Thread: Ruger 10/22 rotary mag issues

Having issues with my ruger 10/22 rotary magazines not feeding. They seem to jam at round 9 and not feed up.
I've tried to boil out the wax buildup and also re-tension, but still causing issues.

Appreciate suggestions.
Also how are you settling the spring tension after stripping? Seems to be "about there feels good" rather than a specific setting.

look it up on you tube

Too much tension only seems to make it hard to load but improves last round feeding. Also "Breakfree" was great to keep them firing.

allot depends on ammo too, subsonics have less kick so the bold may not fully retract the full distance
truncated ammo is a real bugga in a 10/22 as well

To clarify, by 9th round I mean the second one out when unloading. (That was a bit confusing admittedly).
It's a solid jam. It only releases when you rotate the cylinder down. I have 3 mags that have all started doing the same thing. No noticeable defects when stripped and inspected.
Otherwise, it cycles fine.

Thanks man, any particular one? Always a bit skeptical of YouTube advise, thought here might be more reliable...

Clean is the key and I have always used this principal to re tension the spring with no feeding problems..

Using one of the flat hexagon edges as reference, that edge must be turned clockwise against spring pressure for the distance of exactly 8 corresponding flat edges in the back plate.

https://youtu.be/ER8ovMcrTrs?si=qX5VHz3aq0GdEX2M and https://youtu.be/_CCHG_14n2c?si=JkB_yt3v2Ue81iQM

How good! 8 flats

Both my 10/22 mags - a black one and a clear one - were always really difficult to load, felt like the spring tension seemed too high or something. Then they started jamming up, caused me no end of frustration with rabbits waiting patiently to be shot while I fumbled in the dark trying to get my mag to work. Rabbit had usually given up waiting and disappeared by the time I got things sorted. Had issues in both the bolt action and the semi. On the bolt gun, the round would actually dip and jam its nose into the front of the mag rather than ride up the feed ramp. Couldn't figure it out because everybody on the web does nothing but rave about how wonderfully reliable they are.

After a bit of trial and error, I found that if I loosened up the axle assembly, the rotor became a lot more free and seemed to fix the issue, but it wasn't great to have a loose mag...
So I took them both apart and sanded a fraction off the end of the cylindrical part of each rotor, as the rotors measured exactly the same length as the inside of the mag box. The steel axle sets the inside length when tightened up.
Worked a treat. I found I could even slacken off the spring a little too and the rotor still returned with really good (and consistent) tension. Now they are easy as to load, all rounds go in nice and easy rather than wearing the end of my thumb off, and all cycle out 100% reliably.

That's a solid tip and could well explain it- thanks very much

Yeah my last outing was pretty embarrassing! All 3 mags started playing up at the same time after being trouble free for years. Hares a plenty and all i could do is wait for them to die of old age.

Hmmmm interesting....

Are all your magazines genuine Ruger, or copies?

I like that last idea of sanding the rotor.

My thoughts are around the cleanliness of the inside of the magazines. I suggest you get two large $15 peanut butter jars. Fill one with white spirits and up it under the seat of your hunting vehicle. Fill the second one with WD40, leave that one in our garage. At the end of your shoot put all three mags in the white spirits jar. By the time you get home any crap has been washed out. Scrub inside with a toothbrush, rinse in spirits, then blow out with compressed air. Drop then in the WD40 to soak, could be long, could be short. Then blow out again. Store up side down so they can drain. I've been doing this for a while, works a treat!

I'm running genuine mags.
I've also been running a dry silicone lube spray as I find the WD40 & 5.56 CRC tend to make them clog up faster.
I think the cylinder filing might just be the breakthrough I'm looking for.

I had a couple of mags start giving me problems... thought a good clean and a little bit more tension would fix it but made it worse. So i adjusted them to less tension and never had a problem since.
From memory factory is 8 flats and ive timed mine to 7.
Worth trying.
I also found running them dry to be the go. (No lube)

Silicon spray can leave a build up so might work the first few times as it can be magic stuff but after that look out