Mini 14 first round flyer issues

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ryanthace

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Rocanville, SK
I was wondering if anyone else on here has had a problem with their mini 14 shooting the first round quite a ways off the actual poi the gun is sighted in for? If so what was your solution? Mine seems to be doing this with factory and aftermarket mags.
 
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Thats what my 582 series stainless mini would do very consistently, pitch the first round about 4" low and 2" left. My solution was to sell it as I understand that this is relatively common issue and i could not handle groups worse than my sks. Maybe somebody has experience with the barrel struts, and whether they correct the issue.
 
Only ONE flier? Lol! I had four with every mag...my favourite gun, despite their being reliably inaccurate. My favourite descriptions include, "I could throw a handful of bullets and get a better grouping", and "couldn't hit the floor, if I dropped it." Hahahahaha!

But seriously, an accustrut helped narrow the pattern, and it goes bang every time I pull the trigger. Now I can get pie plates at 50yds all day long. :)

I'm using factory mags, and not sure how a mag would affect poi, though. Isn't there something about matching bullet weight with twist rate that could affect poi? Seem to recall some mention of those things with respect to ar's, which would likely apply to this rifle, too...
 
The mags are really tight and actually stop the bolt from going into battery if I put a full mag in on an open bolt. I think that this is causing that first round to be chambered slightly differently than the rest, hence the first round flyer. Maybe as the mags get broken in things will get better or I was also thinking about a stronger recoil spring to help push those tightly seated rounds easier/better. Thank you both for your replies. Also after that first round flyer the gun was grouping pretty decently for a semi auto and my low skill.
 
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Not sure what the mag would have to do with fliers?? :confused:

My Mini-14 shoots not too bad. With select ammo it groups as shown. :cool:

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3 shot group at 100 meters off the bench

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7 shot off-hand group at 100 meters

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Might try checking your sight picture, just to ensure you are looking squarely through the glass. That's been something I've had to watch for.

As for the first round, if the mag is pinned, it might not have been done quite right - I've got a 4 1/2 - 10rd Ruger mag that I can only load four into.

Otherwise, as you've mentioned check you aim / technique overall...could be (as our IT geeks at work say), "user interface problem."
 
Thanks for all the input, it is much appreciated. The part that makes me think its the mag causing the issues is the fact that it fails to feed that first round of five due to the spring tension in the magazine, and I have to push the handle forward to load the round. After I do this the first shot will be a flyer and the next four, which feed perfectly fine, were grouping really well in my opinion. I also watched a video on youtube where the guy addressed this very same issue by loading the first round directly into the chamber by hand. I was hoping some one who had a similar experience could shed some more light on this until I have the chance to get back out and do a lot more thorough testing with different ammo and other things.
 
Not sure on the mini 14, but I've read the horror stories on this site about guys manually loading the first round and the consequences it can have when closing the bolt on the bullet. Pretty sure that was a m14/ m305 but As we know the mini is a scaled down action of that rifle. I also have a newer mini 14 with barrel strut and ultimak. I don't have the first round feed issue you have. How many different mags have you tried? I should scope my rifle and do some accuracy tests also to see if the stuff I've done actually helped the groups tighten up. Sorry I don't have much better input, like others said, try loading 4 rounds only.
 
Feeding problems are one thing, and may be related to mags (at least it seems so in your case), but something else is likely tossing the first round. Once a round is chambered - either by hand or by mag - then it's the same as subsequent rounds - the gun doesn't know which one is up. Once the pin hits the primer, the magic happens in the case and the projectile heads down the barrel, just like the next one & the previous one...

Maybe after the barrel heats up and warps out a bit the poi might change, but not after one shot...and if the following three or four group we'll, that proves my theory.

I think loading only 4 rds in the mag would be a useful exercise for comparison.

You might pick up some Ruger mags as well.

Otherwise, double check your technique and maybe ask someone else to try it out and watch you to see if they identify any user input errors. I think looking at the mags for the cause of a flier won't reveal the real problem.

IMO :)
 
So as per my google search I read some things I think could help. As a mini owner I have hope for you to resolve this issue. Lol.
What I've gathered is the way the bolt engages the first round when manually put into action could be different than the next preceding rounds that follow, which are engaging by way of the gas system/op rod ect. The remedy was to polish the parts where wear marks show, hopefully causing a more efficient action.
Others said shimming/bedding the stock could help. With the way these guns are locked into the stock I can see a poor fitting stock causing some grief.
If the gun is quite new maybe run some federal 5.56 through it. (Assuming it's the ranch model) that should work the action in a little better than some .223. When I first got mine I put a couple hundred 5.56 down the pipe and it would throw the brass 20-40 feet. I shot some umc.223 and they maybe ejected 5'.
 
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