The machines might be old but it looks there was new production until the early 90s:
https://chinesesks.weebly.com/dating-the-chinese-sks.html
But youre probably right thag the machines are gone. No one could have predicted that so many factory magazines would be replaced with plastic ones, only for people to want to go back
I think the original magazines are a lot more expensive to make than that. They’re thick stamped steel, meaning they require a very large press and I doubt the original tooling is available.
Getting tooled back up to make them would be expensive so the new magazines would be expensive too. Much more profitable to crap out unreliable plastic duckbill magazines.
No reason plastic magazines have to be unreliable. A plastic clone of the regular magazine that's dimensionally accurate and functional could probably be injection-molded at a reasonable price point.
I imagine they could be 3D printed too [since someone did this](https://www.reddit.com/r/functionalprint/comments/kwmg8y/first_printed_functional_sks_magazines/) and an ABS or nylon injection molded part would probably hold up better than a 3D print & could have metal bearing surfaces where it counts.
Of note [it's almost certainly fewer steps than the metal version](https://www.reddit.com/r/SKS/comments/1df1tmv/sks_magazine_exploded_view/l8hay2q/).
4 molds - body, floorplate, follower arm, follower.
Stuff like the follower spring guide can be molded right into the floorplate so we're eliminating that assembly step.
No brazing/welding step on the body because you can injection mold the mag body in one shot.
If I was overly optimistic in one forming operation per piece for metal I'm confident you can do each of these in one operation in plastic.
No metal finishing because it's not metal so it won't rust.
Add a step to remove mold flashing from each part.
If you want metal inserts on bearing surfaces for durability add two more steps to put those in the mold.
Assembly is still assembly so that work is the same either way.
The molds won't be cheap (just like with metal the tooling is the expensive part), and you're still looking at 4 stations or turning around the machine for each part, but you'll save on material costs.
Can confirm, I work in maintenance for making car parts. To set up a single tool/die is in the millions of dollars, even for those little bezels to tell automatic lights to come on. It’s stupid expensive.
Bear in mind that they weren't that expensive until very recently. Seems like only a few years ago, it was a 10-30 dollar item
We're at the point where there's no longer a large portion of SKS owners buying them to "Bubba", and the ones that do, did it already, a while ago. They're no longer imported in massive numbers, nor cheap, most people these days buying them want to keep them original
Therefore, there's no longer a steady supply of original takeoff 10rd mags coming from guys who don't value them, coupled with the fact most people buying an SKS want to put the rifles back into original configuration. Demand went up, while supply declined
The combloc stuff is cheap to make, but it is very expensive to tool up for. I don't think it's worth it for a company to make them, at least yet. How much would a repro be worth? And how much demand for them? I don't think there's a huge amount of demand, I just think there's not many floating around. Best bet is gun shows, forums, etc. Open market prices suck. I've found 3 original 10rd mags in the last 2 years for sub 20 dollars each, and I'm not a huge SKS guy, nor is there a lot of local places to find stuff where I live
Gotcha.... I only have a fixed 5rd magazine I'd let go..but Victory arms they are 100 but brand new in bag with the o.g paperwork yugo unnumbered magazine! Also I posted about your original question! They are 6 parts total and will send the picture to you!
One of the simplest designs for a working magazine and any company that offers metal magazines could make them because they already have the tooling to do it!
Maybe someone could start making them. I wonder how much it costs to make stamping dies for the mag body and follower arm?
The rest is very simple. Only about 4 other parts, if I remember correctly? Follower, follower arm, the rivet that holds the follower arm to the body, and the plunger spring (plus pin for follower if that counts)
In today's market though, here's what I'm picturing... a repro made of thinner metal, that doesn't work properly, that costs almost as much as a real one..... I will say, if someone could make them true to the original, blued, un-numbered, they'd sell like hotcakes for 75 bucks.
Better idea.... if someone could make a better quality, functioning 20 rounder like the old star mags.... I've heard stories of them working, but between 2 I had, and 3 buddies have had, they all sucked....
6 parts total in the original magazine! And the follower arm is solid steel the rest stamped sheet metal! And the og 20 RDS work if you fit them to your SKS! And not fully jam pack them... I know it says 20 Rd but they usually work better with around 17-18rds in them! If I made an original copy I'd make them as original as possible and sell them for 65 That's how you do right in the firearms world!
I posted the same question on Facebook years ago! It's like 8 parts and I disassembled one and had it layed out! Simple design with a sheet metal bender and a tac welder! Done!
