First time out with Mini 14

[kbm6893]

Picked up a stainless/synthetic ranch rifle and am glad i did. I brought along one of my AR's as well. The Mini feels much smoother to shoot. With the AR, you can really feel the buffer spring "schwang" as it cycles. The Mini was actually a bit more accurate for me, but I must admit both the guns were new, and the weather was too crappy to go back and forth to the target checking groups to adjust the sights. either way, they were all in the kill zone. Two issues I did have:

The mini THROWS the brass. I'm talking 15-20 feet. When a guy showed up on my right to shoot, I had to put the mini away. It was too distracting for him.

Secondly, two different times, while chambering the first round, it sounded a bit different. Pulling the trigger resulted in a 'click". Pulled the bolt open a bit, and saw the round in the chamber. Fulling pulling it open extracted the rounds. Both times, it only happened on the first round in the mag. The mags in question were both Ruger factory. One 20 round, and one 30. Don;t recall wich mags it did it with. Wolf ammo both times

Love the gun, but getting the bolt in upon reassembly is a PITA. I guess I'll get used to it.

Got the gun from CDNN for $649. Great deal.

 

[blume357]

were you letting the bolt slam forward on the first round or were you 'guiding' the first round in?

It needs to slam that round home.

there is a way to fix the 'twang' from the AR recoil spring but I don't know how. I have two and one did it at first until I broke it down and put it back together. So, I'm not sure what I did to fix it..

 

[kbm6893]

I pulled back on the bolt and let it go. Didn't ride it. The rounds fired when I put them back in the mag.

 

[pisgah]

>there is a way to fix the 'twang' from the AR recoil spring but I don't know how.

The twang is part of the design, but it can be eliminated by lightly greasing the recoil spring.

 

[BearHawk 357]

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Don't take away my Corvette, my girlfriend or my twang.....
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[Rix86]

mine had failure to fire's with wolf as well.
hard impacts on primer, but no fire.
let em sit for a while, refired, and they all went off the second time around.

 

[CanonLyles]

Wolf is notorious for all the bad reasons. Some AK's won't even fire it.

 

[goredsox]

please elaborate on "some ak's won't even fire it?"...not a challenge, I'm curious to hear more.

To fire my own editorial salvo -- As for the quality of wolf ammo... the wolf gray box stuff does indeed suffer from some FTF problems now again... those primers are tough. However, still worth the low low price IMHO. At least I've seen worse...

On the otherhand, the Wolf Gold is the best price/performance stuff out there... actually, most of the Wolf Gold is actually rebranded Prvi Partizan ammo. Good stuff from the Balkans.

My mini-14 digs the 75gr Wolf Gold/Prvi Partizan

 

[CanonLyles]

Let me get a little more specific. I know a few guys who's AK won't cycle but 50% of a clip of Wolf (not Gold, no experience with it) and others won't fire 50% of the clip the first go around. Some others eat it up like a fat kid (or fat kids on the inside, me for one lol) like cake with their name on it. AK's are supposed to shoot everything everytime. Considering nothing is wrong with it. Some LE shooting schools don't allow Wolf ammo at their range.

So, mostly trouble cycling Wolf brand. The last AK I fired a few weeks back shot Wolf with no trouble. And, I have seen worse too, i.e. Egyptian surplus with VERY hard primers. The guy at the gun shop said not to even try that with Chinese AK's or Mini-30's. The Yugoslovian surplus though, was great and had a little more punch than Wolf.

 

[mattsbox99]

Its an ammo problem not a gun problem, I've seen lots of non combloc guns choke on Wolf ammo, now called "Herter's".


The only way to fix the AR Twang is to sell the AR. Its majorly annoying. Para Ordnance does make an AR with the spring on the op-rod, so no twang in your ear either. I sold my ARs and bought another Garand, nothing better than the old M1.

 

[wetidlerjr]

...The only way to fix the AR Twang is to sell the AR. Its majorly annoying. Para Ordnance does make an AR with the spring on the op-rod, so no twang in your ear either. I sold my ARs and bought another Garand, nothing better than the old M1.

:lol:

 

[blume357]

My second AR had that 'twang' and yes it was annoying... especially since my first one a DMPS M4 never did it. Now that one doesn't do it either, I don't know what i did, but it worked.

I can't even imagine carrying and shooting an M1 these days. I'm not so much putting the gun down as that it is a fine example of how the men that carried and shot that rifle back in the 40's and 50's were some tough SOBs.

 

[Rix86]

try an AR with a 5.7x28 upper.
the twang is just about all you hear...

 

[mattsbox99]

I have a couple friends with suppressed ARs and the twang is the loudest part. I bet that 5.7 is a quiet round, its about the speed of the .22 Hornet.

 

[goredsox]

The Yugoslovian surplus though, was great and had a little more punch than Wolf.

This was most likely made by Prvi Partizan... as I said before... it's the best thing since peanut butter. Hopefully the word will spread and they start shipping more for sale here in the US. The other cheap-but-good stuff I liked was PMC back when it was still owned by the SKoreans.

 

[Rugerlvr]

Its an ammo problem not a gun problem, I've seen lots of non combloc guns choke on Wolf ammo, now called "Herter's".


The only way to fix the AR Twang is to sell the AR. Its majorly annoying. Para Ordnance does make an AR with the spring on the op-rod, so no twang in your ear either. I sold my ARs and bought another Garand, nothing better than the old M1.

Actually, Herter's is a Cabela's store brand, and they contract Wolf to make certain calibers for them under the Herter's name.