Simple BX-25 Feed Issue Fix

111304 Views 93 Replies 54 Participants Last post by C.C., 21 d ago

buck22

Discussion Starter · Aug 29, 2012

Hey guys, I just thought I'd try to get this simple and easy fix for the BX-25 magazines out there.

Please note that this only applies to the magazines that suffer the issue - I believe Ruger actually did improve the design after a while since only SOME of the magazines have the issue. If you have no issue...there's no reason to do this.

I've been reading around and it appears I'm not the only one with this issue. The issue is as follows:

Magazine will occasionally cause jams due to the bullets being at too little of an upward angle. This issue is more noticeable when the magazine is filled to capacity.

If you're like me...you want to know "why?" and I think I've figured it out.

While loading and unloading my magazine trying to see if the seemingly BS "oil in the magazine fix" would fix it - I realized what was actually happening. As more and more rounds are loaded, there is more and more lateral pressure being exerted on the follower. One of two things or both is happening...either the rounds are allowed to slip into the space between the follower and the side of the magazine and/or the follower is binding against the inside of the magazine which results in lack of tension. The reason this is happening is because there is an excessive amount of slop in the spindle/spool pieces. The little 'axle' on the follower is about 50% smaller than the inside diameter of the spool the spring is attached to.

Ironically enough, the fix involves using a spent .22 casing. Simply disassemble your BX-25 magazine, trim down your SPENT .22LR casing, slip it into the space pictured below, reassemble, then you're done! Life will be even easier if you have a .22 SHORT used casing laying around, but a .22LR will work, you'll just need to trim it down to make it fit.

It's not rocket science. Just make sure you trim it short enough to allow it to sit flush against the spool. It is IMPORTANT that it is flush against the spring spool, otherwise it will bind when the magazine is reassembled.

I used a set of toenail clippers to trim mine. Also, I'll add that it does help to put a little oil on the casing and in/around the spool to facilitate better function.

Hope this helps somebody out there.

-Buck

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Worn

· #61 · Feb 27, 2015

DrGunner said:
I would recommend you skip the graphite. It doesn't play well with aluminum-

That is good to know. Thanks.

Have you checked the feed lips for burs 1/3 of the way from the rear of the feed lips?

I could feel none when I had the mags apart for installing the bushings and polishing. Wouldn't hurt to look again, or to polish them at the point you indicated anyway.

There are two points there that bear on the upper surface of the cartridge casing and I've deburred many that had casting flash back there.

The polymer casing? I pretty much ignored anything that did not bear against the follower itself. I thought the rounds bore only against the stainless upper.

A small fine rat tail or chain saw file works best- go slow, draw gently and retest often, you're only deburring, *NOT* reshaping geometry.
Also, polishing the surfaces of the feed lips that the bolt glides on using a ragwheel and polishing compound doesn't hurt-

DrGunner

I did polish the curved end of the feed ramp on each. Ran a piece of cotton clothesline coated with metal polish over it until it shines like a mirror.

I guess it's time to open them all again and look for burrs. Sure wish these things were transparent.

DrGunner

· #62 · Feb 27, 2015

The area that needs to be deburred is inside the feed lips, about 1/4"-3/8" forward from the rear. The feed lips must be removed from the mag to debur that area-
I'm it work, so can't post images to help. It's also helps to lengthen the other end of the feed channel where the bullet nose passes, which helps keep hollow point and longer/bulk ammo from hanging up-

Worn said:
That is good to know. Thanks.

I could feel none when I had the mags apart for installing the bushings and polishing. Wouldn't hurt to look again, or to polish them at the point you indicated anyway.

The polymer casing? I pretty much ignored anything that did not bear against the follower itself. I thought the rounds bore only against the stainless upper.

I did polish the curved end of the feed ramp on each. Ran a piece of cotton clothesline coated with metal polish over it until it shines like a mirror.

I guess it's time to open them all again and look for burrs. Sure wish these things were transparent.

xymotic

· #63 · May 23, 2015

My 10/22 shoots like crap. I bought it after sandy hook and since ammo was nowhere to be found I've replaced lots of stuff, so not I can;t just send it to ruger because they will blame the bolt or whatever.

