I’m in the market for some more Ruger 10/22 magazines. Having shot the Ruger 10/22 for, well, decades at this point…I’ve got some opinions on the magazines.
The factory 10-rd magazines are great. If you don’t mind being limited to ten rounds of ammo, they’re fine. They’re resilient, reliable, and pretty affordable for what they are. Having said that, I kept virtually none of them…I don’t envision a future where a 10-rd magazine is more useful to me than a 25-rd magazine.
The only two brands of magazine for the Ruger that I have had great experience with have been the sometimes-hard-to-find Eagle brand mags (which are quite good and usually quite cheap), and the ubiquitous Butler Creek mags.
When you get into the Butler Creek mags, you get two choices: Hot Lips or Steel Lips. Bother are very good magazines, no two ways about it. When the 1994 ban took place, the Hot Lips magazines I had were the last ones I could get. In 2014, ten years later, when the ban sunsetted, I retired most of the Hot Lips magazines. While they had served very well for those ten years, a few of them were starting to have the feed lips fray a bit. So…on that very informal bit of testing, I would say that with ‘average’ use a Hot Lips 10/22 mag will last you about ten years.
The Steel Lip mags, naturally, are going to last pretty much forever…the feed lips, anyway. And when you’re packing stuff away for the zombie apocalypse, where the magazine you have me be the only one you have for the rest of your life (however long that may be) it might be a good idea to spend the extra five bucks per mag and get the Steel Lips.
When the Hot lips are on sale, I can usually get them for around $8 ea, and if Fortuna smiles in my direction, I can sometimes find Steel Lips for about $12 ea. When Im off playing at the range, I play with the Hot Lips mags, saving the Steel Lips mags for the day they’re needed. (As much as one can need a .22.)
So…if you’re stocking up on mags these days, which i highly recommend, and you can spend the cash, get the Steel Lips. If you want more mags for your buck, get the Hot Lips. But….get something.
How about the Ruger factory 25rnd magazines? Factory mags are usually superior, but not always.
Sound advice. I think I get so focused on just trying to find .22 longs that I just overlook everything else that could become scarce overnight.
I’ve got a few of the small plastic frames that hold three Ruger factory rotary mags where they can easily and quickly rotated to “change” mags with a flip of the wrist.
They seem to work well and with a few minutes of practice you will be Lightning fast.
Have you tried the Ruger BX-25? I buy all I can .
i don’t trust any of the hi cap mags. i put a quick release lever on mine and with a pocketful 10 rounders i’m gtg. shot placement, 22lr isn’t for suppressive fire.
The Ruger BX-25 mags run about 25$ each. They’re great and they’re more solid than the butter creek mags. Never had an issue with them and don’t expect to. At twice the price, the butler creek may be the way to go, but still – factory ruger may be something you want to look into.
I think the 10rders have a role. They are handy since they fit flush. Got 2 or 3 of the BXP’s and should get some more. Per for advice when they were on a good sale I ordered a dozen hot lips. Will look into these steel lips.
Prior to the Ruger BX-25 availability, I found 25-round composite mags w/ metal feed lips online at Tactical Innovations Inc. (tacticalinc.com). They cost about $10 more, but are well worth it. Rock solid, adjustable, and can be disassembled for cleaning. No affiliation with the seller, just sharing info.
The 25 rounders interfere with shooting prone. I’m lazy: Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down. My 10/22 bag is stuffed with lotsa biguns and littleuns. And yes, the movie sucked.
OT, my car’s brakes went out and I’ve spent the last two days and nights living mostly out of my BOB while at work. Nuthin’ like actually using it to discover how woefully unprepared I am. If the shop doesn’t call soon, it’ll be a third night on the floor. I’m getting used to it…
CDNN sports inc has the Steel lips 25 rounders for 9.99ea.
I’ve got to pile on and say that steel lips and especially the Ruger factory mags are best choice. I “inherited” several plastic lipped magazines with my first Ruger 10/22 purchase and they are prone to breaking no matter how careful you are.
Notice that I indicated careful handling, likely not something that will be an option if SHTF.
I haven’t taken my 10/22 out of the safe since I put together a .22 AR. The 26-round Black Dog magazines are cheap and reliable — $13.50 for the steel feed lip version, $11.00 for the nylon feed lip version, and the feed lips are interchangeable. My 10/22 is probably going to be stashed someplace with a can of bulk-pack ammo and a half-dozen 10-round Ruger OEM magazines, greased andsealed in a heavy plastic bag.
I put together a .22 version of a basic M4 carbine, to use as a trainer. If I were to do it again, I would shorten the barrel to just in front of the front sight base and rethread it — about 12″ long overall — so I could use it with a suppressor while preserving roughly M4 dimensions. The low-profile training opportunities such a rig makes possible more than justifies the expense and hassle of two tax stamps. And while a suppressed .300 BO would be a better choice for an “operational” suppressed carbine, a quiet .22 could still prove very useful.