The internal components that US PALM uses in their AK30 Magazines are excellent. Their AK30 Rebuild Kit makes it possible to install those same internal components in any magazine body that you choose. These kits allow you to revitalize old worn out magazines or even to upgrade your working magazines. I have mentioned these on the blog in the past and now I have had a chance to spend some quality time with them.
Components
The AK30 Rebuild Kits are made up of 3 components: a skeletonized polymer follower, a stainless steel magazine spring, and a parkerized steel floor plate latch. These are premium components. The followers are of the same distinctive design used on the AK30. It is ventilated to allow debris to be easily flushed out. It also seems to be very low friction (more on that later).
The US PALM AK30 follower is very distinctive.
When I have a choice I prefer a quality stainless spring. Modern stainless springs offer increased corrosion resistance while still providing set free reliability for many thousands of compressions. These springs will likely outlast the magazine body in which they are housed. I have had AK magazines fail due to rusty springs, but that becomes much less likely with the use of a stainless spring.
There isn’t much to say about the floor plate latches other than they locked into every magazine that I tried. Its only real purpose is to retain the floor plate and it does that well.
The floor plate latch is nicely finished and works well to retain the floor plate.
In Use
I had 4 kits that I installed in 4 different magazines: a polymer Polish magazine, a Chinese “no rib” steel magazine, a Hungarian 20 round “tanker” magazine, and a Bulgarian Circle 10 polymer magazine.
Left to right: Hungarian Tanker, Chinese "No Rib", Bulgarian Circle 10
The Polish magazine is the earlier military type that has steel reinforcement in the feedlips, not the later commercial types with no steel. This was the magazine that I was most looking forward to testing the kit with since its original follower was very sticky in the magazine body to the point that it would cause an occasional stoppage. The AK30 Rebuild kit immediately and completely cured the feeding issues. I have put over 300 trouble free rounds through this magazine with the kit installed. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about this because this is a great magazine body and it was a real shame that it wasn’t running well.
The Chinese “no rib” magazine accepted the kit and ran perfectly. However, the follower is a little bit narrow for this type of magazine and will only engage one of the follower retaining dimples at a time. These dimples are in place to prevent the follower from riding up too high in the magazine. By not engaging on both, the follower was allowed to wobble a bit more than usual. My concern would be that the follower might wear out sooner or develop more too much tilt over time. However, it functioned without issue through 180 rounds.
Hungarian 20 round “tanker” magazines utilize the same springs and followers as 30 round magazines. The AK30 Rebuild Kits fit the magazines perfectly. Loading the last few rounds is somewhat difficult but they functioned very well. There were no malfunctions through 150 rounds.
The follower required some fitting to work with the Bulgarian Circle 10 magazine. The follower would catch on the metal feedlip inserts. The fix was simple. I used a sharp knife to chamfer the top corners of the follower. The AK30 guts in the Circle 10 magazine body made for a very nice combination – the ultra rugged Circle 10 magazine body paired with the great follower and stainless spring of the AK30. It functioned perfectly through 300 rounds.
Top to bottom: Hungarian Tanker, Chinese "No Rib", Bulgarian Circle 10
Will They Work for You?
Given the somewhat wide variances in AK magazines, US PALM has done a very good job of making a kit that fits a broad range of magazine bodies. However, there can be some fit issues as evidenced by the examples I mentioned above. There are also some magazines that common sense dictates you wouldn’t want to use these kits.
If you are interested in trying the AK30 Rebuild Kits, I recommend buying one kit and trying it in the magazines that you intend to use it in before you buy several kits. Check the fit in as many magazines as you can. Determine if you will need to do any fitting (which is extremely easy to do). Then, once you have determined that they will work with your favorite magazine body, buy all that you need.
If you have “bolt hold open” mags like those from Yugoslavia, these kits are not for you. The follower has a taper at the back that will not work well to hold the bolt open. The plastic will also likely not hold up very well to being battered by the bolt and bolt carrier.
Conclusion
I like these kits. I was able to successfully use one to rejuvenate a magazine that would have been difficult and expensive to replace. I also like that there is finally a stainless steel spring option for AK magazines. This kit makes maintaining your magazines much more simple and makes them more resistant to a lack of maintenance. It will be up to you to determine if they work with your magazines and whether you need the functionality of the improved follower and stainless spring.
You can check out the AK30 Rebuild Kits on the US PALM website.
Disclosure: These kits were provided to me for review, free of charge, by US PALM.
The Pro Armorer Mat is designed to work like a portable work bench. It can turn any surface, even the ground, into a useable workspace for firearm maintenance. The work surface is made from durable, non-slip ToughTek fabric. The corners have magnets on them so you can retain all of your small parts securely right on the work surface and small pins and springs are prevented from rolling off the edges. The Pro Armorer Mat also features a zippered pouch and elastic loops for retaining small parts and tools.
You can fold the Pro Armorer Mat and secure it in the closed position with a Velcro strap when it is not in use. The exterior is Multicam nylon that is laminated to the ToughTek fabric.
