[TheExtreme]

Hi all,

I've lurked on this board for a long time but rarely post. I just wanted to add a teaser about my mini 30. If I can get motivated I'll update with pics later, (sorry).

About 4-5 years ago I decided to start shooting again. My Father brought me up with it but for about 25 years I left it. Anyway, I decided I wanted a 7.62x39 rifle or carbine. Unfortunately this was around when BarrytheKenyan was getting hired so I couldn't locate one. Instead I wound up purchasing a K31 swiss rifle. (hang in there I'm getting to my point). In 2010 the Mini30 was finally available at my LGS so I purchased one.

I thought I would be ok with 10 round only mags, (I live in NY), and not shooting steel cased ammo, and possibly having trouble with the way the scope mount scallops were located in the receiver. Of course I was wrong and since I had shot the K31, (and that rifle is like magic let me tell you), I was accurate (for me) with it, hitting 4-6" groups at 100 yards off hand with irons. So I didn't shoot the mini at all.

2.5 years go by and now with more talks of gun banning going on I figured I better get off my butt and shoot the mini or sell it. Finally to the point... so I just checked the chamber and bore, hand cycled the action, hit it with some rem oil and took it to the club.

Now I purchased two of those promag 10 round magazines knowing that the newer mini's need them to be modified before they'll even lock in. So I used a dremel and a cheap vernier to take .005" off the bottom of the mag lug where it locks into the receiver. It worked fine. I loaded the mags and they still locked in.

I shot 20 rounds each of S&B and American eagle fmj's. The S&B had about 8 failures to eject. I had to pull down hard on the op rod to get it out. I was stumped for a bit until I decided not to baby it. It all worked out ok. The second mag full of these only had 2 out of the 8 so I figured it's part of break in? Next was the American eagle. Now these had 2 failure to feed both times on the left side round. I finished up firing the last 8 rounds in the second mag with no issues.

This was a function check only so was shooting at 10 yards. Took the center 2-3" out of the target but I don't expect anyone to be impressed since it's only 10 yards. More to follow unless I'm covered in rotten tomatoes and bad eggs

 

[ruger9]

??? I use Pro-Mag 10-rounder in a 581 series Mini-30, and they lock in just fine.

 

[TheExtreme]

I bought 4 of those blued promag 10 rounders about 3 years go. They work fine in a friends older pre 1990 mini 30, no feed issues. They would not lock into my 2010 stainless 581 mini 30. I even had my friend try to put them in and he couldn't get it to lock in either. Factory 5 round is good to go of course. How old are your mags? Maybe they fixed it?

I read the remedy I used on this very site a long time ago so I figured wth? It worked.

 

[Mr. Snuffalupagus]

my 08' 581 inserted, dropped and cycled Promag 10 rounders like butter.

the factory 5? uhhhh. doesn't like SP ammo for some reason...
but who cares? - I have factory 20s now :lol:

also the mini 30 likes at least 100 rounds or so to break in and get the action running right.

once you get it broke in - it'll run like a swiss watch.

 

[ruger9]

Strange, hearing conflicting reports of NEW (581- series) Mini30's having problems with the ProMag 10 rounders...

The only problem I've ever had with my m30 was AMMO caused- those damn steel case lacquered/poly-ed ones don't work well in ANY mag. Too sticky, don't freely rotate in the mag like brass does, and screws up the chambering.

 

[Adjuster]

Pro Mag 30's, and they work fine, as long as you don't put more than 30 rounds in them.

My Mini 30 is a stainless steel, 580 type, with the taper barrel and the poly stock, with a rear peep sight, and front 3 prong blade, no flash hider.

I have an old optic mounted on the Ruger supplied rings, and after some loctite, it's fine. (Was loose every time after shooting a few rounds w/o the loctite however.)

I have put nearly 1000 rounds through this rifle now, and it's dang smooth running, but I did have some failure to feed issues when the mags/rifle were new. Also found that "Some" Egyptian military surplus FTF, light primer strikes... Went bang second time around every time however.

Proved to myself that it's the fire pin depth/protrusion that's the problem, not the hammer mass, or spring pressure. (There is plenty of mass moving to motivate the pin, but the pin is "limited" in depth by the way Ruger sets the depth on every Mini-30 from the factory.)

From what I've read, and been able to find out, Ruger to avoid potential lawsuits, sets the depth on the shallow side. This allows any soft primer, domestic load to fire just fine, but the harder, and sometimes deeper depth primer on the "military" loads made for the AK rifles, does not go bang in this rifle.

If the pin is set deep enough to always go bang on the "Military surplus" stuff, it could be too deep, and poke a hole in the softer primers used on domestic loads. (And thus, Ruger could be sued.)

So, modify your pin depth to what you see in an SKS or AK, and the Mini 30 loves Surplus ammo.

Or spend lots of money, and buy domestic hunting rounds for what is a great plinking/hunting platform.

 

[jor-el]

I'm still looking for one even as a project. If your piece is stainless and of 580+ vintage I may want to buy it. Keep me in mind should you want to sell it.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

the mounting rings are the likely trouble if the scope does'nt center/align. they are cast and ruger should fit them to the mounting slots. I had to file a bit on the front ring mateing surface for proper alignment

 

[NolaRifleman]

my 08' 581 inserted, dropped and cycled Promag 10 rounders like butter.

the factory 5? uhhhh. doesn't like SP ammo for some reason...
but who cares? - I have factory 20s now :lol:

also the mini 30 likes at least 100 rounds or so to break in and get the action running right.

once you get it broke in - it'll run like a swiss watch.

