10/22 Magazine Life Expectancy

[RickT]

Absent a rimfire rifle-specific forum this appears to be the best place to ask.  Ever since my wife had to switch from CCI SV in her Kidd 10/22 as the temperatures in Idaho dropped (we're now practicing in the low 30's) a new magazine issue has sprung up, most recently with Remington Golden bullets, but we're seen it with others.  Simply stated the magazine jams internally, failing to feed the next round into the feed lips.  Doesn't seem to matter clean or slightly dirty, nor is spring tension an apparent issue.  I would say each magazine might see 3000 to 4000 rounds in the course of the year so a number of these magazines could be over that. Obviously, the magazines get scuffed internally.  

 

I don't mind simply throwing them out, but we've actually seen this issues with a match-only magazine with obviously lower round count.  I've even tried using some Rem Dry Lube, but I'm not sure that did anything.  Anyone else seen this particular issue with the clear 10-round magazines?  Any correlation with wear on the magazines?  I'm inclined to think it has something to do with the lower temperatures despite our trying to keep the rounds and magazines somewhat warm.

[UFO]

When you put the magazine back together, how many turns on the spring are you putting in? I only do 1 3/4 turns and have zero issues. The other issue, may be the wax on the bullets that is causing drag.

[motosapiens]

i keep my mags in my vest pocket (under my coat) in winter.

 

I'd be surprised if the magazines wear significantly. I wouldn't be surprised if wax coatings have more friction at lower temps.

[KelsonAK]

I have noticed that a magazine that I tightened down perfectly indoors at 70 deg, behaves a bit differently outside at 10 deg.  Cleaning them, appropriately tensioning them, and then loosening the bolt a little more than I would in summer seems to have helped a lot.  I've also kept them warm in a cooler, etc, but biggest was just not over-tightening the bolt and pinching in the back plate.

[zzt]

I have Ruger 10-round clear and a bunch of Tandemkross Double Kross mags I put Ruger guts in.  All of them are tensioned 8 spaces as per Tandemkross instructions.  I have no problems with CCI Standard, Geco, Norma Tac-22, cci AR Tactical or Fiocchi Standard.  I leave the mags in the range bag and don't worry about keeping them warm.  The coldest match so far has been 25 degrees.  No problems at all.

 

One thing that may be causing your problem is kinking the spring when pushing it in far enough to get the hook in the notch.  If you push the TK spring pusher in too far it jams and you kink the spring when you pull it back out.  I did that once and the mag would hang up on the 7th round.  Took the kink out and it worked fine again.

[RickT]

I use my thumb and index finger to put 1-1/3 turns on the spring.  We never had problems with the CCI SV ammo, but as the temperature began to drop in our new state we started to see wax buildup and the occasional failure to feed.  Must have gone through 30K rounds of the SV stuff in a warmer climate without issue.  There may be something to the tension thing.  I heard from a few folks that they don't tension the springs as much as recommended.

 

I never got the hand of the Tandemkross tool; sounds like I should be glad I didn't.

 

59 minutes ago, KelsonAK said:

I have noticed that a magazine that I tightened down perfectly indoors at 70 deg, behaves a bit differently outside at 10 deg.  Cleaning them, appropriately tensioning them, and then loosening the bolt a little more than I would in summer seems to have helped a lot.  I've also kept them warm in a cooler, etc, but biggest was just not over-tightening the bolt and pinching in the back plate.

Can you clarify "pinching in the back plate?  Thanks.

[nso123]

Tandemkross has a good video showing how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the mags.  They don't use as much tension as the factory, and I have had great luck using their method. They also have a takedown and assembly tool that makes working on the mags much easier. 

[zzt]

3 hours ago, nso123 said:

Tandemkross has a good video showing how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the mags.  They don't use as much tension as the factory, and I have had great luck using their method. They also have a takedown and assembly tool that makes working on the mags much easier. 

 

This ^^^^^. 

