Evolution of the Soviet AK magazines
- Vlad Besedovskyy
- Apr 6
- 5 min read
It came to my attention that this topic is not completely clear for everyone. In this article we will list and discuss all Soviet AK magazines of both calibers - 7.62mm and 5.45mm. Some experimental magazines will also be mentioned. The magazines developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and magazines made in other countries will be left out.
Soviet 7.62mm AK magazines
First pattern "slab" AK 7.62mm magazines
The first pattern of serial 7.62mm magazines were exactly the same as the magazines used by AK and other rifles during the trials. As you know, magazines are quite often one of the more complicated parts of an automatic weapon, so there was no intention to create a new one right after the rifle was finally adopted and still had some problems with reliability.
In 1952, changes were introduced into the design of AK magazines: the feed section acquired high walls, the magazine cover began to have an 8 mm wide window, the locking plates received a 6 mm wide counter-protrusion and a little later it got additional bends. Some magazines have an increased number of contact welding points on the comb, but these are quite rare. The feeders got a curved end. The Izhevsk plant stamp appeared on the rear surface of the magazine body - earlier magazines were stampless.
Second pattern "ribbed" 7.62mm AK magazines
The initial battle loadout for AK rifle was as big as six fully loaded magazines - five in a pouch and one in the rifle. This was quite a heavy package, with both 7.62x39mm ammo and slab magazines being heavy. Soviet military doctrine did not separate the magazines from the rifle, the whole loadout was considered the same system. So when the Army asked for a lighter weapon, decreasing the mass of each individual magazine was one of the more obvious steps.
In 1955, along with the adoption of "lightweight" AK, a new lightweight steel magazine was introduced. In addition, the individual ammunition load was reduced to four magazines. The weight reduction of the magazine was achieved by using a steel sheet of reduced thickness, and additional rigidity was provided by vertical and horizontal ribs.
There are some different patterns of the ribbed magazines, but it is the easiest to spot the Soviet by Izhevsk or Tula stamp.
Third pattern "waffle" 7.62mm AK magazines
These aluminum magazines are often praised by the collectors for their rarity and light weight, but were not loved in the army due to lack of rigidness. They are also often called "paratrooper" magazines, which is also wrong - the magazines were adapted and went into production in 1960s, two years before the adoption of AKMS. There are plenty of photos of these mags used on regular AKM rifles and actually not so many on AKMS. The reason for lack of AKMS with aluminum magazines can be because when the AKMS was adapted, a new bakelite magazine was introduced.
Fourth pattern "bake" AK 7.62mm magazine
Soviet small arms industry wanted to introduce plastics for long time. But the domestic plastic technology was always behind, so only specific parts of the weapon could be made from it. The pistol grip on AKM rifles was one example, with the second one being the magazine. In 1962 the production started. These early magazines made from thermoreactive plastic composite were not great, had reliability and durability issues. But after some iterations, both Tula and Izhmash started to produce good 7.62mm "bakelite" magazines. Since the Army was well equipped with "ribbed" magazines, the "bakelite" ones mostly went to storage and it is unusual to see them on the photos from the 1960-70s era.
There are some other interesting facts related to these magazines. It is believed that some magazines were of yellow color, which changed to orange/brown over time. Secondly, there were some versions of these magazines in green color. Apart from the known variant for the best soldiers in the Border Guards, there was experimental green color magazine for AKM.
7.62mm RPK magazines
Since the adoption of AKM, Soviet Army has finally received long awaited unification - not both the rifle and the light machine gun were similar enough to utilize the same magazines. To make the RPK an actual machine gun, it required a higher capacity magazine. Two versions were developed - 40 round steel magazine and 75 round drum magazine. The 40rd version was not different to the regular AKM "ribbed" magazine, just a little longer to accommodate more ammunition. The 75rd drum was a rather complicated mechanism with little advantages apart from the big capacity. It was expensive and hard to produce, bulky, heavy and really hard to load. These were rarely used by the Army, especially on the designated RPK machine guns - it is much easier to find photos of them used on AKM and AKMS rifles in local conflicts.
There are also 40rd magazines made from plastic in typical orange color. It is believed that these magazines were produced in early 1990s, in over a decade after the RPK itself went out of production. These are quite rare and are very rarely seen in action.
Soviet 5.45mm AK-74 magazines
AK-74 magazines
The pattern of Soviet 5.45mm magazines is much easier to follow. There were pretty much two versions - earlier made orange magazines and later made plum magazines. Of course, Soviet engineers experimented with a number of versions of different designs and materials, but these never left the bureaus.
The AK-74 mags were designed to take stripper clips - something that was never used in the Soviet Army.
The orange magazines themselves had some variations in every part of them - from the material to the spring inside. But it is still easiest to distinguish the Soviet ones by the typical stamps (arrow in the triangle for Izhmash and star for Tula)
The plum magazines went into production early in 1980s, in time to participate in the Soviet-Afghan War. They were a bit different to the orange ones - by having short horizontal ribs on the edges. Again, there are a lot of differences in these magazines, but discussion on them goes well beyond the scope of this article.
RPK-74 magazines
The RPK-74 needed a bigger capacity magazine than the rifle. This time the design bureau decided to stick to magazines only - no drums. Due to smaller caliber and different shape of round, which allowed for less curvature in the magazines, the RPK-74 magazines could hold 45 rounds instead of 40 on RPK. Other than the capacity (and hence the length), these are not different to the regular AK-74 mags. They also have a unique stamp - a star in a shield, from the factory "Molot", which produced the machine guns.
The updated version of these magazines, made in plum color, was released in late 1980s and featured a lot of ribs that covered the whole area of the magazine. These magazines did not get widely issued and are rarely seen on photos.
If you like Soviet weapon, high quality photography and books, we advise to check our "Soviet weapons" series: