I took my new 581 Mini up in the woods to shoot it today. Before I took it I put a Wilson buffer on the receiver and a 1/2 thickness one on the gas block. I read that was one way to do it. With the buffers in I could insert an empty magazine and retract the bolt far enough to lock it open on the empty mag. I have read about the awesome distance that shells are ejected and was considering getting a gas bushing set. My gun would not even fully eject the brass. It would get trapped between the bolt and the receiver sideways. It was pouring down rain so I just came home and looked at it. When I pulled the stock off I could see that the bottom of the operating rod was scraping the stock liner about halfway on the rear side of the liner. It isn't something you notice while operating the action by hand and I was wondering since Mini 14's are known to have such vigorous ejection if this little bit of rubbing could cause the gun to jam up like this? What else could it be. I don't want to drive up and try again until I have an idea or two of what may be going on. 2 types of ammo were commercial 55 gr and one was a 62 gr. load that chrono @ 2975 fps in my 16" barreled AR and functions good.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Get rid of the front buffer. When you say Wilson buffer do you mean the ones they make for the 45 auto? You only need the back one, especially if it's a new rifle and not broke in yet. Plan on 200 rounds before you can say "broken in". After the rifle is broken in, you can consider a smaller gas busing so you don't thow brass 40 feet. Not until then. And, don't shoot cheap ammo until it's broken in as well. GI Ball if you can find it. kwg

Is the liner snapped mtowery position? You might check front and back and cycle by hand to see if its still rubbing. They do need some rounds fire thru them and get the action worn in. I will use a polishing paste on my stainless models to speed the break in process.

__________________
" If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would send an entertainer..... our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent a Savior."

Did you give it a thorough cleaning before you took it out? Also, as others have said that rifle needs a few hundred rounds through it to break it in. I would take the buffers out for the break in to eliminate them as being part of the problem.

__________________
Nevada, The last free place in this country.

Ditto! Try using it the way it was made first. You may not need to do any modifications. There are a lot of shooters here who have done little or no mods to their mini's and are totally happy with them. I have only worked on the action bedding, trigger job and put a low powered scope on. Mine shoots as good as most of the rifles I have owned. Also you need to shoot a lot of different bullet weights(US made ammo) to find one yours likes. Mine only shoots really good with 50 gr bullets.
Have fun!

I pulled the liner out and wow it was smooth as hell!!!. I headed back up into the woods to try it out. First shot not even an attempt to eject. tried another. same deal. Went back to the car and pulled rifle apart. and took out the buffers. I eventually got lucky and one ejected about two feet away and another ejected straight up and barely hit the bill of my hat. Most did this. Think I will be calling Ruger for a return to the factory. Federal American Eagle and Remington ammo.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Yup, looks like you've got a factory issue there. The sooner you send it back to ruger the sooner it'll be back in your hands. I had similar ejection problems and eventually sent it back, they "replaced the bolt and repaired the slide" and since then no more issues. Oh, and CALL THEM BEFORE YOU SHIP IT ON YOUR OWN DOLLAR. They issued a pickup ticket for UPS so I didn't pay a cent. Just pack it up so you'd feel comfy throwing the package against the wall with your gun in it and it'll be fine. They must have laughed when they opened mine, I literally had the gun box surrounded with 6 inches of bubble wrap on all sides.
Good luck!

The stock liner acts a guide for the operating rod (bolt carier). Removing it will allow the oprod to move sideways and may cause the gas cylinder to run into the gas piston.

Re-install the liner and try the gun they way it came from the factory; without buffers. If assembled correctly and commercial brass ammo should eject at least 20 feet - unless there is a problem with the extracor.

Can you eject fired cases by pulling the operating handle back by hand?

Ensure that the recoil spring guide is installed the right way up, or the slide will have so much drag that you will get failures to eject.

The liner has to be in and it has to be installed correctly. The rear tab has to be under the trigger mechanism. If it's not, it will not work correctly. kwg

This problem is very common if you put the action spring guide rod in upside down. The crescent cut rides on the top of the recoil buffer pin, toward the top of the receiver. Put it in upside down and it binds at the very end of it's travel.

__________________
Great West Gunsmithing.com
theGunDoc.com
gundoc@greatwestgunsmithing.com

I had it back in after I eliminated the rubbing.

I double checked that and actually swapped the position on purpose to see the difference and yes you are correct it just wouldn't work that way.

I called Ruger today and they are sending a pick-up tag to send the rifle back. At first they told me they wouldn't since my gun was as old as it was. I said "What are you taking about? I just bought it brand new a week and a half ago and told them I would send in the sales invoice to prove it." CDNN must have had these setting around awhile. I just hope they can send a correctly functioning gun back.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

The physical interference issue is odd, and I don't think it left the factory that way. Are you sure you put everything back together right? If you have a buddy experienced with mini field stripping and reassembly, I would have him look at it. I think your bolt/oprod are not properly alligned. Its easy to screw it up the first few times until you get used to it.

I cleaned the bore of the rifle after receiving it and took it out to shoot. It failed to function. I have looked at several videos and all parts are correctly installed. As previously stated I purposely turned the recoil spring guide rod 180 degrees and it puts it at an angle that obviously is wrong.There is only two ways to install it and I did not change how it came from the factory, or at least from the dealer I purchased it from. I also googled mini 14 ejection problem and came up with enough hits with this issue I am sure it is not a fluke. It seems strange to me that CDNN had a Mini on the shelf that was from the beginning of the 581 series. 581-00*** serial number. Maybe it was a returned gun that was sent out to remove it from inventory. Who knows? Hopefully Ruger gets it sorted out.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Interesting, let us know how this turns out.

I like the ss minis, I will polish the op-rod guide rod and the bolt surface areas for a smooth feel but it should shoot out of the box without fail.

__________________
" If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would send an entertainer..... our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent a Savior."

I got my Mini back from Ruger today. The invoice says that the Bolt, Slide and extractor were repaired. 3 bad parts on a brand new gun gun! I wish they gave more information as to what the repair was. I will let you guys know how it works when I get a chance to shoot it. My fingers are crossed hoping that it works now.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

How long did the turnaround take?

dropped off at UPS on June 8th returned July 3rd. I got a chance to shoot it and it ejected anywhere from 7-8 feet to 24 feet depending on the ammo. I am wondering about a very faint S/R stamp on the receiver that was there when I first got the gun. It is on the top left side of receiver on the very edge by the front scope ring base. Is this a normal stamping on all mini's?

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Hard to see on mine with the scope on but I think its there. Probably just a factory Sturm Ruger stamp.

Here is a picture of the stamping I mentioned. I was wondering if all Mini's had this stamp.

__________________
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Yes.

Here is a thread that about a Mini with a problem that may be related to yours:

Mini-14 Jams