I just kinda dump the rounds in myself. . . Like several other people have said, I do pull the assist button down a little just to take the pressure off the rounds - and then I just drop them in one by one - I don't try to stagger them or anything - but they mostly do stagger by themselves. I load the full 25 rounds. I have nine of the 25 round magazines and eight of the 10 rounders - I rarely have any misfeeds and I run all different types of ammo. CCI, Remington, Federal, etc. My rifle runs anything. The only suggestion I may have for the original poster is you might try holding the magazine on a different angle when you load the magazine - it just might affect how the rounds nestle themselves. I assume you have already tried cleaning the rifle and the magazines.