@@thesayxx that's not the only one. The grips of 98k bajonetts, handguards for the G43, grips for the P38, MP44, P08 were made out of bakelite. The glue for the plywood stocks is out of a similar material or possibly the same resin. And lots of other things especially for electric installations and components.
@@ralfrude3532 They were using Bakelite for electrical insulations way before ww2. Used extensively in WW1 in aeroplanes, and even before ww1 for many types of uses.
I always assumed they made the magazines that orange color to match the rest of the furniture on the rifle. I had no idea it was because they couldn't dye the magazines.
@@edthebumblingfoolnah FN all black metal and polymer handgrip/stock is boring. Classic guns is sexy with their wood furniture. Bakelite make it even more sexy with a touch of 70 era.
I had always assumed it was more to do with the manufacture process than anything else, because Orange is not a color you want on a gun if you can avoid it... but the fact the original Bakelite mags were yellow is very funny. the CCCP was doing the Banana Mag before it was cool Side note I really wish those Palmetto Banana Mags would be in stock for more than a few hours at a time, I kind of want to get one for dry reload practices
We would all like to get original banana mags) But today we can only see them in old photos, because new bakelite mags have not been produced for a long time
@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL You would think that, but in my experience, I've almost never noticed the black of a gun in the field, the only time I can think of is some opfor guy's optic was shining in the sun, and he probably wouldn't have successfully ambushed me if not for that, so really minimizing anything shiny is ideal... of course, breaking up the silhouette of the rifle is ideal, but perhaps not as required as one might think
@@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL As far as I can tell, this is quite enough for ordinary infantry. On average, the range of combat is about 800-1000 feet (250-300 meters), but even from 500 feet it is unlikely that the difference between a black rifle and a rifle of some other color will be visible. And what's the point, after the first shot, all the units so reveal themselves (but you still can't approach them, with competent command). These are more likely toys of intelligence or special operations forces)
the green bakelite magazines, handguard, bayonet are for Border guards and will fetch a pretty penny over here in USA to a collector if one does show up
@@Zdzislew It's primarily offset like that to not interfere with inserting and detaching 30 round mags. 90 degree vertical grips are often in the way of mag changes.
You would never think the material of furniture would be such a big deal in gun manufacturing. We use Magpul polymer and wooden furniture on our AR’s and AK’s today and think nothing of it
Plastics have come on in leaps and bounds since the 1920s but they were a fairly niche product and therefore not really heavily researched until the 1950s when metal shortages caused industry to look elsewhere for materials. For the russians a lot of the problem would have been that most of the patents to various polymers were owned by western companies such as Duplon which would have made it extremely difficult to get the knowledge and formulas for better plastics once international relations started to break down. As with all industry, making one thing is easy, making millions of identical things to a high standard in multiple different facilities is where things get tricky
The true story is that when the mags were yellow, too many troops were mistakenly pushing bananas into the Magwell. This proved quite catastrophic hence the change. In field tests, trying to insert an actual orange into the Maxwell was very awkward by comparison. I hope this clears things up.
Different colors ? Sure, but who cares, these toys are intended to kill people, they are not works of art ! Can you imagine a guy on the battlefield saying "Sarge, the color of the new grips doesn't match with the stock" ?
You have a perfect accent to speak about slavic things! It is good enough when you pronounce russian words and it is good enough when you pronounce english words. Good job on that! Also thanks for content, it was interesting.
So, very old-fashioned. From those times when there were these soft thick seats in the train cars, and the whole interior was in some kind of "home" style)
Not a thing. Rare-ish, but there's orange polymer "Bakelite" 7.62x39 magazines. Their overall size and rather different curve from the stacking angle of the rounds is enough to distinguish them. It's mainly that far more of the polymer magazines were produced for 5.45x39 and the 74 family because the adoption aligned with the production of those magazines. And far fewer polymer 7.62 magazines were produced because there were enormous stockpiles of steel magazines already, and the "waste not want not" pragmatic issues of discarding existing stamping dies, jigs & fixtures for the 7.62 steel magazines. Had the Soviets figured out a dye that didn't significantly degrade the material properties of the AG-4 polymer & glass fiber (Bakelite technically? No. But a "Bakelite family" or "related" phenolic-formaldehyde resin...) they'd have colored everything black, OD, or some other more more discreet color.
Wait a minute. There is something suspicious about this video's premise. The Lionel Train Co. first used Bakelite for their model train products in the United States back in the 1940's/50's to eliminate having to use cast metal for their model products. A bonus was that Bakelite has natural non-electrical conductivity. Many of their model train products (transformers, locomotives etc.)were produced and left all naturally black. Other of the Bakelite products that needed to be differently colored were then spray painted in the needed colors over that basic bakelite black--but they didn't stay colored very long. Their overcoat of paint eventually chipped and peeled away to reveal the basic Bakelite black color underneath. Any Model Train fan knows this. Many electrical appliances of the time, were also produced using Black Bakelite plastic.
