Did the AICS mag conversion on my Ruger Predator.

[Trey Veston]

Why these rifles don't come configured as such from the factory is a mystery to me. They used to. Then Ruger went to the weird 4-round flush fit mag that owners love to hate.

I honestly didn't have any issues with mine, and four rounds is three more than I usually need for hunting.

But, the thought of being able to have ten rounds of .308 Win on tap was just too tempting. Plus, carrying extra ammo in my pack for emergencies in the form of an extra ten round magazine seemed like a cool idea.

So, I ordered the parts kit from Ruger for $29 total, shipped to my door. I bought a ten round AICS and 5 round AICS Magpul mags

Got the kit on Saturday and installed it this morning. Loaded up the mags and cycled ammo through a couple of times to ensure function.

The ten round mag has too weak of a spring, apparently. When it got down to three rounds left, the cartridge wasn't being caught by the bolt. So the round wasn't being pushed up far enough. I guess that would be caused by a weak spring??

The five round magazine functioned flawlessly and will be the main magazine used. Need to order some more of those. My LGS has a bunch of M1 .308 metal magazines in stock, but I don't know if they will work in my rifle. They were stupid expensive anyway at $52 each.

Ordered another ten round mag to see if maybe the one was just defective, but have never gotten a defective mag from Magpul out of the dozens I own.

 

[LoonWulf]

I don't believe the standard predators came with the AI magazines, though I do believe they were a distributor specific option.
I ran across a few savage branded AI magazines on eBay last year for like 20 bucks a pop, I really don't like them sticking as far out as that 10 though so I don't know if they're still available. If they are whoever made those did a good job they fit really nicely and ran just fine.

My normal go-to's are the three round Ruger factory AI mags.

 

[Trey Veston]

I don't believe the standard predators came with the AI magazines, though I do believe they were a distributor specific option.

I remember seeing them all over the place. Until I wanted to buy one about a year ago and then discovered they changed them.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/ruger-100091407

 

[LoonWulf]

I remember seeing them all over the place. Until I wanted to buy one about a year ago and then discovered they changed them.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/ruger-100091407

View attachment 998951

Huh guess I missed them when I was looking at the product lists lol.

 

[jmr40]

I've had mine for several years and at one time I think all 308's came with Rugers version of AIC mags. Mine came with the 3 round version. I bought a 10 rounder and a couple 5 round mags. All of mine feed just fine, but I just find the 10 round mag to be too much of a good thing.

I like the 5 round versions better. If you have the Magpul 5 rounders there are 1 or 2 tabs on the bottom of the follower that are designed to be broken off to make them 6 round mags if legal where you live.

 

[chicharrones]

I have none of the Magpul AICS mags. I have 5 and 10 round steel AICS and Ruger branded polymer AICS 10 round mags. None of them have feed issues.

I'm not sure if my mags have stronger springs than the Magpul versions or not.

BTW, it might be worth thinking about stretching that Magpul 10 round spring out a bit. I've stretched springs in other types of magazines that wouldn't lift the last round into position properly. Of course, those were wire springs and not the flat zig-zag spring that come in Ruger AICS mags.

 

[HVACguy]

My 6.5 came with the AI pattern mag. Although I haven’t seen another one with the same stock. I know they’re out there.

 

[Trey Veston]

Got another 10-round mag in the mail today and it fed flawlessly.

So, took the bad one apart and slightly tweaked the spring. Didn't help. Tweaked it a little more, and it was better. Another little bit and now it works perfectly.

 

[nipprdog]

I have 2 ruger 10rd mags, and 1 magpul 10rd mag. None of them will fit 10 rds, only 9.

 

[Trey Veston]

I have 2 ruger 10rd mags, and 1 magpul 10rd mag. None of them will fit 10 rds, only 9.

That is odd. Both of my Magpul mags will fit and feed 10 rounds easily.

 

[FL-NC]

I was thinking about doing the same to my 6.5 predator. But- I have 3 of the standard mags, and I only use it for hunting, so I can't justify doing it.

 

[chicharrones]

I have 2 ruger 10rd mags, and 1 magpul 10rd mag. None of them will fit 10 rds, only 9.

Weird. My 3 Ruger poly and 1 Ruger steel 10 rounders go to full capacity.

 

[rat107]

The stock Ruger rotary mags would always jam on me. Excellent cheap upgrade. Ruger said it wouldn't work with my serial number but it works fine.

 

[KansasTrapper77]

My father has a Ruger Predator in .243 LH. And sure enough the rotary magazines don’t feed well. Its like the magazine is too low or the feed ramp doesn’t go low enough. So I called ruger asking about the conversion and they said it won’t work because its a left handed model and the bolt picks up rounds out of the magazine differently??? Which I don’t entirely get but we haven’t tried the conversion yet. I sanded and polished as best I could, the feed ramp and that helped but it still basically jams the last round in the magazine into the mag well below the feed ramp.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I would do that conversion. I am looking to convert my 450 BM RAR to AR mags.