At a Glance: Best Ruger 10/22 Magazine
- OUR TOP PICK: Ruger 10/22 BX-25 Magazine 25-Round 2-Pack
- RUNNER UP: Ruger- Ruger 10/22 Magazine 22 LR
- BEST BUDGET OPTION: Ruger- Ruger 10/22 15RD Magazine 22 LR
Comparison of The Best Ruger 10/22 Magazine
| PRODUCT | DETAILS | ||
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Our Top Pick
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Ruger 10/22 BX-25 Magazine 25-Round 2-Pack |
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Our Top Pick
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Ruger- Ruger 10/22 Magazine 22 LR |
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View Latest Price |
Our Top Pick
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Ruger- Ruger 10/22 15RD Magazine 22 LR |
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View Latest Price |
There are two things that you can never have enough of for your rifle, ammunition, and magazines. A good quality magazine will allow for faster reloads and will reliably feed the next round into the chamber. When purchasing magazines for your Ruger 10/22, it is essential to consider the number of rounds it holds, ergonomics, and reliability.
Our Guide To The 7 Best Ruger 10/22 Magazines
Here you will find our list of the best Ruger 10/22 magazines on the market. We will take a look at everything from magazine capacity to the material the magazine is made from during our review. All of these factors will influence your shooting experience and help you choose the magazine(s) that are right for you.
Ruger 10/22 BX-25 Magazine 25-Round 2-Pack
First up on our list is the Ruger 10/22 BX-25 magazine. This magazine holds a total of 25 rounds and can be purchased individually or in a pack of 2. These magazines are manufactured by Ruger and are compatible with their 10/22 rifle line as well as several other variants like their Charger Pistol and SR-22 Rifle. The BX-25 is manufactured from plastic, which offers several benefits.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 25-Round
- Quantity: 2
- Finish: Black
- Material: Polymer
The versatility of this magazine is a huge bonus. If you are a fan of Ruger’s 22 LR line and plan on purchasing one of their other variants in the future, this magazine can be used in those weapon platforms as well. One such weapon is the Ruger Charger, a great target shooting pistol.
These magazines provided consistent resistance during loading and did not have a significantly harder resistance during the last few rounds. The plastic construction ensures that these magazines are lightweight and eliminates denting concerns, which is excellent if you are rough on your gear like I am. Metal magazines can suffer dents and dings during frequent use, contributing to failures to feed if the dent interferes with the spring’s movement.
The only downsides to these magazines are that they will have a few failures to feed when they are fresh out of the box and have some seating concerns with aftermarket stocks. This is normal and should stop after they are loaded a handful of times. This likely occurs when new because the spring is somewhat rigid and is a common occurrence in many magazines. If you want to help curb this issue before your first range trip, fully load and unload each magazine 3-5 times before your first range trip to break in the spring.
Pros
- Plastic construction
- 25 rd capacity
- Compatible with other Ruger Products
- Available in single or two-pack
- Consistent resistance during loading
Cons
- Some failures to feed when new
- Some seating issues with modified Ruger 10/22 stocks
Ruger- Ruger 10/22 Magazine 22 LR
Next up is the Ruger 10/22 5 round rotary magazine. This is the standard magazine sold with most Ruger 10/22 rifles and is made of polymer. It is available in both black and clear if you want a slightly different appearance to your magazine.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 5-Round OR 10-round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Black
- Material: Polymer
The simple and timeless design of this magazine and its’ quality build materials ensure that it will last a lifetime. This is one of the most reliable magazines available for your Ruger 10/22 rifle. In fact, I have never experienced a failure to feed with this magazine despite putting hundreds of rounds through them.
You may be wondering why anyone would purchase this magazine since it only holds five rounds when so many other options are available. Well, there may be several reasons why you would need this magazine. It’s always great to have a few different magazine sizes available for your rifle, just in case.
Suppose you are utilizing your Ruger 10/22 in an area or during an activity requiring a limited number of rounds. In that case, this magazine will adhere to those restrictions. This magazine is also beneficial for distance shooting. The Ruger 5 round magazine is almost flush with the bottom of your rifle, allowing you to comfortably shoot from a prone position or rest it on a support if you are kneeling.
