10/22 Magazine fails to drop free

[Dream to Dream]

I'm troubleshooting a little problem with my 10/22. It seems that the action of the bolt sliding forward is causing magazines to shift a tiny amount and thereby preventing a free drop from the mag well when the magazine release is activated. A magazine inserted into the well and immediately released will drop with no issue, but the motion of the bolt locks it into place.

I've looked into the issue, and it appears to me that the cap nut of the magazine ends up slightly sticking into the corresponding hole inside the receiver, and the magazine will not drop of its own accord without "persuasion" (manual removal, jimmying the magazine, slapping the side of the receiver, or other methods). This is a rather annoying little eccentricity that I'd like to remedy.

I tried to lubricate that particular area of the receiver and saw no change.

Any suggestions?

 

[60 buckscash]

Seems odd as the bolt and the magazine should never touch on that specific gun. Is this a new gun? If it happens with all of your mags you could take a high grit sandpaper/emery cloth to the area where it drags on to "wear" it in a little where it is catching on. However, if it is one mag specificly then take down the offending ridge on the mag.

 

[Andy in NH]

I have a 10/22 that would fail to drop the mag. I sanded, filed, and lightly dremeled the magazines in order to fix the problem - nothing helped.

The rifle has a wooden stock. After filing out the sides of the magazine well slightly, that solved the problem.

I'm not sure if this is the remedy for your situation, but you might want to eliminate it as a cause.

 

[Dream to Dream]

Seems odd as the bolt and the magazine should never touch on that specific gun. Is this a new gun? If it happens with all of your mags you could take a high grit sandpaper/emery cloth to the area where it drags on to "wear" it in a little where it is catching on. However, if it is one mag specificly then take down the offending ridge on the mag.

Yes, it's fairly new. I haven't sent more than 150 rounds downrange on it yet. And unfortunately, it does this with every magazine.

I have a 10/22 that would fail to drop the mag. I sanded, filed, and lightly dremeled the magazines in order to fix the problem - nothing helped.

The rifle has a wooden stock. After filing out the sides of the magazine well slightly, that solved the problem.

I'm not sure if this is the remedy for your situation, but you might want to eliminate it as a cause.

Lightly sanding the stock around the magwell was my first attempt to fix the issue, but that doesn't seem to be the problem. If anything, I'm about 99% sure that it is the hole in the receiver that corresponds with the cap nut on the magazine.

 

[OnTheRoad]

I have a mix of old and new mags for my 10/22...the old ones drop fine, the new ones need some help to drop. Could just be your gun and mags are so new they need some break-in time.

You're in my area, if you'd like to try one of my old mags to see if it works you're more than welcome...