friday evening, I got a few old rags and broke them both down on my sofa while listening to the news.  I fixed both safeties.  Once I field stripped the 1911s, I removed the safeties.  The Metro Arms had a single-handled safety lever while the Rock Island Armory had an ambi safety.  Once those were removed, I remove the plunger springs from each and stretched them out a bit, which I thought would add more tension to the safety lever on each firearm.  I put together both and then tested the safeties.  The RIA 1911 safety stiffened up drastically.  The Metro Arms 1911 had to be taken down again and stretched out a bit more, but in the end, I got the safety on that firearm pretty stiff.

I’m happy that I was able to sort this out on my own.