Why do aftermarket Mini-14 mags SUCK??!!!

ruger sells their own hi caps to civilans now so you can get the good ones

I just bought 2 Ruger 20 round mags from Midwayusa for $29.95 each... expensive but hopefully they will work.

Keep an eye on CDNN, especially when they run weekend specials on shipping. They usually have the factory 20 rounders for $24.95, and the factory 30's for $29.95.

The question still stands. Why can't anybody but Ruger make good mags for the Minis? Obviously AR mags have the benefit of military contractors etc, but there are plenty of other guns out there that you can buy decent magazines from a number of manufacturers.

yikes. seems like half the threads on this forum are relating to the mini, and people saying some aspect of it sucks.

Ruger needs to get its act toghether.

I have a number of aftermarket mags that worked quite well. But they are all 20+ years old. Maybe they made them better back then.

The only ones I ever had trouble with were some that claimed they worked in both ARs and Mini14s. They didn't work very well in either.

Magazine production in general baffles me.

Its a stamped metal box with a spring in it. Thats it. It is an *extremely* simple device. This is the 21st century. We can make microprocessors that are infinitely more complicated, with extreme reliability, for a few bucks. We've been able to send men to the moon for the last 40 years. We can sequence the human genetic code.

Magazine production should be easily done flawlessly, and they should cost $.50 each, allowing for a healthy markup.

I don't know how this sort of operation gets screwed up, really. Its amazing, that people who have convinced the public to pay them $10-$50 for a $.30 piece of stamped sheet metal, are not able to even stamp it right in many instances. I swear one day I'm going to get into the mag business. I think I'd be an instant millionaire.

The only decent aftermarket mags for the Ruger Mini I've
come across were made by PMI. I had a few of their stainless
mags. Reliable but pricey.

Its a stamped metal box with a spring in it. Thats it. It is an *extremely* simple device.

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No, it's not.

It's bloody hard to get the exact geometery right that ensures feeding.

Didn't is take Garand the better part of a decade to get feeding right on the M14?

BSW

I work for a company that makes solid state electric meters. To put it in perspective, these are of course, far less complicated than a destop PC, or an automobile, or something of that nature, but as example, they are far more complicated than many people realize:

1) Tens of millions of dollars invested in development costs for a brand new one.
2) Circuit boards printed by precision high speed placement machines. Tremendous mechanical speed and accuracy required. Not to mention the sofware that drives it afterward.
3) Mechanical construction of the base requires tremendous precision for accuracy.

The market price of our devices varies by customer, but is *roughly* three times the cost of a standard "high end" magazine, for an *infinitely* more complicated item. For that matter, the meter is way more complicated than the entire firearm, never mind the magazine.

Geometry is a question of design. Once it is worked out, the manufacturing of a magazine should be an absolute cakewalk for any modern operation to perform well.

I have 10+ ramline polymer mags that work awesome in my older Mini 14 Ranch Rifle. I got them cheap from a friend who couldn't get them to work in his newer Mini 14!

It's simple supply and demand.

People that own and shoot the mini 14 tend to be cheap or broke. This is not a segment of the population given to purchasing the best of anything, so they google their way to the cheapest magazine and buy it saying "ah, they're all the same."

live and learn. You bought a cheap rifle and wonder why there's no premium aftermarket support.

Some of my good old ones quit feeding well so I put new AR-15 springs in them. worked quite well!

Even back in the day a lot of mags didn't work for crap. The Mason mags seem to work very well.

People that own and shoot the mini 14 tend to be cheap or broke. This is not a segment of the population given to purchasing the best of anything,

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hmmmmmmmmm

You bought a cheap rifle and wonder why there's no premium aftermarket support.

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Who said anything about premium? Something shouldn't have to be premium to work.

wheelgunslinger said:

It's simple supply and demand.

People that own and shoot the mini 14 tend to be cheap or broke. This is not a segment of the population given to purchasing the best of anything, so they google their way to the cheapest magazine and buy it saying "ah, they're all the same."

live and learn. You bought a cheap rifle and wonder why there's no premium aftermarket support.

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What!?

No offense, but I don't think you have a clue about this.

Sounds like someone who just doesn't like the Mini-14.


*edit*
I will add that I am neither cheap nor broke. Hence the reason I shelled out the $$$ for the Ruger mags. But even if there were after market mags, I tend to prefer factory mags for most of my firearms. AR-15 being the main exception.

"Perfectunion" has had constant numerous threads about this for well over a year.
Ruger lost many loyal customers because of their former marketing attitudes. Large flocks of former customers switched to the AK clones, SKS, AR,
G-3s etc and never returned.

Ruger only Began selling 'normal' Mini 14 magazines to the public after the election. They are now also producing/selling a 20-rounder
(built by Ruger or Promag?) mag with the new Mini 30, and for the first time ever.

You bought a cheap rifle and wonder why there's no premium aftermarket support

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Other than perhaps the 1911 (which is about the simplest mag design possible since its a controlled feed single stack gun) there is no premium aftermarket mag for any gun.

Closest thing is Mec-Gar which OEMs a large percentage of factory mags and sometimes sell under there own name for less. These are the generally best buys.

--wally.

Premium

HK AR mags could be consider premium. You certainly pay a premium for them. I guess they could be consider not aftermarket though.

I have a $20 Pro-Mag twenty round that works perfectly in my Ranch Rifle.

My 30-round plastic Promag, made in '08, was 100% reliable in my used Mini 14, although it fit loosely and was only loaded to about ten rds or less; less ammo consumption.