Ruger Mini 30 issue

[Diver07]

I'm sure this has been posted on here somewhere, but a search didn't give me an existing thread.

I have a mini 30 model 5853. I've tried several brands of ammo, Tula, Wolf, PPU, Winchester, hand loads. With certain brands, multiple rounds would not fire. Looking the cartridge over, I would see a small dimple where the firing pin struck, but didn't ignite the primer. Several other brands (Winchester and handloads specifically) I had no failure to fires.

Comparing all the different brands, I noticed that (more predominantly with the steel cases) the primers were seated differently. The primers of the brands I had no problems with where flush with the headstamp. The problematic brands were recessed a bit. The amount of recess seemed to correlate with the amount of failures, the deeper the recess, the worse the problem.

Did a little research and found that other people were having the problem, and it seemed to be the length of the firing pin. Well, the length of the strike end to the shoulder that stops the pins forward movement. So, some of the fixes dealt with using emery cloth to take a little off the shoulder, or smoothing out the bolt face a little. At the time of my last search, it didn't appear that Ruger had a fix for the problem.

Has anyone else run into this? Any other fixes? Or has anyone had any success with Ruger yet? I know I'll be advised to contact Ruger to see if they come up with anything, but I'm asking more for curiosity to see how prolific this issue is.

Thanks in advance.

[Diver07]

Ok. Found some posts...lol...it'd help if I just looked at the thread list. So if anyone is reading this...I'm putting a call into Ruger monday.

[Outpost75]

Driven protrusion of firing pin tip should be 0.028-0.032"

[Diver07]

Will definitely check out of curiosity...even if I do send it back.

[Char-Gar]

The Ruger Mini chambered for the short Russian round is notorious for not handling well the steel case Russian ammo. They were designed for brass case standard ammo and the AK and SK have much looser tolerances and will take the cheap steel case with ease.

[knifemaker]

Ruger set up the mini-30 to operate with boxer primed brass case ammo. The firing pin only protrudes about 32 thousand from the bolt face. The Russian steel case ammo does have the primer seated deeper to prevent "slam fires" in the military AK-47. As a result you get misfires in the mini 30 using Russian steel case ammo. Tula is the worse for misfires.
I removed my firing pin from the bolt and chucked it in the lathe and turned the shoulder down to where I now have 50 thousand protrusion from the bolt face. It cured about 99% of the misfires. Most bolt action rifles have 50-55 thousand firing pin protrusion. I would not go over 50 thousand for fear of getting pierced primers if you have too much protrusion.
There was a vendor on Ebay selling after market mini-14 & 30 firing pins that will give you about 45 thousand protrusion from the bolt face. Drop it in and most of the misfires will be eliminated. I have read where Ruger will not change your firing pin to one that is longer and will tell you that the mini-30 is set up to just operate with proper brass cased boxer primed ammo and for you to only use that ammo.

[Diver07]

Definitely thanks for the info. We'll see what Ruger says monday. But I will check out the aftermarket pin.

[Geezer in NH]

Wolf heavy main spring for the hammer made both of mine fire everything!

[knifemaker]

Geezer some shooters that went to a heavy main spring have reported broken firing pins down the line. Unknown to me if they used Wolf springs or some other after market spring. Wolf springs are excellent springs for firearms.

[Shooter6br]

Steel cases can be a problemwith some semi autos. My Dad had a Russian Tokarff(spelling) Had to use a brass rod toexject the case. Only auto was steel 7.62x54

[merlin101]

Ruger set up the mini-30 to operate with boxer primed brass case ammo. The firing pin only protrudes about 32 thousand from the bolt face. The Russian steel case ammo does have the primer seated deeper to prevent "slam fires" in the military AK-47. As a result you get misfires in the mini 30 using Russian steel case ammo. Tula is the worse for misfires.
I removed my firing pin from the bolt and chucked it in the lathe and turned the shoulder down to where I now have 50 thousand protrusion from the bolt face. It cured about 99% of the misfires. Most bolt action rifles have 50-55 thousand firing pin protrusion. I would not go over 50 thousand for fear of getting pierced primers if you have too much protrusion.
There was a vendor on Ebay selling after market mini-14 & 30 firing pins that will give you about 45 thousand protrusion from the bolt face. Drop it in and most of the misfires will be eliminated. I have read where Ruger will not change your firing pin to one that is longer and will tell you that the mini-30 is set up to just operate with proper brass cased boxer primed ammo and for you to only use that ammo.

