King of Spain

Just picked up a used Mini 14, with a Butler Creek folding stock.

It is an older series, 184.

We took it out to shoot.

I was using both stock Ruger Mags and Pro Mag magazines.

I was using cheap Tul Ammo, .223, 55 gr. FMJ steel cased ammo.

The round will fire and would eject the fired round but would not load the next cartridge.

At times the bolt would not go far enough back, to stovepipe the empty cartridge.

It did this with both mags.

Thank you for you help, David.

Benemorte

Clean and oil the gun, and the magazines. Get yourself some quality ball ammo, take a trip to the range and see how it performs then.

P89Guy

Majuro sure your gas bushing isn't all fouled up. My 196 eats steel all day

moondog911

Greetings,

Give it a good cleaning, and give the steel cased ammo to someone you do not like. Steel case ammo is cheap, but not good for a semi-auto because it gets things dirty in a hurry.

moondog911

jstawasz

I have a 183-xxxxx Mini14 and it will shoot brass all day long. I've never tried steel and never will. I've heard too many stories at the range. One guy I talked to said he even had problems with his DI AR when he tried steel.

Kyle N

Ditto on the cleaning. Make sure the spring guide rod isn't 'on the wrong side.' My gun wouldn't function worth a damn when I did that on accident so I doubt you're has this problem. Not familiar with old minis.

P89Guy

I don't see why people hate steel so much. It won't hurt your gun. If you think because it's too "hard" then you're mistaken. The steel used in the casings isn't the same type/thickness of steel you'll find in your barrel or receiver. It is still much softer than the steel of your chamber.

The biggest problem with steel, is the bulk ammo that is corrosive, or the lacquer coating that is often used.

The corrosive stuff is pretty self-explanatory, whereas the lacquer coating can gun up the action on some guns if you don't do a thorough cleaning job.

Some steel stuff, like Tula, is neither corrosive nor lacquer coated. These steel rounds are polymer coated and use berdan non-corrosive primers.

My 196 series has eaten over 1000 rounds of this stuff without issues. It's gas system is all stock, and it has a healthy three-oclock ejection pattern.

I've also fired brown bear ammo, which is also berdan primed...however it is also lacquer coated and is much dirtier than both traditional brass and polymer coated steel.

Basically, steel is dirtier than brass because not only of the difference in coatings, but also the powder type (russian steel smells funny lol), as well as the primer type.

I've run maybe 200 rounds of brown bear .223 55gr berdan/lacquer coated without issue, however i gave the rifle a very thorough cleaning especially the chamber.

It has since fired tula steel and traditional federal 5.56 m193 62gr without issue.

P89Guy

a DI AR will probably have more potential problems running steel than a mini platform.

My AR15 runs tula all day long, however brown bear gives it issues.

Mainly I feel it is because the gas system in the DI AR is a big balancing game. Between the gas tube length, gas block, bcg, and the buffer system and weights, you have quite a few things that need to work together to make things work right. If any one of those are out of spec, or not quite tuned for the ammo you are feeding it, you'll have issues. The main issue my AR has with brown bear is that it can eject spent casings, but often fails to strip a fresh round off the mag.

Most steel tends to be underpowered, and the lacquer coating gumming up the action only makes this worse.

Compared to the short-piston design of the mini-14, you have a much simpler and over-powered system that lends to being a little less picky on ammo than the AR platform. No buffer tubes, weights, or gas tubes or any pressure on the BCG to cycle ammo.

Just keep the gas bushing clean, the chamber clean, and the charging handle and bolt well lubricated, and it should run quite well.

King of Spain

Ok, thanks for all incite and advice.

Gave the gun a good cleaning and oiling.

Everything looks and feels ok except that with the mag in, there is some downward play.

I am going to replace the magazine release spring and see if this addresses the feeding issue I have.

Any thoughts?

Thanks once again.

charcoalburner

KoS,

If you know how, detail strip the gun down to its primary parts, most notably separate the action from the stock. Take a good look at the recoil spring and the piston/slide area. Some owners install 1911 style plastic recoil buffers to tame the recoil forces of the open gas system. This also helps with taming the distance the brass is ejected from the receiver. If you have the recoil buffers in your rifle you may want to remove them and try the rifle without. Also take a close look at the guide rod and spring, if the guide rod is installed upside down in regards to the receiver area, it causes the piston/slide to be pinched against the barrel during cycling and the bolt will short stroke as you are describing. Hope this helps.

Redleg

Try different and quality ammo through stock Ruger mags. I'm betting no problems whatever. And yes, be sure the rifle is clean.

shootist

King of Spain?

mdemetz

Check if the previous owner installed a recoil buffer.

wingspar

Most likely a gas problem. Clean the gas piston real well and run a pipe cleaner thru the gas pipe.

Recoil spring may need replacing, but a good cleaning is the best place to start.

King of Spain

Beleave it or not, it was the magazine release spring. I replaced it and now I am spitting brass again.

Thanks for all you infomation, the King of Spain.