Collecting
AK47 Stuff - Part Two Ammo
The
AK47 is by far the most produced rifle on the planet. And
while collecting the rifles is what most people enjoy,
there is a whole world of AK47 related collectibles out
there too. I enjoy collecting the ammo for the AK47
and that has led to
magazines and magazine pouches. These can
be found very cheap at gun shows, gun shops, surplus stores
and even thrift shops and pawn shops. Keep an eye open
and you will start to see AK related collectibles all over
the place.
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I
find most of my spent cases at shooting ranges, just
look down. I let people know I am collecting things
and I've collected both of the ammo crates this way,
from friends who gave me the boxes they would have
normally thrown away, One
ammo can was opened from the back, so it still
looks
good in the collection
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There
are head stamps, small numbers, on the cases Many
of the older 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 cases are marked
with the factories where they
were made. My oldest case was
a 1966 then at the 2007
SAR show I found am even
older one, and a box of them only cost about $4.
I keep
one sample of each head stamp in an old ammo tray
and any interesting 'extras' go onto stripper clips
(for trade)
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Chinese
ammo can no longer be imported, so I collect the
boxes. A few of these are full of ammo, the rest
are empty ones I found in the trash at ranges or
asked people fro after they shot them (of course
I picked up a few spent rounds too for the head stamps)
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Ak47
ammo comes in a wide variety of colors. metals and
finishes
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The
Ak47 ammo goes into a magazine in order to be shot
so magazines are an extension of the ammo collection
in a way. I have mostly standard (cheap) european
type mags, but I occasionally buy or trade for a
sample of other types of magazines. I did buy a red
bakelite AK47 (not AK74) magazine for quite a bit,
and besides the drums, it's my most expensive magazine.
Waffles, Slab side, bakelite, hunting legal, single
stack, US made and drums are just a start to the
variety in AK47 magazines.
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On
the 7.62x39 side of the fence there are still a lot
of styles to choose from. There is a stripper clip,
the actual 'AK47 clip', 5 and 10
round 'hunting magazines' 20 round for the AMD-65,
30 rounders, the most common, 40 rounders made for
the RPK, 50 rounders (aftermarket, never issued)
and drums in a few various flavors and sizes
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The
30 round AK47 mags are most common and come
in large variety. Bakelite,
Waffle mags (US and Bulgarian), Yugo bolt
hold open, one with a single rib, a standard european,
an a chinese (with no rib)
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You
can get AKs in 7.62x39, 5.56x45 (.223) and 5.45x39 so
there are mags available in all these calibers too
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