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Garands and M14/M1A rifles had the same problem. It was caused by a strong ejector spring that pushed fired cases out of the bolt face with much gusto. The case spun around as its mouth cleared the breech and came back with enough force to dent its body against the op rod hump. The brass smear on the op rod showed where it hit it. There's a brass (gold?) colored smear somewhere on that Mini 14 where the cases are bouncing off of some metal part.
Solution was to cut a turn or two off the ejector spring until empty case didn't get pushed out of the bolt face so darned hard. Ideally, when the ejector spring was "just riight," the empties would get pushed forward by the bolt as it started forward and they would land out at 2-o'clock about 2 to 3 feet away.
So, cut a turn off the ejector spring, shoot a few rounds then evaluate. Test again with another turn cut off if needed.
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