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Posted: 8/5/2022 10:39:27 AM EDT
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I came into these mags today, but I'm not 100% sure what brand they are. The best I can tell is that they are for a Mini-14. Other than that, I haven't a clue. Anybody have an idea who made them? Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File |
I will not compromise!
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
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Attached File |
I will not compromise!
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
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Originally Posted By 18B30: Federal Arms magazine…..some work, some don’t. The company disappeared in the mid 90’s IIRC. Thanks. So, not likely to be worth much? If the company disappeared in the mid 90's, what are the chances these are pre-ban and could be shipped to Massachusetts? |
I will not compromise!
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
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Garbage. Respectfully....toss em. I had a few. The metal was thin, they'd bend and generally took more time fucking with than they ever had spent functioning properly. When it comes to mags, factory ruger 20s are all I buy anymore. Mind you, I use an AC556, so it's a bit pickier. I have yet to have a factory 20 fail. |
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Originally Posted By SiVisPacem: Thanks. So, not likely to be worth much? If the company disappeared in the mid 90's, what are the chances these are pre-ban and could be shipped to Massachusetts? Originally Posted By SiVisPacem: Originally Posted By 18B30: Federal Arms magazine…..some work, some don’t. The company disappeared in the mid 90’s IIRC. Thanks. So, not likely to be worth much? If the company disappeared in the mid 90's, what are the chances these are pre-ban and could be shipped to Massachusetts? Most likely pre-ban….but they are generally range mags at best. I’d offer them the oppressed of Mass for free if they were mine. 18Z50….in mag free Ohio! |
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Originally Posted By 18B30: Most likely pre-ban….but they are generally range mags at best. I’d offer them the oppressed of Mass for free if they were mine. 18Z50….in mag free Ohio! I just offered them up to a verified .mil member in the MA HTF for free. Thanks for the info, brother. |
I will not compromise!
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
Ne Desit Virtus (Let Valor Not Fail) - Rakkasan!
"Life is fucking hard. Either get used to taking a few lumps like the rest of us, or buy a fucking helmet and crawl into a corner somewhere." -Me
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Looks like no-name mags produced in the zillions during lead-up to 1994 AWB. Extract the floor plate and see if there's a name stamped on the hidden side; likely not. No telling if they will work unless one tries them. Often a new GTG spring will work wonders; Std 30-rd springs for the mil AR mags will work; can be cut down for the 20-rd mags if 20-rd mag springs are hard to get. Sometimes the follower needs to be replaced; Midway sells Ruger followers that will probably fit. Often the feed lips need to be gently and carefully bent into proper position, using a GTG mag as a guide. There was a large number of people sharing tips about how to get such mags up and running back when, and some folks had some success. |
Promoted to Member by Ed, Sr.
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Originally Posted By raf: Looks like no-name mags produced in the zillions during lead-up to 1994 AWB. Extract the floor plate and see if there's a name stamped on the hidden side; likely not. No telling if they will work unless one tries them. Often a new GTG spring will work wonders; Std 30-rd springs for the mil AR mags will work; can be cut down for the 20-rd mags if 20-rd mag springs are hard to get. Sometimes the follower needs to be replaced; Midway sells Ruger followers that will probably fit. Often the feed lips need to be gently and carefully bent into proper position, using a GTG mag as a guide. There was a large number of people sharing tips about how to get such mags up and running back when, and some folks had some success. Agreed. The problem with mags where you have to bend the feed lips to work is that the feed lips were never properly hardened in the first place. As such they are soft and get bent out of shape under normal use. So if someone tweaks them until they work, they’ll…until they need to be tweaked again so it’s hard to ver really call them reliable. As others have noted the Ruger mags are a sure thing. They work and they continue to work. There’s a company called “OEM” that rumor sometimes has it claims they manufactured the early straight magazines for the original 180 series Mini 14. I bought a couple 20 rounders and a 10 rounder a few years ago and they seem to work as well as the Ruger Magazines, CDNN used to get a small stock every couple months and quickly go out of stock, but I I haven’t seen them since the pandemic began.  All other Mini 14 magazines are suspect. |
