If you are unfortunate enough to live in a state with extreme gun restrictions, the MEAN Arms MA Loader is a perfect option for loading those fixed-AR mags. We have a full review of those if you haven’t checked it out yet. They work by loading up to 10 rounds of 5.56 or .308 through the ejection port and into the fixed mag. They are easy to use and make the process quick. If you do use them, there is an optional part that makes this style of loading even better. It’s called the MEAN Arms Feed Ramp. It’s made exclusively for the MA Loaders and only takes a few minutes to install.
The MEAN Arms Feed Ramp replaces the dust cover and works the same way as a flared mag-well on a pistol. It creates a larger opening that makes it easier and faster when using the MA Loader. To remove the current dust cover on your AR-15, the pin must be taken out. There are two different ways to do this, so we will walk through each process and discuss which method is best for you.
Removing the Dust Cover: From the Back
The quickest way to remove the dust cover can be harder for some people because it requires taking off the small C-clip on the dust cover rod. I use two small screwdrivers to push the C-clip. With the C-clip on, the rod can be removed from the front of the rifle, but this requires taking off the handguard and sometimes the barrel nut too. To remove the rod from the back of the gun, the C-clip must come off. This is located under the red arrow in the picture below. Once the C-clip has been removed, the rod can slide toward the back of the gun (blue arrow).
As you start to remove the rod from the back, it will become tight and not want to come all the way out. Once the rod has passed partway through the spring, you can pull the spring off. Once the spring has been removed, you can pull the dust cover off as well. The pin should push the rest of the way out of the eyelets on the rifle. I recommend placing a piece of painter’s tape on the gun, so you don’t scratch the rifle as you remove the dust cover rod.
Removing the Dust Cover: From the Front
The second way to remove a dust cover is to take the handguard off the rifle. If you have a handguard that is not hard to take off, this may be the easiest way to go. Some handguards, however, have barrel nuts that are just big enough that the dust cover rod will not come off. This means the barrel nut will also have to be removed. To do that, the gas block and tube must come off. If that is the case, I would try removing it from the back.
If the handguard is all that needs removed for the dust cover rod to come out, it can be removed, and the spring and dust cover will fall off. The gun will then be ready to install the new feed ramp. I would recommend placing the dust cover, rod, and spring in a small plastic bag in case you decide to install them again in the future.
Installing the Feed Ramp
The feed ramp has two roll pins, one on each side for installation. They are already inserted in the eyelets of the feed ramp. If the feed ramp lines up with the holes, you can use a roll pin punch to tap in the roll pins. On mine, the feed ramp was just a little too tall, so I had to shave just a little off the bottom for the holes to line up. I also ended up taking the roll pins out of the feed ramp and inserting them into the gun first.
On the front side of the gun (number one in the picture above), I drove the roll pin about two-thirds of the way into the eyelet. I did this from the inside (between the eyelets). I then started the second roll pin from the back side of the gun (number two in the photo above). This allowed me to push the feed ramp over pin number one first, and then tap in the number two roll pin from the back of the gun.
Fit and Finish
There is no doubt the feed ramp makes the gun easier to load. It’s not bad loading without the feed ramp, but this part is not expensive and increases the speed when loading. It works in the same way a flared mag well does. Because the edges are rounded and stick out from the gun, the MA Loader does not have to be lined up perfectly with the ejection port. As you load the gun, the feed ramp guides the loader into the port. I could load nearly twice as fast with the feed ramp installed on the gun.
The MA Loader was easier to remove than it was before the feed ramp was installed. The feed ramp is molded to fit very well on the gun. Once I sanded the bottom part down, it looked like part of the gun. The sanding was easy to do and the instructions on the back indicated that some light sanding may be required for the feed ramp to fit properly.
Do you need one?
A standard 30-round detachable mag would be much better than using a mag loader and custom feed ramp to load your gun. But life is not fair, and some states do not allow the use of detachable magazines. When we are faced with restrictions like this, there are always companies willing to step up. Even with a fixed magazine and 10-round capacity limit, MEAN Arms Feed Ramp has given you a way to load your rifle quickly. If you want to use a rifle for home defense, not being able to load quickly is a problem. The MA loader and feed ramp are perfect for those in gun-restrictive states.
