You could always try this, cutting down a 30-round magazine like done in this article to make it NJ-compliant...
30 to 15 Round AK Magazine Conversion
I posted this recently on another gun board, but I thought it might be appreciated here as well. I did this for the rest of the people in NJ, where the maximum capacity for any magazine is 15 rounds.
First, this should be done outside of NJ, as having a 30 round AK magazine in the Garden State is a no-no. This tutorial was done in PA where it is 100% OK to have an evil 30 round gun magazine. No NJ laws were broken in the making of this conversion.
Step 1. Take a 30 round magazine apart into its parts. (Image for this step removed due to forum limit of 10 pics per post. See original thread if you need to see the components of a disassembled AK magazine!)
Step 2. Put the follower & spring into the body and hold it in with your hand. Load in the amount of rounds that you would like to convert the magazine to. In this case I loaded 15 rounds. You can make the magazine hold as many or few round as you would like.
Step 3. Once you have loaded the rounds into the magazine, use a ruler to determine the measurement from bottom of the follower to the bottom of the magazine, then transfer this measurement to the outside of the magazine, adding about 1/4 inch. This is the space for the bottom plates. For demonstration purposes, I have put the rounds and follower on the outside, so you can see what I’m talking about. Again, this must be done with all parts inside the magazine. This should be done on both sides of the magazine.
Step4. Once you have transferred the marks, then make some marks slightly below your first marks. This extra bit will become the lips that hold the bottom plat onto the magazine.
Step 5. Now with a Dremel tool reinforced cutoff wheel, or hacksaw, cut along the lower marks you have made. This is done on both side and split the magazine into 2 parts.
Step 6. Now mark from the edges of the lower mark to the original mark you have made. Do this on both sides and cut away the extra material leaving just the sides of the magazine.
Before the next step, put the follower & spring back into the magazine body and load the 15 rounds back in through the top feed lips. Make sure the bottom of the follower is where you have marked on the outside of the magazine. If you need to remove more material from the magazine, this is the easiest time to do so.
Step 7. I like to use a drill press vice for this step as it has sharp edges and makes a better bend. Take the magazine and put one of the sides of the magazine into a vice, and tighten down tight.
Then bend the magazine over, forming the sides into the bottom magazine lips. The remove from vice, and do the other side.
Step 8. Now take the bottom plate and line it up with the bottom of the magazine, Mark the edges and cut them off to the same size as the original bottom lips.
Step 9. Then trim the new lips comparing them to the originals. You will have to thin them on the top and bottom as the ribs will make it difficult to slide the bottom plate back on. You will have a bit of fitting until the bottom cover will slip on the new lips easily. Go slowly until it fits well. You may want to clean up the edges of where you have cut as tiny slivers of metal will often occur. If the inner plate is tight, you can also file down the sides slightly to make it fitter better.
Step 10. Onto the spring and inner bottom plate... With a screwdriver, carefully bend up the tabs that hold the spring to the inner bottom plate, and remove the spring. Then cut to length. I usually take about 5 or 6 rungs off the spring. Then bend the cut end to resemble the original end of the spring, and put back onto the inner bottom plate and carefully bend the tabs back to hold the spring again.
Step 11. Then reinstall the follower/spring/inner plate assemble and replace bottom cover.
You now have a NJ legal 15 round AK magazine. Enjoy. Once you have a magazine that is the correct size, it can be used as a template for making more converted magazines. Be sure to mark from the bottom of the magazine and not the bottom of the magazine floor plate. If you find that your magazine only holds 14 instead of 15, you can always trim a little extra off of the bottom of the follower to make up for the shortage.
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