Mini14 Parts Breakage

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jagdpanzer347

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The Ruger Mini14. Some love it, some hate it. Some, such as myself, are somewhere in the middle. Anybody here ever have one actually break on them? I mean an actual part failure, not a mag/feed issue. I know alot of my fellow gunnies here have experience with them, so any feedback would be appreciated. Please note this is not a Mini14 vs. anything else thread.

-jagdpanzer
 
I was standing behind the line watching the armorer from another agency testing a new AC556 (the select-fire version of the Mini) when it blew up. Broke the stock, wrecked the magazine and lifted the bolt off the rails (it did stay in the gun). He had a few sprinkles of hot brass stuck in his face (thank God for shooting glasses!) and that was all. I found out later that the ammo was bad and the ammo mfg. recalled that lot of ammo and replaced the gun. This was in the late 70's or early 80's and I've never seen anything else go wrong with one.
 
Mine has never had any sort of malfunction, but I'm sure if it 'breaks', or if a part is malfunctioning, you could ship it to that address (forgot what it is) in the manual and get it fixed for free by Ruger.
 
Broke the extractor, when a Wolf lacquered steel case stuck in the chamber (so don't tell me that doesn't happen).
 
Broke the extractor, when a Wolf lacquered steel case stuck in the chamber (so don't tell me that doesn't happen).

We used to buy wolf ammo, then I read up on it, and figured out what it was doing. :p

I don't shoot any steel case ammo in my guns, and even though alot of people do and run it through their guns alot, I like to stick with what I know won't damage it.

Never had any personal malfunctions with it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
 
The extractor broke on my old 180 series, after several thousand rounds. I sent it back to Ruger. They fixed it and returned it quick. There was a note in with it that said it was "obsolete" and that parts for it might not be available in the future. Jack First manufactures and sells extractors for the good 'ol roller bolts.
 
On one mini 14 I had the following happen: 1) blown extractor (within the
first few 100 rds with fact ammo), 2) gas tap (the little rod that is held under
the barrel and directs the gas inside the stock) "fell out" inside the stock
channel --the factory later said I tried to "disassemble it" (which I did NOT),
3) rear site retaining ear broke --at which point I said :cuss: it and got
rid of it.

I've known other ppl who had zero problems with theirs. I've had only one
parts breakage problem with my AR15s and zero with all of my AKs and SKSs.
Had one pin break on the recoil sping end plug on an HK91 which jammed it
to a halt when the pin wedged inside the bolt carrier and against the
rod/spring while shooting --did not return forward. Easily fixed at home.
Keep in mind I'm talking thousands of rds out of each of these weapons.

Since I had three different problems with one mini14, I will never buy another.
 
I've shot several thousand rounds out of mine, it has its good days and bad days. Sometimes the accuracy is great, sometimes it isnt too good. I've had a few mag problems, and the rear sight fell off due to the guns recoil i suspect, but other than that, no serious problems...just enough small ones to aggrivate me.
 
Does anybody make aftermarket extracters for later model Mini's? That seems to be a potential weak point. One reason I like AR's is that every part is available. I like the idea of keeping a small supply of spares to keep my weapons up and running.

-jagdpanzer
 
Well, just to be fair, it was reasonably accurate and the Ruger handguns I've shot/owned have all been very good. But, I'm not going to pick another lemon from the tree if I can help it......

That's pretty understandable. I guess I'm just a fan of the Mini-14.

Does anybody make aftermarket extracters for later model Mini's? That seems to be a potential weak point. One reason I like AR's is that every part is available. I like the idea of keeping a small supply of spares to keep my weapons up and running.

My Mini-14 has an stainless steel extractor and it's really durable, I've never had any problems with it. I don't think you'd have problems with a Mini-14 extractor unless you were using steel cased ammo which is supposed to wear it out. That's of course unless it was just a malfunction with that particular gun which you can get fixed for free ;)
 
My stainless Ranch Rifle has had a part break. It was part KMS04010.

See http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/PDF/PartsBooklets/E9.pdf

The part split in half. The gun continued feeding and firing without a hiccup. I didn't even know it was broken until I took it apart for cleaning. It was pretty dirty, too. I don't strip it every time I shoot it.

I called Ruger and a couple days later there was a KMS04010 in a little envelope in my mailbox. No charge, no questions, no problem. I stuck it in and put the gun back together, which takes a minute or so, less if you do it all the time.

If I'd needed the gun for anything, I could have reassembled it with the broken part and it would have worked fine, but since I didn't need the gun, I left it partially disassembled.

Ruger's service is top-notch, and I can't complain about a gun that continues firing even if something breaks, either.
 
BTW, mine was a new stainless steel factory folder --all this happened
in the late 80s and I sold it by 91. I had Ruger factory 20s and good 30s
that never gave me a problem. Had it not been for the flurry of breaks
I would have kept it. The factory folding stock was good n tough.
 
That reminds me, I was going to put in some bumpers.

I've shot a fair amount of surplus Federal 5.56 through it -- before Iraq, of course. It really does rattle the gun and the muzzle flash is ridiculous, though it works fine. That could have caused some extra stress on the parts.
 
ArmedBear, I appreciate the link. I was under the mistaken impression that factory Ruger parts weren't readily available to the end user. Nice to know I can order a few spares.

-jagdpanzer
 
I have two ranch rifles with zero malfunctions with tons of crappy ammo though them. I am glad they gave me rings because the sights are crappy on this model. My only complaint is that the accuracy is only ok, but that seems to be what everybody says with this rifle.
 
I've shot a fair amount of surplus Federal 5.56 through it -- before Iraq, of course. It really does rattle the gun and the muzzle flash is ridiculous, though it works fine. That could have caused some extra stress on the parts.

Most of the ammo I shot thru mine in the 80s was winchester 55g white box.
I put some "early" US Mil 62g through it, but only a couple boxes at most.
 
Broke a sight screw on a ranch rifle one time. Tiny little things... Ruger sent me a couple at no charge.
 
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I have a blue Mini-14 that I bought new in the mid 80's. I have probably shot a couple of thousand rounds thru it. Last year I noticed what I at first thought was a big scratch running across the bolt. Looking closer I realized that it was cracked. :eek:

Got in touch with Ruger and sent it back to them for repair. They replaced the bolt and returned it to me, no charge. Unfortunately the wooden forearm got cracked somewhere in shipping. So I replaced the whole wooden stock with a Hogue stock. I like the looks of the old wooden stock, but the new one is pretty indestructible.

Other than that my Mini-14 has been reliable and a lot of fun to shoot. Usually I feed it whatever is cheap, but I've never shot steel case ammo thru it.
 
This is pretty funny stuff......

There's no honest law enforcement armorer that worked on both Mini's and AR's, that won't tell you the AR's break way more than the Ruger's do. The agencies that went to AR's because of claimed problems with the Ruger's, just did so to get the GI Joe, Demon of Darkness, Black Gun look.

California Department of Corrections, probably the biggest user of Mini's, has thousands of them, most of them 20+ years old. The guns rarely break, except from abuse that would wreck an AR in short order, or from crap ammo.

A properly manufactured, well maintained AR can be a great rifle, and they are usually more accurate. But when it comes to general reliability.... The Mini will win....
 
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