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Originally Posted By DakotaFAL: Agreed. The problem with mags where you have to bend the feed lips to work is that the feed lips were never properly hardened in the first place. As such they are soft and get bent out of shape under normal use. So if someone tweaks them until they work, they'll until they need to be tweaked again so it's hard to ver really call them reliable. As others have noted the Ruger mags are a sure thing. They work and they continue to work. There's a company called "OEM" that rumor sometimes has it claims they manufactured the early straight magazines for the original 180 series Mini 14. I bought a couple 20 rounders and a 10 rounder a few years ago and they seem to work as well as the Ruger Magazines, CDNN used to get a small stock every couple months and quickly go out of stock, but I I haven't seen them since the pandemic began. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h470/SDBB57/Mini%2014/.highres/59423433-4FC2-4AAC-B6F6-BAC143AC15D1_zpsltjo0ok7.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds All other Mini 14 magazines are suspect. Originally Posted By DakotaFAL: Originally Posted By raf: Looks like no-name mags produced in the zillions during lead-up to 1994 AWB. Extract the floor plate and see if there's a name stamped on the hidden side; likely not. No telling if they will work unless one tries them. Often a new GTG spring will work wonders; Std 30-rd springs for the mil AR mags will work; can be cut down for the 20-rd mags if 20-rd mag springs are hard to get. Sometimes the follower needs to be replaced; Midway sells Ruger followers that will probably fit. Often the feed lips need to be gently and carefully bent into proper position, using a GTG mag as a guide. There was a large number of people sharing tips about how to get such mags up and running back when, and some folks had some success. Agreed. The problem with mags where you have to bend the feed lips to work is that the feed lips were never properly hardened in the first place. As such they are soft and get bent out of shape under normal use. So if someone tweaks them until they work, they'll until they need to be tweaked again so it's hard to ver really call them reliable. As others have noted the Ruger mags are a sure thing. They work and they continue to work. There's a company called "OEM" that rumor sometimes has it claims they manufactured the early straight magazines for the original 180 series Mini 14. I bought a couple 20 rounders and a 10 rounder a few years ago and they seem to work as well as the Ruger Magazines, CDNN used to get a small stock every couple months and quickly go out of stock, but I I haven't seen them since the pandemic began. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h470/SDBB57/Mini%2014/.highres/59423433-4FC2-4AAC-B6F6-BAC143AC15D1_zpsltjo0ok7.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds All other Mini 14 magazines are suspect. Very carefully using correct tools (flat-nosed and round-nosed parallel-jaw pliers/Jewelers' pliers) makes a huge difference in manipulating the feed lips properly, and with minimal damage. Ask me how I know. Such "specialized" pliers can be very useful for other small work, and have found many uses for them later on. I've heard about "OEM Manufacture" aftermarket Mini mags. Not to be confused with OEM Ruger Manufacture mags. Confusing, no? Since I had plenty of Mini-14 mags bought and tested long ago, many of them PMI or other decent mags, I didn't buy any "OEM-mfr" mags which are currently unobtainium, and remain unobtainable despite many requests to mfr to offer them again. I did find a vendor who had a stash of Tapco Gen 2 plastic Mini-14 mags, as well as some decent Thermold Mini-14 mags; Both types of 30-rd mags then available at stupid low prices, qith quantity discount. I plundered them mercilessly, and spread the word on perfectunion.com. Vendor was out of stock in a few days, and curently so. Beats me why Magpul does not buy the tooling and rights to make the Tapco Gen 2 Mini-14 mags. It's been suggested to them many times by multiple people with zero response, AFAIK. Nowadays, perfectunion.com is likely the best place to find current advice about Mini-14 mags. Most of the folks there seem to favor 20-rd mags, perhaps ignoring the usefulness of the 30-rd mag as a "Monopod", or perhaps because of a significant number of users there are using Mini-30 rifles, for which 30-rd mags are either scarce, or not available. |
Promoted to Member by Ed, Sr.
| Precision Mag Industries made stainless steel and blued mags that worked well in the Mini-14. If you want stainless, those are the ones to get. Alternatively you can get factory mags and send them off to Mahovsky's Metalife and have them hard chrome plated. Looks like stainless steel. |
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Originally Posted By Ameshawki: I have a couple of the "OEM" magazines. They work but are a very tight fit in my gun. There is also a remote possibility that someone in the past installed the wrong stock reinforcement bracket into your stock. The metal Mini-14 and metal Mini-30 stock reinforcements look to be the same, but they are not. @Ameshawki |
Promoted to Member by Ed, Sr.
