10/22 Ruger Rotary Magazine Tuning

[RaylanGivens]

Had a round jam in my 10/22 this week on a stage in a monthly SCSA match...  The bullet lodged in the magazine and seemed to be jammed against the magazine's feed lip...  wouldn't eject...  when I removed the round it had a semi-circular notch in the top of the bullet.

 

It's a standard Ruger clear 10 round rotary magazine...  I've cleaned and shot it previously and it worked fine...  After looking at the magazine I noticed that the metal feed lips are pretty rough...  Wonder if it would help to polish the ramp surface with some fine sandpaper?

 

Also wondering about the TandemKross nylon feed lips...  Would they be smoother than the metal feed lips?  Worthwhile upgrade?

 

[Les Snyder]

....it sure wouldn't hurt to knock down any obvious rough spots and polish it out...but a couple of comments.... when I was shooting my 10/22 I bought 6 new red rotor 10 round OEM Ruger magazines... 4 work flawlessly, 2 hit or miss... at first I attributed it to shooting old ammo (at Hernando practice matches)... as both the feed lip and ejector are located on the magazine, any movement when locked into place can cause a problem, and I didn't have much of a chamfer on the chamber mouth... I thought seriously about using something like a revolver crane shim on the rotor axle to slightly lengthen the axle and make the magazines fit a little tighter, and a little more consistent.. I had one loosen in a match, and it tightened in the gun, which gave me the idea... I've switched to a CMMG insert 10 1/2" barrel for my SBR for a competition gun so did not follow up with the idea

 

re: stainless... curiously my Black Dog X magazines with the stainless feed lips for the CMMG were plagued with a binding problem, where a push rod and considerable force was needed to strip cartridges off the magazine... switching to the polymer lipped magazines, and they can be easily stripped with thumb pressure... looked like a wedge problem with the follower and excessive friction between the stainless lips and the brass case (curiouser and curiouser)... I don't need the Boonie packer bolt hold open and SW 15-22 magazines, and prefer the Black Dog mags

[nso123]

Have you tuned the springs in your mags like the TK video shows?  If not, take a look at their video and give that a try. I keep my feed lips clean, but don’t do anything special to them. 

[zzt]

19 hours ago, RaylanGivens said:

Also wondering about the TandemKross nylon feed lips...  Would they be smoother than the metal feed lips?  Worthwhile upgrade?

 

The TK feed lips are smoother and slicker than the Ruger.  I originally used stock Ruger guts to populate TK DoubleKross frames.  They worked flawlessly.  I recently received the components to assemble six new DoubleKross frames with all TK guts.  Aside from being slightly easier to load because the the feed lip slickness, the only difference I found is the Ruger guts worked with 7 steps of tightening, while the TK required 8 to feed 100%.

 

Originally, one of the Ruger metal feed lips was rough and did not perform 100%.  I swapped it out and the problem was solved.  I'm now deep in all the TK spare parts for the mags.  If I ever encounter a problem I'm not going to trouble shoot.  I'll just toss the offending part(s) and replace. 

[RaylanGivens]

On 4/20/2021 at 10:54 PM, Les Snyder said:

....it sure wouldn't hurt to knock down any obvious rough spots and polish it out...but a couple of comments.... when I was shooting my 10/22 I bought 6 new red rotor 10 round OEM Ruger magazines... 4 work flawlessly, 2 hit or miss... at first I attributed it to shooting old ammo (at Hernando practice matches)... as both the feed lip and ejector are located on the magazine, any movement when locked into place can cause a problem, and I didn't have much of a chamfer on the chamber mouth... I thought seriously about using something like a revolver crane shim on the rotor axle to slightly lengthen the axle and make the magazines fit a little tighter, and a little more consistent.. I had one loosen in a match, and it tightened in the gun, which gave me the idea... I've switched to a CMMG insert 10 1/2" barrel for my SBR for a competition gun so did not follow up with the idea

 

re: stainless... curiously my Black Dog X magazines with the stainless feed lips for the CMMG were plagued with a binding problem, where a push rod and considerable force was needed to strip cartridges off the magazine... switching to the polymer lipped magazines, and they can be easily stripped with thumb pressure... looked like a wedge problem with the follower and excessive friction between the stainless lips and the brass case (curiouser and curiouser)... I don't need the Boonie packer bolt hold open and SW 15-22 magazines, and prefer the Black Dog mags

 

It's possible that the magazine was not inserted perfectly...  Hard to say now, but I usually try to give them an extra bump to make sure they're fully seated.

 

It does take more force than you would think to eject rounds from a magazine with the Ruger steel feed lips.

[RaylanGivens]

On 4/20/2021 at 10:55 PM, nso123 said:

Have you tuned the springs in your mags like the TK video shows?  If not, take a look at their video and give that a try. I keep my feed lips clean, but don’t do anything special to them. 

