The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Tactical Rifle & Carbine => Topic started by: ericire12 on April 16, 2010, 08:42:11 AM
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http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/04/16/tapco-30-rounds-mini-14-magazine/
Tapco has launched a new 30 round magazine for the Mini-14.
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They're cheap enough to take a chance on. The problem with Ruger Mini 14's is they are probably the worst semi auto on the market to make function correctly with aftermarket magazines. Sometimes you get lucky, but I've got a pile of "no go" Mini 14 mags. From now on I'll stick to Ruger factory mags. Midway has them on sale now. Bill T.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=893515
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They're cheap enough to take a chance on. The problem with Ruger Mini 14's is they are probably the worst semi auto on the market to make function correctly with aftermarket magazines. Sometimes you get lucky, but I've got a pile of "no go" Mini 14 mags. From now on I'll stick to Ruger factory mags. Midway has them on sale now. Bill T.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=893515
BillT, have you ever tried any of the John Masen, old PMI, or original Thermold mags in your Mini-14? If so, what were the results? I know the old USA mags and others were junk, but I have heard better things about these. Also heard where someone was so fed up about the junk aftermarket mags and the unavailability to get Ruger factory mags back then that they put Ruger followers and springs in an aftermarket bodies with good success. I haven't tried it, but it may be a way to put those old crappy magazines to work.
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No, I never tried any of the John Mansen mags. I bought a few USA mags, and they were junk. After that I tried my buddies mags., (most didn't work either). Now I just stick with Ruger. The few extra bucks is worth not having to deal with the aggravation. Hi-Cap Ruger mags are getting more and more avaliable, and the price is coming down as well since they've relaxed old man Rugers position on Hi-Caps. bill T.
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Its why I sold my mini-14. After they stopped making Hi-caps, my rugers were stolen on the range. I went through about three brands and then just traded the gun. No great loss, as while I loved the styling and reliability (with Ruger mags) mine was not the most accurate of mini-14s. Just like their Deerslayer, I really do wish Ruger would go back to the drawing board and work the bugs out of them. Step one? AR mags for the mini.
FQ13 who thought it was a great idea, it just was a better theory than reaity.
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step one should be getting them to shoot with in a reasonable groups... you should be able to put a 5 round group in a 4" circle at a 100yds. you lucky if you can do that with a 12" circle for most minis.
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How curious.......
I have a bunch of the cheap gun show magazines for my Mini-14, and have never had a problem with any of them.
Oh, wait, I did get a 40 rounder that never worked right, but that would be the only one.
Am I just lucky, or what?
Grizzle Bear
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How curious.......
I have a bunch of the cheap gun show magazines for my Mini-14, and have never had a problem with any of them.
Oh, wait, I did get a 40 rounder that never worked right, but that would be the only one.
Am I just lucky, or what?
Grizzle Bear
Yes you are lucky.
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The mini-14 is the gun I love to hate. I really, really want one that will give me TABs 4" at 100 yards. I love the styling, the balance and the mechanical reliability. If it used AR mags, I could use clips, yes glorious clips, to recharge the beast and save weight and money. If I could hit pie plates at 200 yards, I'd give serious thoughts to trading in my AR. Such ain't the case though. Its not what it could be. And Ruger COULD fix it. They don't though. Its a damn shame to. I was happy when I bought it and happier when I sold it. Thats the first time I've ever said that about a Ruger.
FQ13
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The mini-14 is the gun I love to hate. I really, really want one that will give me TABs 4" at 100 yards. I love the styling, the balance and the mechanical reliability. If it used AR mags, I could use clips, yes glorious clips, to recharge the beast and save weight and money. If I could hit pie plates at 200 yards, I'd give serious thoughts to trading in my AR. Such ain't the case though. Its not what it could be. And Ruger COULD fix it. They don't though. Its a damn shame to. I was happy when I bought it and happier when I sold it. Thats the first time I've ever said that about a Ruger.
