.223 Ruger American- last round won't feed

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rhinoh

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Today I finally located a .223 American to pair up with my .308 American.
Decided to run some dummy round/snap caps through it.
Uh Oh:(
Last round in the magazine will not feed, as it tilts up headed for the chamber the back end drops down out of reach of the portion of the bolt that pushes it forward.
All rounds except the last feed perfectly, the last in the mag, no go.

Looking in the mag there is a metal "flap" that rotates and feeds the rounds up as they are consumed. However the last round in the mag gets beside the flap instead of staying above it. This causes the round to be too low. I can easily duplicate it pushing rounds forward with my thumbnail and with the mag not even in the gun.
Anyone else seen this?

Another puzzle- went online and Ruger shows only ONE part number (90392) for the short action mags, they show it fits .243 Win, .308 Win, 7mm .08 Rem, .223 Rem, 22-250. This isn't correct as this mag is very different than the pair of .308 mags I already have:confused:
 
I have a similar problem with an American Compact in 223.
In my case FTF is a random event. Could be any one of the rounds in the mag.
The metal 'flap' you see is the magazine follower. It looks to have a tendency of allowing the cartridge to slip off the follower and the rim dives into the mag. When this happens the bolt tends to push the round toward the chamber sideways. Is that correct?
 
Nope not sideways...as the rear of the round lowers into the mag the bolt rides over it.
This only happens on the last round...did a lot of cycling and dry firing.
Pretty obvious the mag is either defective or poorly designed.

I will give Ruger a call today about this and I'm really curious to see what they have to say about their website showing the same mag for ALL short action calibers they make. No way that will work.

So has no one bought an extra mag for theirs? Did it look like the one that comes with the rifle?
 
Called Ruger- got through to a rep in minutes. They are sending me a new mag. Really no questions asked so I think they've seen this already.....
I asked about the one part number for different short action mags- he acknowledged they have had an issue with that, even sending replacement mags for .223 that were wrong:eek:
Will be interesting to see the difference between the one that doesn't feed the last round and a proper one.
 
I called Ruger too. Spoke to a rep after waiting about 20 minutes. This was after the calls would drop after being sent to an answering machine several times.
Ruger has my rifle at the moment. Said they had no complaints about the magazine. I doubt that.
The other issue mine has is that the chamber is too short/ tight for some ammo. I. Have had to force the bolt closed and open on some rounds. On extraction you can see the land marks from the rifling on the bullet.
 
I purchased the first American in .223 that arrived at my LGS several weeks ago. From the get go I've had problems with rounds not easily feeding from the magazine and not chambering. Another customer purchased one, he had similar issues and ended up trading it back within 2 weeks. I would suggest to anyone thinking about buying one to wait until Ruger fixes the problem before the guns leave the factory.
 
Just came back from the Range after shooting my new American .223.
Same problem with the last shot. Exactly duplicates what you guys have been saying.
Other than that, the rifle is a dream to shoot, cycles perfectly except for the last round.

Guess I'll have to give Ruger a call on Monday morning.

Eric
 
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Has Ruger gone brain dead?

Got the warranty replacement mag from Ruger today-
Identical to the one that came with the gun.
It won't feed the last round whether in the gun or pushing rounds out by hand...same problem- back of round dives below the lips putting it out of reach of the tab on the bolt that pushes it into chamber:(

Added in edit- went to shopruger.com and they STILL show the same part number for all American short action mags. That is incorrect. Told them that 11 days ago and the guy I talked to on the phone acknowledged it. I would have thought in 11 days they would have corrected that....
 
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This isn't what I was wanting to hear about the .223 American. I was really looking forward to getting a bolt .223 with a fast twist rate from the factory. Guess I will do like I normally do and just hang back and wait for them to get it right.
 
