hicap ruger 10/22 mag review

Bobby Ironsights

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So, this is my little hi-cap 10-22 magazine review.

Me and a buddy went out to the range at the end of Pento road, (thanks for driving Nonus).
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We used his nice target ruger, and my factory ruger, with polished factory barrel.
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We had a tactical innovations 25 round stick, a butler creek 25 round stick, a ramline 50 round stick, and a Pro Mag 50 round drum.
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We ran dynapoints, 333 bulkpack, gameloads, federal bluebox, Xperts, and American Eagle copper plated through each of them.

The Tactical Innovations Magazine ran flawlessly, with everything in both guns. It was nice and tight in both guns, and I thought the adjustable feed lip angle was neat, but we it ran fine without adjustments. It was ordered direct from the states
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The Ramline 50 round stick ran well with all brands in both guns, but had one fail to feed with the 333’s in the factory gun, with the second or third round out of the mag. My buddy cleared before I could take a pic… grrr… but hey, what can you do? and it didn’t repeat, and emptied the rest of the way in both guns without incident. I got it from mysticplayer.
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The butler creek fed perfectly with both guns and all brands of ammunition on this particular occasion. I have to say though, it has jammed up once or twice with the dynapoints in rapid fire in regular use, but dynapoints are the most accurate in my stock ruger, so I put up with it. I got it mailorder from ellwood epps.
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I saved the drum for last, even though we tried it right of the get go. It only fed a single round the whole time. We tried various ammo, we tried it full, we tried it half empty, and we tried it almost completely empty. It was loose in my gun, so I tried tilting it back and forth and forward and back, it was tight in the magwell of the target rifle, but there was no joy whatsoever. I got it from mysticplayer too.
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So angry, so angry with the drum because it looks so neat. I was hoping to make a PPSH replica including it, but it’s worse than useless, I hope this particular mag is just a dud. All of the other magazines surprised us with their reliability and regularity. We didn’t torture any of them though, the upside down pictures are just for clarity to show jams.

Thanks
 
Thanks for the review,

I had my reservations about how well a drum would do....hopefully it didn't set you back that much.
 
Good review me and my friend both have pro mag drums neither work they are crap don't waste your money
 
If I may, the function of any aftermarket mag is related to how they fit in the 10/22. Ruger has changed their action dimensions slightly over the years causing mag issues with all brands and styles. The mag companies have tried to adjust but that means their new mags may not work as well as their old ones depending on the 10/22.

Having sold a bunch of these promag drums and banana mags, the vast majority of users are thrilled and they function well for them.

In my 10/22, the drum locks up tight without any play. My rifle is likely an 80's production. I also found that they need some break in to get going.

Ironically, the TI mags aren't the most reliable in my 10/22 despite adjusting everyway from Sunday. The fit is very sloppy compared to the promag, so nothing is perfect. I get the same type of jam shown in the pics above.

Conversely, I have shot thousands of rds through a BC hotlips without issue and no wear. Others haven't had as much success.

Considering the volume that is sold in the US and how difficult it is to get, I think there are alot more happy Promag users then not.

If you haven't used them, the promag 32rd banana mag is one of the best running, steel lip mags I own (and I own all that I sell). It took a few mags to break in but now runs fast or slow. Has been tested in 3 other 10/22 of varying vintages with identical results.

We all want a new purchase to work superbly, especially when they are so cool looking. But when it comes to aftermarket mags in 10/22's, sometimes things don't go as planned.

YMMV

Jerry

PS, the bare lead Win do not work in my 10/22 no matter the mag so mag feeding is also ammo sensitive. 333 and bulk Fed work the best in my rifles.
 
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Great review- thanks for writing it. :)

A couple of questions:

1) Was the BC a hot lips or steel lips? I have a lot better luck with my steel lips than hot lips (as weird as that whole sentence sounds...).

2) How long ago did did you order/get your TI mag? I hope they start shipping to Canada again soon. That said, I might just pick up another steel lips BC.

bhd001
 
Great review- thanks for writing it. :)
2) How long ago did did you order/get your TI mag? I hope they start shipping to Canada again soon. That said, I might just pick up another steel lips BC.

bhd001

I ordered them pretty much a couple weeks before they stopped shipping them to Canada. Good thing I got them when I did :D

When shooting the drum mag I also put tension on it pushing it forwards to raise the mag up so it should feed higher, I managed to only actually managed to get the bolt closed on one single round.
 
Great review- thanks for writing it. :)

A couple of questions:

1) Was the BC a hot lips or steel lips? I have a lot better luck with my steel lips than hot lips (as weird as that whole sentence sounds...).

2) How long ago did did you order/get your TI mag? I hope they start shipping to Canada again soon. That said, I might just pick up another steel lips BC.

bhd001

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, it's a steel lips mag.
 
Great review, as I was curious about TI and Promag. One thing was missing from your review how much did you pay for each mag?
 
Nice review, I was always curious about the drum mag, I see they leave a lot to be desired. I'm not surprised that the Tac-Inc's were your favorite. I love mine, my only regret was not buying more when they were freely available. I have a B/C mag as well, and I can actually wiggle it out of my Krinker without hitting the mag release. Not a fan of them...
 
I read all the bad reviews, and bought a promag drum anyway. was also planning a ppsh project. turns out that everybody was right. cost me ninety dollars to see for myself. not ready to give up yet, and was wondering if anybody has tried installing the good steel lips from a donor factory mag into the promag? or is this a stupid question?
 
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