Experiences With Mini-30's & Tula Ammo Anyone ?

THE RAVEN · April 9, 2012, 01:31 AM

Has anyone had any recent experiences with Ruger Mini-30's and Tula ammo lately ?? I read a few posts from a couple years ago that people were having problems with no-fires and was wondering if those problems still exist ?? Thanks everyone.

Baba Louie · April 9, 2012, 09:47 AM

https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/mini.pdf
Even Ruger does not recommend ammunition not manufactured to US specs (see page 12 in their manual), which is probably standard lawyer speak CYA... but could very well be performance related and/or safety advice.

My mini30 is one of the older makes and its a hit or miss proposition using the russkie or chinese ammo my SKSs & AKs love.

Tagged to see what response new Mini30 owners have to say.

stu925 · April 9, 2012, 07:33 PM

Check out http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ and do a search for broken firing pin. Seems some Mini-30 owners were having issues with broken firing pins and were attributing it to steel cased berdan primed ammo. Seems the current theory is that it's due to the steel post under the berdan primer that's breaking the firing pin. Mini firing pins are pretty much a Ruger only item because they have to be fit to the bolt. Bear in mind that this is all speculation and to the best of my knowledge there is no way to prove the theory, but I'm not sure that I would risk it. I know there's a lot of people that feed their Minis nothing but steel cased berdan primed ammo that have never had a problem. By the way if you're like most Mini owners you've probably modified your Mini at some point so if it has to go back to the factory for a new firing pin (or any repair for that matter) Ruger will undo whatever mods you've made to the rifle and set it back to factory specs before returning it.

Stu

Ignition Override · April 10, 2012, 12:43 AM

My (former) Mini 30 was mfg. in '03 or '04.
The only ammo was Wolf or Monarch. Is this ammo produced in Tula?

The ammo needed a second pin strike every sixty rds. or so.
The only reason I sold it was because the thick post sight on older Ruger Minis had limited appeal, and I already had the SKS in the same caliber
(now with a nice Tech Sight).

Mosinka · April 11, 2012, 11:22 AM

Raven,

I bought my Mini-30 less than one year ago. I have recently tested several different "inexpensive" brands of ammo, one box of each, and found that Tula alone still causes a very high percentage (30% or better) FTF.

Many blame the steel casings. Many blame sub-standard foreign standards. I thought that the issue was Berdan primers alone, but none of this is true.

I have absolutely NO problem shooting either Silver Bear or Golden Bear in my Mini-30. In fact, the gun LOVES these brands of ammo.

Wolf (WPA) and Brown Bear also fire just fine, but the Ruger magazines don't feed the polymer coated shell casings as smoothly as they feed Silver and Golden Bear.

I also shot some corrosive primer Yugoslavian stuff with brass casing, and it fired just GREAT, without a hitch. Feeds and fires great.

Tula shoots fine in all of my other guns, including rifles and pisols, but don't try shooting it from a Mini-30 unless you have an SKS to fire the rounds that fail.

Hypercussion · April 3, 2013, 02:25 PM

I have a mini 30 that is only a few months old. I know this is an older post but some of you are asking about newer mini 30s. I have the same problem with WPA ammo. Jams my gun pretty consistently. However, Golden Tiger, Golden or Brown Bear or any quality US made brass case ammo feeds fine. I honestly think it is an issue with the lacquered casings on the cheaper ammo and how they feed through the mag but I'm no expert. But for me, bottom line is Wolf and WPA ammo are pretty much scratched off my list of what I will buy. I have never tried Tulammo but will probably stay away from it based on prior posts here.

stu925 · April 3, 2013, 08:53 PM

I had a discussion with a guy on another forum about an issue with steel cased ammo in his Mini 30. His issue specifically was that the extractor would tear the rim off the spent cartridges. He was also having an issue with imported European brass cased ammo. He contacted Ruger about it and they told him it was because the Mini rifles were set up to run on U.S. Spec ammo. He went on to say that the Euro ammo was loaded hotter than U.S. ammo and that was what was causing his issue. If this is truly the case I would think changing the gas port bushing would solve the issue, http://greatwestgunsmithing.com/mini14.htm sells gas port bushings in sets of 3 for $35 for the Mini-14, I imagine he could make a set for the Mini-30.

