M14 Forum

triggernick · February 2nd, 2012, 02:13 PM

Howdy.

I bought my wife a mini 14 for Christmas this year (she shot rifleman at an Appleseed with a .22 and said now she wants to do it with a "real gun.") while I'm a m14/m1a shooter the mini 14 made lots of sense. So it finally warm enough to get her to the range this morning...
After firing the rounds are not being extracted from the chamber. When I remove the mag, and cycle the bolt manually it will the extract the casing just fine.

Also if I put a full magazine in and just run the bolt without firing, all rounds are extracted just fine.

I suspect it may be a extractor/spring issue. My thought is that after firing, the round is expanding, making it more difficult to extract? Why does it then come out when I run the bolt manually on the same case that was just stuck after I fired it?

Ideas?

Gas system? Bolt? Timing?

I had a similar issue with a piston AR where there wasnt enough gas to move the bolt all the way back to strip the next round off the magazine, and a larger piston fixed that... It's not the exact same issue, but enough to think it could be a gas bushing issue or something similar.

Ruger is sending me a new extractor and spring, I just hope this is the root of the problem.

LoB · February 2nd, 2012, 03:10 PM

triggernick, I had exactly the same problem with a new Mini-30 Tactical this winter. It is currently at Ruger for repair. I posted about it at "A Perfect Union". I sent it to Ruger because there was also evidence that the bolt was not properly heat treated. You can read the thread here:

http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ruger...case-ammo.html

FWIW, "A Perfect Union" has the best online Mini 14/30 community around . .

hammer 1 · February 2nd, 2012, 03:11 PM

Sounds like a issue with the chamber, the manually run rounds havent had a chance to expand from being fired. Check the chamber, if its used maybe the chamber needs a good scrubbing.

1KPerDay · February 2nd, 2012, 03:41 PM

Contact ruger... they'll take care of you mostly likely.

triggernick · February 2nd, 2012, 03:42 PM

It is brand new, AND I gave ita good cleaning too. Thanks for the link LoB, reading up on it now. I did contact ruger, some c/s lady is sending me a new extractor, I tried to explain that it wouldn't be that, because it DOES extract when i cycle the bolt manually.

triggernick · February 2nd, 2012, 04:07 PM

LoB - we have the same issue for sure! Keep me posted as to what ruger does!

LoB · February 2nd, 2012, 04:10 PM

Roger Wilco!!

Young guns · February 2nd, 2012, 09:40 PM

I would try bending the feed lips on the mag i have done this with great results in the past, a nother old trick is to look at the bottom of the bolt if it has hade to much of the surface on the lower face removed. I had an older mini 14 that did this as well as a M1carbine and i found that if the surface does not have enough material there it will not pick up the round during normal cycling, if this is the case i would recomend a new bolt. a nother idea is to file down the front feed ramp in the barrel that way the bullet is prompted to go up and forward.

LoB · February 3rd, 2012, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young guns

I would try bending the feed lips on the mag i have done this with great results in the past, a nother old trick is to look at the bottom of the bolt if it has hade to much of the surface on the lower face removed. I had an older mini 14 that did this as well as a M1carbine and i found that if the surface does not have enough material there it will not pick up the round during normal cycling, if this is the case i would recomend a new bolt. a nother idea is to file down the front feed ramp in the barrel that way the bullet is prompted to go up and forward.

Young guns, I think you are confusing "FTF" failure to feed with "FTE" failure to extract. In my case the Mini feeds 100 %, I believe this is the case also with triggernick's Mini.

Thanks for the input though, that is a trick that works for FTF's.

triggernick · February 3rd, 2012, 07:20 AM

LoB is Correct. The only only reason it isn't feeding is because the previously fired round is still in the chamber. The weirdest part is that once the round is stuck, all i have to do is pull the op rod back with my hand, let if fly home and then do it again and it Alway extracts/ejects that way . So why not on it's own after the round is fired?

dprice3844444 · February 3rd, 2012, 07:21 AM

weak extractor spring or extractor has burrs/highspots which causes it no not get full grip under recoil

Young guns · February 3rd, 2012, 07:34 AM

Sorry about that was tired when i read the problem, in that case it might be a broken of bad extracter spring. As i recal there is also a small spring operated pin in the face of the bolt below the firing pin that helps push the lower portion of the rim of the fired round away from the bottom. This may need a new spring as well as the original is ether bad or broken. Hope this helps, good shooting.

jismail · February 3rd, 2012, 10:53 AM

I suspect it is the magazine lips interfering with things. You may not even be in 100% battery when your shootig. Mini-14s have a lot of magazine issues with aftermarket stuff, but can easily be addressed by adjusting the magazine lips or if necessary filing them down a bit if they interfere.

I would load a round the normal way by letting the oprod seat the round, and then ensure the bolt is in battery, then remove the magazine, then fire off the round and see if the casing ejects correctly. If it does, then that would indicate to me that the extractor is properly grabbing the case and I would look more towards modifying/replacing the magazine as a first step to ensure it isn't interfering with the bolt movement.

I have had my Mini-14 (581 series) for quite some time and I use aftermarket magazines that needed "adjusting" to work, but other than that, I have never had any issues with the rifle and it is a great addition to my plinking arsenal.

Tommo · February 3rd, 2012, 11:51 AM

+1 for a chamber cleaning and a light polish with Crocus Cloth.

triggernick · February 5th, 2012, 11:22 AM

Hey jismail,

Is that the 5" or socom accu strut on your mini I that photo, or the full size 6"? It looks real nice!