12 Gauge Darts

[RickN]

If your mini 14 is having problems, if you have aftermarket mags that is probably the culprit. For some reason not many people make good aftermarket magazines for them.

The problem kind of is the mags, or a should say the mags and certain ammo. The Promags worked ok with standard 55 grain 5.56 ammo, but I had failures to feed, eject and even fire with some FC 223 55gr ballistic tip.

I got to looking closely and the rounds are a bit to long and drag on the inside of the magazine. While the outside dimensions of the plastic mags are correct, the inside is just a hair smaller due to the thickness of the walls. This causes the nose of the bullet to point down a bit preventing it from feeding correctly. Something tells me using ammo with slightly shorter bullets will solve most of my problems.

I am hoping to get out to the gun club early part of next week when it is cooler and do some more testing with various ammo.

 

[dennishoddy]

He was more Korean era

Correct. I thought it may have been practice rounds.

 

[2busy]

The problem kind of is the mags, or a should say the mags and certain ammo. The Promags worked ok with standard 55 grain 5.56 ammo, but I had failures to feed, eject and even fire with some FC 223 55gr ballistic tip.

I got to looking closely and the rounds are a bit to long and drag on the inside of the magazine. While the outside dimensions of the plastic mags are correct, the inside is just a hair smaller due to the thickness of the walls. This causes the nose of the bullet to point down a bit preventing it from feeding correctly. Something tells me using ammo with slightly shorter bullets will solve most of my problems.

I am hoping to get out to the gun club early part of next week when it is cooler and do some more testing with various ammo.

These are reloads with Hornady vmax 55gr. Barely any room left but sit straight in factory Ruger mag.

I have not tried shooting these in my mini. Just a reference for you.

 

[RickN]

These are reloads with Hornady vmax 55gr. Barely any room left but sit straight in factory Ruger mag.
View attachment 281901
View attachment 281902
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I have not tried shooting these in my mini. Just a reference for you.

I think that may be the problem with the Mini 14, to tight mag tolerances. I would love to know if they are a hair shorter than AR mags. I suspect they are.

 

[2busy]

I think that may be the problem with the Mini 14, to tight mag tolerances. I would love to know if they are a hair shorter than AR mags. I suspect they are.

Ar pmag.

 

[diggler1833]

For those of you thinking these would be "bad"...... You would be right! THEY SUCK! I have shot both the military and civilian copies of this round. They won't even penetrate a 2X4 and very few fly straight. If I were behind a sheet of drywall I would be plenty armored if you shot from 5 yards away. You are far better served with Buckshot.

I don't know how many times this post has been repeated to this point, but it deserves another. You might not be safe behind just drywall, but the accuracy, true flight, and penetration are all abysmal. Expect about 5-10% to fly true, the rest keyhole - and as light as they are - shed velocity faster than Whoopi Goldberg walking by a chocolate cake.