It 'sort of' shoots CCI OK, but man that's it. anything else is just a mess. But the more I mess with it, the more I'm convinced it's the BX 25's.

I have 3 and I'm a little loathe to think they all suck, but they sort of all do! Do you folks "normally" have to modify your mags to make them work?

I did the bullet trick, and that makes them 'better' but they still jam on me on the first five bullets or so almost every time.

I've had the gun take the top bullet, and the mag not advance the next.

I've had the bolt smash the bullet forward into the feed lip. And I get a LOT of the bullet in the chamber and the bolt not fully closing or smashing the hell out of the shell because of bad feed angle.

Looking at them, I don't see any burrs or anything, but do you guys file down the forward ramp?

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Dr Heckel

· #64 · May 23, 2015

xymotic said:
My 10/22 shoots like crap. I bought it after sandy hook and since ammo was nowhere to be found I've replaced lots of stuff, so not I can;t just send it to ruger because they will blame the bolt or whatever.

It 'sort of' shoots CCI OK, but man that's it. anything else is just a mess. But the more I mess with it, the more I'm convinced it's the BX 25's.

I have 3 and I'm a little loathe to think they all suck, but they sort of all do! Do you folks "normally" have to modify your mags to make them work?

I did the bullet trick, and that makes them 'better' but they still jam on me on the first five bullets or so almost every time.

I've had the gun take the top bullet, and the mag not advance the next.

I've had the bolt smash the bullet forward into the feed lip. And I get a LOT of the bullet in the chamber and the bolt not fully closing or smashing the hell out of the shell because of bad feed angle.

Looking at them, I don't see any burrs or anything, but do you guys file down the forward ramp?

How does your rifle function with the factory 10 rounders? If they don't give you any issues than it would seem the BX-25s are the problem.

I have experienced issues like you describe but they're few and far between...with most ammo that is. CCI, Eley don't give me any issues. Lapua ammo like Midas+ and X-Act jam up almost every time with the follower getting stuck. I'm not sure if it's the shape of the bullet, the lube or something else? I haven't attempted any fixes, I just don't use the brands of ammo that give me issues in anything but the factory 10 rounders.

JoeBobber

· #65 · May 23, 2015

I did the replace the put a fired 22 short over top of the bushing and dont have feed issues anymore

xymotic

· #66 · May 23, 2015

Dr Heckel said:
How does your rifle function with the factory 10 rounders? If they don't give you any issues than it would seem the BX-25s are the problem.

I have experienced issues like you describe but they're few and far between...with most ammo that is. CCI, Eley don't give me any issues. Lapua ammo like Midas+ and X-Act jam up almost every time with the follower getting stuck. I'm not sure if it's the shape of the bullet, the lube or something else? I haven't attempted any fixes, I just don't use the brands of ammo that give me issues in anything but the factory 10 rounders.

I don't think the factory 10 has ever jammed on me. And I tried the shelltrick and it seems to help but not eliminate the problem(s) it definitely makes the not advancing the next bullet at all problem go away though.

Has anyone had any luck sending mags back to ruger?

argonator

· #67 · Jun 28, 2016

xymotic said:
I don't think the factory 10 has ever jammed on me. And I tried the shelltrick and it seems to help but not eliminate the problem(s) it definitely makes the not advancing the next bullet at all problem go away though.

Has anyone had any luck sending mags back to ruger?

I have two bx-25 magazines from 2012 with less than 500 rounds cycled through each. I just don't get much shooting lately. The stock 10 round works with mine. I just did the shell mod like page 1 did. I figured it's not a permanent thing, so it is worth a try. Seems to me to make mechanical sense what is being attempted.

I emailed Ruger today to see if they will honor a customer service issue.
I will let you know what the response is.

I swear that I have paid attention to cleaning and one drop of 3-in-1 oil on the spring.

I did not polish the metal lips yet, I want to see if the shell just does the trick. Then I wil pretty it up with polishing.

Cheer

argonator

· #68 · Jun 29, 2016 (Edited)

argonator said:
I have two bx-25 magazines from 2012 with less than 500 rounds cycled through each. I just don't get much shooting lately. The stock 10 round works with mine. I just did the shell mod like page 1 did. I figured it's not a permanent thing, so it is worth a try. Seems to me to make mechanical sense what is being attempted.