This is a very good remark, but it's just a fact that we are dealing with in the history of the Soviet military industry) Again, Mikhail Kalashnikov himself wrote to his superiors several times that they overestimated the requirements for the strength of many parts, he considered some of the requirements too high. And I suspect that the Soviets did not have anywhere near the level of bakelite quality that was here in the USA
@@merqmerqury5069 I agree) I don't know this for sure either, but among the biggest players in the world, the Russians really were the first to make excellent polymer magazines. As far as I know, the classic army mag (made of bakelite reinforced with steel, or PA-6 polyamide) is still considered the best mag for AK
A bit of a nitpick maybe, but AG4 isn't actually Bakelite, Bakelite is a phenol formaldehyde resin, whereas AG4 appears to be nylon (so polyamide) based.This means that the newer PA6-based black parts aren't actually all that different, at least from a chemical point of view, because PA6 is also a type of polyamide (but obviously, the way you process the polymer, its molecular weight and other parameters matter a lot, so the same polymer can have very different properties.).. But I know that the AG4 orange parts are commonly called "Bakelite" so I understand where this came from, just wanted to mention that the reality is actually a bit different for those who are interested in these nitpicky details . 😅
Cas, you gotta do a video on the piece of shit relic that is the esmarch TQ. Also great video, im glad you included the fact that dye can ruin plastic, its one of the theories to why plum mags also exist, that they wanted to get as close to black as possible without ruining its durability. Mishaco has a great video on theories about plum mags
Yes, I will definitely make an issue about the pink tourniquet soon, and also about a couple of things that were used together with AK) Fan fact, many people corrected me that "the bakelite magazine is brown, not orange." In fact, in the Soviet Army (and still in Russia) they are called "red mags", like hair color)
If you had watched body cam footage from the Ukrain war lately, sodiers do stock lots of mags on the ground right beside their shooting position, especially under the trench. So the mags color stand out in the ground actually helps a lot
Cool video! Even surprised to see a slip of the Rare Green furniture AKs, last I remember they are given only to Border Guards for their good service. I love AK history
On exercises when blanks were used, red mags were carried with live rounds in case of encounters with wild animals. The British Army did similar in Kenya but with red tape wrapped around the mag.
Also, let me get this straight. Upon reaching warehouses, they get yellow. Over time, they get orange. So they're not even yellow to begin with from the factory, correct me if I'm wrong. Was that due to air exposure? That's the likely reason, imo
I guess I didn't put it quite right. I will clarify) Bakelite magazines immediately after their production had a yellow color. I just wanted to say that when they were brought to the warehouses, a report was made on them. And it was written there that they were yellow. And after about 11-13 months, they found out that the mags had changed their color to orange/brown. I think to understand the reason for the color change, you have to be one of those guys in white coats and with a technical education, and I'm very far from that😅😅 In general, about 9 different variants of the classic bakelite magazines under the 7.62x39 cartridge were produced in the USSR. Externally, they differ quite a bit. For example, by the presence or absence of reinforcement of the housing with steel plates, or the shape of the lid from below, which holds the spring
I agree. Especially if it's 7.62 AK and you look a bit like some kind of rebel from Southeast Asia, or something like that) Personally, I like the AK-74 most in black plastic or in plum furniture (but which is dark plum, and not obviously purple, this is purely my taste)
Yes, I have been planning to make a video on this topic for a long time) But now I need to collect more material in order to tell in more detail about plum mags and plum furniture of AK in general
"are often mistakenly identified as being made of Bakelite (a phenolic resin), but were actually fabricated from two-parts of AG-S4 molding compound (a glass-reinforced phenol-formaldehyde binder impregnated composite), assembled using an epoxy resin adhesive" Wikipedia.
It's kind of an in-betweener. BOTH Bakelite and the AG-4 family are phenol-formaldehyde based polymers. So they could be considered as part of the same/similar "chemical family" but the chemistry and production methods differ, and the molecular structure and physical properties are significantly different. So calling AG-4 family polymers "Bakelite" is arguably correct in broad terms, if one considered "Bakelite" as the namesake for an overall family of phenolic polymers, but simultaneously incorrect if one is trying to be scientifically specific. Just as "Nylon" encompasses a wide range of materials and properties depending on chemistry & treatment or production, but all having a similar polyamide base. Nylons range from extremely soft ductile fibers or almost elastomeric compositions, to something like Delrin, which is still technically a polyamide/Nylon, is incredibly rigid and hard-wearing. Kind of an: "All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares." situation, conceptually speaking. Or how "jets" can encompass a 747 and an F-22, they have broad similarities, but extremely different use cases and capabilities. But both are aircraft.
