Real life intrudes. I got a couple things in my civilian life that I need to get on top of so it’s going to be thin postings for a couple days.
Meanwhile….
Various reports say that between one and five million magazines made their way into California during that little window of opportunity a few weeks ago. Everything I read, which may or may not be true, says that wholesalers, retailers, vendors, and pretty much everyone in the business made it a point to prioritize getting the California orders expedited. I would imagine its the first time in history so many have done so much for a state that they normally disdain.
It should be very interesting to see how this shake out in the courts (as well as seeinghow far it gets). Getting this sort of thing bumped up to the Supremes, could be very interesting and the stakes could be higher than some states are willing to risk.
My own magazine needs are pretty well met, but mags are a consumable. And, theyre a very portable commodity that can be sold or traded for rather easily. So, really, unless you’re running for your life or trying to swim, you can’t have too many.
And speaking of mags, this looked interesting: CDNN has ‘OE’ 20-rd straight Mini-14 mags for $15
Details
RUGER® MINI-14® 223 20RD MAGAZINE ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT
This magazine is original equipment; which means it’s manufactured in the same factory using the same process as the magazines that shipped with the gun originally.
Hmm. Aftermarket mags are always a crapshoot with the Mini-14 but these might not be bad. For $15 they might be worth a risk. If anyone tries them, let me know.
OE is the name of a company that makes mags and parts, not necessarily in the same factory or equipment. however i have owned a couple different items they make and so far they have been reliable and true to spec. just be wary of a name like that. Colt Competition brand is not Colt either.
OE in this case stands for Original Equipment not a brand name, this is copied from the web site (This magazine is original equipment; which means it’s manufactured in the same factory using the same process as the magazines that shipped with the gun originally.) CZ just shortened it to OE figuring we all knew what that meant.
A local shop has MFT mags for the AR platform, 7 bucks. Yep 20 were bought. Capitalize when possible.
Thanks for the heads up on the Mini-14 mag deal. I actually prefer the 20 round size and will give those a try.
Ordering 5 mini-14 mags now and will test out very soon. CDNN also has fully ribbed 30 rd AKS mags on sale for $9 (marked down from $15) so some of those went in the cart as well. Dammit, may as well throw in some AR mags, impulse buying at it’s best.
“….between one and five million magazines made their way into California during that little window of opportunity….”
Only 6 dudes got magazines?!? What a pity…..
LOL!
I know Classic Arms has been urging Californians to buy the magazines while they can, they anticipate that the state will do something to make them illegal again.
I have some aftermarket magazines for the Mini-14 that work really well. I got them in the early 1990’s, they’re steel with a nickle finish, 30 rounders. I’m pretty sure the outfit that made them went the way of USA mags though, as I haven’t heard anything from them or of them in a long while.
I did buy some of those plastic (zytal?) magazines from Sportsman’s Guide awhile back and they work ok. Some folks said they had problems with them, but they worked alright in my rifle.
I just talked to a guy a CDNN. They are out of the 20-round magazines. He said that these mags are not identical to the Ruger mags, even though made in the same factory. There could still be issues from one Mini to the next.
Ruger is very proud of their magazines if the price is any indication. I really believe that there is no reason whatsoever to buy a Mini today, given AR prices now. Back in the 80s when Colt held a monopoly, the Mini-14 was the “poor man’s AR” and that is the only reason I bought one.
One thing that the Mini-14 has going for it is that steel case ammo shoots just fine. It is the inherent inaccuracy of the Mini-14s produced in the first 30 years or more that is the problem. Why Bill Ruger sold guns whose barrels reacted to the passage of bullets through them like bullwhips needs explaining.
It’s been a long time, so I don’t recall the source, but the word was that you had to know the twist rate of each Mini-14’s barrel, and match the proper bullet weight to it. That they were very sensitive to a mismatch in this regard. Also, you had to verify the rate, you could not guess by series #’s.
This would seem to indicate that Ruger had been stocking barrels in quantities, with different twist rates, and randomly issued them to the production floor. I’ve seen factories do this sort of thing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened like this. No personal experience, I never fired the one Mini I owned, and it was sold to a collector after the friend died who it was intended for. Sigh
For those of you out there more informed on mags. Does anyone have or know of any info on which of the shelf (IE: not OE) mags will fit the HK MR762A ? According to HK only their factory mags will fit it, even the ones for the earlier version which can be had for about $10 or less won’t work. I’m looking for info on something like Magpul or others that will fit & work reliably. HK mags are, uh, pricey…
Sell it and get something else, like a Galil ACE or FAL, w/ more affordable mags.
Well, I putzed around and didn’t order the mags till about 10 pm last night, they only had 1 left. Got an e- mail today that its been shipped. On the other hand palmetto still hasn’t shipped some mags I ordered from them on April 2nd.