So......$13-1400 later.....you have a tack-driver........like a Les Baer huh!? And you can't mount headlights......grip bars.....cup holders....and a HUD to pretend you're shooting with an F-16 at the range!? I got that right!? Think I'll leave the engineering to y'all......I'll stick with my Fat Chick SKS....she ain't the prom-queen, but she's loyal and faithful, got a big parakeets, and can cook like no other.....love is in the results with the least problems.......:tooth:
God show's mercy on drunks and dumb animals.........two outa three ain't a bad score!
What it boils down to is, an AR can do what the Mini can do, and do it much better for less money (in the long run). You can buy a Mini 14 for about what you can get a decent AR. In my opinion, the only thing the Mini satisfies is the satisfaction of have having a decent looking, wood stocked, semi auto rifle. Aftermarket parts are plentiful for the Mini. Some of them try to make it look like an AR or AK.
My experience is; At one time, there was a Mini 14 and a 30 carbine in the safe. I sold the 30 carbine, then I built two AR's. Now the Mini sits in the back of the safe and hasn't been out in nearly 2 years. I keep meaning to go walk around a gun show with it to see what happens. Just haven't made it a priority.
It's a ranch rifle. It's fun to shoot. But once you have a Mini and an AR, the mini generally isn't quite as usefull, IMO.
It's a crying shame.....I like the looks of it.......feel it wasn't given the attention it needed, but then again.....why continue to champion a dead horse except for pure emotion.....it's out classed...out marketed.....out engineered cause no one in the industry gave a hoot....maybe that's why I still like it.....it's the underdog.
Oh, and I grew up watching the A-Team, and have always wanted one for that.....yeah cheesy TV!!!!
God show's mercy on drunks and dumb animals.........two outa three ain't a bad score!
Yep, 1st shot is really close to money- then the grouping worsens as the barrel heats up. Very reliable platform though, always goes bang.
That is very true. The Mini does go bang when the trigger is pulled. Then it chunks your brass into the state next to you. If you're on the East coast, you can forget reloading for the mini. Your brass will be in the water.....
The AR doesn't drop them into a neat pile neither......it's like a two-step......"to the front, to the back, to the front, to the back........over the D.I. shoulder.....to the front.....:tooth:
God show's mercy on drunks and dumb animals.........two outa three ain't a bad score!
Again, I bought a Stainless steel ranch rifle - Mini 14 at a Police supply store, slightly above cost with a Remington 1100 shotgun, the ugly parkerized version, also near cost, no tax on either gun, I liked the sights on the Mini and the cast scope ears, I broke the ghost ring and Ruger sent Me one free....
When I sold the Mini, I sold it with a slather of OEM magazines and other Police gear to a fellow Officer that wanted a so called Tactical rifle, I had also installed a rather nice bird cage flash hider..... I invested no money in tweeking it, and after I could shoot ragged one hole groups, no stringing with SS109....... I could load 10 magazines, slow fire, and not have heat problems.... BTW the scope was worth more than the rifle, Mil Spec issue.....
"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you, the Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say, you do not improve with age. Founding member of the G&A forum since 1996
So all it needs is a thick barrel according to them...that sound about right?
It probably doesn't need those barrel bands pulling the barrel into the stock either. I can see by installing a heavier barrel and bedding everything in good that it would improve accuracy. Even the Garand and M1-A are bedded at several points when in match configuration.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
The fore end of the Mini 14 sits in grooves front and back, I relieved it so it sat somewhat loose and when it swelled it would not put pressure on the gas block and barrel....
I also disassembled the gas block and reassembled it with an even torque pattern, I also relieved any of the stocks high points pressing on the action, using lamp black on the wood......
"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you, the Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say, you do not improve with age. Founding member of the G&A forum since 1996
Doc....what is the secret as you see it? Do I need to get one of my own to solve the dilemma? Truly curious as to why this is such a problem.....can't believe this can't be fixed.
God show's mercy on drunks and dumb animals.........two outa three ain't a bad score!
Truth is with lots of elbow grease and good ammo, the Mini 14 can be a tack driver, it just takes many hours of mind numbing tedium, and testing, and better yet, hand-loading (downloading) ammo is a must, by slowly reducing FPS in batches, you will hit a sweet spot and be rewarded with the best possible accuracy !!!!
