New Mini 14

[Marksman]

Hello,
As my open sight days are fading fast, I am learning to like scoped rifles. I sighted in my new Mini 14 today and noticed that the factory brass was dented and the slide marked.
Is there anything I can do to avoid beating up the brass and the rifle? I don't have that problem shooting my Ruger American. Thanks for your input. See the pictures below:

Receiver Slide R.jpg (36.63 KiB) Viewed 5981 times

[JAYDAWG]

Mike,
All of my AR's do the same thing. I can actually tell which gun the brass came out of by the location of the dent!
As long as I full length resize the brass when reloading I have not had any problems shooting it again.
Cheers,
JAY

[gunman42782]

It's common for the Mini 14 to do that. At least everyone I ever owned did. About the only thing you could do that might keep it from happening is use smaller gas port bushings, such as these:
https://www.ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/ ... ng-Kit.php

That should help with the brass getting beat up so bad, and keep it from going 30 feet when it ejects. The brass may still hit your charging handle though.

[Marksman]

Mike,
All of my AR's do the same thing. I can actually tell which gun the brass came out of by the location of the dent!
As long as I full length resize the brass when reloading I have not had any problems shooting it again.
Cheers,
JAY

Good to know Jay, I like rifle otherwise. The link from gunman42782 below is a good option. The trigger certainly needs some help too. Mike

[Marksman]

It's common for the Mini 14 to do that. At least everyone I ever owned did. About the only thing you could do that might keep it from happening is use smaller gas port bushings, such as these:
https://www.ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/ ... ng-Kit.php

That should help with the brass getting beat up so bad, and keep it from going 30 feet when it ejects. The brass may still hit your charging handle though.

Thank you for the link, the trigger definitely needs some help too. I think I will send my trigger group to Accuracy Systems and order the addl. gas ports. That should make the Mini 14 a keeper. Mike