Bought a Ruger mini 30 2 months ago..,problems

[Banyan70]

[PoorRichRichard]

[67Cuda]

I have a Mark III, not a Ruger fan. In general, from what I've read and experienced, Ruger is questionable at best.

Good Luck.

I had to send it back to Ruger twice for trigger group problems before I even fired it.

[Sure Shot 45]

Ruger, nothing new. Buy a quality weapon.

[operavoice]

A stock mini 30 is a good truck gun, and only as good as the ammo you feed it.
They are not fond of Berdan primers, but you can get a new firing pin from Accuracy Systems that takes care of that problem.

I sank a bunch of money into accurizing mine, and still, cheap factory ammo shoots okay, good factory ammo shoots well (PPU RNSP's are nearly MOA), but my handloads shoot MOA if I do my part.

[elSquid]

( Have a Mini14, not a Mini30. )

Two things to try if you are shooting for groups to see what the rifle is capable of:

1) use quality domestic ammo of instead cheap imported. ( Winchester, etc )

2) grab the factory scope rings from the box and mount a decent quality scope

( I assume that you are shooting from a solid rest on a bench. )

FWIW, I'm not sure why boxer vs berdan primed cases would be an issue?

-- Michael

[DrewN]

( Have a Mini14, not a Mini30. )

Two things to try if you are shooting for groups to see what the rifle is capable of:

1) use quality domestic ammo of instead cheap imported. ( Winchester, etc )

2) grab the factory scope rings from the box and mount a decent quality scope

( I assume that you are shooting from a solid rest on a bench. )

FWIW, I'm not sure why boxer vs berdan primed cases would be an issue?

-- Michael

Because Ruger firing pins are garbage and they want you to send the rifle in to fit a new one. Anyway, FWIW I had ASI convert my -30 to 6.5 Grendel. Truly a sub MOA Mini, but doesn't feed worth a **** because there are no mags. 3 in a factory five is what you get. Beowulf won't fit unfortunately, and those rounds were designed for .223 mags anyway. Kind of a dumb idea on my part I gotta say.

[elSquid]

Because Ruger firing pins are garbage and they want you to send the rifle in to fit a new one.

Interesting. Good to know, and I'll have to keep that info in the back of my head.

I've never had an issue, but then I've only used domestic and quality foreign ammo in my Minis. x39 I only use in COMBLOC guns.

: shrug :

-- Michael

[bohoki]

i love my mini 30 its the old series and i stocked up on usa magazines (which surprisngly work flawless) accuracy wise with a scope its about as good as an sks with open sights i feel lucky if i can hit a coffee can at 100 yards but ive always used chinese or russian ammo

[TMB 1]

i love my mini 30 its the old series and i stocked up on usa magazines (which surprisngly work flawless) accuracy wise with a scope its about as good as an sks with open sights i feel lucky if i can hit a coffee can at 100 yards but ive always used chinese or russian ammo

Friend of mine has old Mini 30, his worked fine with the surplus ammo, just wasn't as accurate with it as it was his handloads.

[operavoice]

FWIW, I'm not sure why boxer vs berdan primed cases would be an issue?

-- Michael

Berdan primer cups are harder than their Boxer counterparts.
It's a well documented issue with the Mini 30.

ASI's hardened firing pin is slightly longer, eliminates the problem for $60 plus shipping if you have the proper tools, a little more if it needs to be installed by a gunsmith.

[BajaJames83]

I really like my mini 30 but I dont expect miracles from it. It blows away AKs imho.
Put in a aftermarket firing pin and it shoots the steel junk now.

[Emdawg]

I have a stainless Mini-30. Only issue is that sometimes it doesn't like to feed the lacquered cases, but that seems less of an issue now for whatever reason. Gun used to eject the spent case and the bolt would simply slide over the lacquered Russky ammo.

Yes, there is a difference in accuracy and reliability when using boxer primes rounds with good brass versus boxer primed, steel cased cheap ammo. For mine, I suspect a tighter tolerance is the cause.

[mj1]

Look to your ammo. save that boxer brass and reload it with a .311" 125g Sierra Game King.

Check your bedding and settle the rifle in the stock buy shooting several hundred rounds from sand bags or other support.

The 7.6X39 was meant to be an area suppression round fired from a rifle with more flex that your 300,000mile F150.

Use RL15 or H4395 and use published load data from the powder brand and start low by at least 10%. It should not take you more than three range days to settle the rifle.

Join a Ruger Mini14 chat board and listen to what works.

Above all be safe and ask questions and dived by a factor of two.

In the next few weeks I will be helping to break in a NIB Mini 30 that is twenty years old and unfired. I will make up the 45 pieces of brass I have to compare with recent RED ARMY the owner has.

I'm going take pictures and compare the results. I have seen 7.62X39 hand loads do two MOA from a bolt and a new Polish SKS but never NorinCo or Russian do better the 4 MOA 5+ from an AK.

Good luck and be safe.

[Mendo223]

Ruger Minis are ranch rifles not precision stuff, i passed the appleseed qualification test with a mini14, as long as you have hit a human sized target in the upper torso at 50-100 youre good! Cant expect small MOAs with these gals , i still love my mini14 for simplicity sake its super fun to shoot. I was tempted in a mini30 to burn up some of this wolf i got stockpiled but think id rather just build an AK.