As many AK shooters know loading magazines for a range trip can be a dirty and time-consuming task. It seems those steel cased rounds are covered with plenty of dirt that ends up all over my hands. While loading the magazines doesn’t take that much time, Caldwell’s new AK Mag Charger makes it a snap. The mag charger works with all types of AK magazines including drums.
It arrived nicely packaged, ready for a retail environment.
I removed the Mag Charger from the package and found it to be a well-built piece of range gear. Based on the quality, I think it is worth every bit of the $99.99 MSRP. Now let’s find out if it works.
Removing the lid, I prepared to load the Mag Charger up with ammo.
Caldwell also provided me with their Ammo Boxes designed to work with the Mag Charger. Good thing since most 7.62 x 39 ammo is sold in 20 round boxes.
I turned the Mag Charger upside down and inserted the tips of the bullets into the Mag Charger. There are indexing holes along the top to ensure you are loading it correctly.
It is a simple matter of flipping the Ammo Box and Mag Charger back over to fill the Charger.
All loaded up! The rounds float freely after they make it past the indexing holes, this way the plunger can push them through into the mag.
Now to insert the magazine. I had a surplus steel AK mag to load first. The process is pretty simple, you insert the mag just like you would in a rifle by inserting the leading edge of the mag first, then rocking it into place.
Then you pull the plunger out and manually advance the tray to the first position.
After moving the plunger in, you retract it for another stoke. The feed tray indexes itself automatically to the next row every time. Caldwell claims you can load a magazine in less than 10 seconds, I found this to be accurate. Before I knew it I had a full mag and it was time to replace it for an empty. This is accomplished by pressing on the mag catch and rocking the mag out just like on my rifle.
Very easy to fill mags up!
Caldwell claims that it works with most steel and polymer mags. Time to find out if there is truth in that statement. I found a 20 round Tapco mag in my bin of mags.
I was able to insert the mag just like I did the steel AK mag without issue.
A few more strokes later and yet another mag was full. I did find that getting the mag charger was a bit tougher with the polymer mag, but that was expected. I regularly have issue chambering a round with these as a result of what I presume to be increased drag on the rounds from the rough polymer feed lips.
If you want to keep the Mag Charger ready to go that is an option. Just fill it up like normal and put the lid back over the feed tray.
I think I got a bit carried away. Looks like I am going to have to go to the range and shoot more than I planned. Darn.
If you happen to be in the market for an AK Mag Charger I highly recommend Caldwell’s, there are so few options on the market for AK shooters to load mags as fast as we can unload them. The retail price of the AK Mag Charger is $99.99 and can be found here. The ammo boxes retail for $24.99 and come with 5 in a package, they can be found here.
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