Thats one of those little 'nuggets' of information that can really come in handy some day! Thanks!

[dbarry1]

I had this problem a number of years back. It started after firing some cheap ammo I bought at a show. Stuff was loaded too hot and primers were blowing out. Got metal crud (probably pieces of primer) in the bolt. Took it apart and cleaned the bolt and firing pin. That fixed the issue. Good luck.

[Diver07]

Anybody have any luck just lubing the firing pin better?

[Mica_Hiebert]

Had the same problem with my ar15 had to turn the firing pin shoulder for more protrusion and installed a heavier hammer spring and it will now run steel ammo, but it breaks extractors on occasion I wish a few containers of yugo m67 brass cased surpluss would hit our shores again! It's Berdan primed and corosive but hands down my favorite 7.62x39 ammo bar none!

[Diver07]

It may be a concern with no merit, but as far as an after market firing pin as mentioned above, or tuning the shoulder on the factory pin....and considering it's free floating, would the be an increase risk of slam fires? Or primer puncture? I do realize there's a designed "sweet spot" in regards to protrusion measurement. But would either of those become an issue on the longer protrusion?

[Mica_Hiebert]

It may be a concern with no merit, but as far as an after market firing pin as mentioned above, or tuning the shoulder on the factory pin....and considering it's free floating, would the be an increase risk of slam fires? Or primer puncture? I do realize there's a designed "sweet spot" in regards to protrusion measurement. But would either of those become an issue on the longer protrusion?

Primer puncture yes, slam fire no.

[Tackleberry41]

US factory and handloads will have easier to set off primers than the Russian ammo. They have always had hard primers in the military stuff. So combine that with not enough firing pin protrusion and you end up with a rifle that wont work to well with foreign military ammo.

Ruger had a good idea, guess it was the execution that was flawed. Sounds like they figured all they had to do was open up the bolt face and drop in a barrel and it was good to go. Not considering the fact the vast majority of 7.62x39 ammo on the shelf is not US made brass cased but foreign made steel cased. Would imagine if you asked Ruger they would say go buy quality US made ammo. Modifying the firing pin would probably void the warranty, my dad had a mini 14 yrs ago and he lost the little part holding the extractor in, Ruger required sending the rifle back to fix it, would not sell the parts.

[Diver07]

I agree. I love the rifle, love the caliber, and the mating of the platform with the platform. I would love to consider it my everyday grab at a omens notice rifle. Enough that if an aftermarket pin does satisfy me...well fortunately for Ruger I may be buy a mini in .223. I would however prefer the 7.62 round. Descisions, descisions.

[chrispy]

No the same rifle, but same problem in my 77 in 7.62x39. It was stock standard, same issue. Found that Ruger OEM Spring is about 21lb, and seem to gain a 'set' state without much effort. Wolf springs come in heavy poundage for the size and fix that problem instantly.

[Outpost75]

It may be a concern with no merit, but as far as an after market firing pin as mentioned above, or tuning the shoulder on the factory pin....and considering it's free floating, would the be an increase risk of slam fires? Or primer puncture? I do realize there's a designed "sweet spot" in regards to protrusion measurement. But would either of those become an issue on the longer protrusion?

Mini-14 firing pin is NOT "free floating", but is cam retracted by engagement of the tail on the firing pin against the retraction cam of the receiver web, in the same manner as the M1 Garand and M14.

In bolt fit and rifle assembly a long probe with dial indicator is inserted down the bore and the bolt partially unlocked with a slave handle so that the firing pin retraction can be measured to confirm that it is either flush or below the boltface at 7-1/2 degrees rotation.

If you modify or swap parts you may defeat this important safety. On Garand or M1A rifles assembled with non-USGI parts, or rejected parts which didn't gage up in the first place, this feature may not function correctly as designed. Thousands of TRW bolts which were supposed to have been scrapped have ended up on the surplus parts market. I would be very suspicious of any mixed parts-assembled M1A having a TRW bolt in it.

Most slam-fires are caused by improperly seated primers which are not flush with the case head, loose primer pockets which enable a primer to back out of the pocket during the feed cycle, or a blown primer in the previously fired round which left loose debris in the bolt face.