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Mini 14 Magazines

S

Steel Horse Rider

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
2,849
Location
Loveland, Colorado
I am not looking for opinions about how bad Mini 14's are but since I bought a new one today with a beautiful aftermarket stock and since it came only with two 5 round magazines I would like to know what aftermarket if (any) magazines work well with the Mini. Thanks for the information.
 
Not sure what capacity you want but Ruger makes them up to 30rds now. Midway has 5 and 10rd version now;
www.midwayusa.com

Ruger Mag Ruger Mini-14 223 Remington 10-Round Steel Blue

This replacement magazine is a factory original from Ruger. Factory replacement parts are manufactured to the exact same specifications and tolerances...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com

20 and 30's are out of stock there for now. I would go with the factory ones myself. Aftermarkets in the Mini have always seemed a bit iffy.
 
Steel Horse Rider said:
I am not looking for opinions about how bad Mini 14's are but since I bought a new one today with a beautiful aftermarket stock and since it came only with two 5 round magazines I would like to know what aftermarket if (any) magazines work well with the Mini. Thanks for the information.
Click to expand...
If possible get OEM's. Back when they would not sell them to the common folk a LOT of places started making them and they were VERY hit and miss. CDNN has long been good to me. They have some OEM's now and this is what I would go with. They tend to be a little higher but they just work.

Magazines

We have the largest firearm magazine inventory in the USA. We ship all orders from our warehouse in Texas. That means no third parties and no delays.
www.cdnnsports.com www.cdnnsports.com
 
10-round Ruger OEM's.

Just stone the sheared latch engagement edge a little.
 
Spend the extra money for Ruger brand factory mags. Will save you a lot of frustration and expense. Over the years we got aftermarkets to work, but always required bending feed lips and monkeying around with springs and followers. The Ruger mags just load and go. They are absolutely worth the price every time.
 
Ruger 20 and 30 round factory mags have been sold to the public for decades now. Originally Ruger only sold them to LEO’s, but that’s been forever. I haven’t seen the 20’s and 30’s in stock anywhere for a few months, but they do sell them.
 
goon said:
Ruger 20 and 30 round factory mags have been sold to the public for decades now. Originally Ruger only sold them to LEO’s, but that’s been forever. I haven’t seen the 20’s and 30’s in stock anywhere for a few months, but they do sell them.
Click to expand...
The change happened when the family was bought/ kicked out of the Co. That's when they started making and selling what the public wanted. CDNN has both Mini 14 and Mini 30 OEM mags right now.
 
OEM Ruger 20 round mags work fine. The 20 round straight mags,if I remember right were sold by CDNN,will work if you install a Ruger follower.
 
I have not had any issues with Pro Mag. I know they have a bad rap for AR mags but I haven't seen any issues on the Mini-14. I've only fired a little over 100 rounds though, so I've hardly thoroughly tested them yet. Ruger mags are a safer bet, but they don't sell the nickel-plated ones anymore. When did they stop? I haven't seen them since the 80's. I like my nickel-plated mags for the consummate alternative to black rifles. Diversity. I got the 20-round Pro Mag for $20, stripped them, cleaned, found no need to de-burr, dry-lubed, and installed Wolff extra-power follower springs ($5 in 3-packs). I bought all from Midway when the mags were on clearance. They're a couple bucks more at the moment.

Ruger magazines can cost 75% more than Pro Mag and even 40% more than Pro Mag plus Wolff springs. I bought Pro Mag only to get nickel, but the price also helps when you're buying an armload of them. Of course, the savings are worthless if they won't function. That hasn't been my experience so far, but they do have a warranty.
 
JohnB-40 said:
OEM Ruger 20 round mags work fine. The 20 round straight mags,if I remember right were sold by CDNN,will work if you install a Ruger follower.
Click to expand...
The ones I looked at are factory. Did not look to see if they are selling after market which they may well be. If I were to buy another Mini I would pay the little extra and get the OEM (Factory) mags. They just work. Back when the Mini was half what an AR cost I did a lot of playing with them. Back then Ruger had only sold the larger mags to the public for a couple years and then cut them off so they were pricey. We did find ways to make the "better" after market work but it was frustrating and expensive. Often had to burn a lot of ammo while tweaking the damn things to find what would work. Now that anyone can just buy factory its well worth it to just buy them and save the ammo and frustration of trying to make others work.
 
