Gen2 American bolt action and Magazines

I have fired about 100 rounds through this.300AAC BLACKOUT rifle
My biggest complaint is working the bolt. Something is just not right.
The rifle shipped with a 5.56 pmag, i bought 2 more. If you can slam one in, you can get the handle down. Getting the bolt back is a ridiculous spectacle.
I fired a box of 125gr commercial ammo and 80 subsonic reloads and it is stupid.

I brought the rifle home and cleaned and lubed the bolt. But, it has to be the magazines because the bolt is as smooth as and easy to operate as one could expect without magazine.

Anyone seeing this in their Gen2? I just wrote Ruger, let's see what they say.

BadMatrix said:

...The rifle shipped with a 5.56 pmag, i bought 2 more. If you can slam one in, you can get the handle down. Getting the bolt back is a ridiculous spectacle.
I fired a box of 125gr commercial ammo and 80 subsonic reloads and it is stupid...

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What caliber is it? (Edit: thank you for adding the caliber to your post)

Possibly a mag catch set a bit too high, or the catch is just out of spec and latches the nags too high.

Must be 300BO. OP says it shipped with PMAG 5.56.
Need to back up and determine if the problem is feeding cartridges from the mag or closing the bolt on a round in the chamber since these are totally different problems.
I bought a Ranch 6.5 Grendel(AR mags) bolt action last fall and immediately noticed feeding issues. After several types/brands of magazine, I found something that works much better.

I started searching and this magazine issue and is a common thing with Gen2. Wish i woukd have known that before I bought 2 more pmags. Can they be modified to work better? Uh, like with a dremel?

There are dedicated 300AAC magazines that have slightly different internal designs that may work better.
The issue with some mags is the location/shape of the 'shoulder' built into the mag body that's designed to keep .223 cases snug to the rear of the magazine. In theory, the 300 bullet nose profile is close to the location of the 223 case shoulder. If this is so, the 300 case stays in place. If not the 300 'migrates' forward and begins to drag on the front of the mag. In some cases, this prevents cartridges from rising. In other cases, the nose of the 300 bullet can snag the front lip of the magazine causing issues with feeding from mag to chamber.
My suggestion: Prior to grinding on the mag, support the rifle and S L O W L Y cycle the bolt while watching how the bolt interacts with the cartridge in the mag. It's possible that removing a small amount of material from the top front of the mag body will remedy the problem. I would not recommend grinding the 'lips' of the mag as this may result in cartridges 'jumping' out of the mag and causing even more problems.
On the positive side, AR mags are 'dirt cheap' so one doesn't invest/lose much if modifications fail.
I see these issues more with short, stubby rounds such as 6.5 Grendel or 224 Valkyrie than with the 300 but funny things happen.

I really thought the rifle was just new and stiff from the factory. Feom what i have read the lancer mag works but thought i would here since it is a RUGER forum.

The Lancer mags have steel feed lips (and are great mags IMHO, although I use modified Kel-Tec PLR16/SU16 mags in my first gen 5.56 RAR). As my good friend Captain Obvious once pointed out to me, metal feed lips are generally thinner than polymer feed lips, and may have fewer clearance/feeding issues. It might be that you should try some different mags with metal feed lips - several options are available, including aluminum & steel target or hunting mags from aftermarket mag manufacturers &/or firearms companies like Colt or Remington.

As always IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc.

I'm waiting to hear what Ruger says to address this issue because the rifle should be ready to fire out of the box

Heard back from Ruger:
We do apologize for the issues you are experiencing, we are happy to send you out a replacement metal magazine to try or we can always have the firearm come in for inspection. Please advise of how you would like to proceed.

If you choose to have the metal magazine sent, please confirm you are a US Citizen and over the age of 21.

Thank you,

Ruger Customer Service

BadMatrix said:

Heard back from Ruger:
We do apologize for the issues you are experiencing, we are happy to send you out a replacement metal magazine to try or we can always have the firearm come in for inspection. Please advise of how you would like to proceed.

If you choose to have the metal magazine sent, please confirm you are a US Citizen and over the age of 21.

Thank you,

Ruger Customer Service

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The FedEx package came this morning. Yippee. Unfortunately they sent the same plastic M4 magazines that don't work in this rifle so I now have three M4 mags that don't work…… how hard is it

I'd suggest you try some C-Products metal mags. Economical and I've found they're compatible with many variances within the AR platform. Another very cartridge shape tolerant AR mag is the 'Thermold' but I'm not sure still available. I've used them for .223, 5.45x39, and a couple other cartridges in a pinch.

Mobuck said:

I'd suggest you try some C-Products metal mags. Economical and I've found they're compatible with many variances within the AR platform. Another very cartridge shape tolerant AR mag is the 'Thermold' but I'm not sure still available. I've used them for .223, 5.45x39, and a couple other cartridges in a pinch.

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thx, Ruger needs to provide a magazine that will work with their bolt action rifle. I just got word. They're sending three of these. https://www.blueridgeoutdoorsupplie...-223-rem,-5*56x45mm-nato-ruger-ar-556,-sr-556