I always thought they were trying to match the wood furniture of the rifle too. As you said, that's a silly thing to spend effort on... but if you know anything about the military, that actually makes it more believable.
There is such a principle as the observance of monotony, it's true. I can say that in the Russian army, commanders like to joke "ugly, but equally ugly". However, not to this extent. I can say that even before the war, in the Russian army, it was possible to see how a soldier wears part of the equipment in EMR camouflage (aka "pixel" or "digit"), while the other part of the equipment was in the old camouflage "Flora". I saw something similar in some US soldiers, where some small part of the equipment was in ACU, and the main part was in OCP
Thank you!) Do you think if I hired a voice-over announcer to make more videos, would you also be interested in watching my channel? I want to finish my studies, which I interrupted a few years ago, but I'm afraid I won't have time to do all my things at the same time
@@casperarms I'm sure as long as you're putting out quality content like you have been, if the voice over makes it easier and give you more time then by all means Good Sir 🪖
Fun fact: The reason for the orange colourations on Bakelite magazines today is due to the deterioration of the dye/pigment/paint on the magazine from Yellow to Orange. I have no clue what causes this. (I did not watch the entire video at the time of posting this.)
To be honest, one time I just saw a Grand Thumb video with Jim, and there were a couple of lines, like: GT: Plum mags? I love them! Why are they this color? JF: I do not know.. GT: Russians! In particular, this inspired me to make an issue about the colors of AK magazines. But I decided to go in order, because orange stores appeared first, and that's why I made an issue about them. I plan to talk about green, light pink and plum mags. There were also yellow-transparent ones, maybe I'll make an issue about them too)
I knew what they were made of but I didn't ever realize they used to be more yellow, I swear I've seen old photos were they were yellow but always assumed it was just because the colours on the photograph were all washed out, because in truth they were, just to what extent that had an effect on the colour of the mags I can't really tell.
I heard from a Russian veteran of Afghanistan that the soldiers preferred the steel magazines because if they got hit in the magazine, they believed the Bakelite material wouldn’t show up on an x-ray if it shattered. Kind of a superstition.
I love my Bakies, I have two E German AK74 mags for my Saiga 5.45 and Galil Ace and two Tula bakes for my long barrel Saiga 7.62 and Romanian WASRs. I wish I would have bought them when they were $10 a pop. Now? About 100 is what you'll pay for even an Izheshk. Honestly? I prefer the plum Russian polymer mags to the bakes personally.
This is not quite true. Plum mags appeared around the end of the 80s. Before that, they used orange mags (or old black mags, in the case of AK and RPK 7.62). Orange magazines were used during the war in Afghanistan, Chechnya, there are even photos of soldiers in Cuba with these mags
@@crimson7692 Quite a complex issue. We have the Novosibirsk Instrument-Making Plant (NPZ), as well as the Vologda Optical-Mechanical Plant (VOMZ). They produce, for example, the PSO-1 sight and its modifications, but in what quantity it is difficult to know. Soviet lasers for small arms, I think, are no longer produced. There were very few of them even during the Soviet years (to be honest, I only remember the sight for the AKS-74U, which was seen by only a couple of people, even among AK fans), and now there is no need for them at all. Most of the developments are already too old and cumbersome. And besides, after the end of the Cold War, we had huge stocks of all these things, and they could be stored for decades. But I think that the PSO-1 sights for SVD and PGO-7V for RPG-7 are still produced in some small quantities. And the rest of the sights are already post-Soviet developments, such as the Thread-A sight or the "Cobra" sight
There are are things that are interesting in this video. The Russians experimented with AG4 and a variety of other fiberglass composites. However using footage of "plum", prototype undyed, and borderguard green glassfilled polyamide magazines makes the video confusing.
I agree, the shots with the green AK and the plum magazines are already glass-filled polyamide PA-6. But in general, this is a "legal" replacement, since it is very difficult to find good AK shots with bakelite of green and brown (plum) color. But overall, they looked +-similar. Bakelite green and plum mags differed only slightly in hue and had a pattern on the surface that somewhat resembled "flakes" of light color (for this, for example, the brown bakelite mag was nicknamed "chocolate" because it literally looked like milk chocolate with flakes)
About dyeing plastics. I visited a bunker in germany and they had body bags because they estimated that some people might die due to being injured or contaminated. Those bodybags made in the 70s or so were transparent because they lasted longer than black ones. They didn't wanted to have to change theme every few years so they took transparent ones with an estimated durance of multiple decades.
@@retrogamer7571 it was in berlin a civil nuclear shelter. if i remeber correctly it was at a subway station. The station itself was supposed to be the bunker and behind semi hidden doors was the ventilation system, beds that could be assembled, decon showers etc. and in the storage were 30 sport suits if people had to get rid of their clothing and 30 body bags.
