Need Help From Mini-14 Gurus Re: Mag ID

The one on the left is a Fed Ord/PMI mag. (Ribs/holes)

Not sure about the other two.

Browning said:

The one on the left is a Fed Ord/PMI mag. (Ribs/holes)

Not sure about the other two.

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I have some of those Fed. Ord. mags, they feed fine but are very difficult to remove from the well.

The factory Ruger hi-caps are well worth the money, IMHO.

As a guy with 60+ issued Mini 14’s in service with my agency, owning a Mini 14 and Mini 30 myself for over 20 years and personally experiencing mag issues with lots of aftermarket ones, plus working with our local Sheriffs department with hundreds more Minis in service... stick with factory Ruger-brand 20 and 30 round magazines!!


They will work. Any other aftermarket magazine may work. If yours are reliable you are lucky, most are not.

The Ruger mags are more expensive, but avoiding frustration with jams, misfeeds and the fear of utter unreliability when you’re shooting far outweighs the cost.

Stay safe!

NIGHTLORD40K said:

I have some of those Fed. Ord. mags, they feed fine but are very difficult to remove from the well.

The factory Ruger hi-caps are well worth the money, IMHO.

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Some of them were kinda hard to remove, yeah. Sanding and then rebluing helped.

Back when I had a Mini (early and mid-90's) finding factory Ruger mags generally wasn't an option. Ruger made them for PD's and some correctional personnel (they didn't sell them to the public that I ever knew of) and while sometimes the pre-ban mags would become available that way when they leaked out, but when they did the price was generally astronomical.

That left no-name mags (no), USA brand mags (definitely no), and Fed Ord or PMI (basically one and the same since PMI made Fed Ords mags for them). They worked well and I personally knew one of the guys at Fed Ord in El Monte and he gave me discounts.

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BTW Speedo66 the mag is talking about is Number 1.

The two others have the same ribbing minus the holes, so it's possible that they might be an earlier or much later type of PMI mags. I sold my last Mini in 96 or 97.

*Tried to look again, but your pics aren't available.

Speedo66 said:

I understand that Ruger factory mags are the best, just curious as to what I have at this point.

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And when you have satisfied your curiosity?

Try RUGER OEM 10-round mags.


They are all I use now.




GR

Garandimal said:

And when you have satisfied your curiosity?

Try RUGER OEM 10-round mags.

View attachment 824080​

They are all I use now.




GR

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Me too....cuz I'm in a 10 round mag state .............and pre -bans are too expensive to test out and find they do or do not work?

Speedo66 said:

View attachment 824070 View attachment 824069 View attachment 824068 View attachment 824067 Just got a new stainless Mini-14, came with two 5 round mags, hmm, that’s nice. Fortunately, I’m currently living in a state with few prohibitions, at least for now.

I did a trade with a member here for some used 20 round mags, but he did not recall the manufacturers. If the collective wisdom here can identify these mags it would be greatly appreciated. I’ve numbered them, poorly it seems, with a china marker, so please refer to them by number.

Thanks!

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Beware the magazine that the manufacturer thought so little as to affix their name!

Look to the lug at the top rear of the mag #1. IME, this is very similar to a Ruger brand mag.
Mags with a more pronounced, squared lug seem to work better. The smaller stamped lugs seem
to allow mags to jam and hang up, for some reason.

Speedo66 said:

As to not affix their name?

I’m OK with that, as long as they work.

Interesting thought, although you put it in a form that sounds like something out of a fortune cookie. lol

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If you have a mag. & you know who made it you have a chance of getting it swapped out, especially if it's Ruger. With no name you are just hanging in the breeze.

I don't recognize them, but years ago I had some aftermarket mags with reliability issues- I was able to put springs from M16 mags in them (at the time I had lots of them) and they worked a little bit better. Still used the original followers. IIRC, the capacity dropped by a couple rounds. Just something you can try if you have problems.

Has anybody noticed that Ruger Mini magazines aren’t as well made anymore. I had a mini 14 and 30 back in the early 90’s before the assault weapons ban and it may just be me but they were a lot better made back then. I now have a older mini 14 that came with the regular 5 rounder and I’ve bought about 5 of the new Ruger 20’s. The new ones have sharp edges and rough spot welds. They all function perfectly and are better quality than the no name ones but I seem to remember a overall better appearance. What say you?

Before I sold my Mini14 to my brother I had a dozen Thermold 30 rd mags that were brand new when I got them and they all worked like a champ I don’t even know if the offered anymore. The only reason I sold it was that it just did not fit me as I am a pretty big guy the Ergonomics just didn’t work out nothing against the design it just didn’t work for me .