I have one of those straight 20 round Mini-14 magazines that everyone seems to love, but it doesn't seem to function properly for me. I have tried it in three different mini-14s and with each one, the round will eject, but the bolt will lock back on the next round. I tried swapping the follower out with a Ruger magazine follower, but that didn't help. Ammo was IMI M-193. Any ideas on what the issue is?

In for responses.  For your three Minis, one old, one new?  Mainly interested in if any were the new one, since I'm hoping to find some of those mags for mine....depending on the issues.

This magazine has given me issues in Series 184, 582 and 583 Mini-14 rifles.

Just because it's straight doesn't necessarily mean it's a OE mag so lets try to id it.  Here are pictures of my OE mags that work perfectly in my 583 Series Mini-14.  How long have you had the mags?  When did you get them?  Did the package say it was an OE brand mag?  There were other straight 20rd mags made that were unreliable or just plain didn't work right.  Then there's the possibility that the mag body is damaged or wasn't cut correctly.  Compare your mag to the first 2 pictures below.  The OE brand is on the left in both of them.  Does yours look like the OE one?  Also look at the green follower in the 3rd picture.  That's the one my OE mags came with.  Is yours shaped like this one?

Now to your holdback issue.  Look very closely at the third picture of a Ruger brand mag.  Pay close attention to the small cut out in the mag body at the top left of the mouth of the mag in the 3rd pic below.  It shows a black tab that's part of the follower sticking up in it and that tab is the thing that engages the bolt holdback.

As your bolt is held back all the time, it's not the tab on the follower that's the issue but rather the body of the mag itself.  Is the cutout shaped like the one below?  Compare the mag body cutout in the problem mag to one of your other mags that functions correctly and look for any differences.  If there is a bur or a piece of something protruding up in that cutout the mag body itself will engage the holdback.  If the mag body cutout isn't like the picture and/or like your properly feeding mag(s), take the mag apart again and file the opening to the same size and shape as your properly feeding mag bodies.

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Above are the pics of my mag. I got it at a gun show for $10 from a dealer that had a box full of them. They did not come is a wrapper and don't say OE on them anywhere.  CDNN has more OE mags in stock and I just ordered a few to compare to this one. I still welcome troubleshooting comments.

I see the issue right away.  The cutout in the mag body I mentioned isn'd done correctly (not deep enough) and it engaging the bolt hold open.  Do as I said, compare it to your other mag and fix it.  Simple

What exactly are you looking for there?  I've got a couple of these on the way, and would rather know in advance if it's gonna cause issues.

The 3rd picture, upper right hand corner of the mag body where the tab on the follower is sticking up behind.  That cutout is supposed to be deeper.  Compare it to your Ruger mag and you'll see what's wrong with it.

However, those followers aren't OE brand's as theirs are a light green.  I don't know who's mag that is but it doesn't look like any OE brand I've seen.  Do those have Ruger followers in them?  If so, then I guess they are OE brand.

The issue I see with it is the cutout behind the feed lip isn't square but curves up to the left.  All of my mags have a cutout that's got a square cut bottom (with a bit of a rounded courner to avoid cracking).  All it looks like it needs is a bit of filing of the bottom to make it square.  Take the follower and spring out and file it down a bit to square it up.  Compare how deep you go to a mag that works.  Then reassemble it and then add a couple of dummy rds and insert it in your Mini, pull back the charging handle to make sure it doesn't engage the holdback.  Then keep cycling it to make sure it does when the mag is empty.

It should be a simple fix

I no longer own a Mini 14, but when I did, I do recall that the only thing that would work flawlessly was a Ruger OE magazine.  If it wasn't Ruger, there was a problem.  That was one of the factors that contributed to its sale.

I had already replaced the green follower with a Ruger.  I tried filing this weekend and made some progress, but then rounds were popping out of the top of the magazine when trying to charge it.  Then i noticed the feed lips were making cartridges sit way too high and I tried messing with the feed lips.  That ended up basically ruining the magazine.  I might be able to fix it later if I take my time, but at the moment I am annoyed.

Can you find a FACTORY RUGER mag?
Have you tried a FACTORY Ruger mag?
Seems the mag is the problem in all 3 guns...

Since this is a Mini-14 mag thread, I have come into a pre-ban RamLine multi-mag.  It will feed some 15 rounds on an AR-15 before it has issues.  I have confirmed it will fit into a Mini-14, but may not fit into an AR-180.  If any Mini-14 owner would like to test it, let me know - will be happy to loan it to you for testing, on the condition I get it back.

I have factory Ruger mags in addition to this straight magazine. This thread was started because I wanted to fix the straight mag. The three Mini-14s I referred to above have no issues with factory Ruger mags.

This thread is interesting I just bought my first Mini 14 simply because I wanted one. So I bought a few Ruger series 183 mags hoping they will fit the 583. The package came with two 20 rd mags which are illegal in NY so the dealer gave me one 10 rd mag. (Oh well)  So I found a few of the older 183 Ruger mags and was wondering are they interchangeable with the later 583 series of the Mini 14 platform.  No I have not been to the range yet.

Thanks