Izhmash reportedly switched to a baked-on enamel finish on its AKs shortly before production of the AKM model began in 1959. At first, these mags were blued, but this was eventually changed to a baked-on black enamel finish. The earliest Soviet ribbed mag, the “Izhmash Back-Stamped Ribbed Mag”, has the Ishmash factory mark stamped on the bottom-back of the mag like the Russian Slab-Side mag. This type of mag was produced by many other countries, and I will refer to it in the future as the “First European Ribbed Type.” The first ribbed mags had the inward facing rib at the rear of the mag’s body going strait up and under the plates that reinforce the feed lips. Three of these horizontal ribs are noticeably short, and basically just wrap around the bottom rear of the mag. The body features three outward and one inward facing longitudinal ribs, as well as five outward facing horizontal ribs along the bottom of the magazine. The body, as with the earlier Slab-Side version, was formed from two stamped metal halves that are spot welded together along the front and along the rear flanges (referred to as the mag spine). Stamped from thinner steel (.75 mm) this design featured ribs in the body for added strength. They originally had a blued finish, but many appear to have been later refinished with a black enamel coating.Ībout the time that the Type III AK-47 was adopted in 1954, a new lighter 30-round steel magazine was introduced. Made from thick 1 mm steel, it is without doubt extremely durable, but heavy. The Russian Slab-Side magazines are generally covered in inspector stamps, but the Izhmash factory mark (feathered arrow in triangle) will be found stamped low on the back of the mag’s body. They are relatively rare as the design was replaced before AK production was started at another factory.
When the Soviet Union started production of the AK-47 in late 1948 at the Izhevsk Machine Plant, also known as Izhmash, it came with a 30-round magazine that has come to be called the “Russian Slab-Side.” It gets its name from its smooth stamped sides and was produced only by the Izhmash factory. Even with this seemingly narrow scope the project proved dauntingly large, and continued to grow as new variations showed up. As such, this effort is limited to 7.62x39mm magazines with a capacity of 30 rounds or less, and which don’t need to be modified to work in a standard AK-47. Identifying all magazines, for all AK variants, would be of such a large magnitude that it would be completely impractical to attempt. Russian magazines (from left): Russian Slab-Side, Early Izhmash Spine Stamped, Ishmash Side-Stamped, Aluminum Waffle, Izhmash AG4.
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