I just picked up my rifle from the LGS Ruger insisted shipping on shipping to and from. Whatever.....
The paper work says "mag sent w/ rifle to production"

"2 new range tested mags"

"Repair, Safety function check and test firing has been completed.
Released for shipping"

After 3 weeks it sounds like they checked the safety and threw 2 mags my way and called it good.
The mags are identical. The rounds are easy to slip from the follower during loading. I doubt they have made any improvement whatever. Now, I've only cycled 5 rounds of 55 gr. through each and had no issue... Yet.
What irks me is that they didn't check the chamber/ throat. I asked to have this addressed. The bolt is tight on close and every single round is showing significant land marks on the bullet. There is very noticeable resistance on closing the bolt. My Savage Axis does not do this. Maybe I'm wrong here? Maybe it's in spec? I'm not sure whether to send it back again or just move on at this point. I'm not paying to have it throated and thinking not to waste any more ammo on the thing.
 
Wow, kind of dissappointed in Ruger. I was looking forward to hearing good things about the 223 American. I'll hold off on getting one for now.
 
My rifle is on it's way back to Ruger for the second time. The people I have spoke with (3) are very polite and I am sure the matter will be corrected eventually.
The 1st time I sent it by way of the LGS I offered have a Davidson replacement sent to them and trade it at wholesale to them for something else at retail price. No dice. I didn't even bother this time.
This thing has been in transit or at Ruger longer than it has been in my physical possession. That said, if they can work out these bugs, it's a great package. I like concept and it was nice having it back for a while.
 
I finally got a chance to shoot mine.
3/4" groups at 100 yards. Impressive. Much like my .308 American.

Now get this- both mags functioned properly!
I'm thinking after sitting loaded for a few weeks the plastic lips relaxed a little letting the last round feed.:scrutiny:
 
I have the American in 308 compact and had the same issues.
Ruger was great about sending me replacement mags 2 more times.
They did not work either.
Frustration set in and I asked them to range check the next mag before they sent it to me.
Got the range checked mag and it works great.
Ruger has a mag issue with the American and they know it.
I am sure for business reasons they will not check all the mags they have in stock but they will check your replacement if you request it.
The rifle is perfect for a hiking hunting gun and shoots 1 moa if I do my part.
Customer service is great, I think they just have a bad batch go mags and are trying to work through them.
I actually like the gun so much that I am considering getting one in 223.
Question in a 223 caliber would I be losing much in fps mv if I went with the 18 inch compact or should I go with the 22 inch barrel?
 
I know this is an old thread but here's how I fixed my .223 RAR magazine. Turns out the magazine lips were too tight near the front so the base of the last round would drop below the bolt and not feed.

So I removed a few thousandths of material with an xacto knife and sand paper from the inside of the magazine lips near the front. See the red areas below:
MU000_1949_zps02c32d50.jpg

Taking off a little at a time I finally got to where the last shell would feed out properly:
000_1950_zps86798af9.jpg

Want to mention, Ruger also sent me a free field tested magazine to replace my defective one. The next best thing to a defect-free product is good customer service.
 
I thought about removing a little material there, too. But I was worried that the cartridge wouldn't be "aimed" into the chamber quite right. Glad it worked!
 
.223 magazine

hi, new to the forum. My 1week old american won't feed the last round and or drops the entire magazine out by itself. I contacted tiger by email and I'm waiting to see what they will do. Sounds like the magazines are a big problem. I did dry feed it countless times also and saw the rear of the cartridge drops into the magazine well on feeding.
 
"I am sure for business reasons they will not check all the mags they have in stock..." If this is true they are making a big mistake, if this is true I've bought my last Ruger.
 
When I compared the newer, tested, functional magazine I got from Ruger and compared it to my original which didn't work, the difference in the shape of the follower is obvious. They must've done a redesign and hopefully did a rework on their existing magazines in stock.

But they will probably not recall old magazines because I guess a lot of them work. Purely speculation on my part.
 
I do not think I ever saw to many 223 bolt guns feed most different weight bullets being they are 308 actions which are to long for the 223 and have a spacer block some by the chamber to make up the difference. I think the mini mauser might be one of the very few actions scaled down for the diminutive 223
 
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