Mini 14 ejector

[Scott Tschirhart]

I make no excuses, I absolutely love my Mini 14. No, it isn’t as accurate as some guns, but it’s accurate enough.

I cleaned it today after having it ride behind the seat gathering dust and shooting around 600 rounds.

But I noticed that my ejection is a little inconsistent. So I took
It all the way down. The ejector was a little rounded over and I think it should be a little straighter and sharper.

[Scott Tschirhart]

What does yours look like? This doesn’t look right.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I think it should look like this.

[ollogger]

Yes i think the new one will cure your problem, had to replace one a few years ago
worked like a clock then, i like the mini way better than the AR, just couldnt warm up to them
mine works real well on prairie dogs out to 300 yds as well as coyotes, i quit worrying
about finding all my brass



ollogger

[2ndovc]

Yes i think the new one will cure your problem, had to replace one a few years ago
worked like a clock then, i like the mini way better than the AR, just couldnt warm up to them
mine works real well on prairie dogs out to 300 yds as well as coyotes, i quit worrying
about finding all my brass



ollogger

I'm pretty sure there's some of that brass still in orbit! I've been a big fan of the Mini 14 since I was a kid.

jb

[AJMD429]

.
My best-friend from 3rd grade passed away before we hit 60 yrs of age, but I'll always remember when we 'upgraded' our Ruger 10/22's to Ruger Mini-14's, and at the time although we were both from poor families, we had saved up enough to get our Mini's, and we went in together and bought 1,000 rounds back when surplus ammo in 223 was pretty cheap.

The guns were as accurate as WE could probably shoot unless from a rest, and surely as accurate as we needed. Utterly and completely reliable, too.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I don’t care about energetic ejection of spent brass. I’ve never loaded 5.56/.223 anyway and I don’t intend to start.

I went ahead and ordered a new part and I’m betting that it will resolve all issues.

[2ndovc]

Same here pretty much. I don't think I've loaded more than 40 rounds at the most. Even the good stuff is pretty inexpensive. I always thought the way the Ruger launches empty brass was pretty comical, especially after my first Colt AR where all of my empties were in a nice, neat pile.

jb

[JMick]

Shooting my Mini-14 in a covered shooting shed makes it interesting

[samsi]

A guy had a new Mini at the range a couple weeks back, we were dodging brass 30' away!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I don’t know how many rounds were put through this Mini before I bought it. So along with the new ejector I ordered a new Wolff recoil spring.

I’ll feel better starting out fresh.

[COSteve]

A guy had a new Mini at the range a couple weeks back, we were dodging brass 30' away!

Ruger seems to think that they need to over gas them so they'll cycle no matter what junk ammo is used in them. One of the tweaks I did on my new 583 Series Ranch Rifle back in 2015 was to get a reduced gas bushing and then only tighten the gas block to 25 In/lbs. It went from launching them into low earth orbit to a nice pile about 12-15" away. I could have gone with a smaller aperture in the bushing for a closer pile but I wanted reliable cycling even when it got really cold.

[AJMD429]

A guy had a new Mini at the range a couple weeks back, we were dodging brass 30' away!

Ruger seems to think that they need to over gas them so they'll cycle no matter what junk ammo is used in them. One of the tweaks I did on my new 583 Series Ranch Rifle back in 2015 was to get a reduced gas bushing and then only tighten the gas block to 25 In/lbs. It went from launching them into low earth orbit to a nice pile about 12-15" away. I could have gone with a smaller aperture in the bushing for a closer pile but I wanted reliable cycling even when it got really cold.

Same thoughts here - after getting a Schuster adjustable gas plug for my Garand, I was so happy with the concept that I got an adjustable gas block for the Mini-14. There are a couple different brands out there.

[Scott Tschirhart]

A guy had a new Mini at the range a couple weeks back, we were dodging brass 30' away!

Ruger seems to think that they need to over gas them so they'll cycle no matter what junk ammo is used in them. One of the tweaks I did on my new 583 Series Ranch Rifle back in 2015 was to get a reduced gas bushing and then only tighten the gas block to 25 In/lbs. It went from launching them into low earth orbit to a nice pile about 12-15" away. I could have gone with a smaller aperture in the bushing for a closer pile but I wanted reliable cycling even when it got really cold.

Thanks for the tips! Especially what you PMed me. I’ll try them out.

[Paladin]

A guy had a new Mini at the range a couple weeks back, we were dodging brass 30' away!

Ruger seems to think that they need to over gas them so they'll cycle no matter what junk ammo is used in them. One of the tweaks I did on my new 583 Series Ranch Rifle back in 2015 was to get a reduced gas bushing and then only tighten the gas block to 25 In/lbs. It went from launching them into low earth orbit to a nice pile about 12-15" away. I could have gone with a smaller aperture in the bushing for a closer pile but I wanted reliable cycling even when it got really cold.

Thanks for the tips! I’ll try them out.