I emailed Ruger today to see if they will honor a customer service issue.
I will let you know what the response is.

I swear that I have paid attention to cleaning and one drop of 3-in-1 oil on the spring.

I did not polish the metal lips yet, I want to see if the shell just does the trick. Then I wil pretty it up with polishing.

Cheers

I did get a response back from Ruger within 3 business days. They are going to send me 2 range tested bx-25 magazine. If it doesn't work, they want me to send in the rifle. They told me to keep the misbehaving ones. So this might be a plus if I can get the originals to work.

They did ask for the serial number of my gun which leads me to believe that they are checking their lot numbers of rifle QA against the magazine failures. That is what I would do if I was on the other other end. I bet they know which rifles had problems.
However my rifle, with a few mods does work with the stock 10 round and the Butler Creek 25 round magazine,

Well, time to go out and test the temp fix on the "bad" magazines with the shell mod this weekend while waiting for the replacements.
Plinking video requests anyone?

Now that is world class, no b.s. support by an empowered employee. It would cost more in time and energy to argue over a $50 set of magazines.
My faith in the American way of doing business and having to email a company that can understand English is saved. I loathe dealing with overseas and Ebay hucksters. It''s what I would have done if it was my service ticket plopped on my desk.

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bbqncigars

· #69 · Jul 3, 2016

I'll have to try the casing mod on my early BX-25s. My '80 receiver would run just about any mag besides those, even before I put the Kidd 1.5# trigger assembly in. Kinda frustrating when virtually everything other than factory 25rd mags work. A call to Ruger may be in my future.

argonator

· #70 · Jul 6, 2016

Another thing to check with the first run BX-25 magazines is the spring losing it's tension. If the spring does not coil up tight against the red plastic follower plate when unloaded you will need to do this tweak.

Put the spring into the top metal clip holder, insert the bushing modded red plastic follower into the half of the magazine tray.

If the print does not pull itself against the top metal piece and have a few pounds of tension to move it, then the sucker is loose. The follower shouldn't rattle inside when the magazine is empty.

What I did was pull the spring out of the assembly, pull about 3-4 inches of the spring out straight, then gave it a twist about 360-480 degree rotation while holding the spool stationary. The twist goes in the direction along the way it is supposed to wind on the spool.

Twist the extended spring strip and hold it for about 5 seconds, then slowly let the tension off. Then let the spool suck the rest of it back in slowly.

When you remount the spring and follower red plastic plate, it should stay tight up against the feed lips metal part.

I did this to both misbehaving magazines and proceeded to load, then cycle the bolt on my 10/22 for 300 rounds to unload with no feed problems.

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Ten22User

· #71 · Sep 22, 2016

Thanks to OP! Fixed my 4 BX 25 round mags. So far shot 100 rounds on each mag and absolutely no jamming issue! :bthumb:

Gabby-Bill

· #72 · Sep 22, 2016

'ol shooter said:
A tip for not losing your nuts when you disassemble, a drop of superglue will keep 'em in for good.

LOL

Gabby-Bill

· #73 · Sep 22, 2016

buck22 said:
Hey guys, I just thought I'd try to get this simple and easy fix for the BX-25 magazines out there.

Please note that this only applies to the magazines that suffer the issue - I believe Ruger actually did improve the design after a while since only SOME of the magazines have the issue. If you have no issue...there's no reason to do this.

I've been reading around and it appears I'm not the only one with this issue. The issue is as follows:

Magazine will occasionally cause jams due to the bullets being at too little of an upward angle. This issue is more noticeable when the magazine is filled to capacity.

If you're like me...you want to know "why?" and I think I've figured it out.

While loading and unloading my magazine trying to see if the seemingly BS "oil in the magazine fix" would fix it - I realized what was actually happening. As more and more rounds are loaded, there is more and more lateral pressure being exerted on the follower. One of two things or both is happening...either the rounds are allowed to slip into the space between the follower and the side of the magazine and/or the follower is binding against the inside of the magazine which results in lack of tension. The reason this is happening is because there is an excessive amount of slop in the spindle/spool pieces. The little 'axle' on the follower is about 50% smaller than the inside diameter of the spool the spring is attached to.

