HELP! Problems with the Better-Mag 22 Adapter

My first trip out to the range with my CMMG .22LR upper, S&W M&P 22 mags, and Better-Mag S&W 22 Rimfire Magazine Adapter (seen here) was a little disappointing to say the least. The adapter is actuating the bolt catch intermittently before the magazine is empty. Has anyone else had this problem?

When I first installed it, it was activating the bolt catch with no mag inserted, cycling the weapon by hand, about 1 out of 3 cycles. I added a considerable amount of additional lube (to the point it was actually running down the inside of the magwell) and cycled the weapon another 50-100 times by hand and it seemed to improve. At least to the point that it was not locking the bolt back unless the rifle was severely canted. It still activated the bolt catch if the rifle was rotated a full 90 degrees or more from its normal horizontal firing position, but that's to be expect with the way it is designed (there is no return spring on the actuating block of the adapter). I was satisfied with that and wiped the excess lube out of the magwell and prepared for range testing.

However, when I took it out to the range and fired 100 rounds, the bolt locked back prematurely 8 different times when the magazine was NOT empty. I was not canting the rifle at all when shooting. Has anyone else used one of these adapters and had similar problems? How did you resolve them? I want to use this upper/adapter combination for cheap training, mainly firing and reloading drills... I don't really want to be doing FTFe drills with the crappy, short stroking charging handle on the .22 upper... :help:

Any help would be appreciated.

Can I ask why you don't just use cmmg mags. I have cmmg 22 conversion that I use quite often and never have an issue with the mags, so why not use them. Either way I hope you get it sorted out and let us know what the problem was.

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Originally Posted by msigette

Can I ask why you don't just use cmmg mags. I have cmmg 22 conversion that I use quite often and never have an issue with the mags, so why not use them. Either way I hope you get it sorted out and let us know what the problem was.

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Some people prefer to use the m&p mags with the adapter to have the bolt log back upon empty mag.

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Originally Posted by steyrman13

Some people prefer to use the m&p mags with the adapter to have the bolt log back upon empty mag.

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This. As far as I know S&W M&P 15-22 magazines work in CMMG uppers without the adapter and function just like a CMMG mag (no bolt lock back), so being able to use the bolt catch is really the only reason to run the adapter. Problem is that mine appears to be a little over zealous about locking the bolt back... Any ideas?

The 15-22 magazines are too small to fit properly without the adapter I thought.

Been my experience that the 15-22 mags will work in the CMMG uppers, but not reliable enough.

Gonna have to bump this thread back on topic... Id like to discuss the adapter, not the mags. The magazines are working fine, its the fact that adapter is locking the bolt back before the mag is empty that Im having difficulty with. Has anyone experienced this problem?

Will it lock back without a mag in? Maybe a weak mag catch spring. Take the upper off and slowly and quickly insert the mag in and out and see what is making the catch move up. (With a few rounds in the mag of course)

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Originally Posted by steyrman13

Will it lock back without a mag in? Maybe a weak mag catch spring. Take the upper off and slowly and quickly insert the mag in and out and see what is making the catch move up. (With a few rounds in the mag of course)

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Im nearly certain the mag had nothing to do with it. I was using two 25rnd mags and I filled each twice for a total of 100 rounds. Problems occurred multiple times with both, and nowhere near the end of the mag. I can manually lock/unlock the bolt with no mag inserted and an empty mag will always lock the bolt back.

As I mentioned, when I first installed the adapter it was locking the bolt back with no mag inserted and without manually activating the bolt catch. It isnt doing this anymore, but the problem is still present when firing live rounds for some reason.

Not trying to be a smarta$$.... But are you sure you installed the adapter correctly? Mine came w/o instructions and I was a bit confused about how it worked & installed until I put it in correctly.

Instructions here

Been totally reliable for the past 2000 rounds.

Worst case, contact the mfg. They were very helpful when I had questions about mine.