magazine catch lever

Well, i think the upper part of this thing is a bit short - the part that the rear of the mag tab latches onto. On my 2 blk poly circle 10 mags, it would cycle but not putting in any bullet sometimes. But when putting pressure upwards (holding the mag when shooting) it would cycle fine.

I want to replace this with a new one and have a few questions:
1. Will any AK part work, or does it have to be AK 74 specific part.
2. It has a funny looking pin/ rivet there. Should i just ground one end down and replace it with a regular screw with nut ?

thanks.

Does this happen with all of your mags? Do you know if the mags where modified to work in 5.56 AKs?

Answers to your questions:

1. Any AK catch should work but most of the AK-74s have a dimpled mag catch.

2. Removing the rivet and putting a screw and nut is probably not going to raise the catch up and the purist will hate you.

I would first determine if the mags are the issue. If it is the catch you can find a replacement catch and rivet and replace it. I myself would recommend you send it back to the builder or find a competent AK gunsmith and let them fix it for you.

Could be the mag latch. Or a slightkly bulged receiver that pushes the lower portion of the receiver lower which places the trigger gurad/lartch lower,.. Unless you caliper measure the latch and determine that it is actually short compared to other latches and that various mags fit the same I would not assume it is the lever/latch. Thinning the selector stop is the preferred method often used during building to remedy a loose latch lockup.