Ruger SR-22 ammo choice with butler creek mags

bcfreeman

bcfreeman

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I recently bought a Ruger SR 22, 2 Butler Creek 25/22 mags, and a Butler Creek speed mag loader.

The ammo I bought is CCI 22LR Standard Velocity Round Nose.

The speed loader is very nice and works well but when shooting the gun the ammo fed very poorly from the mags to the chamber. The mags also don't seem to really fit nice and crisply into the mag receiver. They seem kind of loose even when fully in.

Out of 25 rounds, I'd say an average of 5 mis-feeds per mag occured. The rounds either didn't even come out of the mag, or they got jammed going into the chamber from the mag.

My question is; do you guys think it's the mag at fault for the isssues I'm having or is it the ammo brand and type that could be the problem?

Any suggestions on better mags or better ammo to use with the Ruger SR 22?
 
Did you buy the plastic-lipped mags or steel-lipped ones? There's usually a night and day difference in how they perform.
 
Pop said:
Did you buy the plastic-lipped mags or steel-lipped ones? There's usually a night and day difference in how they perform.
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The body of the mag is plastic and the inner part that pushes the rounds up is plastic, but the part of the mag at the top where it goes into the mag receiver is metal.
 
I am wondering the same as Pop, I have 3 of the steel lip mags and I have only ever had 3 mis feeds from the mags and thats over 2000 rnds of mixed ammo.
 
Those are generally very reliable, do you also have feeding problems using that ammo from the factory 10-round mag?
 
Luis1 said:
I am wondering the same as Pop, I have 3 of the steel lip mags and I have only ever had 3 mis feeds from the mags and thats over 2000 rnds of mixed ammo.
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Are you using these mags on an SR-22? I'm wondering if it is a gun to mag specific problem. Maybe they aren't so good on the Ruger SR's?
 
bcfreeman said:
Are you using these mags on an SR-22? I'm wondering if it is a gun to mag specific problem. Maybe they aren't so good on the Ruger SR's?
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I've got 8 of them that I'm currently using on an SR-22 and a 10/22 carbine and they all work flawlessly with both.
 
Pop said:
Those are generally very reliable, do you also have feeding problems using that ammo from the factory 10-round mag?
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I haven't tried the factory mag yet with the ammo. I didn't take the factory one out with us but I will definitely do that to see if it makes a difference.

One of the mags seemed to be feeding the rounds in too straight of an angle out of the lip and we stopped using that one. The other one fed better but still had issues.

Just now at home, I took a screw driver and worked the feeder spring up and down a lot on the mags and I think it kind of loosened it up some and seems to load the ammo nicer now.
That may make a difference on the feeding into the gun. I'll try them again along with the factory mag this week to see if there is a difference.
I'll buy a different brand of ammo too to try that.
 
I would suggest that if you aren't experiencing any failures using that ammo in the factory 10-rnd mag then you may have been unlucky enough to get two duds. You could exchange them and see if that fixes things up.

If you're getting some failures in the factory mag as well, try some hotter rounds to break in the action. You may have an overly stiff spring or some rough tooling.

Edit: didn't see your latest when I posted, sounds like you're on the right track.
 
bcfreeman said:
What brand and type of ammo are you using them with?
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Mostly CCI Blazer 40gr RN (500 rnd bricks), AE 40gr RN (500 rnd bricks), Federal Champion 40gr RN (500 rnd bricks) and Federal Champion 36gr HP (525 bulk packs). I tend to buy whichever happens to be on sale at the time.
 
Would a touch of gun lube on the mag lip and the mag receiver area of the gun be beneficial or is that a no-no in that part of the mag/gun?
 
bcfreeman said:
Would a touch of gun lube on the mag lip and the mag receiver area of the gun be beneficial or is that a no-no in that part of the mag/gun?
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I think it would quickly get pretty gummy, but maybe a light layer of Rem Dry Lube or something like that wouldn't hurt. Don't use too much though because it can build up.
 
Well I'm sitting here checking out the mags, gun, and ammo and I'm noticing something that may be making an issue for the rounds in the mags but I'm not sure if this is normal or not.
This is my first .22 cal gun. My others are larger caliber center fires. I have never noticed any wax type of stuff on my other center fire ammo before but on these CCI .22's there is noticeable quite a bit of a waxy type of film on the lead heads and even small clumps of it on some of the rounds. I could take some pictures of it to show you guys if this isn't a normal thing.

Is this normal? Could this be clogging up the feeding from the lip to the chamber?
I assume they put this on the bullets to assist in feeding, but could there be too much of it?
 
Pop said:
Excessive wax could definitely cause a problem. Are these CCI bulk pack Blazers (525 loose rounds)? These two threads talk about some excessive wax issues from those:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=795971
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=790270

I haven't noticed a lot of wax on the rounds that come in bricks (10 smaller boxes of 50 each) or from the Federal Champion 525 bulk packs.
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They are the 500 round boxes (10 boxes of 50 round each) 40 grain round nose.
Ok, great I'll read those links. I have a feeling this may be causing the issue. On the edge of the barrel chamber in the gun I can see some wax build up in there too.
I just took my remaining boxes of ammo out of the bulk box and looked all the ammo over and there is in my opinion a lot of wax on them.

Thank you Pop's! I'll report back after I figure out the exact issue for sure.
I love the gun by the way. Beautiful shooter and a lot of fun.
 
I have similar issues with my Butler Creek steel lip magazines, it seems to be the first 4-5 rounds have issues feeding though there are days where I have no issues. When issues do occur the rounds come out pretty much flat, thus they get stuck on the feed ramp on the magazine then the bolt crushes them, a round that will feed properly is angled upwards. I have come to the conclusion that for the most part it is the spring in the magazine, though the feed ramp does play a part.

I've played with the idea of either pinning the magazine to 20 rounds or modifying the feed ramp. My number one solution would be to get the Ruger BX-25 magazines and throw out the Butler Creek ones but until the BX-25s are no longer a prohibited item in Canada that's just a pipe dream...

Also I typically had more issues with the CCI Blazer than other ammunition, the stuff that works great for me is the bulk packs of Federal 36gr Hollow Point, as a bonus there doesn't seem to be any wax on the rounds.

The fitment in our rifles may be slightly different though as I have a 10/22 in the Troy chassis and you have the SR-22, but it seems the issues are along the same lines.
 
I sure hope quality control at Butler Creek isn't going downhill, we don't have a lot of good alternatives up here :(
 
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