The dogs were up in numbers I had not seen all season, a dozen heads at once above the mounds, and I was working through them in a rhythm that felt almost like breathing when the rifle stopped. The bolt closed on nothing. A cartridge sat canted nose-down against the feed ramp, the magazine rattling faintly in its well, and while I fumbled with the jam on a bench powdered in dust, every head in the colony slid out of sight. The best ten minutes of the morning were gone, and the thing that took them was a few ounces of folded steel I had never once thought to test.
Colony shooting is not a five-round hunt like whitetail deer hunting. A productive town can eat through a couple of hundred rounds in a session, and that volume exposes weaknesses in your magazines that a deer season never would. A feeding failure does not just cost you a shot. It breaks your rhythm, forces you to clear a malfunction on a gritty bench, and wastes the very window when the dogs are most active. The magazine is the quiet link between you and a smooth day, one of many details in a first trip plan, and most of the trouble it causes can be prevented with simple preparation at home.
How Magazines Break the Rhythm
A feeding failure stops everything at once, and it hurts most on a big town where, as how colonies work explains, activity comes in short bursts. You are watching several dogs with the rifle shouldered, and suddenly a round is jammed halfway into the chamber. Now you are clearing it on a bench covered in dust and brass, losing track of which animals you have already shot at, while the colony dives for cover.
Calling predators means loading a few rounds and waiting. A colony demands constant magazine changes under time pressure, and every one is a chance for grit to enter, for a weak spring to give out or for a loose fit to disturb the feed angle. People tend to blame the rifle or the ammunition when the magazine is the real culprit, which is why the broader fault-finding in magazine feeding, diagnosing and fixing starts there before anything else.
Fit, Lock-Up and the Feed Path
A magazine must lock solidly into the rifle with no wobble. Even slight movement alters the feed angle, and small cartridges are less forgiving of that than big rifle rounds. When you are shooting fast, a wobbling magazine lets the bolt skip over the rim or push a round nose-down into the ramp.
Test lock-up by inserting a loaded magazine and trying to rock it forward and back and from side to side. Any movement tells you that either the catch is worn or the magazine body is out of tolerance. Over a long session every cycle amplifies that looseness, and the feed path from the magazine to the chamber needs consistent geometry when you most need it. The quick checks in action and feeding checks make a good companion to this one.
Springs and Feed Lips Under Volume
Springs weaken with use, and colony volume speeds up that wear. A spring that works for twenty rounds may start to fail after a long day of compressing and releasing, and weak spring tension means the top round does not present firmly to the bolt, which leads to failures to feed.
Feed lips take abuse too. When you are slamming magazines in quickly it is easy to catch a lip on the well and bend it a little. Bent lips release cartridges at the wrong angle or let them pop loose under recoil. Hold each magazine at eye level between trips and look for asymmetry or any outward flare. I replace springs on a regular schedule if I shoot a lot, and I mark any magazine that ever shows a feeding issue so that I can retire it before it fails in the field. How often to replace is a judgment that depends on your volume and your magazines, so take my habit as a starting point and not a rule.
Dust and Grit on the Colony
Colonies are dusty. Each shot kicks up dirt, wind carries fine grit across the bench, and open magazines lying on the mat collect contamination. Dust in a magazine binds on the follower, adds friction to the spring and makes the follower tilt instead of rising smoothly.
Keep magazines closed when you are not using them, lay them face-down on a clean cloth or in a pouch, and never leave them lying directly on the bench. Between long strings, blow them out with air or tap them firmly to shake out grit. Do not wait for a failure to teach you this lesson. In heavy wind, wipe the outside of each magazine before you insert it, because a thin layer of dust on the feed lips can add enough friction to change how cartridges leave the box. The same discipline applies to the optics in dust-proofing your optics and to the rifle overall in prairie dust, keeping rifle and glass working.
A Dust Protection Checklist
- Store magazines face-down or in pouches between strings
- Blow out or tap magazines from time to time through the day
- Wipe the feed lips before insertion in dusty conditions
- Never lay loaded magazines directly in dirt
- Carry a small brush or a can of air
- Keep a clean cloth on the bench as a landing place
Checks That Matter Before the Trip
Test your magazines at home, not on the colony three hours from the truck, and the same goes for the bench that holds them, described in bench requirements that matter. Load each one to capacity and cycle every round through the action, because a magazine that feeds ten rounds fine can fail on the fifteenth when the spring is fully loaded. This is also when you will catch a bent lip or a rough follower.
