The Spectre Ballistics International (SBI) 10/22 magazine adapter is an aluminum adapter you can use on your 10/22 to allow it to take Remington 597 magazines. If you’re American, that probably sounds like a really weird thing to do but in Canada, our majesty’s pony police decided that Butler Creek 25 round mags, made decades ago, are designed for the Ruger 10/22 Charger. The Charger is a pistol, ergo all 10/22 mags are limited to 10 rounds. Yeah, it’s super dumb. No, I don’t think it’d hold up to a court challenge, but they keep dropping the charge so it won’t make it to court.
So instead we use adapters that let us use 25 round Rem 597 mags. SBI got approval from the RCMP on these, so we’re good to go.
Does it work?
In short: absolutely. The mag adapter has a nice firm fit to Remington 597 mags and 10/22s will feed with the adapter. BUT: 597 extended mags can be a bit fiddly themselves. You may need to try different mags (promag vs Remington) and ammo combos to get one that feeds 100% of the time and doesn’t bind in the mag. Those who use 597 mags mentioned to me that copper plated ammo 36 grain rounds feed great in most of these mags. Note that this is entirely magazine related and the adapter worked fine in the 4 10/22’s I tested it in.
To change magazines, if you use your fancy extended 10/22 magazine release, you’ll remove the adapter along with the magazine. Instead, the adapter has a tab on the left side that you can hit to remove the 597 mag at the same time. It’s not as “low drag” as dropping a mag one handed, but it’s fine.
