My TAPCO mag is just not fitting in...

[Sporting Lad]

I'm having trouble fitting my Tapco 20/5 mag into my 1952 Tula with the TAPCO "Intrafuse" stock.
Briefly, the mag seems too wide to fit within the confines of the SKS magazine well.
At first I wondered if it was the TAPCO stock that was causing it, but that's not the problem; the mag does fine
until it hits the steel of the receiver. I'm just not sure exactly where I need to trim it.
I suppose I could reinstall the factory stock and give it another try, but I don't expect a different result.

One idea was to do some sanding of the Tapco mag's sides.
IDK, I hate to have to sand that much area on both sides of the mag.
The difference in width between the factory mag and the Tapco is about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 mm (total).
Split that and I need to sand just ~1 mm on each side.
That's certainly sandable. It ought to be required only on the top ~ 12 mm (1/2") of the mag's
sides. I could do that, but I'd want to be sure before I went ahead and did any serious reshaping.

The tolerances are so tight in there and it's hard to see, so I can't get a good pic.

It seems to me that the factory mag well is narrower than the Tapco mag, or the Tapco mag is too
wide to be accepted by the factory mag well. It's hard to see exactly what's going on in there.
Maybe there is something else that's preventing the two from mating. Maybe I'm overlooking something
obvious. The mag ought to just >CLACK< right in there.
The bolt is open...

Why should we have to custom fit a mag that's supposed to be designed specifically for an SKS?

Has anyone else experienced this problem when inserting their Tapco mag for the first time?

 

[armilaria]

I have several SKS's and all are a bit different. I do not have experience with the Tapco mags but I have 2 D models and even though they are essentially the same they are very different and my all of my 5 mags fit differently with some too loose in one rifle and too tight in another. I have had to modify 2 of the mags to fit one rifle to find one of them too loose in the other. Other than modifying the mag well of the SKS I would certainly adapt the mag as they are very cheap and you can customize it to fit nice and tight.

That is what I would do.

 

[supernova]

Tapco mags are junk IMO. Don't bother with your original stock, you'll have to remove material from it too. Take the action out of the stock, snap in the trigger group and try again to get a better look at where it needs work. Mine needed to be filed damn near everywhere. The spine of the mag above the tab, between the feed lips, the magwell of the stock just for the action to function unloaded. Add live ammo and forget about the rifle working right. The factory mag is the only one I'll use now. But I'm anal about reliability and can't stand a gun that jams constantly.

 

[hical.ca]

Wood stock? You need to rasp some wood from the sides of the magwell, the Tapco mags may need the front & rear feed lip corners filed a bit. Insert the mag & look at the corners. Make sure the bolt is open of course....

 

[Cgn99]

My tapco mags work great, just needed sides of the magwel shaved a bit, to slide in the tapco mags freely

 

[winchester94]

Hmmmmm, guess I was lucky. I've got three 5/20's that work 100% in my tapco'd sks.

 

[.30/06 FTW]

I've got 4 5/20s, no issues at all with my Intrafuse.

 

[Blegend]

Different years seem to fit the mags better than others in my experience. They can always be fitted to work.

 

[Lobster_pot]

Had to do this to mine. Work perfect now. Just filed a little off those corners

 

[yes man]

File inside your stock a little u will get nice fit also look carefully at origal mag at the notches for stripper clips do the same on the tapco mine work good no probs and take clips as well no failers ..i also stretched the spring inside and little sanding around the edges of the follower seemed to do it ..cheers

 

[Sporting Lad]

My final solution to the mag fitting problem:

Since early on I'd been thinking of getting a 'non-collector' as a donor gun for my Bubba project, and I've been using my (nice '52) Tula as a test bed until I could find one. Well, two days ago I walked in to my Mom & Pop gunshop, and there on the rack was the perfect donor.
It's an earlier Chinese Type 56 complete with a Tapco magazine installed! We've got Russkies galore here, but any Chinese SKS is a rare bird these days, so imagine my surprise upon finding this one (sorry, no pics yet). It was clean and it was cheap. I'm delighted to discover that this mag that I've been struggling to fit into my Tula, slid/clacked right into the donor just like it was made for it. Now I've got two interchangeable mags, and I can put my Tula back together again.
SO...(just in case you've not been paying attn... some Russian SKS years (1952 Tula, for sure!) will not accept Tapco mags without modification.
IDK what year the Norinco donor is, since it's not date stamped.
Look for my continuing Bubba Project story in a new, soon to be published thread.
Once again, thx to all those who sent that helpful intell. Maybe we've contributed something to the total store of SKS knowledge.

 

[Sporting Lad]

The Donor Gun:

I started already by removing bayo!

 

[.30/06 FTW]

some Russian SKS years (1952 Tula, for sure!) will not accept Tapco mags without modification.

Mine work just fine in my 52 Tula (but like I said that's with the Tapco stock installed).