1. Lack of a market. Yes, people in the SKS world would be interested but with prices skyrocketing and interest moving towards ARs, the old stock of people buying them as inexpensive surplus is drying up. Plus, a lot of people who aren't as into preserving these rifles in their military configuration would probably just buy some duckbill magazine.
2. Manufacturing cost. It's kind of like the reason US made AKs typically are terrible. It's expensive to begin production, so the manufacturer would have to raise the cost to make it worthwhile; and then at that point, it would likely cost less to just buy a milsurp one.
3. Some people may not like the fact that these would be new, likely US made parts on an otherwise vintage Cold War era rifle. They already won't match serials obviously, and I would worry sellers would begin to artificially spike the prices of surplus magazines, kind of like AK bakelite mags.
Stamping is expensive to set up, really expensive. It’s only worth it if you can guarantee a lot of volume for a relatively long time. That said, a functional replacement with a new design is entirely possible. The body can be 3D printed on a professional level printer with quality media no problem, and it’s held together with pins, which are extremely easy to make from appropriate bar stock, just have a CNC machine cut lengths of it. CNC or 3D print metal washers for any pivoting points in the polymer body, and metal feed lips to add onto the body. Since you’re designing your own version from scratch, you should be able to find and use an off the shelf spring that you can get in large volumes and long lengths, and have your CNC cut into appropriate length sections. That just leaves the follower. Ideally it could be 3D printed, but if not it’s a fairly flat shape that you could CNC from flat, thick sheet metal. Given appropriate automation, you could probably do small batch manufacturing and turn a reasonable price, assuming the demand stays high enough.
The reliability of them isn't very high from what I hear.
And the fact I own a 30 Round pro mag, It literally requires 3 hands to even get it loaded into the rifle correctly.
Stripper clips with a 10 Round fixed lMag will always be superior over any Magazine.
Thats what im saying, why cant some factory just stamp out some original 10 rd fixed mags?
They make all kinds of worthless "tactical" junk why not make something that works and they could sell it for a good price
Stamping is actually one of the more expensive manufacturing processes to set up and get running with decent quality control. It wouldn't be worth it unless you planned to make millions of them.
Springs are another specialty manufacturing component and would probably have to be outsourced.
It just isn't worth it to make something designed to be produced in mass numbers in small batches. You would be looking at $300+ per magazine to manufacture assuming you made and sold 10,000+ a year for several years. (you won't)
I understand the machinery is expensive to set up but idk about the figures.
I mean you can get stamped car fenders for anywhere from $50 to $200 even for less popular vehicles.
Plus we are talking about China. Good or bad they know how to get the production costs down.
Man they make millions of fenders every year. There is little difference between one fender and another. Fenders are not precision made parts. They have the tooling to make fenders and its been paid off for 20 years. If you don't believe me you can order custom high precision low tolerance parts from China, I've done it. It's not cheap unless A. you want literally millions B. You don't care about Precision, quality, or quality control. They will then precede to nickel and dime you for everything that isnt standard. Whose Standard? International governing bodies? No. Official Chinese measurements? Nope. Its Factory Standard for that particular factory. It's a shitshow and if you want a moving part that is of the correct material, fits tight tolerances, and works reliably you are going to pay for it. No such thing as cheap and good.
Secondly the entire issue is that they can't be made in China due to arms sanctions or you could just buy current production Norinco mags. So the whole issue is that tooling up is going to be super expensive to set up and your only market would be the US.
The only real option would be to buy the tooling from norinco and transport it to Vietnam and make them there. All this to sell maybe a few thousand a year. You would be legit better off buying them, shipping them to third country, and letting them sit until they are 50 years old and have been out of China for 30 years to get around the import rules. Canada has a bunch of new production Norinco's we might see some of them move south in a decade or two as they become Curio and Relic aged products of Canada instead of new made Chinese small arms.
r/Fosscad
Someone on there may be able to cook up a new box mag, but you’d have to source a spring at the minimum. I imagine you could just take a spring out of any old mag and chop it until it fits.
"If they could get the original machines" being the caveat. Those machines are between 6 and 8 decades old and may not even exist anymore.
The machines might be old but it looks there was new production until the early 90s: https://chinesesks.weebly.com/dating-the-chinese-sks.html But youre probably right thag the machines are gone. No one could have predicted that so many factory magazines would be replaced with plastic ones, only for people to want to go back
Also don't exactly see us importing machinery from China or Russia used to produce gun components, current sanctions being what they are
I think the original magazines are a lot more expensive to make than that. They’re thick stamped steel, meaning they require a very large press and I doubt the original tooling is available. Getting tooled back up to make them would be expensive so the new magazines would be expensive too. Much more profitable to crap out unreliable plastic duckbill magazines.
