Rossi Rifleman

I own a couple Browning SA22 weapons. They are cute. They are not as reliable as the 10/22 in my experience although I have a friend or two through the net that claims the ones they own have never failed. The lock mechanism with the aft tubular magazine and the bolt having to grab the next round and ram it into the chamber without anything resembling a guide is darned near black magic.

The 10/22 is simple and it works. The factory rotary magazines are more reliable in general than most tubular magazines on most other .22 LRs and MUCH more reliable than almost anyone else's removable magazine rimfire rifles.

We all have our own experiences. Most of the time I'm a Ruger fan, just not a fan of the 10/22.

I don't recall ever having a failure with any of my tube fed 22s. (We did have a failure with my 94 shooting shorts. I blame the shooter) I also don't recall having a failure with my 10/22 mags.....except for when they're not in the range bag. They just suck to load. I guess if I didn't have such bad arthritis they might be easier.

Bingo !!
Old timers dilemma ... pain in joints making it difficult to load spring loaded removable magazines. That alone sorta makes the case for a .22 rifle where ya just drop the rounds through the slotted hole in the mag tube, and closing the magazine spring tube.

OTOH, there are some aftermarket mag loaders designed for the 10/22 rotary mag. Handy ... except for when they aren't in the range bag - lol.

I could get 60's for $100 and fix them up when 10/22's were all over $250 used. 60 variants are generally cheaper than a standard 60 whereas 10/22 variants bring even more.

If a 10/22 magazine is hard to load then every centerfire pistol magazine is doubly hard.

Aftermarket 10/22 magazines are generally trash.

The 10/22 and the semi-automatic pistols are the only Rugers I'm a fan of any more unless it's something out of production. Then again, that's the truth with all manufacturers. I'm not sure any of them make something I care to buy these days.

I agree with your assessment of aftermarket 10/22 magazines.

I also concur that the 10/22 magazine may be easier to re-stuff than conventional vertical mags. The drawback is that as ya age and your finger joints start to swell, the 10/22 mag, without a mag loader, can get a little painfully fiddly. Just wait, you'll see ...

I've never had any direct experience with Marlin model 60's, tho in general design they sure seem to form the basis for the later 10/22 action.

In my experience, the 10/22 really does improve its game with trigger upgrades.

Arroyoshark wrote:Bingo !!
Old timers dilemma ... pain in joints making it difficult to load spring loaded removable magazines.

Things are a lot worse today. I tested positive for Covid again. I had it 15 months ago

The worst thing for me about the 10/22 mags is that they tear up the thumb on the right hand.

Sorry to hear that Golfish. Take it easy as you can and get well soon.

Ruger rimfire mags tend to be a bit of a pain in the posterior.
I'm a firm believer in using a mag loader on the MKII mags.
I haven't tried the 10/22 loaders yet but I've gotten a sore thumb from the 10/22 back when I was in my early 20s and I simply haven't shot them as much as I should in the past ten years or so.

Talking about mag loaders I've got a couple of those quick loaders for tube magazines and I used to keep one of them loaded for .22 LR under barrel magazine tubes and the other I kept ready for either .22 WMR or for those oddball .22 LRs that loaded from the backside.

Have to jump in here, bought a pawn ticket for $21 from a friend in the 70's, he needed beer money, just said
it was a 22. Turned out to be a Marlin 60 in very good condition. Shoots good. Also have a 10-22, put a folding stock on it, broke that, fixed it. Also shoots good. I don't mind the magazines as long as I can get 'em out of the receiver. Installed a little extended release, that helps. Wanted to get a Ruger Charger, looks good but it's short, never shot one.

The new 10/22s come with the extended releases.
I never had much in the way of issues with the flat release. The extended ones ARE easier to manipulate but they also seem to clash with the mag a little. Reminds me of the Mini-14 mag releases, think I'll nip over to that thread with that comment.