Here is a good question I hope you guys can help me with. I just picked up my new Rock River Arms .22 rimfire AR15 Monday. The rifle is dynamite and I am very happy with it. I received a 15 round magazine that came with the rifle and I purchased three 25 round magazines also. The magazines are clear colored and the Rock River logo is moulded into the plastic. The complaint I have for example is when I am loading the magazines. When I get to about 12 or15 rounds the resistance brings the loading process to just about a halt. It is not just spring tension causing the problem. It seems like the (Winchester Super X) ammo starts to bind up in the magazine. The people at RRAs and a couple of magazine companies don't really have an actual answer for this. They all admit that it becomes very hard to load the magazines after you reach about 50% capacity. All the centerfire rifles I have that use conventional magazines never have this problem. I just wanted to see if any of you guys that own a .22 rimfire AR15 can shed any light on this or can recommend another magazine that seems to be easier to load. I will receive a Block Dog magazine loader tomorrow and hopefully it helps out with the loading process. Thank you for all your help!

Many thanks to everyone that has replied to my post. I am all squared away with all the information I need. You guys have been a great help!

I think you may need to start working out and strengthening those hands

22 mags can be quite a  bit harder to load than say a AR15 mag with 5.56. I do not know about the RR Upper. I only have CMMG uppers. I never have any trouble loading those with my fingers to full 25 round capacity. But if the RR Upper can use SW 15-22 mags, I use a few of those too. They are very easy to load as they have a built in assist button on the side. And they are very good dependable mags also. I wander if RR is using Black Dog rebranded mags for their mags. Maybe post a pic. I have some Sig Sauer ones that are rebranded, but are made by Black Dog I am sure.

Or if you like drum mags. The 50 round Black Dog Drums are easy to load too. They have a load assist lever on the back side.

All this is dependent as to whether or not RR used a 'normal" mag/BCG for their uppers. Or went with their own off the wall proprietary idea..If so, that would make me not even consider buying their .22 upper at all.

Try this: http://blackdogmachinellc.net/lightnin-grip-loader.aspx

It's $26 and works really well.

If your order totals $100 then you can use a 25% off coupon they have on the website.

It appears that they use a regular AR lower so you might be able to use the Boonie Packer BMA and S&W 15-22 mags.  That sliding button on the side makes loading them a breeze.

Thank you very much, I appreciate it!

Thank you Mike! I really appreciate it.

Thanks a million for the information. I have three other RR AR-15s in 5.56 and the uppers all look exactly the same except for the 22 rimfire bolt assembly naturally. I will have to try some different magazines and a magazine loader. Thanks again for your help!

The RRA 22 LR uses a Nordic pattern bolt and BDM mags.  The RRA 22 LR is not compatible with the Better Mag Adapter and S&W 15-22.

The Catch 22 should work with the RRA and there are a couple of mag loaders that work with BDM mags.

Try different ammo.  I have had ammo jam up in both AR .22 and 10/22 magazines. I believe Winchester ammo was one of the trouble makers.

Hello Carbine, I wanted to ask you one more question about the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 magazines you mentioned. They look like great magazines but I wanted to make sure they would fit my rifle. I called RRA and they said the upper and lower receivers are conventional AR-15 parts, nothing different at all. With that said, I would assume the S&W magazines should fit OK. I wanted to check with you before I order them. Thanks, Jack

Thanks a lot for the valuable information. That really helps and I will try different ammo right away.

I have a ton of Federal ammo I bought a while back and hopefully that loads better. Thanks for your Help!

Skip, the S&W 15-22 is a scaled down 22 LR carbine to function like a centerfire AR-15.  The magazine well on a S&W 15-22 is smaller and will not accept a centerfire AR-15 magazine.   The S&W 15-22 22 LR mag will work in a standard AR-15 lower but the 15-22 mag is to small for the mag well.   Right to Bear sell an adapter to fit the 15-22 mag so the 15-22 mag better fits the AR-15 mag well.  The use of the Catch 22 gives a fully functional mag catch when used with the S&W 15-22 mags.