"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you, the Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say, you do not improve with age. Founding member of the G&A forum since 1996
Yep, 1st shot is really close to money- then the grouping worsens as the barrel heats up. Very reliable platform though, always goes bang.
Yep, so far to this date I have never had my Mini-14 fail to fire.
Jay wrote:
That is very true. The Mini does go bang when the trigger is pulled. Then it chunks your brass into the state next to you. If you're on the East coast, you can forget reloading for the mini. Your brass will be in the water.....
Man oh Man You got that right Jay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time I shoot my mini-14, and even try to watch where the brass goes, I always leave the range with a couple of .223 brass less that I arrived at the range with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my case it ejects and slings those fired empty cases into Texas!!!!!:rotflmao: BTW if ya come across those empties let me know OK:spittingcoffee:
The other thing I noticed about this rifle is when the empty brass cases eject the extractor puts a little imperfection on the case head, and about the middle of the spent brass if ya look close, it put a little dent in the case. Nothing so far that has had to be rejected for reloading but I always wondered what was causing that with this rifle.
World T check utube there are seveal good video's on there about the Ruger min14. There is a gunsmith in Utah that does really good trigger work on mini-14's Terry Gardner I think, don't remember his company's name but he has a website.
Yes, IF you bedded it in properly. Remember that a National Match Garand is bedded in something like 17 points give or take one. The barrel is not strapped down to the stock as such. If you put a heavier barrel on the mini and bed it, torque it in properly (Whatever Properly is for that rifle) I would say it would just about have to shoot well. If done as such, it would meet all the criteria of those things needed to produce accuracy.
The Garand doesn't have bands that touch the barrel, but it does have a band that clamps the fore stock around the barrel. If bedded correctly, it is a matter of history that they shoot with the best of rifles in their class. But my thoughts on that band are that its only real purpose is not so much to clamp the barrel to the fore stock, but rather to hold the forestock to the butt stock. So if you have a heavy enough (ridgid) barrel, you don't need a barrel band. The barrel is screwed tight into the action and the action is bolted tightly into the butt stock, so you should be set to go, WITH proper bedding, of course. Anyway, that's my view of it.
One more point; how many people have told me they removed the barrel band from their Ruger 10/22 and improved accuracy? Several. So those old barrel bands are not needed for a rifle not meant for hard abuse such as it would be subject to in a combat situation.
I'm Just a Radical Right Wing Nutt Job, Trying to Help Save My Country!
I purchased my SS Mini more than 25 yrs ago, sense that time I have owned
various incarnations of AK's & AR's. The AR certainly is a better platform,but, except for the 223 vs 7.62 argument, the Mini out shines any AK even with a hot barrel.
The AK,s were fun and inexpensive while it lasted ( 20 yrs ago) but their gone
now, my Minni is still in the safe. BTW @ 50 to 75 yards with iron sights, it will
get the job done.
They're fine at 75 yards, the typical police max engagement range. And at the time we bought ours in quantity, pretty cheap...no bells or whistles, if they had them at that time. Even inexperienced shooters could keep all rounds in the chest area of a target at 75 yards. So they're an OK tactical rifle for cops. If we could have afforded an AR for each member, we would have gotten on. The Minis are more difficult to clean, and require and I mean require more maintenance, and that maintenance requires a lot more training time.
They'll never be a target rifle, at least with standard sights and the standard equipment. Ours had/have composite stocks, which is a must for a weapon that spends a lot of time in the trunk of a patrol car. Not the best, but the best for a limited budget at the time. We equipped our guys with rifles in 2001, one of the earliest full-issue in GA at the time. On 9/11, we were on the range with these rifles for the first time and heard about the planes hitting the towers on a radio.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
Since my last post in 2012, I bought one from the SO where I worked at what we paid for them back in 2001. We equipped our deputies with ARs.
I've shot it quite a bit; it's an early one that won't take a scope mount, which is fine. It's not extremely accurate, given the sights and design. It's been reliable and "accurate enough." Not for shooting varmints, but for self defense for whatever you need a SD rifle for. I'd say it's a 5 or 6 MOA rifle with me shooting it and for my 72 year old eyes, which is fine enough for me. If I want to get accurate, I've got bolt guns with scopes on them to boost my self-esteem.
The new ones are supposed to be more accurate, but for my diminishing needs, and for what I paid for it, I won't spring for an AR.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
I see no reason given American Inginuity that the Mini shouldn't be "more accurate".....so what' causing the problem?