Hello from Greece.. I own 4 Russian tractors and a Russian car and many electronic stuff under the dashboard that connect circuits, relays, plugs and contacts of lamps have all some bakelite that is on this orange-brown colour like the ak mags.. I assume that they found their recipe and stick to it on every part, electric, weapon and other bakelite stuff the USSR made..
The Wehrmacht used Bakelit in WWII. They even tried to make 98k stocks out of Bakelit. Bakelit is one of the oldest or earliest plastic materials.
correct, the MP40 used Bakelite in its design.
@@thesayxx that's not the only one. The grips of 98k bajonetts, handguards for the G43, grips for the P38, MP44, P08 were made out of bakelite. The glue for the plywood stocks is out of a similar material or possibly the same resin. And lots of other things especially for electric installations and components.
@@ralfrude3532 They were using Bakelite for electrical insulations way before ww2. Used extensively in WW1 in aeroplanes, and even before ww1 for many types of uses.
@@thesayxx yes I know. Just to lazy to write the hole history. 😏
@@ralfrude3532 the grips on a mg42 were Bakelite as well
You know when the mags are ripe and ready to eat when they turn orange.
A beautiful metaphor)
😂😂😂😂
You made a suicide joke accidentally 😂
I always assumed they made the magazines that orange color to match the rest of the furniture on the rifle. I had no idea it was because they couldn't dye the magazines.
Nothing beats a 1970s AK-74N with the wood furniture Bakelite magazine and a 1P29 scope.
☝️ this is an example of gun enthusiasts who has good taste
@@HuyPham-km9kn yep
What is that a 6 barrel Holley carb? “You betcha”… Edelbrock intakes? “Nothing but”..
Mayer-hoff lifters? “Ohh yeah 😏”…….. I made that last one up. 😆
an FN beats it very easily.
@@edthebumblingfoolnah FN all black metal and polymer handgrip/stock is boring. Classic guns is sexy with their wood furniture. Bakelite make it even more sexy with a touch of 70 era.
Plus the extremely rare Green bakelite is super aesthetic
@angryewokadam5419 Dayum. Wish we can get them here in the states
@angryewokadam5419 why did border guards get green?
@@liammeech3702 I'm guesing because green is the KGB border guards waffenfarbe.
@@liammeech3702Maybe for better concealment effective?
I had always assumed it was more to do with the manufacture process than anything else, because Orange is not a color you want on a gun if you can avoid it... but the fact the original Bakelite mags were yellow is very funny. the CCCP was doing the Banana Mag before it was cool
Side note I really wish those Palmetto Banana Mags would be in stock for more than a few hours at a time, I kind of want to get one for dry reload practices
We would all like to get original banana mags) But today we can only see them in old photos, because new bakelite mags have not been produced for a long time
True, but black is a dreadful colour for a rifle also and almost universally rifles come in black.
@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL You would think that, but in my experience, I've almost never noticed the black of a gun in the field, the only time I can think of is some opfor guy's optic was shining in the sun, and he probably wouldn't have successfully ambushed me if not for that, so really minimizing anything shiny is ideal... of course, breaking up the silhouette of the rifle is ideal, but perhaps not as required as one might think
@@AJPMUSIC_OFFICIAL As far as I can tell, this is quite enough for ordinary infantry. On average, the range of combat is about 800-1000 feet (250-300 meters), but even from 500 feet it is unlikely that the difference between a black rifle and a rifle of some other color will be visible. And what's the point, after the first shot, all the units so reveal themselves (but you still can't approach them, with competent command). These are more likely toys of intelligence or special operations forces)
This reads so cring
Answering the questions I didn't even know I had, thanks for the video!
Thank you for taking your time! 🥰
Bakelites hit hard on an AK-74N man. Gives off an awesome aesthetic
the green bakelite magazines, handguard, bayonet are for Border guards and will fetch a pretty penny over here in USA to a collector if one does show up
The oblique foregrip at 3:14 is interesting.
it’s styled for use with machine guns so your arm isn’t blocked by the drum or ammo bag
@@Zdzislew It's primarily offset like that to not interfere with inserting and detaching 30 round mags. 90 degree vertical grips are often in the way of mag changes.
You would never think the material of furniture would be such a big deal in gun manufacturing. We use Magpul polymer and wooden furniture on our AR’s and AK’s today and think nothing of it
Plastics have come on in leaps and bounds since the 1920s but they were a fairly niche product and therefore not really heavily researched until the 1950s when metal shortages caused industry to look elsewhere for materials. For the russians a lot of the problem would have been that most of the patents to various polymers were owned by western companies such as Duplon which would have made it extremely difficult to get the knowledge and formulas for better plastics once international relations started to break down. As with all industry, making one thing is easy, making millions of identical things to a high standard in multiple different facilities is where things get tricky
great information for our beloved Ak , info that you can't get from Wikipedia ... thank you for this beautiful historical video.
thank you so much! 🔥
Whatever the reason, orange mags would be easy to find after a field exersize.
