How often do you dis-assemble and clean your mags? Top of the tube and follower gets really dirty, very quickly especially when you shoot mainly dirty bulk ammo like I do. I always clean that top area after every use but was wondering how often (# rounds) others fully dis-assemble and clean their mags?

It's also interesting that this is no mention in the manual of making sure the rounds are staggered when loading the main?

I disassemble and clean my mags every time I shoot them, which adds up to about 15 to 20 reloads of the mag.

Not saying it's needed, just my habit.

I look at them and if they are carrying a lot of grime and build up, i disassemble and give them a good cleaning, They do not get cleaned as regularly as the bolt, which gets cleaned after each range visit.

Thanks guys. I field strip and clean the rifle after every trip to the range but the mag's are less frequent. Just wanted to see what others are doing.

Every few hundred rounds I wipe the feed lips and blow out the magazine with my air compressor. Never done anything else and never had a problem.

Disassembly and cleaning after every use is overkill and totally unnecessary.

Same for me.
As far as staggering the rounds, I have a couple of these rifles, and they're indifferent to staggering. My ftf/fte rate is similar to my 10/22. I just cram em in and lightly slap the mags on the table, to make sure all rounds are tight with no gaps. Then snap the assist button a couple times, making sure they're pointing up in the feed position. Push on the top round, and watch the others move in unison. This means that all the rounds are tight, and there's no gaps. Using this method, I'll get an issue maybe one per ten or fifteen mags. YMMV.
I've heard that the speed loader will stagger the rounds.And f it's anything like the speed loader that I had for my 10/22, then I'd go that way. Personally, I don't need a faster way to burn money/bullets lol.

To be perfectly honest, I think that people are making way too much out of staggering the rounds and loading the mags. I can honestly say that since day one of owning this rifle i have never had any issues with loading the mags, just use the load assist button to help take the pressure off pushing the next round down and like you say make sure they stack properly, a couple of pull downs on the load assist button, sees that this happens.

The only issue i have ever had with my magazines was wearing the feed lips down on my 10 round shorty from having way too much fun

Mine........so far........Never......No problems either.......

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S&W Accumulator

Frankly, I've never paid much attention to staggering the rounds, just really making sure the follower doesn't bind and the top round is pointed in the right direction. So far I've shot mostly Thunderbolts (like I said, I buy primarily cheap ammo!) and after 500+ rounds had a handful of stove pipes, that's it. Used CCI Blazer for the first time last weekend and had several FTF/ lock the bolt but no stove pipes, go figure. I haven't checked the spec's but I'm assuming the CCI's are a lighter load than the Thunderbolts?

Sorry for veering off topic a bit...

Same thing here. I field strip and.cleab the rifle after every trip to the range.

But for the mags, i usually wipe clean the feed lips with a cloth as dirt builds up on that area.

Plus, as i am a sport shooter (IPSC style), I strip the mags only when it gets soiled up. Juat to make sure, there are no soil particles that could cause the spring not to function well.

Cheers!

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I concur w/ previous posts on cleaning the magazines but posted to give you a calibration point as I did not see number of mags mentioned

I cycle six 25 round mags giving me 150 shots before reloading. I brush the feed lips & visible parts of the follower, check the spring, & wipe each mag before reloading.

I disassembled each mag and cleaned/soaked parts before using new mags, and again at ~1000 rounds (mainly due to a sandstorm at the range). My 15-22's approaching 4000 rounds & I have not had to disassemble mags since.

I find manually loading the 25 round mags curiously relaxing. The cylindrical tab on the follower makes it easy to test the spring then pull down just enough to slide in each round, snapping the follower as needed to ensure proper alignment. The design of the mag staggers the bullets for you.

I had quite afew stovepipes if the rounds weren't carefully staggered. Bought the McFadden loader and problem solved.