Ruger American - 7x62x39 - mag conversion to AK mags

[1nderbeard]

Just in case anyone has one of these, there is someone online that is making a magwell conversion to accept magpul AK magazines. IMO this is a really nice conversion if you have rifles in the AK platform and this bolt action platform. Will make a potentially nice truck gun combination. The AK and the bolt gun, that use the same magazines.

The guy has made several youtube videos and lists his contact info there.

I'll update when I get the kit.

https://www.youtube.com/@andresfueurcastle9846

 

[IUKalash429]

Tagged for interest. I like the Mini-30 mags for these but yeah, if AK mags feed reliably that would be incredible.

ETA - I'm picturing one of these with a Chinese 100-round drum and laughing out loud.

 

[Ark]

Dunno if it's really worth it for the use case of these rifles.

But dang I really want one of those Rugers. I don't live on a ranch or hunt deer with 7.62, but I think they're super neat anyway. Maybe with a 1.5-4x nice lightweight Leopold optic. Ever since I saw that dude run Woodland Brutality with the 5.56 version I've wanted to try 2-gun with one of these.

 

[Dingleberry]

The 20 rounders would be okay but a 30 rnd AK combloc mag would be heavy and unwieldy in my opinion. The Ruger 20s we're a good balance but damn they rusted fast.

 

[1nderbeard]

I got the first one. The mag release was too thick for the rear lug for the magazine. I could not get the magazines to lock back in against the rear of the magwell. It was off my maybe a 16th of an inch. The guy is super nice and is going to ship me another one, and offered to take a look and see what was wrong with the first one he sent. The one bit of gunsmithing you need to do is remove the spring from the mag release and put it on the new one.
He's a one man show, so it's a trial and error process. Hopefully I'll have it next week.

 

[1nderbeard]

The 20 rounders would be okay but a 30 rnd AK combloc mag would be heavy and unwieldy in my opinion. The Ruger 20s we're a good balance but damn they rusted fast.

Yeah I can see that. I mainly am interested in a truck combo carry package. AK for a bunch of bad guys, the American for one or two far away....
I just like to pretend I'm a GI Joe.

 

[Dingleberry]

Yeah I can see that. I mainly am interested in a truck combo carry package. AK for a bunch of bad guys, the American for one or two far away....
I just like to pretend I'm a GI Joe.

Honestly I never got much better than AK accuracy from my American. I mean it was more accurate but not enough to impress. The AK pkg may be enough?

 

[1nderbeard]

Honestly I never got much better than AK accuracy from my American. I mean it was more accurate but not enough to impress. The AK pkg may be enough?

You're probably right; I'm not looking for competition accuracy. Just minute of man/deer stuff. But I don't like the optic mounting options for AK rifles. That's the one reason I still have my Mini 30. I wouldn't mind selling the M30 now though, having finally found the American.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Honestly I never got much better than AK accuracy from my American. I mean it was more accurate but not enough to impress. The AK pkg may be enough?

wouldnt that be partly a function of inconsistent ammo? Does anybody even make decent 7.62 ammo anyway?

 

[Dingleberry]

wouldnt that be partly a function of inconsistent ammo? Does anybody even make decent 7.62 ammo anyway?

Yeah I had mine when it first came out because I had a ton of commie steel case but if you wanted accurate 30cal I would gotten a 308 to be truthful.

 

[Aszerigan]

I know several people that would give their right arm to find one of those rifles. I've been looking for over a year.

 

[Ark]

I got the first one. The mag release was too thick for the rear lug for the magazine. I could not get the magazines to lock back in against the rear of the magwell. It was off my maybe a 16th of an inch. The guy is super nice and is going to ship me another one, and offered to take a look and see what was wrong with the first one he sent. The one bit of gunsmithing you need to do is remove the spring from the mag release and put it on the new one.
He's a one man show, so it's a trial and error process. Hopefully I'll have it next week.

I had some Bulgarian mags that wouldn't fit my WASR unless I shaved that rear lug a bit. The spec for that measurement on AKs is not exactly set in stone. It's one of the reasons some manufacturers standardized on AK PMAGs and simply told customers that not all steel mags will fit.

 

[1nderbeard]

I know several people that would give their right arm to find one of those rifles. I've been looking for over a year.