Those bakelite ammo boxes look Gucci
The true story is that when the mags were yellow, too many troops were mistakenly pushing bananas into the Magwell. This proved quite catastrophic hence the change. In field tests, trying to insert an actual orange into the Maxwell was very awkward by comparison. I hope this clears things up.
😅😅
I here it was because moneys kept stealing them
Plum aesthetic AK74 was great too
Great video! I never knew Bakelite mags started out yellow .
There not made out of Bakelite!!!
@@danielcurtis1434 did you watch the video??
real banana mag
@@Dziomolekthat's likely where the name came from
It’s strange how some AK’s have different colored wood on the fore grips than the magazines and they also have different grips too
true
Quality control, that and lots of spare parts to go around. Broke your handguard? Eh, grab another from the bin.
Different colors ? Sure, but who cares, these toys are intended to kill people, they are not works of art ! Can you imagine a guy on the battlefield saying "Sarge, the color of the new grips doesn't match with the stock" ?
Considering how much wood and it's finish always differs, it's not really strange at all
Those Bakelite ammo boxes would not look out of place in a living room or office. Just need to polish the metal fittings. LOL
They also used Bakelite in a load of old Geiger counters, weirdly by the time of the DP-5V they actually got a green colour.
The cartridges changed colour because Bakelite is not UV stable. This change would also make the material brittle, moreso I guess when dye is added.
Ok so banana clip makes waaay more sense now
You learn something new everyday. Thanks lad!
Thank you Caspar, for explaining why AK magazines are orange. Well done. Much appreciated!
very cool video man. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you put out
Thank you, brother! 😍 I'm preparing a new video that will be released on Friday-Saturday!
@@casperarms nice man. I’ll check it out. Good work here
The fact yellow natural bakelite exists, makes it even better for me
You have a perfect accent to speak about slavic things! It is good enough when you pronounce russian words and it is good enough when you pronounce english words.
Good job on that! Also thanks for content, it was interesting.
Thank you! 🔥🔥
Thank you so much! ^^
Respect, subscribed and hot the bell for your honesty
idk why i always wanted those cool orange mags in video games
Those bakélite Ammo boxes at 5:33 looks like some fancy rich people's travel baggage at 1st glance
So, very old-fashioned. From those times when there were these soft thick seats in the train cars, and the whole interior was in some kind of "home" style)
It was to differintiate easly calibers.
Black mags - 7.62 x 39 (Ak 47)
Orange mags - 5.45 x 39 (Ak 74 and other later guns)
Not a thing. Rare-ish, but there's orange polymer "Bakelite" 7.62x39 magazines. Their overall size and rather different curve from the stacking angle of the rounds is enough to distinguish them.
It's mainly that far more of the polymer magazines were produced for 5.45x39 and the 74 family because the adoption aligned with the production of those magazines.
And far fewer polymer 7.62 magazines were produced because there were enormous stockpiles of steel magazines already, and the "waste not want not" pragmatic issues of discarding existing stamping dies, jigs & fixtures for the 7.62 steel magazines.
Had the Soviets figured out a dye that didn't significantly degrade the material properties of the AG-4 polymer & glass fiber (Bakelite technically? No. But a "Bakelite family" or "related" phenolic-formaldehyde resin...) they'd have colored everything black, OD, or some other more more discreet color.
O wow I want that one at 4:55! That green one looks so cool!
Fascinating, thanks Casper! Subscribed.
Wait a minute. There is something suspicious about this video's premise. The Lionel Train Co. first used Bakelite for their model train products in the United States back in the 1940's/50's to eliminate having to use cast metal for their model products. A bonus was that Bakelite has natural non-electrical conductivity. Many of their model train products (transformers, locomotives etc.)were produced and left all naturally black. Other of the Bakelite products that needed to be differently colored were then spray painted in the needed colors over that basic bakelite black--but they didn't stay colored very long. Their overcoat of paint eventually chipped and peeled away to reveal the basic Bakelite black color underneath. Any Model Train fan knows this. Many electrical appliances of the time, were also produced using Black Bakelite plastic.
This is a very good remark, but it's just a fact that we are dealing with in the history of the Soviet military industry) Again, Mikhail Kalashnikov himself wrote to his superiors several times that they overestimated the requirements for the strength of many parts, he considered some of the requirements too high. And I suspect that the Soviets did not have anywhere near the level of bakelite quality that was here in the USA
@@casperarms Nevertheless the Soviets were the first who start mass producing of reliable polymer mags, afaik
@@merqmerqury5069 I agree) I don't know this for sure either, but among the biggest players in the world, the Russians really were the first to make excellent polymer magazines. As far as I know, the classic army mag (made of bakelite reinforced with steel, or PA-6 polyamide) is still considered the best mag for AK
You realize bakelite is an entire family of materials, with different strengths and weaknesses, and not a single, homogenous type, right?
