The 7 Best Ruger 10/22 Magazine to Boost Your Firepower

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.

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.

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. However, clear magazines are currently out of stock.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. However, they are currently out of stock.

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.