No problem Ryan, Pat had already nailed most of it.
As far as why Russia, Poland and Bulgaria went with black....well, honeslty I don't know either but I honestly do think it might have had something to do with the US and other NATO countries' adoption of black service rifles as well. One of the main reasons the Soviets developed the 5.45x39mm round and the AK-74 to go with it were the early reports from Vietnam about our advisors armed with the M16's. They wanted to keep up with the Joneses too.
Corrosive ammo will clean up with standard cleaning gear. Just clean the gas tube thoroughly, as that's the part that will tend to rust first because of the lack of chrome plating. A 20ga. or 12ga. bore brush works great for that. It wouldn't hurt to go back the next day or two and clean again. Some people advocate the use of Windex because of the ammonia in it, but it's not necessary.
Be advised that the finish on the SLR-105's is kind of shitty. It's genuine Bulgarian military finish, which means that it won't hold up to harsh US solvents well at all. Underneath that bad paint is a phosphate finish though, so if you get motivated enough, have the rifle refinished in GunKote and then there are no worries.
One thing that I've had excellent luck with is Ballistol, from Germany. Developed by the Germans when they were short of petroleum, it's great stuff and will even take care of black powder residue, and is non carcinogenic. It also shouldn't screw with the finish too badly either.
Just smells like 3 week old gym socks.........
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Originally Posted by M4arc
AK-74 mags are a pretty specialized area. The different types/nationalities are fairly easy to distinguish and it is actually possible to "collect 'em all". I wouldn't even begin to try a project like this with the 7.62 varieties. 
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