[emay]

Hello, first post. I just bought a 582 series mini 14 ranch rifle used. I noticed that when loading a magazine that the first round gets dented by the closed bolt. Am I doing this wrong? Can you only load on an open bolt? I don't reload so I don't really care about that aspect of it but I am wondering if dented brass is OK to fire. Its not like it turned the brass inside out, but its noticeable. Thanks

 

[Heartbreaker]

The brass gets dented far more when it ejects. Dents in the case will fire-form to the chamber (as long as it's not cracked/pierced). No big deal.

 

[emay]

Thanks. New to center fire autoloaders.

 

[Bozz48]

I want to say it's not a problem, but I'd have to see the a picture of the dent. A small dent won't affect anything. A large dent might. I've never noticed that happening with my Mini-14. Are they Ruger magazines?

How many rounds are you loading into the mags? Loading 21 in a 20 round mag would cause it, if that's even possible. There should be enough spring left after 20 rounds to depress the top round slightly by hand.

 

[emay]

Its the factory 5 round mag. Loaded to 5 rounds. Like I said, its not a huge or even moderate dent, but noticeable. Just making sure that there will not be any unsafe pressure spikes.

 

[kwg020]

Load from an open bolt unless you have the magazine down loaded by at least one round in the 5 & 10 round magazine (insert a magazine of 4 or 9 on a closed bolt) and by 2 rounds on anything bigger than a 20 round magazine. It's just one of the issues with a Mini. You will learn to adjust.

kwg

 

[HBK]

A small dent will be ironed out during the reloading process when sizing the brass. If you want to cure the dents, install a smaller gas bushing to slow down the excessive movement speed of the operating bolt. Doing that will also stop any excessive wear and tear on the operating rod and the metal parts it contacts during the violent rearward movement caused by excessive amounts of gas to operate the rod during the extraction and feeding process. There is videos on YouTube that show how to replace the gas bushing and also installing 1911 recoil buffers on the mini 14. I did this with my mini 30 to stop the brass being thrown out so hard that the brass would eject 20-30 feet away from my shooting position and dinging the brass in the process. It cured the problem and I still have reliable feeding and ejection of the spent brass.

 

[emay]

I haven't even shot it yet. I was outside and loaded a mag to see how it fed and noticed the dent where the case and shoulder meet. Oh well. I'll shoot it and go from there. Thanks for the replies.

 

[bwinters]

Welcome from New Jersey. Learn and enjoy.

 

[mrmike7189]

load on an OPEN bolt

I think ruger says to load only on an OPEN bolt........I store my gun with an open bolt anyways.......safer to check for a loaded gun anyways.....so everytime i load it is an open bolt....thought everyone did it like me............guess not?

 

[RJF]

I guess I'm odd-man-out. Closed bolt, mag loaded, safety on. Charge once and rock and roll as necessary...

Not my first home defense go-to weapon, otherwise, things would be different (round in chamber with mag in, safety on).

 

[Maddmax]

A small dent will be ironed out during the reloading process when sizing the brass. If you want to cure the dents, install a smaller gas bushing to slow down the excessive movement speed of the operating bolt. Doing that will also stop any excessive wear and tear on the operating rod and the metal parts it contacts during the violent rearward movement caused by excessive amounts of gas to operate the rod during the extraction and feeding process. There is videos on YouTube that show how to replace the gas bushing and also installing 1911 recoil buffers on the mini 14. I did this with my mini 30 to stop the brass being thrown out so hard that the brass would eject 20-30 feet away from my shooting position and dinging the brass in the process. It cured the problem and I still have reliable feeding and ejection of the spent brass.

Back in the late 70's when I got my 181, all I did was add a heavier recoil spring to the guide rod and it solved the problem. Don't know if they still make them.

 

[Maddmax]

I think ruger says to load only on an OPEN bolt........I store my gun with an open bolt anyways.......safer to check for a loaded gun anyways.....so everytime i load it is an open bolt....thought everyone did it like me............guess not?

I prefer to keep the tension off the spring and keep mine closed in storage.

My manual says it can be loaded with an open or closed bolt and not to load magazine past it's stated capacity.

 

[Maddmax]

I guess I'm odd-man-out. Closed bolt, mag loaded, safety on. Charge once and rock and roll as necessary...

Not my first home defense go-to weapon, otherwise, things would be different (round in chamber with mag in, safety on).

Nope, me too.

Not my home go to weapon either.

 

[emay]

Fired it this weekend. Everything ran fine like I thought it would. Its not my home defense firearm because of concerns of over penetration. Just a walking through the woods gun. It will serve its purpose fine.

 

[Twistofer]

I had a similar problem when shooting .556 (consistently) and the occasional .223. I found that getting an adjustable gas block and tuning the rifle helped tremendously. It's not an expensive or complicated upgrade, but well worth it.

 

[COSteve]

The Mini has an action patterned after the M1 Garand, and therefore it's descendant, the M-14. As both are famous for being hard on brass, notably they dent the brass in the body and dent the case mouths, it's only natural that the Mini's similar action will do the same. Exacerbating the issue is the fact that Ruger has considerably 'overgassed' the action to account for the anemic power of the commie crap ammo, and you have a rifle that by design is going to beat up the brass.

Those of us who've installed reduced aperture gas bushings (.045" for the Mini-14's .223/5.56 loads and .060" for the Mini 30's 7.62x39 loads) to reduce the cycling forces have also found that as a side benefit, the damage to our brass is all but eliminated.

 

[roadtoad]

Storing a loaded mag NOT - the springs will eventually take a set and when you fire, the next round won't feed. The ammo is so cheap that I don't reload this cartridge and my fields are so littered with fired cases that is obvious dents are irrelevant to me. Enjoy your little carbine.

 

[Beachcomber86]

Storing a loaded mag NOT - the springs will eventually take a set and when you fire, the next round won't feed. The ammo is so cheap that I don't reload this cartridge and my fields are so littered with fired cases that is obvious dents are irrelevant to me. Enjoy your little carbine.

A properly loaded spring will NOT take a set. Leave em loaded.

 

[RJF]

I just fired off a mag that has been loaded since 1986. No problems whatsoever. Springology suggests that tension springs do okay under tension. It's that other type of spring that has problems...