I lucked out and found one at my LGS' facebook page earlier this year. They had one last time I looked in there last week. It's premier arms in Brownsburg IN.

 

[1nderbeard]

I had some Bulgarian mags that wouldn't fit my WASR unless I shaved that rear lug a bit. The spec for that measurement on AKs is not exactly set in stone. It's one of the reasons some manufacturers standardized on AK PMAGs and simply told customers that not all steel mags will fit.

yeah. the reason I didn't is the guy told me they would specifically fit the Magpul variants.

 

[IUKalash429]

I've been looking for over a year.

Where have you been looking? I got mine easy peasy several months ago at Sportsman's Warehouse in Greenfield. Academy also had them somewhat recently with site-to-store in Terre Haute. Impact Guns and guns.com have them in stock online right now, and Grab a Gun and Family Firearms had them online not long ago, as have a bunch of smaller online outfits over the past several weeks.

 

[DadSmith]

Dunno if it's really worth it for the use case of these rifles.

But dang I really want one of those Rugers. I don't live on a ranch or hunt deer with 7.62, but I think they're super neat anyway. Maybe with a 1.5-4x nice lightweight Leopold optic. Ever since I saw that dude run Woodland Brutality with the 5.56 version I've wanted to try 2-gun with one of these.

I want a 7.62x39mm and plan on buying the 6.5 Grendel mag well so I can use AR-15 magazines.

 

[Ark]

I want a 7.62x39mm and plan on buying the 6.5 Grendel mag well so I can use AR-15 magazines.

So here's a goofy proposal...

In his video on the Steyr Scout, Ian from Forgotten Weapons points out a neat little feature: The magazine has two different locking slots for two different ride heights. The idea is that you insert the magazine to the first slot, and it's not far enough into the gun for the bolt to grab the round. That makes it single feed only through the ejection port. Then, when you want to engage the magazine, you just tap the bottom and bump it up to the second slot. Basically, it operates like a magazine cutoff on a Lebel or old Enfield.

Since AR mags slot straight in and don't rock, you could probably modify one or 3d print your own magazine body to duplicate this function on the RAR. Wouldn't work on the rock and lock Mini-type mags, but an AR mag...?

 

[DadSmith]

So here's a goofy proposal...

In his video on the Steyr Scout, Ian from Forgotten Weapons points out a neat little feature: The magazine has two different locking slots for two different ride heights. The idea is that you insert the magazine to the first slot, and it's not far enough into the gun for the bolt to grab the round. That makes it single feed only through the ejection port. Then, when you want to engage the magazine, you just tap the bottom and bump it up to the second slot. Basically, it operates like a magazine cutoff on a Lebel or old Enfield.

Since AR mags slot straight in and don't rock, you could probably modify one or 3d print your own magazine body to duplicate this function on the RAR. Wouldn't work on the rock and lock Mini-type mags, but an AR mag...?

Try it and post your progress. It would be interesting.

 

[1nderbeard]

Here's the update.

I got the second, "finished" magwell. At the first try, the magazine still would not clear the release lever. I torqued on and pulled out the receiver screws from the bottom of the modified magwell. I messaged the guy late last night (12/22/22) just to tell him I was having no luck, but I did not need a refund. I just wanted him to know the item wouldn't work as he thought it should. We messaged back and forth. I measured all the mags with calipers. I sent him videos of the motion I was using to "rock" the magazine in to the well.
Long story short, he told me I wasn't putting enough front pressure on the front locking lug, and if I made sure the front was good and attached the back lug should clear the release lever. I got some JB weld to re-attach the magwell to the receiver screws and got the AK mags to work, for the most part.
It really helps to pull back the bolt before doing any mag changes, and the mags tend to "stick" in the receiver. Granted I'm not used to loading AK mags in anything but an AK, so I could just be doing it "wrong."
I will say that steel magazines are pretty loose in the gun. Promags work the best.

At the end of the day I would say if you are OK with tinkering, this is a neat concept. If you want something that works out of the box, it's too early. I will still need to test out the process and see how durable it is before doing any serious prep work with the rifle in the AK mag config. I kept all the original parts just in case.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I love the concept. Used to have a mossy in 5.56. Used AR mags. Loved it.