Ironically enough, the fix involves using a spent .22 casing. Simply disassemble your BX-25 magazine, trim down your SPENT .22LR casing, slip it into the space pictured below, reassemble, then you're done! Life will be even easier if you have a .22 SHORT used casing laying around, but a .22LR will work, you'll just need to trim it down to make it fit.

It's not rocket science. Just make sure you trim it short enough to allow it to sit flush against the spool. It is IMPORTANT that it is flush against the spring spool, otherwise it will bind when the magazine is reassembled.

I used a set of toenail clippers to trim mine. Also, I'll add that it does help to put a little oil on the casing and in/around the spool to facilitate better function.

Hope this helps somebody out there.

-Buck

Took me maybe 20 minutes, I was expecting a compressed spring to come flying out so I was extra careful pulling the halves apart, then it took a while for it to dawn on me that it was a coil spring Doh!, getting slow in my old age!
Anyway I used a file from my kit that has a safety flat side that doesn't cut and poked the 22 case in from the back side so it would rub against the plastic not the edge of the spring, and scored it all the way around then took it out and finished cutting thru with a 3 corner file and finished it off against a fine whet stone.
A 3 corner with a safety edge would have been faster. It works a charm, I'll have to try it in the gun next time I'm target practicing. Thanks for the tip.
Gabby

Gabby-Bill

· #74 · Aug 1, 2017

'ol shooter said:
A tip for not losing your nuts when you disassemble, a drop of superglue will keep 'em in for good.

Ouch!
G

TomMC

· #75 · Aug 13, 2017

This worked on mine. Stingers had no issues, but velocitors would get stuck in the mag where the metal portion starts. I dont have any 22 shorts laying around, so I used a drinking straw. Measure the first piece of straw, cut to lenght, then put it in the uncut portion of the straw, cut to length again. Absolute perfect fit, and the spring holder still can rotate freely on the follower's mount.

Kudos to you all for discovering the additional clearance between the two pieces was causing reliability issues with this mag.

Gabby-Bill

· #76 · Aug 14, 2017

TomMC said:
This worked on mine. Stingers had no issues, but velocitors would get stuck in the mag where the metal portion starts. I dont have any 22 shorts laying around, so I used a drinking straw. Measure the first piece of straw, cut to lenght, then put it in the uncut portion of the straw, cut to length again. Absolute perfect fit, and the spring holder still can rotate freely on the follower's mount.

Kudos to you all for discovering the additional clearance between the two pieces was causing reliability issues with this mag.

I'll bet that would work sticking the drinking straw inside the casing as well, that would shim it so it couldn't wobble around like it does with just the shell casing.
It's great how people have different ways of solving the same problem.
I was thinking it needed something to fill in the gap and here someone comes up with it. Pretty darn cool! Good going Tom! :bthumb:

Gabby

KY_Rob

· #77 · Sep 16, 2017

I have 4 BX-25's I've purchased within the last 2 months...and three of them are jam-o-matics. 1 of them has been fine. The rifle fires the BX-1's without issue.

Just bushed the 3 problem children using trimmed spent casings. Can't for the life of me understand why this would work, but I'm gonna give it a try. Thanks OP, for the idea. Hope it works!

ae.sani

· #78 · May 19, 2019

Thank you for the great idea and great fix! I performed this mod, only I used the spent brass from a Winchester 22-short; no cutting or d-burring necessary, perfect fit!

Reactions: 1

MarkS20

· #79 · Sep 15, 2019

I did this mod to a BX-15 and 2 25's. Only shot he 25's. One of the 25's occasionally has a problem picking up the first round or two. The bolt does not fully close. I am running a JWH bolt and charging handle.

Mark

Stevie-Ray

· #80 · Sep 19, 2019

Gonna have to try this. Shot my JBM bullpup on Monday at the Steel Challenge, and it started doing this for the first time, ever. Had to finish with Ruger Mark IV. Got some shorts on hand and will shoot off 3 of em for sacrifice.:gun4:

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