My Ruger American is a heck of a great shooting gun for how cheap it was, but the other day I took it out and it would not chamber a round. It would jam up and bend up the tip of my bullet. If I only load the magazine with three instead of four it works fine. Has anyone had this issue and is there any way to fix it other than just get a new mag? For now I’m hunting with three instead of four rounds...

Is the fourth loaded round nose up, or nose down?

Is the magazine made out of steel?

Pair of channel-locks have adjusted many a steel mag.

I have a 308 that does the same. No luck fixing it. Cheap made mags but good shooting guns. 2 different mags do the same thing.

The follower on the rotary mags drags the side on the mag and hangs up. I took my mag apart and created a little clearance to help the feed by trimming the follower. The newer rifles come with ACIS comparable mags instead; the stocks are different

call ruger, i bet they will at least send you a new mag. i have heard of this issue before

I sent them an email, I will call on Monday. I wonder if I buy a new mag from them if it will have that same issue or use the newer mag that BCJ mentioned...

The fourth round comes out nose down when it jams up. When loaded with just three rounds it seems to work.

That's the achilles heel of those Ruger Americans. They shoot greeat, but the magazines have been a real problem. I had two of them and they both had the same feeding problems.

Think I'd heavily inspect the follower, and the inside of the mag for one hanging on the other. I had a mag doing this once, and took it apart. Some file work and sandpaper and it worked fine.

There is a YouTube video with a guy filing part of the mag, but the problem he describes is slightly different from mine. I am pretty decent at redneck reengineering things but I don’t want to mess to much with it until I get a replacement. Three rounds is better than zero.

I checked out a cool magpul stock that changes it to the aics magazine mentioned above, but that upgrade is $300. I think that is what I paid for the rifle. I bought it to be a cheap hunting rifle that I wouldn’t mind getting beat up. So I just can’t justify that upgrade, plus I shoot left handed and I doubt they even make a lefty version.

Pretty frustrating. If I didn’t like the gun so much, I would probably just get rid of it and buy another cheap rifle...

Neither of mine did it, but you could always bolt home a round and put another in the mag afterwards to have four.

I have a Ruger 77/357 with a similar issue. Called Ruger, they sent me a new mag free. Then I took the old mag apart, and got after it with a file and sandpaper. Now I have two mags that work.

I will call them on Monday. I will post back what hey say...

The lady at Ruger was very nice when I called and said that they would send me a new magazine and if that doesn’t fix the problem, they want me to send the rifle in for an evaluation. Hopefully the mag will solve the issue!

When you get the new mag, whether it solves the issue or not, take the old one apart and try to file/sand to fix it yourself. You will be able to see marks where it is hanging up. Mine was hanging up on the end of the part that rotates. You've got nothing to lose now that you will have an extra mag.

Absolutely. When that new one comes I’m going to tear the old one down and see what I can see. I will take some pics and try to post em up in canes anyone else runs into this issue.

Out of curiosity, why do you need to go with a full mag when one round short works fine? I.E. if you miss with the first shot, how many animals are going to stick around for you to operate the bolt and shoot four more times?

Dh3. You are probably right, but I like my stuff to work properly. Also, I have two stories from friends that make me want to have more than one shot. I had a friend who missed a deer once, and it stuck around like a deer in the headlights for another shot. I have another buddy who after shooting a doe had a small buck come by minutes later. Just stories, I don’t know for sure, but if there is even a half chance of them being true, I want to be able to get off a follow up.

Not a story, you can see it on YouTube. I’ve seen guys with bolt actions like mine take several hogs out of a sounder on on magazine. Not that I am good enough to do that, I am largely a failure as a hunter, but should I ever find my game I want to give myself every possible advantage.

Ruger sent me the magazine and I just got it. I am amazed at how quickly it came! I will get to work on the old one this weekend (if I have time after my teal hunt!) and see if I can fix it and post some pics...

Does the new one work?

New ones work good. Ruger ended up sending me two mags. Probably because I complained via call and email. I used one at the range Monday and after less than 10 shots I noticed similar wear as my other mag. Will post pics once I figure out how...

In the first two images note the wear on the shoulders. In the third, I am pointing to another area of wear that is not visible due to photo resolution. I filed here areas smooth. The burs, though slight, seem to have been impededing proper feed. Works good now, but seems a little loosey goosey compared with the new ones, but that is to be expected for a mag that has been used...

Hope this helps anyone who may have a similar issue.