Same here. A little rough at first. I have about 600 rds of TulaAmmo through mine. It runs without a hiccup now, even with the Tul.

 

[jgodwin2]

Sort of off topic but has anyone tried taking some of these "sticky" rounds and putting them in a zip loc with a dry lube like graphite?
Seems like if they are sticky the thin coat of graphite might eliminate this.
Normally not in favor if introducing gunk to a gun bur could be a way to count on them feeding.
Richard

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

check the feed lips of the mags, may need de-burring as many I've seen did and if you have caliper check the lip spaceing against the factory mag - may need some tweaking

 

[TheExtreme]

check the feed lips of the mags, may need de-burring as many I've seen did and if you have caliper check the lip spaceing against the factory mag - may need some tweaking

Will do, thanks M45 and all for the replies. Right now waiting on some additional ammunition to come so that I don't shoot up my stash. I feel like I was lucky and got in on that prvi deal that Cabelas had around the holiday. I swear after my order went through they sold out less than 2 hours later. I will give it 200 rounds before I start looking at changing things.

 

[ruger9]

Sort of off topic but has anyone tried taking some of these "sticky" rounds and putting them in a zip loc with a dry lube like graphite?
Seems like if they are sticky the thin coat of graphite might eliminate this.
Normally not in favor if introducing gunk to a gun bur could be a way to count on them feeding.
Richard

Actually, I read where someone did take the steel-case/laquered-poly'd rounds, and wiped them all down with the rag he uses to wipe up the gun lube when cleaning his guns, and after a wipe-down the rounds functioned perfectly. That's how I'm going to "get rid" of my ~150 rounds of steel-cased ammo, and simply won't buy any more.

 

[TheExtreme]

I'm still looking for one even as a project. If your piece is stainless and of 580+ vintage I may want to buy it. Keep me in mind should you want to sell it.

I will J but don't get your hopes up. Especially now with the mess from Sandy Hook there is no way I could replace it at even close to what I payed for it before. Unless it's a total lemon I'm afraid it's here to stay.

 

[ruger9]

I will J but don't get your hopes up. Especially now with the mess from Sandy Hook there is no way I could replace it at even close to what I payed for it before. Unless it's a total lemon I'm afraid it's here to stay.

I bought mine used on GunBroker a few months ago for $850... too much. However, they were unavailable EVERYWHERE. Just before Sandy Hook, a couple did pop up on the big gun websites (Impact Guns, etc) in the $700 range and I was kicking myself, but after Sandy Hook, I am more than happy with the $850 I paid, (and ditto the extra mags from Ruger).

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

the mini dodged the last 'assault rifle' ban since the factory mag was a 5 round. I'm hopeing it will dodge what is going to try to get pushed thru. mine shoots fine after some tweaking and fitting.
I'll betch hi-cap mags are going to get slammed though

 

[ruger9]

the mini dodged the last 'assault rifle' ban since the factory mag was a 5 round. I'm hopeing it will dodge what is going to try to get pushed thru. mine shoots fine after some tweaking and fitting.
I'll betch hi-cap mags are going to get slammed though

There was already a list of the weapons Feinstein added, Mini-14 was on the list, Mini-30 WASN'T- however- it could easily be considered "substantially similar", putting it in a grey area.

 

[40nascar]

There was already a list of the weapons Feinstein added, Mini-14 was on the list, Mini-30 WASN'T- however- it could easily be considered "substantially similar", putting it in a grey area.

It may be a technicallity, but by law any new ban regulations would have to go by the name of the firearm (if banned by name) as incribed on the reciever. New "mini 14's" and "mini thirty's" don't have those names (as they are only now marketing names) , so if any ban laws are passed with thosed named models, only the pre 580 mini's would be banned. I have avoided the inscribed names so as not to tip off the banners.

 

[ruger9]

hmm... true.... my Ruger Mini-30 says "ranch rifle" 7.62x39.... but then all they'd have to do is ban "ruger ranch rifle", and they'd get the whole enchilada.

 

[TheExtreme]

Update to this thread. Just got back from the range today. Put 60 rounds of prvi fmj, 20 rounds each of S&B fmj, American Eagle fmj, and Winchester white box fmj through it. Still just shooting for function though I moved back to 100 yards and was hitting a 12" target about 75% of the time with it.

Failure to eject issues are gone, as in none. However I am still getting failure to feed issues. Always on the left side round. Once with the factory 5 round with Winchester and on average 2 per 10 round magazine with all the others. I'm going to field strip, clean and lube and put another 100 rounds through it before I start to worry.

Sights look close enough for now. It was fun to see the differences in poi for the different ammunition. I will say that prvi seems hotter to me. It was shooting high vs the S&B which shot clearly low on the target. I did have 2 instances with the prvi where I saw a "spark"? come from the receiver area when I pulled the trigger. Should I be concerned with this?

Also, I tried to start shooting with both eyes open and it takes some getting used to. A few times in the session I had to close one eye to orient myself on the sight before I could be comfortable with the other eye open. Is this normal? I am wondering how much practice I'll need before it's second nature.

Thanks for your time. More will follow.