Ammo testing: Is YOUR Mini-30 a picky eater?

[Mosinka]

Okay, so I decided once and for all that I was going to take my Mini-30 out to my range and test a variety of foreign ammunition. Having had poor results with the Tula 7.62x39 in the Mini-30, I installed a Wolff XP hammer spring, hoping that this would correct the failure to fire that I was experiencing at least 30% of the time.

I wanted the Mini-30 to be my favorite rifle of all times, but having had issues with the Tula ammo, and having read about the issues others had experienced, I was disappointed, but determined to resolve the issue. As of this time, the SKS is my favorite rifle. It eats whatever you put on its plate. And I can buy TWO of them for the price of a Mini-30.

It is my contention that a rifle designed around this round ought to be able to perform as well as my SKS. Why not? Ruger is bragging about the extra heavy hammer spring that drives the titanium alloy pin in their new SR-1911. So why can't they do the same with the Mini-30? I've written to the CEO, Michael Fifer, and will update you all when I get an answer from Ruger.

I thought that the issue was the Berdan primers being too hard for the hammer spring, so I upgraded the spring. All of the ammo tested below is Berdan primed ammo.

MEANWHILE, here are my results from a day at the range with SIX boxes of eastern bloc 7.62x39mm ammo (and my SKS to eat the ammo that my Mini-30 won't):

1. Tula: feeds fine, but still gives me a failure to fire on about 30% of the rounds. All of those rounds show a dent in the primer, and all rounds DID fire in the SKS. Some, but not all, fired on a second try in the Ruger.

2. Wolf (WPA): No failures to fire, but occasional shells had difficulty loading and got stuck feeding from the magazine. I'm guessing that this has something to do with the polymer coated steel casing. Maybe it's catching on the magazine. Or maybe there was something about the soft point on these rounds that was not feeding into the breech smoothly. I couldn't really determine which was the problem.

3. Brown Bear: Exactly the same results as with Wolf. The casing appears to be identical, and probably comes from the same source.

4. Corrosive Yugoslavian brass case ammo: No issues of any kind.

5. Silver Bear: This is zinc plated steel case, I believe. No issues either loading or firing. The Mini-30 loves this stuff.

6. Golden Bear: Brass plated steel, I think. Identical results as with Silver Bear. No issues of any kind.

 

[bai78]

My results are rather similar to yours. At this time I just stick with Golden Bear & the mil surplus ammo. I've had good results with Egyptian surplus as well!

As you have done, I have a Saiga in 7.62 to take eat up whatever ammo is a FTF from the M30. That also means I can jump on whatever bulk deal is out there & not worry if it will go bang.

 

[Al James]

The mini hammer spring is calibrated for soft American commercial primers. All of the ammo you had issues with use Milspec [hard, or less sensitive] primers to prevent slamfires in guns that do not have spring loaded firing pins. My solution to this problem is to not run any steel cased ammo in my minis. Not only is it 100% surefire but it is cleaner and in theory easier on the rifles chamber. I only use steel cased ammo in the guns that were designed for it [SKS, AK] Hope this helps.

 

[Mosinka]

The mini hammer spring is calibrated for soft American commercial primers. All of the ammo you had issues with use Milspec [hard, or less sensitive] primers to prevent slamfires in guns that do not have spring loaded firing pins.

Yes, I understand this, Al. The Berdan primers are harder than boxer primers. BUT since the 7.62x39 is ammo of Russian origin, I believe that Ruger ought to have designed a rifle capable of handling any ammo that the Russian factories could crank out. Otherwise, why bother? Ruger is capable of this, and I am very disappointed. Ruger owes us better.

 

[blume357]

My wife's car specifically says it needs a minimum 93 octane gas.... if I put 87 octane in it and it ran like crap... would I blame the car?

Buy cheap ammo and blame the gun?

You can get brass cased 7.62x39 factory reloaded in bulk from Georgia Arms....

http://georgia-arms.com/762x39fullmetaljacket-50rds-1.aspx

 

[Mosinka]

Yes, I do. When no other rifle chambered in 7.62x39 has this issue, I do blame the gun. Thanks for the link, though. Not a bad price, even if they ARE reloads.

 

[Al James]

The mini hammer spring is calibrated for soft American commercial primers. All of the ammo you had issues with use Milspec [hard, or less sensitive] primers to prevent slamfires in guns that do not have spring loaded firing pins.

Yes, I understand this, Al. The Berdan primers are harder than boxer primers. BUT since the 7.62x39 is ammo of Russian origin, I believe that Ruger ought to have designed a rifle capable of handling any ammo that the Russian factories could crank out. Otherwise, why bother? Ruger is capable of this, and I am very disappointed. Ruger owes us better.

Yeah, sorry about that. I reread your post after I made mine and realized is was redundant. Sorry.

Funny thing about the whole thing is that if you think Ruger dropped the ball NOW I'm glad that you didn't buy one of the original mini's with the .308 bore diameter instead of the current .310 or the transitional taper bore. Now those rifles were really hamstrung to use American ammo only! Ruger is a great company but I agree that occasionally they do make you scratch your head and ask "Why?"

