What happens if you load 10 rounds into the magazines?

 

shotgunanglr,

I shoot in a weekly Bullseye Pistol League. In this particular discipline, all shooting is done with only 5 rounds at a time. At my next practice session, will try loading up with 10

cartridges as you've suggested. For that matter, I could try loading only 4 at a time, just to see what happens then. Should this frustrating problem occur again, perhaps it will always

be the last round in the magazine that's the source of the trouble? Maybe it'll happen regardless of how many rounds are initially loaded into the magazines?

 

New magazine springs????

 

:yeahthat: Sounds like a good place to start. After 30+ years, those magazine springs may be quite tired by now, so it wouldn't hurt to get a couple of new springs at around $2.75 each and give those a try. Then consider doing this process to make your magazines work much more smoothly.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507693

 

If this were isolated to 1 or 2 magazines, I would agree with the mag spring theory. But since this applies to all 5 magazines...

Try replacing your mag release spring. You can get one from Midway for under five bucks. I think your spring may not be lifting the back of the magazines high enough and this is shifting the alignment of the nose of the bullets relative to the bolt. You are only seeing scraping on the last bullet because the (nose of the) last round sits higher than the rest when it reaches the top. This is a function of the design of the riser.

 

MK II Feeding Issues?...Say What?

Went to the range again today. Same MK II, same 5 magazines, and same ammo as was used on last Sunday. Everything was "as-is" from the previous range session. Did not do

anything special to my equipment. Fired a total of 90 rounds. Only five rounds were loaded in each magazine. All five magazines were used in rotation. No malfunctions to this point.

"shotgunanglur" suggested trying 10 rounds/magazine. Did this, firing a total of 20 cartridges in each mag. Everything was fine until magazine #5 was used. It fired the first ten

shots okay. On the second group of ten, the bolt got round #9 halfway into the chamber and then it stopped. Same malfunction as before. Pulled magazine number five out. As it

cleared the bottom of the grip frame, cartridge #10 "popped out" on it's own, falling to the floor. Sure enough, there was a wide, flat spot on it's bullet at the 12 o'clock position. It

looks like round #10 has once again interfered when the bolt was trying to chamber #9. One more test with the last 50 rounds I had with me. Each mag had ten cartridges placed

into it. Fired the first 8 cartridges. The ninth one did chamber successfully. It was manually extracted and then the tenth round in the mag was examined. Performed this same test

with all five of the mags. With two of them, there were appreciable rub marks on the last unfired rounds that were in the top of the magazine. On the other 3, the rub marks were

still present, but were very slight when compared to the other two. Some have suggested new mag springs are in order. Before trying this, could someone explain how this would be

a solution? Am not saying that this is the wrong approach. Just would like to know what the new springs will do that the current ones aren't. Also, is it possible that new springs just

won't help as all of my current magazine tubes, springs, followers, etc. are just worn out? Maybe I'd be better off just scrapping everything and starting with all new mags? This

would be a bit costly, but it could be the only solution that works. Would really hate to invest in new springs only to later discover that this erratic feeding issue still exists. Any

comments? Thank you all again!

 

Went to the range again today. Same MK II, same 5 magazines, and same ammo as was used on last Sunday. Everything was "as-is" from the previous range session. Did not do anything

special to my equipment. Fired a total of 90 rounds. Only five rounds were loaded in each magazine. All five magazines were used in rotation. No malfunctions to this point.

"shotgunanglur" suggested trying 10 rounds/magazine. Did this, firing a total of 20 cartridges in each mag. Everything was fine until magazine #5 was used. It fired the first ten shots okay.

On the second group of ten, the bolt got round #9 halfway into the chamber and then it stopped. Same malfunction as before. Pulled magazine number five out. As it cleared the bottom of

the grip frame, cartridge #10 "popped out" on it's own, falling to the floor. Sure enough, there was a wide, flat spot on it's bullet at the 12 o'clock position. It looks like round #10 has once

again interfered when the bolt was trying to chamber #9.

One more test with the last 50 rounds I had with me. Each mag had ten cartridges placed into it. Fired the first 8 cartridges. The ninth one did chamber successfully. It was manually extracted

and then the tenth round in the mag was examined. Performed this same test with all five of the mags. With two of them, there were appreciable rub marks on the last unfired rounds that

were in the top of the magazine. On the other 3, the rub marks were still present, but were very slight when compared to the other two.

Some have suggested new mag springs are in order. Before trying this, could someone explain how this would be a solution? Am not saying that this is the wrong approach. Just would like to

know what the new springs will do that the current ones aren't. Also, is it possible that new springs just won't help as all of my current magazine tubes, springs, followers, etc. are just worn

out? Maybe I'd be better off just scrapping everything and starting with all new mags? This would be a bit costly, but it could be the only solution that works. Would really hate to invest in

new springs only to later discover that this erratic feeding issue still exists. Any comments? Thank you all again!

Because in your initial post, you mentioned you are having FEEDING issues. That can be caused by weak magazine springs, and those are cheap to replace at around $2.50 each.
Diagnosing an issue from a distance isn't always easy. I can't really see how the bolt could be scraping the cartridge case body when the rim stands taller than the cartridge case diameter.
Can you post any pictures of the cartridge case bodies that are being scraped?

 

I doubt very much that It's your magazine springs. It sounds to me like the feed lips may be worn or spread out a little too wide allowing the cartridges to come up too high and or at the wrong angle. As the top round is stripped off by the bolt it is coming into contact with the round bellow it in the magazine. I have seen this issue with centerfire magazines in guns which see heavy use in competition.

Try tweaking the feed lips on one of the magazines by bending them inward just a hair with a pair of needle nosed pliers. and see if this doesn't help. If it fixes the problem adjust the other magazines likewise.

 

This is sort of a "long-shot", but do your magazines happen to look like those on the left in this picture?

 

Just finished a session with one of my Rugers--the rear portion of the magazine lips is what holds the cartridge level to enter the chamber. If you look at the top of the magazines rear lips you will or should see the front is narrower than the back, there holding the round level! The front lips are just a guide!!!

 

I followed "shotgunanglur's" suggestion of tweaking both of the magazine's front feed lips inward a little. Before doing so, I used some gage blocks to accurately

measure the front lip gap on magazine #5. This particular mag had been giving me some of the previously described, erratic feeding issues. A 0.235" block easily

passed between them. A .22LR cartridge has a maximum outside diameter of 0.224". This means that there was over 0.011" clearance present. Does the Ruger

design require this much of it? Using a magazine lip adjusting tool that I bought for use on my High Standard magazines, I did bend each lip a little at a time,

alternating from one side to the other. Eventually, the gap was reduced to a point where a 0.225" gage block would not drop freely into the gap. A live round

would not fall freely between the lips when resting on top of them. When loading the mag, very LIGHT pressure did get the rounds into it. The rear feed lips were

left untouched. Exclusively used magazine #5 at the range and fired 90 rounds of CCI SV through it. Only 5 cartridges were loaded/fired at a time. Function

was 100% positive. Have ordered new magazine springs from my dealer. Will the other 4 magazines that I have work reliably with just doing a spring change

only? Time will tell. If the problem still persists, looks like all of them will also require front feed lip adjustment. Will keep you all posted on the results. Have a

request. Do any of you have a brand-new, never used MK II magazine in your possession? If so, could you measure the gap between the front lips and post your

measurement here? Would like to know what Ruger's factory dimension is on this feature. Thanks!