Ruger BX-25 Magazine Issues

[WartHog]

The two BX-25 Magazines that I picked up during Freedom Week both have feeding/jamming issues. Tried the spent casing-bushing mod but no joy. Mags won't reliably function in either my mid-90's SS 10/22 or my Brother's 3 year old rifle. On the other hand, I have two 25 year old Butler Creek 25's with plastic lips that function 100% with basically any ammo. WTF?

[Sheldon]

Try different ammo? What type of problem specifically? They are generally known to be reliable though. I have a bunch and the ones in use have been fine.

[SkyHawk]

I can't believe how many videos of mods there are for these. It seems a lot of people have problems, enough to go to lengths to try and fix it.

Here is Russian dude's mod, I aint saying he's wrong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSTumIx5tL0

[Epaphroditus]

BX-25 mags have always been hit or miss.

[jmaglipay]

I had the same issue with mine. The spent casing mod worked for me. I also put Teflon lubricant on the follower and spring.

[DanGunner]

I bought two during Freedom Week 1 and they’ve worked flawlessly

[JoyfulJoker]

I took mine apart , cleaned and coated with CLP before I even used them. Never an issue . My buddy who can’t stand cleaning or understanding the ins and outs of his guns mechanics has nothing but problems with his. Refuses to take them apart.

[ojisan]

Over the years I've spent a fair amount of time with 10/22s.
I've had to measure a bunch.
There are normal size and location tolerances in the manufacture of every product.
The 10/22 is no different.
What positions the magazine in the gun is the hole in the back side of the front receiver vertical wall.
The location of this hole varies slightly up and down.
I call the variations High Hole, Middle Hole and Low Hole.

One day the XYZ Company decides to make a 10/22 magazine.
They go get a 10/22 from the gun store or maybe use one they already have.
They make a magazine that fits and functions fine in their gun.
You know they have to test and get it right because they have to pay big bucks for molds and tooling which can be impossible to correct, possibly requiring new molds or whatever.

What they don't know is they have used, for example, a high hole gun for testing. They set everything up so the mag sits low and feeds rounds low and straight.
Put this mag in a low hole gun and the feeding round hits the bottom of the chamber mouth and jams because the bullet nose is not angling up high enough as it leaves the feed lips.

The guys who patterns on a low hole gun will end up with rounds that feed too high in a HH gun, causing stand up jams above the chamber.

This is why two guys can have "identical" 10/22s and an aftermarket mag will work fine in one gun but not the other.

One of my many 10/22s will run fine on let's say Butler Creeks so that brand is used on that gun.

Note also that the 10/22 magazine is held by the plunger at the rear.
This plunger is loose in the hole to allow the magazine to have some wiggle room during feeding and cycling.
The magazine needs this room, tight fitting magazine wells can cause a lot of feed problems.

[M76]

butler creek mags are more reliable in my experience too

try loading just 20 instead of 25 rds, that worked for me

[ojisan]

If you have high feeding mag, you can take a little off the bottom of the front knob on the mag to lower it.

Raising a low feeder won't work, there's no easy way, better to get a different brand or type of mag that feeds higher.

[SnWnMe]

butler creek mags are more reliable in my experience too

try loading just 20 instead of 25 rds, that worked for me

Cheapest troubleshooting / fix

Do this first.

[pinger]

What reference points would be used to measure the locating hole and what distances would be considered low, middle and high?

[ojisan]

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to make the measurements to determine the hole position.
This is because the receivers vary in dimensions and there is no place where the measurements are the exact same from one to the next.
The difference can be just a few thousands of an inch.
Putting a known mag in and seeing the feed angle will best show the hole position.

[k1dude]

None of my BX-25's work in my 10/22. It's a mag problem, not a rifle problem.

The bullet hits the front metal lip and comes to a dead stop. The ramp is almost non-existent, it's more like a wall. You can't even remove the rounds by hand by pushing the bullet forward like the bullet would naturally feed. How could Ruger let mags leave the factory that don't even work?

I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I was going to file away the front metal of the magazine to create a ramp that allows the bullet to clear enough to properly and smoothly exit the magazine.

[H8Mud]

Weird, I've got 6 or 8 of these mags and they run flawlessly. I'm running them in older 10/22 from 1970 up to current production TD model. Fill em full and let em RIP as fast as your finger can wiggle.