I don’t know if a S&W 15-22 mag with adapter will work with the RRA 22 LR upper.    The bolt design of the RRA is the same design as Nordic, JP Enterprises and the DPMS Gen 2 dedicated upper.   I just checked the web site for the Catch 22 and their bolt catch is not compatible with the Nordic/JP pattern bolt.   If you can use the S&W 15-22 mags with a RRA you will not have a bolt hold open.  Repeated firing pin hits on a 22 rimfire barrel is a bad thing and to be avoided.    The real advantage of the S&W 15-22 mags is the ease of loading and fully functional bolt catch with either the Catch 22 or BMA which won’t work with a RRA 22 upper.  

People have modified BDM mags to make loading easier.   BDM sell a mag loader plus CMMG and RTB sell a Glock style mag loader.


https://www.righttobear.com/22LR-parts-upgrades-accessories-s/1873.htm

https://arcatch22.com

I also do not even know if the SW 15 22 mags will function in the RR. So I sure do not know if the adapter will. Likely not I would say.

But if the SW mags will work in your RR Rifle that would be great. I run the SWs without any adapter of any kind in my CMMG dedicated Rifles. I just add a small short shim epoxied to the front of the mag and it fits great in the lower mag well then.

Yes I get some dry fires. But I do not think the firing pin in the CMMG bolts will even strike the chamber when dry firing. I may be wrong. But I never see any evidence it does when dry firing.

I think the biggest problem in dry firing my CMMG stuff is simply stress on the firing pin and they break. But not from the pin hitting the chamber in my opinion.

I do not know if the RR firing pins will strike the chamber when dry fired. Maybe ask that question to them about if dry firing is safe or not..Good Luck

Was already mentioned. What you seek is the McFadden machine lighting grip loader. If they make a compatible adapter you are set. I know for a fact I can fill a cmmg/blackdog magazine faster than anyone can load a S&W mag. The ability to externally compress the spring is nice but can’t beat the loader.

Thanks VASCAR2, I appreciate the links and the information. I will be receiving my Black Dog magazine loader tool today and I have ordered a Black Dog 50 round drum magazine which I will receive from Brownells on Monday. The drum should work out fine. RRAs and Black Dog told me the drum will fit my rifle with no problem. Thanks again for your excellent help!

Thanks for the info Carbine! I found out the S&W magazines won't fit but I have a BDM 50 round drum magazine ordered from Brownells which I will receive on Monday which I know for a fact will fit my rifle. I am going to call RRAs and find out if dry firing my rifle will damage the firing pin. That was a good question to ask thanks to you when your talking .22 rimfire firearms. Thanks again and take care.

Thanks for your help! I will ordered one of those loader tools. The reviews are all just about 5 stars from everyone using it. Thanks again!

Dang should have told you that JoeBobs usually always has the best price on the Black Dog Drums. They are always 59.00 there. I do not know what Brownels gets but they are usually higher. Good Luck with everything.

Looks like it would not matter, Joebobs is out of them again. They always restock them eventually though at the same 59.00 They are a good Company and do not get into the price fixing thing like most do.

Thanks for the info about JoeBobs Carbine! I paid $62.00 at Brownell's and they were in stock. I received a discount for being a small business owner. I will start paying attention to JoeBobs from now on. My new BDM loader for $10.00 works real good. The rimfire mags from RRAs load up pretty decent with this loader tool. Nothing like the .223 mags but those are the breaks. I am looking forward to getting the drum on Monday! Have a good weekend and thanks a million for all your help!

The drums take a little finesse to load.
I have to pay close attention to make sure every slot in the belt gets a round, it's easy to advance it without being loaded because the neck of the magazine is not clear.

Thats using the mcfadden loader, haven't tried hand loading it. I can load 2 25 rnd magazines way faster than 1 50 rnd drum, so the drum is mostly for show.

The lightnin' grip loader page doesn't list the older gray CMMG mags that I have for my CMMG stainless 22 adapter(ciener compatible I believe)
Which adapter do I order?

Get rid of the Winchester ammo and buy CCI or Federal !

@azlester

The Black Dog Machine mags I have are Ciener compatible and the AR1522 adapter works with them.

It should work for the CMMG magazines if they are Ciener compatible.