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.22 pistol magazines
dr_wilson85
Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
Does anyone know if and where you can buy high capacity magazines for pistols, does anyone even make them? Any feedback is appreciated.
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The Grendel P30 has a 30-round magazine. The P30 is chambered for the .22WMR. It was designed and manufactured by George Kellgren, now the principal designer and owner of Kel-Tec. The guns and magazines, long out of production, are scarce and command a fairly high price on the used market.
The demand for the Grendel P30 may decrease substantially with the introduction of Mr. Kellgren's latest pistol design. The new Kel-Tec PMR30 is also chambered in .22WMR and also has a 30-round magazine. The PMR30 has the largest capacity magazine of any rimfire pistol in current production of which I am aware. The pistol is supposed to be available in the second quarter, but I would not hold my breath for that delivery date. Demand will exceed supply for a year or more, typical with Kel-Tec new products.
For completeness, I should mention that there are rimfire "pistols" designed to use the Ruger 10/22 magazine pattern. Since there are 50-round magazines of the Ruger 10/22 pattern, I guess those "pistols" have to be said to be the highest capacity "pistols." Since the magazines of such "pistols" do not fit in the butt of the "pistol," they are not what I consider a regular .22 rimfire pistol. You may disagree.
Does anyone know if and where you can buy high capacity magazines for pistols, does anyone even make them? Any feedback is appreciated.
To expand on what was already said, the rimmed design of .22 cartridges poses several problems in designing magazines that hold more than about 10 rounds.
The rimmed .22 cartridges prevent using a conventional double stack design. So high cap magazines for .22s either have to be very long, banana-shaped, and/or some other design that makes using them in pistols impractical. Also, many of the high-cap designs (eg for Ruger rifles) just aren't that reliable.
Also, since high-cap magazines are also limited in many states, most manufacturers limit their magazines to 10 rounds as well since that simplifies their manufacture and distribution.
Now if you are just looking for "a" .22 pistol that can hold more than 10 rounds, as mentioned, the Ruger Charger (and clones) are pistols based on the action of the Ruger 10/22 rifle, and high cap magazines are readily available.
The Kelgren Grendel pistol (about to be re-issued as the Kel-Tec PMR30) uses a special proprietary double-stack design that interweaves the noses of the bullets. This design is really only feasible with longer .22 magnum cartridges, not with shorter .22 LR ones.
Lastly, depending on the gun, you MIGHT be able to modify an ordinary .22 magazine to cram in another round or two, though this may compromise reliability and its probably not worth the trouble for that little capacity gain.
Ramline made increased capacity magazines for Ruger rimfire pistols before the 1994 high capacity magazine ban. They are available on the used market, but were not very durable so they may be hard to find in usable condition today. As I recall, the Ramline magazines for the Ruger Standard automatic pistol held fourteen rounds or so, versus the standard ten rounds.
The RamLine magazines I was specifically referring to was for the Plastic .22 pistol that they made and sold in the 90's. They also made this pistol for Magnum Research who sold it under the name of Mountain Eagle. This magazine held 15 rounds. The mag was a bear to load and if you didn't load it correctly and it got jambed up inside, it took a act of congress to get it unjambed.
EvilDr235