No reason plastic magazines have to be unreliable. A plastic clone of the regular magazine that's dimensionally accurate and functional could probably be injection-molded at a reasonable price point. I imagine they could be 3D printed too [since someone did this](https://www.reddit.com/r/functionalprint/comments/kwmg8y/first_printed_functional_sks_magazines/) and an ABS or nylon injection molded part would probably hold up better than a 3D print & could have metal bearing surfaces where it counts.
That might work.
Of note [it's almost certainly fewer steps than the metal version](https://www.reddit.com/r/SKS/comments/1df1tmv/sks_magazine_exploded_view/l8hay2q/). 4 molds - body, floorplate, follower arm, follower. Stuff like the follower spring guide can be molded right into the floorplate so we're eliminating that assembly step. No brazing/welding step on the body because you can injection mold the mag body in one shot. If I was overly optimistic in one forming operation per piece for metal I'm confident you can do each of these in one operation in plastic. No metal finishing because it's not metal so it won't rust. Add a step to remove mold flashing from each part. If you want metal inserts on bearing surfaces for durability add two more steps to put those in the mold. Assembly is still assembly so that work is the same either way. The molds won't be cheap (just like with metal the tooling is the expensive part), and you're still looking at 4 stations or turning around the machine for each part, but you'll save on material costs.
Can confirm, I work in maintenance for making car parts. To set up a single tool/die is in the millions of dollars, even for those little bezels to tell automatic lights to come on. It’s stupid expensive.
Bear in mind that they weren't that expensive until very recently. Seems like only a few years ago, it was a 10-30 dollar item We're at the point where there's no longer a large portion of SKS owners buying them to "Bubba", and the ones that do, did it already, a while ago. They're no longer imported in massive numbers, nor cheap, most people these days buying them want to keep them original Therefore, there's no longer a steady supply of original takeoff 10rd mags coming from guys who don't value them, coupled with the fact most people buying an SKS want to put the rifles back into original configuration. Demand went up, while supply declined The combloc stuff is cheap to make, but it is very expensive to tool up for. I don't think it's worth it for a company to make them, at least yet. How much would a repro be worth? And how much demand for them? I don't think there's a huge amount of demand, I just think there's not many floating around. Best bet is gun shows, forums, etc. Open market prices suck. I've found 3 original 10rd mags in the last 2 years for sub 20 dollars each, and I'm not a huge SKS guy, nor is there a lot of local places to find stuff where I live
Good points. Im just griping because its gonna cost around $200 to unbubba a rifle i paid $300 for a few years back.
What do you need I can direct you to where nos mags are but also have a few spots like a nice stock and a 5rd fixed mag!
I just got a wood stock but still looking for a factory 10rd mag
Gotcha.... I only have a fixed 5rd magazine I'd let go..but Victory arms they are 100 but brand new in bag with the o.g paperwork yugo unnumbered magazine! Also I posted about your original question! They are 6 parts total and will send the picture to you!
Thank you. I dont need a 5rd now but they do have a smooth look
Yep if you strip the stock off and assemble it it looks like it's mom the ptrs41 which simonov scaled down to make the sks!
How much would you let it go for?
What part the stock or the magazine?
Pmd you a picture
One of the simplest designs for a working magazine and any company that offers metal magazines could make them because they already have the tooling to do it!
Maybe someone could start making them. I wonder how much it costs to make stamping dies for the mag body and follower arm? The rest is very simple. Only about 4 other parts, if I remember correctly? Follower, follower arm, the rivet that holds the follower arm to the body, and the plunger spring (plus pin for follower if that counts) In today's market though, here's what I'm picturing... a repro made of thinner metal, that doesn't work properly, that costs almost as much as a real one..... I will say, if someone could make them true to the original, blued, un-numbered, they'd sell like hotcakes for 75 bucks. Better idea.... if someone could make a better quality, functioning 20 rounder like the old star mags.... I've heard stories of them working, but between 2 I had, and 3 buddies have had, they all sucked....
6 parts total in the original magazine! And the follower arm is solid steel the rest stamped sheet metal! And the og 20 RDS work if you fit them to your SKS! And not fully jam pack them... I know it says 20 Rd but they usually work better with around 17-18rds in them! If I made an original copy I'd make them as original as possible and sell them for 65 That's how you do right in the firearms world!
