I just got to play with and shoot my friend's new 10/22 and 3rd generation Pro-Mag drum as shown in the video.
Observations and results:
The new 3rd gen mags have flat metal colored metal lips with a higher feed angle then the older 2nd gen chrome lip ones.
Loading with the new thumb winder on the back of the 3rd gen. was interesting. A constant pressure down when feeding rounds in and gentle release of the pusher were necessary to keep the rounds correctly stacked. There is a lot of room in there, so rounds deep inside may become stacked crooked, standing up or stacked in rim-lock order if not fed in correctly and correct tension on the winder is kept.
It really takes three hands to load the mag: one to hold the mag in place, one to push the thumb winder and the third to load the ammo. The spring is really stiff at first.
Three mags were fired using CCI Mini Mag roundnose out of a new unmodified Ruger current production 10/22 (plastic trigger group / black crinkle finish receiver).
Mag 1: This mag was loaded in my friend's living room on the floor. I wrestled with the loading and the thumb winder until a method with the mag on the floor between my knees was figured out that had consistent loading and positioning of the rounds. Firing out on the range: Rounds 1 -7 feed and fired perfect. Round 8 got stuck feeding halfway into the chamber for no obvious reason. Rounds 9-42 functioned perfect. Round 43 had a wedge jam problem due to a partial semi-circle of shaved bullet lead fouling the chamber mouth at the bottom. Rounds 44-50 worked fine.
Some lead partial circle shavings were seen in the breech area and bolt face after the mag was removed.
Mag 2: This one was loaded outdoors in the Nevada desert with strong gusty winds, some flying dirt in the air.
Wedging the mag in my lap this time, I lost control of the thumb winder several times allowing it to go upwards unrestrained (once due to our EZ Up sun shade getting blown over), and rounds got wedged inside at angles, with some rim locked for sure. I could only get 42 rounds into the mag, confirming my fears that at least one round was crooked or standing "on end" somewhere down inside and could jam the whole thing up. As we had to focus on the wind problems quite often (EZ Up, tables, chairs, gun bags, you name it, it went flying), I was less than inclined to unload the whole mag and start over. So into the gun it went. Surprise, most rounds fed and fired just fine. 2 times it jammed, rim locked so mag removed and rounds pried out, a couple more lead shaving jams, another mystery jam, the rest fired fine.
Mag 3: Winds died down, focus on loading correctly now. I've got the loading motion and thumb winder action figured out and smoothly in go a full 50 rounds, much easier this time. Rounds 1-24 fine, 25 lead shave jam, clear and shake out gun, 26-45 fine except for one mystery jam somewhere in there, 46 lead shave jam, 47-50 fine.
Aftermath:
Gun cleaning and inspection time: the rifle receiver was disassembled and the bolt removed. The breech area and bolt face had lots of little 1/5 circle lead shavings scraped from the bullets by the very sharp edge of the chamber mouth as they went into the chamber.
The recoil spring guide rod on this 10/22 had a ridged surface and was so rough and sticky in action I am sure I have found the cause of the mystery jams as the bolt travel was very rough and grabby.
We all know Ruger is making these guns as fast as they can right now, but c'mon Ruger, slow down a little and do it right.
I used a countersink tool and hand pressure to remove the sharp square edge from the chamber mouth. Only a few thousands of an inch are removed at most, just bevel that sharp corner! I suspect this will help greatly with the lead shaving problem.
I swapped the guide rod with a spare one from an older model and now the bolt works much smoother. Dry cycling and feeding was excellent.
I wish I had more time there but it was a quick trip.
Regret I have to wait for the next Nevada trip to use my friend's mag more as I am in Cali.
I will check back with him see how he does with the mods to his gun and the mag.
Hmmm...well, is the Drum mag any good? I would say it can be made to work quite well with some break in and gun tuning. Careful loading and stacking of the rounds to avoid rim lock is critical. Watching the guy in the video slap at the thumb winder and let it fly up several times almost guarantees a rim lock or crooked feed in my experience. I was not surprised to see that it jammed a lot on him. I think the new drum can end up working rather well, especially for the guys here who can tune and tweak things a bit.
I bet that new 500 rounder "brick" mag is gonna be fun to load...