The bakelite magazines weren't actually made from bakelite.
It's more of a fiberglass mixture
A bit of a nitpick maybe, but AG4 isn't actually Bakelite, Bakelite is a phenol formaldehyde resin, whereas AG4 appears to be nylon (so polyamide) based.This means that the newer PA6-based black parts aren't actually all that different, at least from a chemical point of view, because PA6 is also a type of polyamide (but obviously, the way you process the polymer, its molecular weight and other parameters matter a lot, so the same polymer can have very different properties.).. But I know that the AG4 orange parts are commonly called "Bakelite" so I understand where this came from, just wanted to mention that the reality is actually a bit different for those who are interested in these nitpicky details . 😅
Correct.
what about “plum” colored 74 mags and furniture?
Good question) I specifically did not mention the plum in order to make a separate issue about it in the future)
@@casperarms polyamide (nylon), just different formulation from later black with different filler/dye.
Cas, you gotta do a video on the piece of shit relic that is the esmarch TQ.
Also great video, im glad you included the fact that dye can ruin plastic, its one of the theories to why plum mags also exist, that they wanted to get as close to black as possible without ruining its durability. Mishaco has a great video on theories about plum mags
I was watching a tutorial on those. The first step (after unrolling it, ofc) is to yank the tourniquet really hard to see if it breaks.
Yes, I will definitely make an issue about the pink tourniquet soon, and also about a couple of things that were used together with AK) Fan fact, many people corrected me that "the bakelite magazine is brown, not orange." In fact, in the Soviet Army (and still in Russia) they are called "red mags", like hair color)
Do a video on the plum colour furniture on the ak and how it came to be
If you had watched body cam footage from the Ukrain war lately, sodiers do stock lots of mags on the ground right beside their shooting position, especially under the trench. So the mags color stand out in the ground actually helps a lot
Cool video! Even surprised to see a slip of the Rare Green furniture AKs, last I remember they are given only to Border Guards for their good service. I love AK history
I didn't watch the video so idk what he said but the real reason it's orange is because it looks really good
On exercises when blanks were used, red mags were carried with live rounds in case of encounters with wild animals. The British Army did similar in Kenya but with red tape wrapped around the mag.
Fantastic video keep them coming you will build followers with quality I pray. I will be one of them mate.
Thank you so much! It's you guys who make me do more and more videos. Thank you!
This was a great video, I enjoyed seeing the Russian Army footage. You have a new subscriber, I look forward to future videos.
Thank you!)
Really nice job you deserve way more subs
Thank you so much!
Great video and info!! Thanks!!
Thank you for taking your time ^^
Also, let me get this straight. Upon reaching warehouses, they get yellow. Over time, they get orange. So they're not even yellow to begin with from the factory, correct me if I'm wrong. Was that due to air exposure? That's the likely reason, imo
I guess I didn't put it quite right. I will clarify) Bakelite magazines immediately after their production had a yellow color. I just wanted to say that when they were brought to the warehouses, a report was made on them. And it was written there that they were yellow. And after about 11-13 months, they found out that the mags had changed their color to orange/brown. I think to understand the reason for the color change, you have to be one of those guys in white coats and with a technical education, and I'm very far from that😅😅 In general, about 9 different variants of the classic bakelite magazines under the 7.62x39 cartridge were produced in the USSR. Externally, they differ quite a bit. For example, by the presence or absence of reinforcement of the housing with steel plates, or the shape of the lid from below, which holds the spring
@@casperarms ah... I see, I see.
Hell American GIs used bakelite to make custom handles on knives that already had them. They're still collectible today as " theater knives".
PA-6 polymer parts look damn sexy on a 74u. The wood grain is classic, but it makes you look cheap or not very professional.
I agree. Especially if it's 7.62 AK and you look a bit like some kind of rebel from Southeast Asia, or something like that) Personally, I like the AK-74 most in black plastic or in plum furniture (but which is dark plum, and not obviously purple, this is purely my taste)
5:31 We have never made bakelite ammunition crates! The photo of the case from ДП-24 shows a set of individual dosimeters.
Can you make a video about the plum coloured mags and furniture?
Yes, I have been planning to make a video on this topic for a long time) But now I need to collect more material in order to tell in more detail about plum mags and plum furniture of AK in general
"are often mistakenly identified as being made of Bakelite (a phenolic resin), but were actually fabricated from two-parts of AG-S4 molding compound (a glass-reinforced phenol-formaldehyde binder impregnated composite), assembled using an epoxy resin adhesive"
Wikipedia.
