[DevilAnse]

40 rounds of brown bear laquered case hollow points, followed by 40 rounds of Tula poly coated, followed by 20 rounds of brass mixed manufacturer... no hitches, glitches, or sticky chambers. All fed from 2 20 round mags, one is a ruger factory, one is an unknown, but looks/feels A LOT like the factory mag.
With 223 ammo being so scarce, I wanted to try out some different stuff. I personally think the "steel case is bad" internet commando stories are horsesh--... tool steel always wins over mild steel. My AKs all have thousands of rounds through them, all steel case, and the internals dont look a bit different than they did when I got them, used, with an unknown round count.
So, is my mini special? Does anyone else have a similar experience? My buddy had his mini 580 series out also, same test except both his mags are factory 20s, but his results were the same. My rifle was bought second hand but had never been fired, his is used unknown round count.
The only thing ive done to mine is a 1911 buffer because its scoped, and synthetic teflon grease on the bearing surfaces and rails. I havent even cleaned it yet, with 300 rounds through it so far.
Just thought id share, if I get the chance to buy some im doing wolf, herters (even though its the same stuff) and some of the other "colored" bear ammo types, but I kinda feel like it will be a moot point, steel case is steel case is steel case... a little more testing in this arena and I think im going all steel all the time for the mini, with the added bonus of not chasing brass I cant see a downside.

 

[ArizonaHeat]

I have 4 buddies with Mini's, 3 of the 4 love steel case, no failure to fire, feed, or extract. The one that does have an issue has a Mini30, which did have failure to fires with steel case. Would feed and extract fine, so we looked at the cause. His firing pin was on the smaller side, as we're the primers in all the rounds that wouldn't fire. So now he just checks the primers first any smaller ones get fed to his SKS instead of the Mini.

 

[ElmCreekSmith]

My 581 series Mini shoots the lacquered steel-cased Monarch ammo from Academy very well. I've had no problem with ANY magazines, not Ruger, not ProMag polymer, not ProMag metal, not 5 round, not 20 round, not 30 round. Everything works!

From my little slice of heaven.

 

[sirhc]

I can say that my target model also loves steel. MST, 62g. Nickel plated goes like greased lighting. Just don't stand on the right side. Hot steel coming through!

 

[passtime]

My Mini-30 shoots it all. I had a few issues with some brass cased JSP when I first purchased it but that was caused by The factory mags. I did a little work on the feed notch at the top center of the 5 mags I have and it cleared it right up. Never had any other problems with steel or brass.