Please Note : While the enamel finish is very durable, these magazine are 60+ years old and will show Slight Wear and Scratches from Storage and shipping over their lifetime. We have tried to show a good representation in the pictures. They are Rated NRA Excellent condition, some are NOS. No special requests and no returns.
When the Soviet Union started production of the AK-47 inlate 1948 at the Izhevsk Machine Plant, also known as Izhmash, it came with a30-round magazine that has come to be called the “Russian Slab-Side.” It gets its name from its smooth stampedsides and was produced only by the Izhmash factory. They are relatively rare as the design wasreplaced before AK production was started at another factory.
The Russian Slab-Side magazines are generally covered ininspector stamps, but the Izhmash factory mark (feathered arrow in triangle)will be found stamped low on the back of the mag’s body.Made from thick 1 mm steel, it is withoutdoubt extremely durable, but heavy.Theyoriginally had a blued finish, but many appear to have been later refinishedwith a black enamel coating.
About the time that the Type III AK-47 was adopted in 1954,a new lighter 30-round steel magazine was introduced.Stamped from thinner steel (.75 mm) thisdesign featured ribs in the body for added strength.The body, as with the earlier Slab-Sideversion, was formed from two stamped metal halves that are spot welded togetheralong the front and along the rear flanges (referred to as the mag spine).The body features three outward and oneinward facing longitudinal ribs, as well as five outward facing horizontal ribsalong the bottom of the magazine.Threeof these horizontal ribs are noticeably short, and basically just wrap aroundthe bottom rear of the mag.The firstribbed mags had the inward facing rib at the rear of the mag’s body goingstrait up and under the plates that reinforce the feed lips.This type of mag was produced by many othercountries, and I will refer to it in the future as the “First European RibbedType.”
The earliest Soviet ribbed mag, the “Izhmash Back-StampedRibbed Mag”, has the Izhmash factory mark stamped on the bottom-back of the maglike the Russian Slab-Side mag.Atfirst, these mags were blued, but this was eventually changed to a baked-onblack enamel finish.Izhmash reportedlyswitched to a baked-on enamel finish on its AKs shortly before production ofthe AKM model began in 1959.Thefollowers on these early Izhmash ribbed mags will have a large pill shapedbulge with a hole through its front left side.This bulge does not extend to the rear of the follower.
Eventually, the Izhmash factory mark was moved to the spine,and this version is generally referred to as the “Early Izhmash Spine-StampedMag.”This was followed by a newfollower with a longer thinner bulge on it that extends to the back of thefollower.The hole through the frontleft side of the earlier follower’s bulge was also eliminated.The hole’s purpose seems to have been theprevention of a stuck follower from suction in a heavily greased mag, but thishad apparently been deemed unnecessary.
At some point the dies used by Izhmash to stamp mag bodies wereredesigned.The inward facing rib at theback of the mag now stopped short of the lip reinforcement plates, and turnedat a 90 degree angle toward the rear of the mag.This rib resembles an upside down andbackward “L”.This type of mag body wasalso made by many other countries, and I will refer to it in the future as the“Second European Ribbed Type”.
As would be expected; these mags will be found with theIzhmash mark stamped on the spine, and with a baked-on black enamelfinish.Collectors generally refer tothem as a “Late Izhmash Spine Stamped Mag.”
In 1960, the Soviet’s Tula arsenal started production of theAKM.All Tula rifles, and steel mags,were finished with a baked-on black enamel finish.These mags are of the Second European RibbedType, and will usually have a fair number of inspector stamps on both the spineand its lower sides.Tula’s factory markis a five pointed star that, when found, is always on the spine.Tula steel mags are relatively rare as theywere only made for a few years before production was switched to the new AG4plastic type.
The last steel mag produced by the Soviets is referred to bycollectors as the “Izhmash Side-Stamped.”It is basically a Late Izhmash Spine Stamped mag with one verynoticeable difference.On the mag’s leftside, the middle outward facing vertical rib stops well before the other two,leaving a blank area at the bottom of the mag where the Izhmash factory mark isprominently stamped.These mags carry ablack enamel finish, and as the name implies, were only made by Izhmash.