Gunsmithing AW magazine inlet

[gregt]

Hi fellas,

I'm in the process of making a chassis to fit a Sako 85 into some AICS skins. The Sako is a staggered feed in the original magazine but they're only available in 5 round. I took a look at the AI AW magazines and they look to be a similar setup to the original Sako one as far as feeding goes.

Can anyone tell me if the AW magazine will fit an AICS magwell or should I wait until I have the magazine here before machining the magwell?

Cheers,
Greg

 

[Ratbert]

Re: AW magazine inlet

The AW mags fit in an AICS magwell but can be more finicky about having exactly the right length mag catch to hold the rounds in the right location to be picked up by the bolt. I use a Surgeon action in an AICS chassis with AW mags and had to machine a custom mag catch that was a hair longer than the OEM one in order for it to work.

I don't know about your Sako, but with my surgeon and standard remington actions you also have to open up the bottom of the action and modify the feed ramp to adapt the receiver itself to the double feed design.

 

[gregt]

Re: AW magazine inlet

Thanks mate, that is good news. I'm not sure but I think the AW mags should fit. Here's a photo of the Sako one below along with a photo of an AW mag I found in another very helpful thread on this forum, I hope the guy that posted it in the first place doesn't mind me borrowing it.

 

[Ratbert]

Re: AW magazine inlet

Looks like it. The Remington ones have to be modified to remove the lips that hold the BDL internal box magazine and follower in place so that there is clearance for the double stack mag to fit up into the receiver. You can see looking at that pic how the AICS and AE mags wouldn't have that problem. Looking at the Sako, I would think that so long as you can build a mag well/latch to hold it in the right place and your feed ramps are compatible you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Jester308]

Re: AW magazine inlet

Hey Greg, I like the way your thinking, I'll do some measurements with my sako 75 and AW mags and will get back to you mate. I have to pull the 700 out of its stock today anyway.

I'll let you know mate

 

[Jester308]

Re: AW magazine inlet

AW mag..

Fr height- 70mm
Back height- 80mm
Fr width- 20mm
Back width- 24mm
Length- 78mm

Sako 75 5rd mag
Fr height- 31mm
Back Height- 40mm
Fr width- 20mm
Back width- 25mm
Length- 78mm

The AW mag fits neatly inside the sako DBM inlet, I'll pull both rifles and see how the AW mag fits in the sako action.

More to follow.

JJ

 

[gregt]

Re: AW magazine inlet

Thanks guys, this all sounds pretty promising. The mag lever won't be an issue because I'm making the chassis from scratch so I'll just leave it long and trim it back.

If the magwell is the same for an AICS and AW it would be even easier because I've already got drawings done for that but I might wait until I get a mag and machine a dummy one to test the fit before I start making chips on the finished chassis.

I'll post up some photos when I get to the machining stage if you're interested.

 

[quakerstate]

Re: AW magazine inlet

Any news ?

 

[bob7-08]

does the original poster finally build this rifle?
would be very please to feed my sako 85 with aw/aics mag.

 

[Gtar]

This is a bit of a blast from the past. I lost my old login with the changes on the forum but that was me. Yes, I got the rifle finished using the AW mags, it took a bit of work changing the shape of the mag lips so it fed spot on but it came up really well:

 

[bob7-08]

thank you for your answer,nice build!
i'd like to use an AW dbm with a mcmillan action so i need to find a DBM triggerguard too for my sako 85!

 

[fmillik]

thank you for your answer,nice build!
i'd like to use an AW dbm with a mcmillan action so i need to find a DBM triggerguard too for my sako 85!

Did you ever do this? How did it turn out, @bob7-08 ?