[RickT]

19 minutes ago, zzt said:

 

This ^^^^^. 

That's about what I'm applying for tension.  I do think there might be something to the temperature "thing".  The spring is quite long, but I don't know that a 40 degree change in temperature would do much.

[xpierrat]

Plain and simple paraffin wax bullets  do not like cold weather  even with clean mags the sometimes xtra wax on the bullet will cause problems, combine this with a occasional slightly weaker round that does not cycle as strong and you have a failure....  I have gone to the CCI clean and they appear to work better in the cold ( what little we get in N Florida )  a better solution seams to be a higher vol round  for use in the winter usually mini mags that have been de waxed or the clean version mini mag

 

[Frozen]

I have had the same issue, wax getting cold and not feeding up,, I have now went with cci clean no wax and feeding problem are not there in the cold (Alaska) it’s my 2cents
I do not use golden Bullets just too dirty for me and not consistently firing


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[jrdoran]

Good luck here also with the CCI Clean ( SV and HV ).   I try and avoid the wax in the Ruger mags.  

 

Quote

 Simply stated the magazine jams internally, failing to feed the next round into the feed lips. 

 

Your timing is good on this as recently I've had this same issue with one of my clear mags ( out of like 8-9 ) all  Ruger 10 rounders.    There must be a burr or some type of interference on the metal mag lips as I have a hard time removing the round trying to push it out after I remove the problem mag upon failure.  I have to put something in the front of the bullet to raise it up and then push it forward.   Never had this before but it cost me some stages and rounds at plate shoots recently.   

 

I don't think it is at all temperature related.   I'll probably try and clean it up with a file, but I'm not the most patient person to be honest.   I do clean the outside and metal areas of the magazines after every match.  

 

PS, only a few hours left to get that GM before many of the peak times in SC get more difficult  

[RickT]

9 hours ago, jrdoran said:

Good luck here also with the CCI Clean ( SV and HV ).   I try and avoid the wax in the Ruger mags.  

 

 

Your timing is good on this as recently I've had this same issue with one of my clear mags ( out of like 8-9 ) all  Ruger 10 rounders.    There must be a burr or some type of interference on the metal mag lips as I have a hard time removing the round trying to push it out after I remove the problem mag upon failure.  I have to put something in the front of the bullet to raise it up and then push it forward.   Never had this before but it cost me some stages and rounds at plate shoots recently.   

 

I don't think it is at all temperature related.   I'll probably try and clean it up with a file, but I'm not the most patient person to be honest.   I do clean the outside and metal areas of the magazines after every match.  

 

PS, only a few hours left to get that GM before many of the peak times in SC get more difficult  

"Our" (my wife's!) mag failure is further down in the stack, not in the feed lips.  After looking at the Tandemkross video they are recommending tightening 7 flats versus the "normal" 8.  If you turn the nut 1-1/4 turns and relax slightly to drop in the recess you've effectively only turned the spring 7 flats.  I'm going to try this with a few mags before we head to the range this morning.  We're getting to today's match early to do some testing.

[zzt]

I tried the CCI clean.  I got 70% FtF, even apter thre/four tries.  The problem is all my pistols have match chambers and the RFRO has a Benz chamber.  The coating on the 'Cleans" is too variable and only works in more open chambers.  Geco, SK Standard Plus, Norma, Wolf, etc. use a wax that is almost liquid.  Even in the cold you get some on your hands wile loading mags.  Ammo like that should cure and wax hardness problems.

[RickT]

We might have to go to something just for matches although the Geco Match at about 6 cents/round is pretty reasonable for high volume practice.

[zzt]

1 hour ago, RickT said:

We might have to go to something just for matches although the Geco Match at about 6 cents/round is pretty reasonable for high volume practice.

 

I use the Geco Semi Auto.  Feeds perfectly in all my 22s.  Another thing you can do is use the old bullseye trick.  Run a streak of oil on the top round of each mag.  It works wonders in tight chambers.