Pros
- Reliable feeding
- Polymer construction
- Lightweight
- Good for prone shooting
- Meets common round limit guidelines
Cons
- Only holds five rounds
Ruger- Ruger 10/22 15RD Magazine 22 LR
Our third entry is the Ruger 10/22 15 round magazine. Like the BX-25, the body of this magazine is manufactured from plastic. This magazine also offers cross-platform compatibility and will work with many other Ruger firearms chambered in .22 LR.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 15-Round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Black
- Material: Polymer
As you would expect, this magazine is shorter than the 25 round magazine. Which makes it a great option if you enjoy bench shooting with your Ruger 10/22 but want more than five rounds between reloads. If you are using a bipod or standard rifle block when bench shooting with your Ruger 10/22, this magazine will fit perfectly. It serves as an excellent middle ground between magazine sizes. It is easy to store on your person when out at the range.
This magazine demonstrated more reliability than the 25 round magazine. It did not have any failures to feed, even without breaking it in by repeated loading and unloading. While any magazine could potentially produce a failure to feed, I haven’t seen it yet with these magazines. It provides consistent resistance during loading and is seated easily in both a stock Ruger 10/22 and a modified Ruger 10/22 with the Magpul X-22 Backpacker stock.
There is very little downside to this magazine other than the fact that it is not currently offered in a clear version. But that’s just nitpicking. If you are in the market for some reliable magazines for your Ruger 10/22, these are worth a look and will serve you reliably for many trips to the range.
Pros
- Reliable
- Not prone to denting
- No break-in period
- Rarely experience a failure to feed
- Compatible with standard and aftermarket stocks
Cons
- No clear color option
Black Dog Machine Ruger 10/22 50RD Magazine 22 LR
Our fourth pick will appeal to those of you that adhere to the concept of accuracy by volume and like to get a little trigger happy at the range. The Black Dog Machine Ruger 10/22 50 round magazine is made of polymer and compatible with various Ruger .22 LR platforms. The drum magazine is “smoke-tinted” translucent, allowing you to visually check your ammunition supply.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 50-Round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Smoke Gray
- Material: Polymer
The Black Dog drum magazine is exceptional due to its large capacity. Allowing you to continually put rounds down range without resetting your body positioning or having to reload. It also has steel screws in the drum center to allow you to easily disassemble the magazine for cleaning and maintenance. This drum magazine also seats reliably into the magazine well, allowing for consistent reloading.
This magazine, like many drum magazines, is sometimes prone to failure to feed malfunctions. A failure to feed will occur more frequently in drum magazines than with traditional magazines. This failure to feed will likely occur several times per load until the spring is broken in. Afterward, you should be able to limit or avoid failure to feed malfunctions as long as you keep the magazine clean and free from debris.
Drum magazines also present several challenges when bench shooting or shooting from a prone position due to their bulkiness. It is also difficult to store drum magazines in a readily accessible position on your body. This magazine is best suited for range trips when planning on firing large volumes of ammunition without reloading.
Pros
- High capacity
- Polymer construction
- Translucent material
Cons
- Prone to failure to feed
- Bulky
- Hinders prone/bench shooting
Pro Mag- Ruger 10/22 Charger Magazines
Sticking with drum style magazines, we will look at the Pro Mag Ruger 10/22 Charger magazines. This Pro Mag magazine is manufactured from impact-resistant polymer and is available in three capacity sizes. This drum magazine is available in 30, 55, and 70 round sizes, but is currently only in stock in the 30 round capacity.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 30-Round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Smoke
- Material: Polymer
This magazine is compatible with both Ruger 10/22 rifles and the Ruger Charger pistol. The high-quality polymer design provides added durability and makes this magazine line resistant to both oxidation and denting. The 70 round version of this magazine is the highest capacity Ruger 10/22 magazine on the market.
While I am not a fan of drum magazines for my typical usage, these Pro Mag Ruger 10/22 drum magazines performed well and are tough to hate. Every drum magazine I have used were prone to more frequent malfunctions than a traditional magazine. Pro Mag’s high-quality design does well to limit these malfunctions.
Take the time to break this magazine in with around five loading and unloading sessions. You should be able to limit f ailure to feed malfunctions to once or less per drum.
As with all drum magazines, you are sacrificing maneuverability for magazine capacity. The 30 round version of the Pro-Mag drum magazine does not offer enough capacity increase compared to the 25 round traditional Ruger magazine.
