People often say that when it comes to AEG accessories, the AKs have it bad. Well, aside from the fact that AKs just don’t need all of those super-douper gadgets that Armalites owners seem to relish, there is one area of AK add-ons that is varied and plentiful – magazines.

Yep, while Armalites users are supremely concerned with what can be hung off their pets, while AK aficionados focus is what you can get to make your AK fire more stuff!

Hi or mid capacity, hi or low tech?

While I am a bit of a convert to ‘mid caps’, I can see the sense in using a high capacity magazine in one particular area – CQB. The fast moving and close in nature of CQB means that taking the time to change a mag mid-action could be a dicey proposition.
So I have invested in a very high capacity AK drum mag. The Hero Arms AK drum holds 3000 BBs, and even in the high rate of fire environment of CQB, this should keep me going without re-loading for some time.

On the flip side, I have also introduced a lo-tech mag mod for my mid-caps.

Hero Arms C015 AK drum mag

This is superb looking piece of kit, being nearly all-metal. In the UK this item is going for £159 (Airsoft Armoury), but we got ours from Hong Kong at a much more friendly £70 (UNCompany.com).

A WORD OF WARNING!
Do not pull the ‘lid’ completely off the back of the drum mag when opening it – the lid plate is attached to the rest of the drum mag by an electrical wire. Pulling the lid open and off could end up with your tearing the wiring free of it’s flimsy solder!

OK, warning given – let’s look inside…

I love clockwork mechanisms, and – really – the only way Hero Arms could have improved the very workmanlike innards of this machine would have been to have done them in brass! (Joking!)

Joking, because, as it is the drum mag already weighs 750g without BBs! So, if you already have a metal AK, adding this piece of kit may mean a few visits to the gym to bulk up a bit.

The integral battery box takes 3 AA batteries, and – annoyingly – this little box is kept shut by means of a small screw, not very field friendly. I also had the mis-fortune to have the BB feed tube come loose in transit, but this was easily re-attached.

Finally, there is the feed activation switch, which plugs into the rear of the drum and has a small button which you must push to make the BBs feed up into your hop-up. This is the one part of the drum-mag that I don’t really like, aside from being an unrealistic appendage it is also a little ugly having a wire stuck onto your AK, presumably by means of strips of black electrical tape.

But, this was my one main niggle about what, otherwise, is a sound looking bit of kit. Link to Hero Arms C016 product page: Hero Arms AK Electric Drum Magazine

(Field report to follow.)

Low tech mid-cap lash-up

Aside from the rather expensive and hi-tech mag purchase above, I also put together a bit of a nice ‘lash-up’ (literally) mod for my AK mid-caps.

Mid-caps – I have found – have a very disturbing – but at the same time very exciting – habit of emptying just at the most inappropriate moment. This is part of their charm, in that they inject a sense of realism to the proceedings, as you both have to gauge your BB consumption and chose your moment when to change.

So, a nice little ‘trick’ - borrowed from the real military world, and therefore ‘authentic’ – is to tape together two magazines, top to tail, to allow a very quick change from one to another. From an airsoft point of view this have several advantages.

First of all – and obviously – you immediately double your ready capacity attached to your AK. But additionally, this modification gives a more realistic look to your loadout – being a popular field adaption in most regular armies.

The one comment I do get though, is ‘why blue tape?’, as this seems to add a very un-tactical splash of colour to a prominent part of my loadout. The answer to this is simple, and that is that blue electrical tape was – it is said – the only colour available for some time in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia.

However…This isn’t all about authenticity, as the final advantage this tape gives you is that it makes your magazines fairly easy to find should you accidently drop them while playing!

More about my AK magaznes: 'AK mid-cap & hi-cap mags arrive (just in time!)'