When I got my Mini-14 some years ago, I was in the same position, what mags to buy?

Figured not all the aftermarket stuff could be bad, so I bought a few different brands. . I was wrong, all kind of sucked.

Wasted money I could have spent on the OEM stuff. John Masen were particularly bad.
 
Speedo66 said:
When I got my Mini-14 some years ago, I was in the same position, what mags to buy?

Figured not all the aftermarket stuff could be bad, so I bought a few different brands. . I was wrong, all kind of sucked.

Wasted money I could have spent on the OEM stuff. John Masen were particularly bad.
Click to expand...
Same here. Bought my first Mini-14 in 1996-ish. No aftermarket magazine ever worked well, they all ended up smooshed in a vise or made into an action block with a chunk of wood in it so I could work on it using the vise to hold it.

Once Ruger OEM mags became available, every one of those 20 and 30 rounders have worked 100% in the Mini-14s (I added a brand new, unfired police trade-in from my old agency for $415. Our office switched to AR’s a couple of years ago). For my Mini-30, its been OEM 20 rounders with a spotless performance record for me.

Nice pick up! The newer models are very good guns, I think you will be happy with it. I have a bit of experience with Mini-14’s as an armorer, my prior employer had me oversee the 70-odd Mini-14’s formerly in our inventory.

The Mini’s were deputy-proof, reliable and tough. The negs that caused us to switch them out were not performance related. The swap was made because red dot optics and lights weren’t the easiest to mount, ergonomics were one size-fits all, and new hires had zero experience with them compared to AR rifles. (This made initial training and qualifications take a much longer time and many guys never really felt confident with them.)

Let us know how it shoots for you once you get new mags. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
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Steel Horse Rider: Yes.

I never buy any first gun type/different series without having an OEM mag within the first few days.

The higher price vs. the lower price for an aftermarket mag can quickly help determine whether just a mag might be faulty, or -- Heaven Forbid -- wondering whether the feed ramp isn't correct....

The need to avoid worrying about a fault Inside a gun makes even a pricey OEM mag worth it, at least for me.
 
westernrover said:
I have not had any issues with Pro Mag. I know they have a bad rap for AR mags but I haven't seen any issues on the Mini-14. I've only fired a little over 100 rounds though, so I've hardly thoroughly tested them yet. Ruger mags are a safer bet, but they don't sell the nickel-plated ones anymore. When did they stop? I haven't seen them since the 80's. I like my nickel-plated mags for the consummate alternative to black rifles. Diversity. I got the 20-round Pro Mag for $20, stripped them, cleaned, found no need to de-burr, dry-lubed, and installed Wolff extra-power follower springs ($5 in 3-packs). I bought all from Midway when the mags were on clearance. They're a couple bucks more at the moment.

Ruger magazines can cost 75% more than Pro Mag and even 40% more than Pro Mag plus Wolff springs. I bought Pro Mag only to get nickel, but the price also helps when you're buying an armload of them. Of course, the savings are worthless if they won't function. That hasn't been my experience so far, but they do have a warranty.
Click to expand...
The only aftermarket mags I kept are a couple of the nickel Promags. They have a blue plastic follower and feed fine, but are very difficult to insert and remove.

I saw a couple of factory nickel 20-rounders at a local shop yesterday. I didn't bother to ask what they wanted for them because I have plenty- but Im sure they weren't cheap.
 
dh1633pm said:
@Beck what say ye? I have Ruger factory 10’s and five’s for mine.
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Well, I have a Mini-30. Ruger factory 5 and 20 have worked flawlessly, but Ruger factory 10 for x39 not so much. I got rid of the two factory 10s I had, and am sticking with ProMag 10s, which I can at least fix if there are any issues. I've got five of them running well.

I also have five of the USA brand 10-Rnd, and those work flawlessly in my Mini-30 without need for tweaking.
 
Last week I traded a few of my cheap guns for a new Mini-14, so I didn't spend any "new" money.

Why a Mini? Because I have about 20 factory mags from my previous Mini's and I haven't owned a Mini for over 10 years. This new model seems much better finished and finer made than any of my old Mini's which for the money they are going for now had better be the case.

I chose the Mini over the new SFAR. Which I might eventually get anyway--once the bugs are worked out.
 
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