However, if you are set on a drum magazine, the 70 round variety of this Pro Mag drum magazine functions reliably and will provide you with a capacity nearly triple that of the largest standard magazine available.
Pros
- Three capacity choices
- Polymer is durable
- Less failure to feeds than most drum magazines
- Short break-in period
Cons
- Bulky
- Hard to store
- Tedious to load
Black Dog Machine LLC- Ruger 10/22 25RD Magazine 22 LR
Our sixth pick is the Black Dog Machine Ruger 10/22 25 round magazine. This magazine is made from polymer and features Black Dog’s popular “smoke” translucent finish. The polymer shell of this magazine is extremely durable and not prone to cracking or breaking.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 25-Round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Smoke Gray
- Material: Polymer
This traditionally shaped 25 round magazine can easily be stored on your person and seats quickly into standard Ruger 10/22 rifles. It may not seat properly in aftermarket Ruger 10/22 stocks but firmly fits into both standard Ruger 10/22 rifles and the Ruger 10/22 Charger pistol. As with the Black Dog Machine drum magazine, the translucent material allows you to visually check your ammunition.
The primary drawback of this magazine is the quality of the feed lips. The red feed lips are made of plastic and will wear over time. Once the feed lips begin to wear, they must be replaced to prevent malfunctions. If they are not replaced, the magazine is prone to double feeds (two rounds entering the chamber at once) and may not seat properly.
These magazines also require longer to break-in than some other options on our countdown. Even after five loading and unloading procedures, these magazines still experienced failure to feed malfunctions through the first 10 reloads. Once the break-in process was complete, they functioned properly.
Pros
- Polymer construction
- Translucent shell
- High round capacity
Cons
- Feed lips prone to wear
- Long break-in period
- Do not last as long as some other magazines
Butler Creek- Ruger 10/22 25 Rd Magazine 22 LR
Our seventh and final entry is the Butler Creek Ruger 10/22 25 round magazine. These magazines are made from high-quality polymer and are available with stainless steel feed lips. These magazines feature a translucent design allowing for visual ammunition checks.
FEATURES
- Cartridge: 22 Long Rifle
- Capacity: 25-Round
- Quantity: 1
- Finish: Smoke Gray
- Material: Polymer
The Butler Creek 25 round magazines feature a unique design. The magazines have alternating interlocking notches on the magazine’s sides, allowing you to conjoin two magazines for increased reloading speed. This feature eliminates the need for a magazine coupler and allows you to efficiently reload your Ruger 10/22 rifle.
This lightweight and ergonomically designed magazine can easily be stored on your person and fits snugly into the magazine well without issue. Once the break-in period was complete, this magazine performed reliably and had very few failures to feeds. If you opt for this magazine, the stainless steel feed lips are a must. The plastic feed lips feel cheap and will be prone to rapid wear, shortening the life of your magazine.
Butler Creek offers a magazine loader that can be purchased in conjunction with this magazine. However, some users report that it made the magazines prone to failure to feed malfunctions because it bent the rounds. Call me old fashioned but I like loading my magazines by hand anyway. Speaking of, these magazines were easy to load and provided consistent and manageable resistance from the first round to the last.
Pros
- Stainless steel feed lips
- Interlocking magazines
- Minimal malfunctions
- Firm seating in the mag well
- Translucent shell
Cons
- Magazine loader makes malfunctions common
- Stainless steel feed lips are not standard
What’s so Great About a Ruger 10/22?
The Ruger 10/22 is a reliable rifle that has been on the market for over fifty years. The 10/22 exemplifies the simplicity and longevity that Ruger is known for.
Due to the Ruger 10/22’s reliability and longevity, there are tons of aftermarket accessories for the rifle. This ranges from optics and replacement stocks to something as simple as a sling. Speaking of, two things every rifle needs is lots of magazines and a good quality sling.
In addition to many customization options available for the Ruger 10/22, it is a great gun due to its caliber and accessibility. The .22 LR is a manageable round that is easy to find and produces almost no recoil. The Ruger 10/22’s simple design makes it a great option to take a friend to their first range trip. It is also a great rifle to teach youth about firearms safety and the fundamentals of marksmanship.
Why you should always have more than one magazine
Magazines are an essential piece of shooting equipment. Your Ruger 10/22 is all but useless without one. With that said, it is important to have multiple magazines at your disposal. The different size magazines each have their benefits in different shooting scenarios and it is important to have at least one for every application.
