So I received the magazine today.
The Good
- I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality. I perceive it to be the equivalent of the original magazine in terms of sturdiness and quality. If I were to close my eyes and handle the magazines I might not be able to tell them apart.
The Bad
- To say that the magazine is a tight fit in the magazine well is being polite. After loading it with dummy rounds and inserting it into the rifle I thought the magazine was jammed. The magazine doesn't seem to engage the magazine lock.
- The magazine (initially, will doubtless change with some smithing) doesn't engage the bolt hold open, nor does it feed ammunition
- Internally pinned. I hate that.
At any rate, upon inspection it would appear that I will have to grind off a little of the feed lips in order to have ammunition feed from the magazine. My eyeball suggests that the feed lips are a touch bit longer than those on the OEM magazine that came with my SVT-40.
Despite whatever work this requires, initially satisfied with the aftermarket magazine. If I can get the first one working I will probably order at least one more.
Any one else grind down the feed lips, or did you simply have to manipulate the feed lips up or down to feed properly? Any issues inserting/removing the magazine into the well?