*1

[COSteve]

I have a few rifles that I absolutely love to own, shoot and just look at. My Winchester 88, Rossi .357mags, Uberti .45 Colts and in semi-auto, my M1 Garands, M1 Carbines and my Basic Training rifle, an M14. As I can't afford a real M14, I have an excellent shooting M1A with NM sights that I use to shoot at steel at 400 yds. However, even reloading for the M1s and M1A, I'm not rich enough to shoot them as much as I'd like.

So in 2015, I got a new Mini 583 Series Ranch Rifle as it's got the same manual of arms as my other military offerings. Named after and similar to the M14, my Mini just screamed at me to accurise it a bit more. Even though I have the newer, thicker barreled version I wanted as close to a 1MOA shooter as I could get with handloads and I had the desire to make it a scaled down version of my M1A.

Well, with the accuracy tweaks I learned from the guys on Perfect Union, I got it down close to 1MOA but then I got crazy and lusted after a 'Mini M14' so I went a bit nuts and got a walnut stock, Choate sight/flash hider combo that I thinned the front sight like I'd done with the stock one to give me 'NM Like" sights and found 5ea 20 rd straight OE brand mags for it to complete the look.

Surprisingly, the combination of the shimmed walnut stock that's much tighter to the action than the birch one as well as the addition of the Choate sight/flash hider helped the accuracy so I'm right at 1 MOA at 100 yds with my Hornady 62 grn BTHP handloads. It's a joy to shoot bowling pins at 200 yds with as well as plink pine cones in the Rockies. And best of all, I think it came out looking pretty sweet too.

[COSteve]

Shameless pictures of the big and little brothers:

[Scott Tschirhart]

The new ejector makes ejection much more positive!

Now I just need to file that front sight to a thinner blade.

[COSteve]

Techsight's target aperture (.042") insert and my easy to do custom front sight file job work great and give me a 'NM Like sight picture for much more precise aiming. I copied the profile of the front sight from my M1A's NM front sight.

Even though the NM front sight on my M1A is .062" wide at the rear, I calculated that a .050" wide rear on my Mini would more closely duplicate the sight picture as the Mini's sight radius is shorter with it's shorter action and barrel.

Both the original Ruger and Choate front sight blade were in the .075" - .077" wide range. Filing the front blade was simple.

1st I scribed a line bisecting the length of the sight blade.
2nd, I measured from the back of the blade .025" on each side to establish the new rear width.
3rd, I scribed a diagonal line from the back line to the front center on each side to establish the sight shape.
4th, I filed a single side down to the finished profile line. Only when I was finished with the first side did I start on the other side.

Precision and taking one's time is all that is necessary for a well finished job. Don't rush and enjoy the precision. When I was satisfied, I painted the blade flat black and I was done. I used this method so that the blade was still centered in the sight and I didn't have to move the sight laterally after I was done.

[AJMD429]

Shameless pictures of the big and little brothers:

That makes such a cool pair. Two 'classics'...

[COSteve]

I know it's a bit 'anal' but if you look closely at the picture above, I even duplicated the 'lightening hole' in the safety lever on my Mini M14 to duplicate the look of the M1A / M14. With Ruger's hardened steel everything, drilling the hole was no simple task either.

But heck, I love to work on things and dial them into just the way I want them. For instance, my Dillon XL750 has a total of 34 custom touches on it that are mostly hand made rather than bought as I love to tune things to my liking.

From a custom bullet bin using an AkroBin that mounts to a wooden allen wrench bracket (shaped and drilled piece of 2x4) I made to attach to the left strong mount which cost me $8.63 (Including the AkroBin) vs a $74.00 Dillon bullet tray, to a custom center toolhead light using a 20 gauge hull, a LED tail light and cheap 110 - 12 volt transformer and switch that cost me $6.18 vs $39.00 from Inline Fab, those are just a few of the custom things I love to make.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Techsight's target aperture (.042") insert and my easy to do custom front sight file job work great and give me a 'NM Like sight picture for much more precise aiming. I copied the profile of the front sight from my M1A's NM front sight.

Even though the NM front sight on my M1A is .062" wide at the rear, I calculated that a .050" wide rear on my Mini would more closely duplicate the sight picture as the Mini's sight radius is shorter with it's shorter action and barrel.

Both the original Ruger and Choate front sight blade were in the .075" - .077" wide range. Filing the front blade was simple.

1st I scribed a line bisecting the length of the sight blade.
2nd, I measured from the back of the blade .025" on each side to establish the new rear width.
3rd, I scribed a diagonal line from the back line to the front center on each side to establish the sight shape.
4th, I filed a single side down to the finished profile line. Only when I was finished with the first side did I start on the other side.

Precision and taking one's time is all that is necessary for a well finished job. Don't rush and enjoy the precision. When I was satisfied, I painted the blade flat black and I was done. I used this method so that the blade was still centered in the sight and I didn't have to move the sight laterally after I was done.

My next project is to file the front sight thinner and to cut it so I see a flat surface from the butt side of the rifle.