 

[Mosinka]

True, Al. A gunsmith friend of mine was telling me about the redesign of the bore. Mine is a fairly new Mini-30 (series 581), so at least I don't have THAT issue to contend with. But I agree with you totally.

I love my Rugers, and I'm only saying that this one rifle COULD be much BETTER (and possibly as good as a $300 SKS) with a few simple alterations.

I am very happy with the results I get with Silver Bear and Golden Bear ammo, however. So those will be my ammo for the Mini-30. I didn't test them prior to changing the hammer spring for the Wolff XP. Eventually, I will conduct the same test with another identical Mini-30 without the upgrade. If anybody has tried this already, I'd like to know the outcome.

 

[MOUNTAIN WILLIAM]

I also run a Wolff XP recoil spring in all of my Mini's, especially the 30's. Back in the day that was the only thing that spelled success with the crappy aftermarket mags.

 

[Leucoandro]

My understanding is that some of the russian mil surplus stuff takes not so much a harder punch from the firing pin, but a deeper punch. This is why Model 1 Sales sells special upgrade 7.62 firing pins with 7.62 kits.

If Ruger were to make the firing pin protrude further, then there is a higher possibility of a ruptured primer (seen often on AK's and SKS's) or slightly possible, a slam fire.

If you want to fire milspec ammo, I would suggest an aftermarket firing pin. You then can test trim the length to what you would want for milsurp.


Charlie

 

[Leucoandro]

Also, be advised that the creosol like material from the barrel that they (many Russian companies) use to waterproof the bullet/case seating point is a PITA to clean.

Quick test. Look down the barrel to see it it has a dull hazy appearance after you believe you have finished cleaning the firearm. If you see that, run a dry patch on a Jag. If it catches or has a sticky feel, then you have that creosol like material in the barrel......Get ready for a combined 30+ hour cleaning job.


Charlie

 

[spacecoast]

I am new to both the forum and to Ruger Firearms, and having recently bought a NIB Mini-Thirty I can add the following in regards to ammo.

After two outings and about 420-450 rounds through it I had 3 FTF. 2 of them fired on second attempt and the last one required a 3rd attempt, but eventually fired (I know, if it doesn't fire on 2nd attempt, discard).
I used a mix of 2 brands of ammo, both East Block, the first being Brown Bear and the other some surplus brass ammo I picked up at the local gun show.
The result is better than I expected and feared, so I am happy with the performance.

 

[Mosinka]

The surplus was probably Yugo. If so, it's probably corrosive, so just be careful to do the right maintenance. I had the same experience. Brass milsurp shot fine.

Did you experience any loading issues with the Brown Bear? I have excellent results with Silver and Golden Bear, but not so much with Brown Bear. It fires without failure, but does not always LOAD smoothly for me.

 

[spacecoast]

The Brown Bear ammo loaded just fine. No problems except those 3 FTF's I mentioned.

Thanks for the heads up on corrosive ammo. I'll take a peek and see how bad it looks inside.

 

[Joker18]

Just a note on the corrosive ammo. It is usually due to the potassium chlorate compound used in the primer. A swab with soapy water, and then a regular cleaning and you're good to go.

 

[bai78]

Bore mops are your friend when cleaning after using corrosive ammo.

 

[spacecoast]

Quick update on the condition of the rifle after firing the cheap Brown Bear and Yogu ammo.
No rust at all inside the breech or on the bolt head or anywhere else. I was a bad boy and didn't read here until days after I shot it, and subsequently had put it away without cleaning. A week later (past weekend) I took it to the range, but I looked inside the breech for tell tale signs of rust and found nothing out of the ordinary.

On the note of cleaning.
I am surprised to see how "clean" it is in the breach area after shooting it. I have pistols, actually all my pistols, that look worse after just one mag, than this one looked after 100+ rounds through it. The trigger assy. looked like the day I received it. No GPR, no black oil, no nothing!
Wish the same can be said about the gas system. This was caked with black coating, which was really hard to get off certain areas, but with some determination, Nitros solvent and elbow grease it finally gave way.

I am really enjoying this little rifle, and with my limited marks man skills, this thing is plenty accurate at 50. WIll try at 100 next time and see where my grouping is. 100 will be what I will use as my base setting on all the sights.

 

[4Sixteen]

No issues with any of the steel case milsurp ammo in my Mini 30, digests it as well as my Russian or Chinese SKS's.

Using a rest it groups around 4" at 100 yards with that ammo - a lot of flyers - but it's sure fun to plink with. Shown here with a Leupold Mark AR 1.5x4 scope. 8)

 

[chefrob1]

i've got an older mini with a 196 prefix that has only seen the commi stuff and has the same amount of hicups as my mak 90, both i say are mag/ammo factors........even with the new hi cap mags from ruger. i never had any issues with the 5rd mag and i have never done the wolf spring/pin mod.

 

[spacecoast]

I managed to get a few more outing to the range, mainly to sight in my scope at 100 yards, and as far as ammo is concerned, it feeds and ejects 100% of the time, but still the occasional FTF.
I'd say my success rate with the east block ammo is about 98%, and occasionally I have to try a second time around to make it go bang.

All in all this is better than expected when I bought the rifle and the ammo, and much better than I feared. I did have another problem but not sure if that was the rifle or the scope. That will be addressed in a new topic here.