It's kind of an in-betweener.
BOTH Bakelite and the AG-4 family are phenol-formaldehyde based polymers. So they could be considered as part of the same/similar "chemical family" but the chemistry and production methods differ, and the molecular structure and physical properties are significantly different. So calling AG-4 family polymers "Bakelite" is arguably correct in broad terms, if one considered "Bakelite" as the namesake for an overall family of phenolic polymers, but simultaneously incorrect if one is trying to be scientifically specific.
Just as "Nylon" encompasses a wide range of materials and properties depending on chemistry & treatment or production, but all having a similar polyamide base. Nylons range from extremely soft ductile fibers or almost elastomeric compositions, to something like Delrin, which is still technically a polyamide/Nylon, is incredibly rigid and hard-wearing.
Kind of an: "All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares." situation, conceptually speaking. Or how "jets" can encompass a 747 and an F-22, they have broad similarities, but extremely different use cases and capabilities. But both are aircraft.
The punishment from your sergeant would reach you before the mag has hit the ground. xD
I always thought they were trying to match the wood furniture of the rifle too. As you said, that's a silly thing to spend effort on... but if you know anything about the military, that actually makes it more believable.
There is such a principle as the observance of monotony, it's true. I can say that in the Russian army, commanders like to joke "ugly, but equally ugly". However, not to this extent. I can say that even before the war, in the Russian army, it was possible to see how a soldier wears part of the equipment in EMR camouflage (aka "pixel" or "digit"), while the other part of the equipment was in the old camouflage "Flora". I saw something similar in some US soldiers, where some small part of the equipment was in ACU, and the main part was in OCP
Here in the USA, the AK-74 magazines made of the purplish/blackish polymer are highly desirable. They are referred to as “plum” due to the color.
Turns out color *is* important and isn't just skin deep
Interesting information. Thanks !!!!
Thank you for taking the time! ☺
Now I'm wondering about wood magazine bodies purely for aesthetic for the bespoke larper.
Love your Content!.. 👌💯
Thank you!) Do you think if I hired a voice-over announcer to make more videos, would you also be interested in watching my channel? I want to finish my studies, which I interrupted a few years ago, but I'm afraid I won't have time to do all my things at the same time
@@casperarms I'm sure as long as you're putting out quality content like you have been, if the voice over makes it easier and give you more time then by all means Good Sir 🪖
wow this was a excellent video! very good info
Thank you so much 🔥
Thanks, Casper Arms.
When I was younger in the 90s and early 2000s I thought the made the AK 74 magazines out of wood because the brownish orange color.
Yes, I had exactly the same)
Why yellow? Because it’s a banana clip. xD
Specially popular in Africa.
Mag, not a clip.
I dunno if it’s just tarkov but those yellow and orange mags make me happy.
Very interesting story. Thank you.
I always wonder about this...
Fun fact: The reason for the orange colourations on Bakelite magazines today is due to the deterioration of the dye/pigment/paint on the magazine from Yellow to Orange. I have no clue what causes this. (I did not watch the entire video at the time of posting this.)
In the US home stereo housings we’re made of Bakelite as well as women’s jewelry.
Very Educational! Great Work!
Thank you so much!)
Could you explain plum color? Great video.
Thanks, didnt know I needed to know this; but I did.
To be honest, one time I just saw a Grand Thumb video with Jim, and there were a couple of lines, like:
GT: Plum mags? I love them! Why are they this color?
JF: I do not know..
GT: Russians!
In particular, this inspired me to make an issue about the colors of AK magazines. But I decided to go in order, because orange stores appeared first, and that's why I made an issue about them. I plan to talk about green, light pink and plum mags. There were also yellow-transparent ones, maybe I'll make an issue about them too)
I knew what they were made of but I didn't ever realize they used to be more yellow, I swear I've seen old photos were they were yellow but always assumed it was just because the colours on the photograph were all washed out, because in truth they were, just to what extent that had an effect on the colour of the mags I can't really tell.
i thought it was light so incase they needed to find mags in the field it stand out
Very informative video with good visual footage. 👌
Thank you! :3
very cool video! thanks for sharing :)
Good lord, so that is why some of our boys had SA58 almost yellow like and some were different :D
great video, learned something new even i'm russian who's into military stuff
I heard from a Russian veteran of Afghanistan that the soldiers preferred the steel magazines because if they got hit in the magazine, they believed the Bakelite material wouldn’t show up on an x-ray if it shattered. Kind of a superstition.
I heard this legend too, but the fact is bakelite mags actually stopped bullets and fragments.
