7 Aug: Completely disassembled, cleaned, scrubbed, and reassembled with proper lubrication. I was able to turn the ban era Butler Creek stock in a folding stock from the welded fixed position. Added a new rear sight, handguard, brake / front sight combo, and accustrut. Still need to drill the gas block for the set screws and fix the gap between the handguard and stock. Otherwise its all ready to test when I got back down in September.

Best of all, once I finished it, he said, "keep it". So I'm gonna trade him an extra AR I have for it instead.



ETA: Seeing I need to tighten the set screws on the brake also.

I brought it home, rated for .223 and it had a steady diet of 90 round drum mags of 5.56 tracer so I gotta break it down and figure out what is broken.

I’m thinking slide spring, gas piston, or something with the sear. Good news is barrel looks okay. So as long as the receiver is okay I should be able to fix and load him some .223 level rounds for future use.

More to come once I get off next and can inspect the cleaned parts.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: OttoSig, August 07, 2024 06:09 PM

Your post is unclear...

Is something actually broken/malfunctioning?

Or are you just concerned that something might be broken because he fired a bunch of 5.56 through a rifle that's ostensibly only rated for .223?

If the latter, then don't sweat it. Ruger states that even older .223 marked Minis can handle 5.56.

If the former, then it likely broke due to the high volumes of rapid fire from that trigger crank, not because it was 5.56 ammo he was firing. You'd have experienced the same with a similar rate and volume of .223 fire. Once you get it back up and running, rather than specifically loading .223 loads for him, instead suggest that he just ease off on the crank a bit.

J,

Sorry, yeah, something is broken. I haven’t taken it apart yet but it will no longer feed as he stated. I don’t know if it won’t fire the round in the chamber or not. He handed my a “broken” gun to fix.

And that’s what I told him, might want to throw that activator away.

Will it feed OK from a straight mag?

I'll know better when I get it out of the case and start messing with it. I'll update the post with what I find. I haven't broken it down yet.

He told me the buffer was broken. I haven't taken it apart to confirm yet, but that would make sense.

Strange, must be an older one. Mine is rated for 5.56.

quote:

Originally posted by JonDaddy82:
Strange, must be an older one. Mine is rated for 5.56.

Even the older models are OK for 5.56. The only Mini-14 that is strictly .223 is the Target Model.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:

quote:

Originally posted by JonDaddy82:
Strange, must be an older one. Mine is rated for 5.56.

Even the older models are OK for 5.56. The only Mini-14 that is strictly .223 is the Target Model.

Must have been as Rogue mentioned, just a rate of fire issue on some part internally. I’m on mid shift until Wednesday, will be breaking it down this weekend.

I was pretty sure I knew what the activator was (at least the crank type) but I Googled it anyway ant it turns out there are several, including the bump or slide stock. Then I saw this:

Got it all broken down, cleaned up, and went to town with steel wool.

I can’t find a single thing wrong, other than…does the gas pipe normally have a tiny amount of play on mini-14s?

I don’t own any me to compare but if so I’ll buy a new one when I’m buying sights.

quote:

I can’t find a single thing wrong, other than…does the gas pipe normally have a tiny amount of play on mini-14s?

Not sure if you received my email, Ottosig (things are crazy as I migrate to a new laptop) but it's normal. A certain amount of play is necessary so the cylinder and piston can come together smoothly.

To the top!

Nice.

The Tech Sights rear is a great upgrade from the stock peep sight. I have one on my Mini as well.

Good stuff, Mr Otto!

So why was it malfunctioning? What was broken/wrong with it?

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
So why was it malfunctioning? What was broken/wrong with it?

Couldn’t find anything wrong. There was quite a bit of gunk, the consistency of sorghum, built up on most parts internally. He claimed that was from sitting for 10 years but it’s the only thing I can think of. I’ll test it next time I got down and go from there, but I’m pretty confident it’ll function just fine.

^^That's quite a common occurence for Minis that have been settin' around a while. Sometimes the bolt gets competely frozen (easy to free up, though).

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
^^That's quite a common occurence for Minis that have been settin' around a while. Sometimes the bolt gets competely frozen (easy to free up, though).

She’s slicker than owl shit now, Sir. And thank you for all your help. Couldn’t resist grabbing one of your accu-struts after we spoke!

TY!!! Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kkina, August 17, 2024 03:03 AM