If accuracy and maneuverability are at the forefront of your priorities than a five or fifteen round magazine would be best suited for the job. This is due to their small size, lightweight, and compatibility with a bipod or prone shooting position.
On the other hand, if you want to fire as many shots as possible without reloading, then a drum magazine is a great choice. The standard shaped twenty-five round magazine provides a healthy balance between the two ends of the spectrum because it is not bulky but provides a respectable capacity.
How to choose a 10/22 magazine
When choosing a Ruger 10/22 magazine, you should first determine your intended application and its most importance. Are you seeking maximum maneuverability and reliability or would you prefer to have less frequent reloads? You should also look at the quality of the magazine and the materials utilized in its construction.
External Material
Magazines are generally made from plastic/polymer or steel. While steel magazines are generally very reliable, polymer magazines have become increasingly popular. This is because polymer magazines will not dent and are generally lighter than steel magazines. This weight difference is inconsequential if you are only carrying one magazine but will come into play if you are carrying multiple spare magazines.
Internal parts
The quality of the internal parts of your magazine will have the most effect on performance. The main parts of a magazine are the spring, follower, and feed lips. The follower is the platform that the rounds rest on and the spring is what pushes the follower towards the top of the magazine as rounds are removed. The feed lips are at the top of the magazine and play a role in magazine seating and guiding the rounds forward while preventing them from coming straight up.
It is important to purchase a magazine with metal feed lips for longer service life. Plastic feed lips are more prone to seating issues (your magazine can fall out of your rifle) and will wear faster than metal feed lips. The spring is the other internal part that has significant variability between magazines. Some springs are too strong and require a break-in period while others provide consistent resistance right out of the box.
Types of Ruger 10/22 magazines
Ruger 10/22 magazines are available in one of three styles: rotary, standard, and drum. At least one of each of these styles of magazines is featured in our breakdown above. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and will be more practical for certain tasks.
Rotary magazine
The rotary box style magazine is the standard Ruger 10/22 magazine that generally comes with the rifle with a new purchase. This magazine is only available in a five-round capacity and utilizes a rotating follower as opposed to the traditional follower that pushes the next round upward. This is the most reliable magazine-style available and is best for long-distance shooting because the flush magazine will not interfere with a bipod or prone shooting position.
Standard Magazine
The standard shaped magazine is the most common type of rifle magazine. The technical name for this is the detachable box magazine and commonly called a “banana clip” due to its shape. These are available in both the fifteen and twenty-five round capacities for your Ruger 10/22.
The detachable box magazine is easy to load and easy to store on your person. They provide a good balance of firepower and maneuverability because they are not as cumbersome as the drum magazines. The rotary box magazine is extremely reliable but is small and may be difficult to handle during stressful reloading situations, such as during a target shooting competition. The detachable box magazine is ergonomic and allows for good positive contact when conducting quick reloads.
Drum Magazine
Drum magazines offer the highest capacity of all magazine types available for your Ruger 10/22. They are available in round counts as high as 70 rounds, providing substantial firepower without having to reload. These magazines’ drawbacks are that they are bulky, making it difficult to shoot in a prone position or from a bench. The width of these magazines may also affect your hand position, forcing you to adjust your grip on your rifle.
Cleared Hot
It was a close race between the Butler Creek 25 round magazine and the Ruger BX-25 round magazine.
The Butler Creek edged out the BX-25 thanks to its innovative interlocking design. The Butler Creek Ruger 10/22 magazine provided stellar reliability and is manufactured from a durable semi-translucent polymer. Just make sure you opt for the stainless steel feed lips.
The interlocking notches on the Butler Creek magazine allow you to combine two magazines and quickly reload your rifle. A pair of Butler Creek magazines will provide you with 50 rounds on hand and functions much more reliably than any drum magazine. You can even practice bench shooting using a 6″ bipod, making this the best all-around magazine to improve firepower while maximizing versatility. The 7 Best Ruger 10/22 Magazine to Boost Your Firepower
There are two things that you can never have enough of for your rifle, ammunition, and magazines. A good quality magazine will allow for faster reloads and will reliably feed the next round into the chamber. When purchasing magazines for your Ruger 10/22, it is important to consider the number of rounds it holds, ergonomics, and reliability.
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