FQ13
Hey Quaker, you can use clips to charge Ruger factory magazines for the Mini.
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Hey Quaker, you can use clips to charge Ruger factory magazines for the Mini.
I can. Thing is this. I bought my mini in the late '80s (too many A-Team episodes growing up ;D). I sold it in the early '90s right after Ruger stopped making factory hi-caps. It wasn't out of some right wing moral snit fit either. I figure I can criticisze Bill Ruger's 2A politics the day after I do a tenth as much for shooters as he did, and that ain't going to be next week :-\. What happened was my 20 round factory mags got stolen. So I had an inaccurate gun and unreliable replacement mags, and bills to pay. It was an easy call. Still, I love the design and ergonomics of that gun. It just FEELS right. Frankly I wish it had been designed around the 7.63x39 round which seems to suit the weapon better than .556. In a perfect world according to Quaker, the gun would shoot 3-4 MOA and come equipped to handle AK or AR mags. I would cheerfully trade my AR for one, particularly in the 7.62x39 configuration. It would check all my boxes. Cheap range ammo, good SHTF weapon, and a good enough brush gun for hogs. I'm still hoping, but not holding my breath.
FQ13
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Ever heard of the Mini 30 ?
(I have no clue on what mags it takes )
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Ever heard of the Mini 30 ?
(I have no clue on what mags it takes )
Ruger porprietaries, and its almost as accurate as a mini-14. ;D It really was just an after thought. Ruger wanted the LEO market with the mini-14, then realized they'd built a pretty good truck gun and upped it to an ok hunting caliber. But the rifle wasn't really built for it.
FQ13
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Ruger porprietaries, and its almost as accurate as a mini-14. ;D It really was just an after thought. Ruger wanted the LEO market with the mini-14, then realized they'd built a pretty good truck gun and upped it to an ok hunting caliber. But the rifle wasn't really built for it.
FQ13
I think Ruger was actually after the military market. Foriegn or domestic.
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I think Ruger was actually after the military market. Foriegn or domestic.
Yep.
http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1572&cid=4
FTA:
“I was at the N.R.A. show, standing by our booth along with some other people. We were quite busy, as always, and we had just then been getting well into the design of the Mini-14, and had even made some prototypes. It was not on the market, at that point. But the famous Ordnance Colonel Studler came along and shook hands ... and so I said, ‘It occurs to me, we’re doing something you might be interested to know about; a miniaturized M14 to take the .223 cartridge.’ I tell you the reaction on the Colonel’s face was electrifying. He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Just like the M1; but it’s scaled way down in proportion to the M14 as the .223 is to the .308 or .30-’06.’ He said, ‘Oh what have you done with it?’ I said, ‘Well, nothing at this point. We’re just finishing up the tooling’ and so on. He said, ‘You haven’t shown it to the government?’
“He seemed to be utterly stunned by this concept as though he wished he had done it—because if he had done it the Army would never have had to revolutionize their thinking. It was a great wrench for them to give up that M1 Garand principle to go to the futuristic M16. I have often said—and I know I am correct here—if we had brought the Mini-14 out five years earlier it would have become the standard Army rifle ... .”
William B. Ruger, Sr., from Ruger & His Guns
Clearly, the late Bill Ruger’s conviction about the Mini-14’s military potential, espoused regarding its release in the mid-1970s, appears not only optimistic but downright naïve in the retrospective of nearly 50 years of U.S. service by the M16. But if Ruger’s optimism—and his elusive dream to build guns for the U.S. military—could sometimes cloud his thinking, it did nothing to stifle his tremendous success in the commercial firearm market. Though the Mini failed to catch on with the military, it soon found favor with law enforcement and, shortly thereafter, became one of the company’s biggest successes with everyday shooters. Ruger was not only an engineer and gun enthusiast with a knack for designing and making the kinds of guns the public couldn’t get enough of, he was also a smart businessman who pioneered the use of investment casting in large-scale firearm manufacture, helping to keep the prices of his guns within the reach of the average shooter.