Stu

breakingcontact · April 3, 2013, 09:49 PM

Would like a Ruger mini 14/30 but that craziness about the firing pin having to be fixed at Ruger and them making a 7.62x39 rifle that doesn't shoot cheap ammo just makes zero sense to me.

Get a nice SKS once the price comes down.

torbjork · August 7, 2013, 02:58 PM

For what it's worth, and although the thread is a few months old, I've just got a factory-new mini-30, and shooting TulAmmo through it (I neglected to read this thread first) was not fun. No failures to feed, but failure to fire every 3-4 rounds or so. Some rounds would not fire even after three strikes.

I will try the only other FMJ brand available here in Norway, Sellier & Bellot, and post here once I've got some range time with it.

Good thing I was planning on reloading for the thing anyway...

hornet41 · August 8, 2013, 07:56 AM

My mini eats Tula like potato chips!! Never a problem. BTW--mine is an early one.

atxgunguy · August 8, 2013, 08:25 AM

I've had my M30 (Tactical 582-Series) for over a year and have fed it nothing but Tula and Herters, works just fine and no FTFs. There is this almost cultish paranoia of using Berdan-primed ammo in nearly every Ruger Mini forum I have ever read and the majority of the evidence and real-life shooting tells me that it's perfectly fine and Ruger is just doing a major CYA.

breakingcontact · August 9, 2013, 02:09 PM

I believe I have some threads on this here. It needs good ammo to run right. I think the Silver Bear and Golden Bear are supposed to work.

April 9, 2012, 01:31 AM	#1
THE RAVEN Senior Member Join Date: March 26, 2012 Location: New York Posts: 122	Experiences With Mini-30's & Tula Ammo Anyone ? Has anyone had any recent experiences with Ruger Mini-30's and Tula ammo lately ?? I read a few posts from a couple years ago that people were having problems with no-fires and was wondering if those problems still exist ?? Thanks everyone. __________________ I have NEVER heard of a firearm picking itself up and shooting someone ! S&W MP-15/22,S&W MP-15 .223,Remington SPS .308,Remington 870 A-TAC 12 ga,Savage Model 25 Walking Varminter .17 Hornet

April 9, 2012, 09:47 AM	#2
Baba Louie Senior Member Join Date: September 23, 2001 Posts: 1,552	https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/mini.pdf Even Ruger does not recommend ammunition not manufactured to US specs (see page 12 in their manual), which is probably standard lawyer speak CYA... but could very well be performance related and/or safety advice. My mini30 is one of the older makes and its a hit or miss proposition using the russkie or chinese ammo my SKSs & AKs love. Tagged to see what response new Mini30 owners have to say. __________________ A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." - George Washington, January 8, 1790, First State of the Union Address

April 3, 2013, 09:49 PM	#8
breakingcontact Junior member Join Date: October 25, 2012 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 736	Re: Experiences With Mini-30's & Tula Ammo Anyone ? Would like a Ruger mini 14/30 but that craziness about the firing pin having to be fixed at Ruger and them making a 7.62x39 rifle that doesn't shoot cheap ammo just makes zero sense to me. Get a nice SKS once the price comes down.

August 9, 2013, 02:09 PM	#12
breakingcontact Junior member Join Date: October 25, 2012 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 736	Re: Experiences With Mini-30's & Tula Ammo Anyone ? I believe I have some threads on this here. It needs good ammo to run right. I think the Silver Bear and Golden Bear are supposed to work.

April 9, 2012, 07:33 PM	#3
stu925 Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2010 Location: New York Posts: 953	Check out http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ and do a search for broken firing pin. Seems some Mini-30 owners were having issues with broken firing pins and were attributing it to steel cased berdan primed ammo. Seems the current theory is that it's due to the steel post under the berdan primer that's breaking the firing pin. Mini firing pins are pretty much a Ruger only item because they have to be fit to the bolt. Bear in mind that this is all speculation and to the best of my knowledge there is no way to prove the theory, but I'm not sure that I would risk it. I know there's a lot of people that feed their Minis nothing but steel cased berdan primed ammo that have never had a problem. By the way if you're like most Mini owners you've probably modified your Mini at some point so if it has to go back to the factory for a new firing pin (or any repair for that matter) Ruger will undo whatever mods you've made to the rifle and set it back to factory specs before returning it. Stu

April 10, 2012, 12:43 AM	#4
Ignition Override Senior Member Join Date: February 18, 2008 Location: About 20 nm from the Big Muddy Posts: 2,884	My (former) Mini 30 was mfg. in '03 or '04. The only ammo was Wolf or Monarch. Is this ammo produced in Tula? The ammo needed a second pin strike every sixty rds. or so. The only reason I sold it was because the thick post sight on older Ruger Minis had limited appeal, and I already had the SKS in the same caliber (now with a nice Tech Sight).