The "problem" is the same group of customers who think a carry 1911 "needs" to be capable of delivering Bullseye match accuracy they themselves will never require or be capable of delivering with it. As a result, their unnecessary "needs" drive up the general market price for those of us who actually managed to start the purchase process by asking the question: "JUST WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS TOOL FOR?"
. . .or the same group of customers who think dropping the price of a used car to turn a cheap 10/22 into an Anschutz is a reasonable thing to do.
A Mini 14 is not a match rifle. It was not designed as a match rifle. It was not marketed as a match rifle. It fires a cartridge that is appropriate for, at an accuracy level capable of, smoking a coyote to a couple hundred yards. WHO CARES if it won't quite hold with an AR off of sandbags? Shooting off sandbags is not what the Mini and AR are about. Given equal sighting systems and shots from field positions, most will never notice the difference.
So enjoy your 1.5-2MOA rifle for what it is; a short range rifle shooting a short range cartridge that enjoys a huge aesthetic edge over the AR by not being made of plastic and beer can held together with roll pins.
The "problem" is the same group of customers who think a carry 1911 "needs" to be capable of delivering Bullseye match accuracy they themselves will never require or be capable of delivering with it. As a result, their unnecessary "needs" drive up the general market price for those of us who actually managed to start the purchase process by asking the question: "JUST WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS TOOL FOR?"
. . .or the same group of customers who think dropping the price of a used car to turn a cheap 10/22 into an Anschutz is a reasonable thing to do.
A Mini 14 is not a match rifle. It was not designed as a match rifle. It was not marketed as a match rifle. It fires a cartridge that is appropriate for, at an accuracy level capable of, smoking a coyote to a couple hundred yards. WHO CARES if it won't quite hold with an AR off of sandbags? Shooting off sandbags is not what the Mini and AR are about. Given equal sighting systems and shots from field positions, most will never notice the difference.
So enjoy your 1.5-2MOA rifle for what it is; a short range rifle shooting a short range cartridge that enjoys a huge aesthetic edge over the AR by not being made of plastic and beer can held together with roll pins.
You have a way with words like nobody else here Bigslug and I agree with you totally on this. I have wanted a mini 14 since I first saw one but put it off for various reasons the latest (The last 5-6 years) being the accuracy point. I didn't think it through and when several were bashing it because it may not win at Camp Perry I was influenced negatively. But this thread has changed my mind. I WANT one.
Also, I'm of the mind that you should be able to accurize about any rifle within reason. The Mini's granddaddy, the M-1 Garand is itself usually only Bolt Gun accurate after you put a match barrel on it and perform a what?, 17 point bedding job on it? Most of us including yours truly laud the Garand as the greatest thing since sex with a playboy bunny so why should we hold its descendant to a higher level than practical I have to question.
Daddy, what's an enabler?
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Replies
My experience is; At one time, there was a Mini 14 and a 30 carbine in the safe. I sold the 30 carbine, then I built two AR's. Now the Mini sits in the back of the safe and hasn't been out in nearly 2 years. I keep meaning to go walk around a gun show with it to see what happens. Just haven't made it a priority.
It's a ranch rifle. It's fun to shoot. But once you have a Mini and an AR, the mini generally isn't quite as usefull, IMO.
Oh, and I grew up watching the A-Team, and have always wanted one for that.....yeah cheesy TV!!!!
That is very true. The Mini does go bang when the trigger is pulled. Then it chunks your brass into the state next to you. If you're on the East coast, you can forget reloading for the mini. Your brass will be in the water.....
When I sold the Mini, I sold it with a slather of OEM magazines and other Police gear to a fellow Officer that wanted a so called Tactical rifle, I had also installed a rather nice bird cage flash hider..... I invested no money in tweeking it, and after I could shoot ragged one hole groups, no stringing with SS109....... I could load 10 magazines, slow fire, and not have heat problems.... BTW the scope was worth more than the rifle, Mil Spec issue.....
I also disassembled the gas block and reassembled it with an even torque pattern, I also relieved any of the stocks high points pressing on the action, using lamp black on the wood......