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Originally Posted By raf: If by "tight" you mean reluctant to "Lock-in" with the mag release lever, a possible remedy is to gently and gradually file-down the projection on the mag onto which the mag lever locks; also possible the mag release lever is too long. I'd try it with some mags that are known GTG in another Mini, and choose between filing the mags, or replacing/altering the mag release lever. If by "Tight" you mean they are a tight fit side-to-side in the mag well, suggest you take a good look inside and see if the metal stock reinforcement is forcing the "leg(s)" of the receiver inwards a bit. The stock reinforcement should meet the "leg(s) ina "butt" joint, and there should be no "overlap". Solution is to carefully and gradually file down the edge of the stock reinforcement that is forcing the "leg(s)" inwards. Empty mags should drop free on their own. There is also a remote possibility that someone in the past installed the wrong stock reinforcement bracket into your stock. The metal Mini-14 and metal Mini-30 stock reinforcements look to be the same, but they are not. @Ameshawki Reluctant to lock in. Factory mags work perfectly so it's not the gun. I use the OEM mags for range use, they're fine for that. The Mini is one of those platforms that really need to stay with factory mags. I have enough factory mags but am always on the lookout for more at a reasonable price. There's something about Ruger firearms in general and aftermarket mags that never seemed to quite jive. As a rule I run factory mags in all my Rugers. |
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Originally Posted By Ameshawki: Reluctant to lock in. Factory mags work perfectly so it's not the gun. I use the OEM mags for range use, they're fine for that. The Mini is one of those platforms that really need to stay with factory mags. I have enough factory mags but am always on the lookout for more at a reasonable price. There's something about Ruger firearms in general and aftermarket mags that never seemed to quite jive. As a rule I run factory mags in all my Rugers. Originally Posted By Ameshawki: Originally Posted By raf: If by "tight" you mean reluctant to "Lock-in" with the mag release lever, a possible remedy is to gently and gradually file-down the projection on the mag onto which the mag lever locks; also possible the mag release lever is too long. I'd try it with some mags that are known GTG in another Mini, and choose between filing the mags, or replacing/altering the mag release lever. If by "Tight" you mean they are a tight fit side-to-side in the mag well, suggest you take a good look inside and see if the metal stock reinforcement is forcing the "leg(s)" of the receiver inwards a bit. The stock reinforcement should meet the "leg(s) ina "butt" joint, and there should be no "overlap". Solution is to carefully and gradually file down the edge of the stock reinforcement that is forcing the "leg(s)" inwards. Empty mags should drop free on their own. There is also a remote possibility that someone in the past installed the wrong stock reinforcement bracket into your stock. The metal Mini-14 and metal Mini-30 stock reinforcements look to be the same, but they are not. @Ameshawki Reluctant to lock in. Factory mags work perfectly so it's not the gun. I use the OEM mags for range use, they're fine for that. The Mini is one of those platforms that really need to stay with factory mags. I have enough factory mags but am always on the lookout for more at a reasonable price. There's something about Ruger firearms in general and aftermarket mags that never seemed to quite jive. As a rule I run factory mags in all my Rugers. Some folks leave the bolt locked back and then insert loaded mag, but the Mini should be able to have a new mag inserted with a closed bolt, if all the parts align properly. Best wishes! |
Promoted to Member by Ed, Sr.
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Originally Posted By booger-hooker: Back in the day the "go-to" mags from CDNN were called Black Warrior IIRC. I got a bunch of them and never had any issues with them in my AC556 or either one of my Mini-14 factory folders. |
Promoted to Member by Ed, Sr.
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