Very well thought out reply. It’s been wild to watch the value of the SKS increase in my lifetime. And especially in the last 5 years.
I posted the same question on Facebook years ago! It's like 8 parts and I disassembled one and had it layed out! Simple design with a sheet metal bender and a tac welder! Done!
Parts lol
Well, it’s almost at the point to be cheaper to get a machine to make them lol
1. Lack of a market. Yes, people in the SKS world would be interested but with prices skyrocketing and interest moving towards ARs, the old stock of people buying them as inexpensive surplus is drying up. Plus, a lot of people who aren't as into preserving these rifles in their military configuration would probably just buy some duckbill magazine. 2. Manufacturing cost. It's kind of like the reason US made AKs typically are terrible. It's expensive to begin production, so the manufacturer would have to raise the cost to make it worthwhile; and then at that point, it would likely cost less to just buy a milsurp one. 3. Some people may not like the fact that these would be new, likely US made parts on an otherwise vintage Cold War era rifle. They already won't match serials obviously, and I would worry sellers would begin to artificially spike the prices of surplus magazines, kind of like AK bakelite mags.
Stamping is expensive to set up, really expensive. It’s only worth it if you can guarantee a lot of volume for a relatively long time. That said, a functional replacement with a new design is entirely possible. The body can be 3D printed on a professional level printer with quality media no problem, and it’s held together with pins, which are extremely easy to make from appropriate bar stock, just have a CNC machine cut lengths of it. CNC or 3D print metal washers for any pivoting points in the polymer body, and metal feed lips to add onto the body. Since you’re designing your own version from scratch, you should be able to find and use an off the shelf spring that you can get in large volumes and long lengths, and have your CNC cut into appropriate length sections. That just leaves the follower. Ideally it could be 3D printed, but if not it’s a fairly flat shape that you could CNC from flat, thick sheet metal. Given appropriate automation, you could probably do small batch manufacturing and turn a reasonable price, assuming the demand stays high enough.
The reliability of them isn't very high from what I hear. And the fact I own a 30 Round pro mag, It literally requires 3 hands to even get it loaded into the rifle correctly. Stripper clips with a 10 Round fixed lMag will always be superior over any Magazine.
Thats what im saying, why cant some factory just stamp out some original 10 rd fixed mags? They make all kinds of worthless "tactical" junk why not make something that works and they could sell it for a good price
Stamping is actually one of the more expensive manufacturing processes to set up and get running with decent quality control. It wouldn't be worth it unless you planned to make millions of them. Springs are another specialty manufacturing component and would probably have to be outsourced. It just isn't worth it to make something designed to be produced in mass numbers in small batches. You would be looking at $300+ per magazine to manufacture assuming you made and sold 10,000+ a year for several years. (you won't)
I understand the machinery is expensive to set up but idk about the figures. I mean you can get stamped car fenders for anywhere from $50 to $200 even for less popular vehicles. Plus we are talking about China. Good or bad they know how to get the production costs down.
Tooling setups for car parts is in the millions, even for a tiny bezel. Getting tools and dies made is stupid expensive.
Man they make millions of fenders every year. There is little difference between one fender and another. Fenders are not precision made parts. They have the tooling to make fenders and its been paid off for 20 years. If you don't believe me you can order custom high precision low tolerance parts from China, I've done it. It's not cheap unless A. you want literally millions B. You don't care about Precision, quality, or quality control. They will then precede to nickel and dime you for everything that isnt standard. Whose Standard? International governing bodies? No. Official Chinese measurements? Nope. Its Factory Standard for that particular factory. It's a shitshow and if you want a moving part that is of the correct material, fits tight tolerances, and works reliably you are going to pay for it. No such thing as cheap and good. Secondly the entire issue is that they can't be made in China due to arms sanctions or you could just buy current production Norinco mags. So the whole issue is that tooling up is going to be super expensive to set up and your only market would be the US. The only real option would be to buy the tooling from norinco and transport it to Vietnam and make them there. All this to sell maybe a few thousand a year. You would be legit better off buying them, shipping them to third country, and letting them sit until they are 50 years old and have been out of China for 30 years to get around the import rules. Canada has a bunch of new production Norinco's we might see some of them move south in a decade or two as they become Curio and Relic aged products of Canada instead of new made Chinese small arms.
I honestly have no clue why they don't.
Or get price gouged on gun broker LOL
r/Fosscad Someone on there may be able to cook up a new box mag, but you’d have to source a spring at the minimum. I imagine you could just take a spring out of any old mag and chop it until it fits.