A buddy at our local gun club has a ruger mini-14 ranch model post ban rifle and wants to know if he can use pre ban mags or if he is limited to post ban mags.  Any help on this matter would be great.

Thanks

they are perfectly legal, and some are forsale in the equipment exchange forums for $35 each, cheaper then the guy in shotgun news.
www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=100402

Also, if he's new to purchasing mags for the Mini-14, tell him not to waste his money on USA Brand magazines.

Factory Ruger mags can cost $80+ a piece now.

PMI magazines are the only reliable brand of aftermarket mini-14 mags I've found.

If you buy a copy of Shotgun News, there's a guy in Missouri that advertises a place called "Franks Center" just about every month, and he's advertising new in bag 30 round PMI mags.  Expect to pay $40-$45 a piece new for these, but they are new in bag, and PMI mags work.

Only quirk with PMI mags, if you load an odd number of rounds, so the top round in the mag is on the right, it's very difficult to insert the mag into the gun with the bolt closed.  Either insert it open, or load an even number.  PMI mags work very reliably other than this quirk however, had fired 100's of rounds out of them with not a single feed problem.  Get them while you can...

totally agree with ed-p on the PMI mags, they are good quality,
BTW, if anyone's interested, i have an excellent(95% condition) factory mini-14 20 rounder, willing to trade ar or glock 19 mags..........

ED-P,

I guess I was a lucky guy - I purchased 6 or 7 new USA 30-round mags for a Mini-14 back in September of '94.  They worked exceptionally well!  So well, in fact, that I even tried a couple of their M1911 .45 mags - and they worked great as well.

I would agree, however, that factory is ALWAYS the first choice for a magazine, unless we're talking about Colt .45 mags with Shooting Star coversions.  Talk about AWFUL!

Quoted: ED-P, I would agree, however, that factory is ALWAYS the first choice for a magazine, unless we're talking about Colt .45 mags with Shooting Star coversions.  Talk about AWFUL!

??????
i'm not familiar with that product, what is it/they?

QS,

Sorry about the delay.  I think this post belongs more in the 1911 column, but here it goes, regardless...

I bought a Colt Government Model (Mark IV, Series 80) NIB from a dealer way back in 1991. Paid a whopping $480 for it, with fixed sights, and a great Colt Royal Blue finish.

Went to the range - immediately had problems with the gun.  Failure to feed, double-feed, you name it.  ALL magazine related.  While I'm not sure as to when Colt started doing it, they went to a conversion kit from a company called Shooting Star - instead of designing an 8-round magazine on their own.  For some reason (I guessed weak springs at the time), the mags never worked properly.

I trashed both of the factory Colt mags on the scene, used a couple of older GI mags that I had inherited for the rest of the day, then ordered a few Wilson #47D's (I think - I no longer shoot M1911's).  I was very pleased after that with both the weapon, and the fact that it was 100% reliable.  

In case you are wondering, Don't be concerned ordering from Frank's Center. I have, and got good service.