 

Not much tuning...  I wound the nut around to 8 slots.

 

This is the first time I ran mags that had already shot six stages since I cleaned them...  Guess I'll go back to cleaning them before each match.

[RaylanGivens]

9 hours ago, zzt said:

 

The TK feed lips are smoother and slicker than the Ruger.  I originally used stock Ruger guts to populate TK DoubleKross frames.  They worked flawlessly.  I recently received the components to assemble six new DoubleKross frames with all TK guts.  Aside from being slightly easier to load because the the feed lip slickness, the only difference I found is the Ruger guts worked with 7 steps of tightening, while the TK required 8 to feed 100%.

 

Originally, one of the Ruger metal feed lips was rough and did not perform 100%.  I swapped it out and the problem was solved.  I'm now deep in all the TK spare parts for the mags.  If I ever encounter a problem I'm not going to trouble shoot.  I'll just toss the offending part(s) and replace. 

 

Strange that the Tandemkross plastic feed lips require an extra step to make them function correctly...  You'd think that the slicker feed lips wouldn't as much spring pressure...  I've been using 8 steps onall my magazines.

 

The standard Ruger steel feed lips seem more porous than you would expect.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[zzt]

4 hours ago, RaylanGivens said:

You'd think that the slicker feed lips wouldn't as much spring pressure...

 

The rounds stuck short of the feed lips.  I think it had more to do with the ammo I was using at the time.  If I see 22 ammo available I buy it.  Unfortunately a lot of it will not work in my guns.  So I end up swapping or selling it.  So far I've discovered Winchester, Federal, Aguila and Norma Tac-22 will not run 100% in all my 22s.

 

BTW, when the DoubleKross shells first came out TK was recommending 7 steps.  Now they say 8.

Edited April 22, 2021 by zzt

[mniels]

Strangely enough, I have had a bunch off issues with the TK doubles with their guts, but it must have to do with my receiver.  Sent them back to TK to test and they were fine there.  I was also having problems with the clear factory mags, even after polishing the feed lips, etc.  Just for giggles I bought some of the regular black mags, tuned the feed lips, and am now having no problems.  

 

I cannot imagine that there is a difference between the clear and opaque mags, but there you go.  Maybe I just got a bad run.

[RaylanGivens]

Was using Ruger clear factory mags with Eley standard velocity ammo for matches...  Using TK Doubles with CCI Standard Velocity ammo for practice...  I assumed the Eley was better ammo, but I had more jams with it...  Changed to the CCI Std Velocity ammo after a jam in a match and it was much better...  Used the CCI for another match and it continued to work well.

 

Thought about changing to the TK Double mags along with the CCI ammo during the match...  Didn't want to have to remember to flip here and swap the mag out there...  Simpler to keep using my Ruger clear mags as long as they continue to work.

 

[zzt]

13 hours ago, RaylanGivens said:

I assumed the Eley was better ammo, but I had more jams with it..

 

I noticed the same thing with the higher speed Eley.  Ely Target (SV) runs fine.  As an experiment I increased the spring pressure from 8 to 9 spaces and it ran the high speed Eley fine.   I'm currently running CCI SV in everything.  I like only having to take one kind of ammo to the match.  I love the TK doubles.  SOOO much easier to remove, and much cheaper than the extensions I see many others using.

[mniels]

Am I the only one who has had issues with the TK doubles?

[Hoops]

1 hour ago, mniels said:

Am I the only one who has had issues with the TK doubles?

 

I have 20 of the doubles.  Reliable in Magnum Reciever's (4 different ones).  I run Aguila, CCI, SK and even cheap practice Federal 36 gr practice bulk ammo......all run well.  Love them.

 

Are you using the original guts from black ones or did you buy the TK internals?  You may have said in this post but I did not re-read to see.  I use my original black mag internals.  The feed lips on the mag also has the ejector built in.  I was not sure if the TK plastic/nylon lips (don't know what they are) would be as reliable as the cast metal feed lips.  

 

I did have 2 doubles where the hole for the rotor was a bit tight.  I just worked the rotor back and forth and loosened up the hole to prevent any friction or rotor drag.

 

If you are using the TK green springs, they are a bit stronger.  You may have to find your sweet spot with how many turns you make.  I just put a mark on one side of the T handle and turn it between 1 3/4 to 2 turns max.  With the tool on the nut it was hard for me to see matching marks on nut and case.  Works for me anyway.  By the way, I have found that you can overtight the screw and prehaps squeeze the case.  I just hit a hard snug turn and leave it there.

 

By the way.......the Ruger clear 10 round mags are different in size.....from the mold if you compare them closely.  I found them to be not reliable.