Jay wrote: Man oh Man You got that right Jay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time I shoot my mini-14, and even try to watch where the brass goes, I always leave the range with a couple of .223 brass less that I arrived at the range with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my case it ejects and slings those fired empty cases into Texas!!!!!:rotflmao: BTW if ya come across those empties let me know OK:spittingcoffee:
The other thing I noticed about this rifle is when the empty brass cases eject the extractor puts a little imperfection on the case head, and about the middle of the spent brass if ya look close, it put a little dent in the case. Nothing so far that has had to be rejected for reloading but I always wondered what was causing that with this rifle.
World T check utube there are seveal good video's on there about the Ruger min14. There is a gunsmith in Utah that does really good trigger work on mini-14's Terry Gardner I think, don't remember his company's name but he has a website.
The Garand doesn't have bands that touch the barrel, but it does have a band that clamps the fore stock around the barrel. If bedded correctly, it is a matter of history that they shoot with the best of rifles in their class. But my thoughts on that band are that its only real purpose is not so much to clamp the barrel to the fore stock, but rather to hold the forestock to the butt stock. So if you have a heavy enough (ridgid) barrel, you don't need a barrel band. The barrel is screwed tight into the action and the action is bolted tightly into the butt stock, so you should be set to go, WITH proper bedding, of course. Anyway, that's my view of it.
One more point; how many people have told me they removed the barrel band from their Ruger 10/22 and improved accuracy? Several. So those old barrel bands are not needed for a rifle not meant for hard abuse such as it would be subject to in a combat situation.
various incarnations of AK's & AR's. The AR certainly is a better platform,but, except for the 223 vs 7.62 argument, the Mini out shines any AK even with a hot barrel.
The AK,s were fun and inexpensive while it lasted ( 20 yrs ago) but their gone
now, my Minni is still in the safe. BTW @ 50 to 75 yards with iron sights, it will
get the job done.
They'll never be a target rifle, at least with standard sights and the standard equipment. Ours had/have composite stocks, which is a must for a weapon that spends a lot of time in the trunk of a patrol car. Not the best, but the best for a limited budget at the time. We equipped our guys with rifles in 2001, one of the earliest full-issue in GA at the time. On 9/11, we were on the range with these rifles for the first time and heard about the planes hitting the towers on a radio.
I wonder that one myself. I may have bought one several years back but people on here brought this subject up on here.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I've shot it quite a bit; it's an early one that won't take a scope mount, which is fine. It's not extremely accurate, given the sights and design. It's been reliable and "accurate enough." Not for shooting varmints, but for self defense for whatever you need a SD rifle for. I'd say it's a 5 or 6 MOA rifle with me shooting it and for my 72 year old eyes, which is fine enough for me. If I want to get accurate, I've got bolt guns with scopes on them to boost my self-esteem.
The new ones are supposed to be more accurate, but for my diminishing needs, and for what I paid for it, I won't spring for an AR.
The "problem" is the same group of customers who think a carry 1911 "needs" to be capable of delivering Bullseye match accuracy they themselves will never require or be capable of delivering with it. As a result, their unnecessary "needs" drive up the general market price for those of us who actually managed to start the purchase process by asking the question: "JUST WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS TOOL FOR?"
. . .or the same group of customers who think dropping the price of a used car to turn a cheap 10/22 into an Anschutz is a reasonable thing to do.
A Mini 14 is not a match rifle. It was not designed as a match rifle. It was not marketed as a match rifle. It fires a cartridge that is appropriate for, at an accuracy level capable of, smoking a coyote to a couple hundred yards. WHO CARES if it won't quite hold with an AR off of sandbags? Shooting off sandbags is not what the Mini and AR are about. Given equal sighting systems and shots from field positions, most will never notice the difference.
So enjoy your 1.5-2MOA rifle for what it is; a short range rifle shooting a short range cartridge that enjoys a huge aesthetic edge over the AR by not being made of plastic and beer can held together with roll pins.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
You have a way with words like nobody else here Bigslug and I agree with you totally on this. I have wanted a mini 14 since I first saw one but put it off for various reasons the latest (The last 5-6 years) being the accuracy point. I didn't think it through and when several were bashing it because it may not win at Camp Perry I was influenced negatively. But this thread has changed my mind. I WANT one.
Also, I'm of the mind that you should be able to accurize about any rifle within reason. The Mini's granddaddy, the M-1 Garand is itself usually only Bolt Gun accurate after you put a match barrel on it and perform a what?, 17 point bedding job on it? Most of us including yours truly laud the Garand as the greatest thing since sex with a playboy bunny so why should we hold its descendant to a higher level than practical I have to question.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.