April 11, 2012, 11:22 AM	#5
Mosinka Member Join Date: January 1, 2012 Location: Lexington, KY Posts: 85	Raven, I bought my Mini-30 less than one year ago. I have recently tested several different "inexpensive" brands of ammo, one box of each, and found that Tula alone still causes a very high percentage (30% or better) FTF. Many blame the steel casings. Many blame sub-standard foreign standards. I thought that the issue was Berdan primers alone, but none of this is true. I have absolutely NO problem shooting either Silver Bear or Golden Bear in my Mini-30. In fact, the gun LOVES these brands of ammo. Wolf (WPA) and Brown Bear also fire just fine, but the Ruger magazines don't feed the polymer coated shell casings as smoothly as they feed Silver and Golden Bear. I also shot some corrosive primer Yugoslavian stuff with brass casing, and it fired just GREAT, without a hitch. Feeds and fires great. Tula shoots fine in all of my other guns, including rifles and pisols, but don't try shooting it from a Mini-30 unless you have an SKS to fire the rounds that fail.

April 3, 2013, 02:25 PM	#6
Hypercussion Junior Member Join Date: April 3, 2013 Posts: 1	I have a mini 30 that is only a few months old. I know this is an older post but some of you are asking about newer mini 30s. I have the same problem with WPA ammo. Jams my gun pretty consistently. However, Golden Tiger, Golden or Brown Bear or any quality US made brass case ammo feeds fine. I honestly think it is an issue with the lacquered casings on the cheaper ammo and how they feed through the mag but I'm no expert. But for me, bottom line is Wolf and WPA ammo are pretty much scratched off my list of what I will buy. I have never tried Tulammo but will probably stay away from it based on prior posts here.

April 3, 2013, 08:53 PM	#7
stu925 Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2010 Location: New York Posts: 953	I had a discussion with a guy on another forum about an issue with steel cased ammo in his Mini 30. His issue specifically was that the extractor would tear the rim off the spent cartridges. He was also having an issue with imported European brass cased ammo. He contacted Ruger about it and they told him it was because the Mini rifles were set up to run on U.S. Spec ammo. He went on to say that the Euro ammo was loaded hotter than U.S. ammo and that was what was causing his issue. If this is truly the case I would think changing the gas port bushing would solve the issue, http://greatwestgunsmithing.com/mini14.htm sells gas port bushings in sets of 3 for $35 for the Mini-14, I imagine he could make a set for the Mini-30. Stu

August 7, 2013, 02:58 PM	#9
torbjork Member Join Date: May 7, 2013 Posts: 25	For what it's worth, and although the thread is a few months old, I've just got a factory-new mini-30, and shooting TulAmmo through it (I neglected to read this thread first) was not fun. No failures to feed, but failure to fire every 3-4 rounds or so. Some rounds would not fire even after three strikes. I will try the only other FMJ brand available here in Norway, Sellier & Bellot, and post here once I've got some range time with it. Good thing I was planning on reloading for the thing anyway...

August 8, 2013, 07:56 AM	#10
hornet41 Senior Member Join Date: February 2, 2006 Location: MS Posts: 101	My mini eats Tula like potato chips!! Never a problem. BTW--mine is an early one.

August 8, 2013, 08:25 AM	#11
atxgunguy Junior Member Join Date: March 1, 2012 Posts: 1	I've had my M30 (Tactical 582-Series) for over a year and have fed it nothing but Tula and Herters, works just fine and no FTFs. There is this almost cultish paranoia of using Berdan-primed ammo in nearly every Ruger Mini forum I have ever read and the majority of the evidence and real-life shooting tells me that it's perfectly fine and Ruger is just doing a major CYA.