I love my Bakies, I have two E German AK74 mags for my Saiga 5.45 and Galil Ace and two Tula bakes for my long barrel Saiga 7.62 and Romanian WASRs. I wish I would have bought them when they were $10 a pop. Now? About 100 is what you'll pay for even an Izheshk. Honestly? I prefer the plum Russian polymer mags to the bakes personally.
Well made video, liked.
cool video, and a really interesting topic!
From what I heard, orange bakelite were not use officially or extensively during conflicts. They use plum mags instead.
This is not quite true. Plum mags appeared around the end of the 80s. Before that, they used orange mags (or old black mags, in the case of AK and RPK 7.62). Orange magazines were used during the war in Afghanistan, Chechnya, there are even photos of soldiers in Cuba with these mags
@@casperarms can you do Soviet era lasers and sights?
@@crimson7692 I didn't understand the question)
@casperarms I mean laser and sight for AK tactical attachments from the Soviet era... i.e laser sights, scopes, collimator, red dot etc.
@@crimson7692 Quite a complex issue. We have the Novosibirsk Instrument-Making Plant (NPZ), as well as the Vologda Optical-Mechanical Plant (VOMZ). They produce, for example, the PSO-1 sight and its modifications, but in what quantity it is difficult to know. Soviet lasers for small arms, I think, are no longer produced. There were very few of them even during the Soviet years (to be honest, I only remember the sight for the AKS-74U, which was seen by only a couple of people, even among AK fans), and now there is no need for them at all. Most of the developments are already too old and cumbersome. And besides, after the end of the Cold War, we had huge stocks of all these things, and they could be stored for decades. But I think that the PSO-1 sights for SVD and PGO-7V for RPG-7 are still produced in some small quantities. And the rest of the sights are already post-Soviet developments, such as the Thread-A sight or the "Cobra" sight
And for now they can put rk-3 pistol grip ,rails handguard ,and pt-1stock and pt-3stock it make em cool and more hit
For akm
you're making some really cool and factual videos. ty
thank you so much!)
They go for big money in the USA now
There are are things that are interesting in this video. The Russians experimented with AG4 and a variety of other fiberglass composites. However using footage of "plum", prototype undyed, and borderguard green glassfilled polyamide magazines makes the video confusing.
I agree, the shots with the green AK and the plum magazines are already glass-filled polyamide PA-6. But in general, this is a "legal" replacement, since it is very difficult to find good AK shots with bakelite of green and brown (plum) color. But overall, they looked +-similar. Bakelite green and plum mags differed only slightly in hue and had a pattern on the surface that somewhat resembled "flakes" of light color (for this, for example, the brown bakelite mag was nicknamed "chocolate" because it literally looked like milk chocolate with flakes)
Wow! I wrote my comment, and only then I saw your channel. You have a great collection of stores! It's really cool
@@casperarms I began collecting AK-74 stores back in 2016. I used to be obsessed with learning about them, but information has been quite scarce
@@casperarms I do have one bakelite prototype 5.45 mag that is a mix of green/dark brown/black
Ah, the famous Russian Kenwood radio... when special forces in Russia want the best, they go "west".
i just naturally assumed it was something to do with alcoholism
😆😆
_THE CHAD BAKELITE_ vs the virgin everything else
I wonder if some soldier wrapped his gun in some olive drab cloth to camouflage it during certain occasions
Nope, there wasn't even close to such a practice
We barely know why the polymer furniture used to be faintly blue.
I always thought it was just cost being cheaper
So annoying I turned it off
naaa they used this Orangebrown so the rust is not so visible after 40 years of storing them in a Barn or Shed in the middle of nowhere XD
😂😂
About dyeing plastics. I visited a bunker in germany and they had body bags because they estimated that some people might die due to being injured or contaminated. Those bodybags made in the 70s or so were transparent because they lasted longer than black ones. They didn't wanted to have to change theme every few years so they took transparent ones with an estimated durance of multiple decades.
Which bunker did you visit?
@@retrogamer7571 it was in berlin a civil nuclear shelter. if i remeber correctly it was at a subway station. The station itself was supposed to be the bunker and behind semi hidden doors was the ventilation system, beds that could be assembled, decon showers etc. and in the storage were 30 sport suits if people had to get rid of their clothing and 30 body bags.
@@No5f3r4tu Use transparent bags for this.. of course, it's not that I live in a pink world, but this is already some kind of overkill😵💫
Interesting. Love the AK.
Because of the material that the magazines were made out of the materials called Bakelite a very early form of plastic
I have heard the same that Bakelite is not an ideal material to work with.
Hello from Greece..
I own 4 Russian tractors and a Russian car and many electronic stuff under the dashboard that connect circuits, relays, plugs and contacts of lamps have all some bakelite that is on this orange-brown colour like the ak mags..
I assume that they found their recipe and stick to it on every part, electric, weapon and other bakelite stuff the USSR made..
The real reason is because it just looks cool