Help - my Ruger Mini 14 fell apart

[ncarper]

I bought a mini 14 a couple of months ago; I finally received some ammo to shoot it. My dad came for a visit and brought me some Federal .223 that he had. On the third round the the trigger mechanism fell out of the bottom of the rifle. I put it back together and made sure it was secure - it was. I loaded the five round mag back up and by the time I had the fifth round fired the trigger guard lock mechanism had come loose and the whole thing was about to fall apart again.

I haven't called Ruger yet b/c their customer service is closed for the day; I will call them tomorrow. Has anyone heard of this happening; any thoughts? I've never had a mini 14 before, but have talked to many who have and love them. This type of event has the effect of completely turning me off from not only the mini-14, but also Ruger.

 

[OkieTac]

They are really hard to re-latch. When your think you have it latched, try jerking on it very hard with your finger. If it comes loose, it was never latched properly. When latched properly, you should have to use a punch or other tool through the triggerguard hole for leverage in order to disengage it.

 

[Biggsly]

They are really hard to re-latch. When your think you have it latched, try jerking on it very hard with your finger. If it comes loose, it was never latched properly. When latched properly, you should have to use a punch or other tool through the triggerguard hole for leverage in order to disengage it.

This..

 

[ncarper]

The trigger guard latch clips and unclips fairly easily; this is the problem. I called Ruger and was told that it can be a fairly common problem. The man I spoke w/ said that the trigger guard needs to be adjusted (by slightly bending) to tighten up the latch - he explained how to do this. Last night as I was laying in bed thinking about it I had somewhat come to the same conclusion, but still wanted to talk w/ Ruger first.

The man I spoke w/ was friendly and helpful; he explained that though Ruger offers no warranties they do everything possible to standby their products and make wrongs right.

 

[bwcaq]

Had the same problem with mine, but it only showed up firing 5.56 while .223 had no issues. Sent it to Ruger and got it back pretty quickly.
No trouble since then. I was fairly annoyed about it, but they made it right and they were fast. Don't let it sour you on the rifle or Ruger though. Shouldn't have the issue, but they'll take care of you.