Check spring tension by feel, pressing on the top round and comparing resistance across all your magazines. Weak springs stand out when you test side by side. Make sure each magazine locks with a sharp click and does not wiggle. Prepare the rest of the kit with vehicle setup for getting there and back too. Mark problem magazines with tape so they do not slip back into your bag, and carry a spare or two beyond what you think you need. Nothing ruins a trip faster than finding out an hour into the session that your only three magazines all have problems, and the packing logic in a complete packing list helps prevent it.
| Magazine Check | What to Look For | Sign of Trouble |
|---|---|---|
| Lock-up | No wobble when seated | Rocks forward and back or side to side |
| Spring tension | Firm resistance on the top round | Mushy feel or uneven pressure |
| Feed lips | Parallel, no flare or bends | Uneven gap or outward curl |
| Follower | Smooth rise, no tilt | Binds or cants to one side |
Mistakes and Quick Fixes
- Using worn magazines for one more trip, because springs and lips fail gradually until you are clearing jams constantly
- Not testing at full capacity, since a magazine that works half full may fail when the spring is fully compressed
- Leaving magazines loaded for months, which can leave springs weaker when you need them, especially in cheaper magazines
- Slamming magazines in without checking alignment, which bends lips and wears the catch
- Ignoring the first hiccup, since a magazine that fails once will usually fail again at the worst moment
- Mixing magazines without marking them, so you cannot tell which one caused the trouble
- Over-oiling, because oil gathers dust and makes a grinding paste inside the body
When a failure does happen, a calm response matters. The field remedies for stubborn rounds and misfires are laid out in ammo failures and misfires, and a cleaner action helps, as in bore cleaning, how much and when. If your shots wander after a long session for reasons that have nothing to do with feeding, work through lost accuracy, a systematic diagnosis. Good tempo also comes from cadence discipline and from a sensible string limit, which keeps both the rifle and the magazines from being worked past their limits. Keeping your tempo also depends on a trigger that behaves, which is the subject of trigger setup for towns, and on a sound count of what you bring, as in how much to bring.
The Short Version
- Colony volume exposes magazine weaknesses that short hunts never reveal
- Wobble and weak springs cause most feeding failures
- Dust management is constant, so protect magazines between strings
- Test every magazine at full capacity before the trip
- Retire magazines with bent lips or tired springs
- Mark any magazine that misbehaves so it never returns to rotation
Magazines and Feeding for Prairie Dogs
How often should I replace magazine springs?
It depends on how much you shoot and on the magazine, but a regular schedule, such as once a season for heavy use, is a reasonable habit. Replace a spring at once if you notice weaker tension, because tired springs cause failures late in a long session even when the first few magazines work.
Can I straighten bent feed lips or should I replace the magazine?
Small bends can sometimes be corrected carefully, but it is risky, and you may weaken the metal or make it worse. For a magazine you rely on at a colony, replacing it is safer than trusting a field repair.
How do I tell whether dust or the magazine is the problem?
Clean the magazine thoroughly and test it at home. If it feeds well through a long string, dust was the issue. If it still hiccups on a regular pattern, the magazine itself is worn. Dust tends to cause erratic trouble that improves after cleaning.
Should I keep magazines loaded between trips?
Many shooters prefer to unload them, because long storage under compression can tire springs, especially in cheaper magazines. Load them shortly before the trip, and the day’s compression will be the only work they have to do.
How many magazines should I bring for a full day?
More than you think you need. Four is a sensible floor and six gives you room to rotate them and to retire one that misbehaves. If two shooters share a rifle or a bench, each should have enough to keep shooting while the other troubleshoots.
Is there a break-in period for new magazines?
New magazines can be stiff, with tight springs and rough spots. Loading and unloading them a number of times at home often smooths the action, and some feed better after a few hundred rounds. Do not bring brand-new magazines as your only option; carry proven ones too.
Is shooting prairie dogs legal wherever I find a colony?
No. Seasons, methods and access rules differ by state and landowner, so confirm what applies and get permission before you go.
The Quiet After the Jam
I cleared the round at last and set the rifle down while the colony slowly came back to life. Nothing was wrong with the rifle, and nothing was wrong with the ammunition. The mistake was mine, made weeks earlier at a kitchen table where I had decided that the magazines were fine without ever cycling them. The next trip began with fifteen minutes spent with a row of them on the bench, and the dogs never saw a hitch in my rhythm again.
