thoughts on the mini 14?

[bkb0000]

how do the 30s compare for accuracy and durability?

[Oscar 319]

how do the 30s compare for accuracy and durability?

Mini-30's?

[blkexp98]

I have the stainless ranch rifle with the wood stock and the barrel gets HOT quick. I like shooting the rifle but would take an AR over it any day. Definatly stick with the 20rnd ruger magazines. All the others we have tried done work. The low cap mags work fine in mine but they are ruger as well. The mag catch is a bad design i think and always had some issues with doing reloads.

With all that said it is a light and fun rifle to shoot. I would still rather have an AK or an AR though. We bought it to take with us offshore fishing. Knowing what i know now i think we should have been carrying more ammo than we did.

The rifle handles much better with the 20rnd magazine than the 30's and i think we may have had some function issues with them too. Most of our magazines are stainless.

[Buck]

The Mini 14 fills the same role as the M1 Carbine... It is not a main battle rifle or lmg, although some will try to press it into that roll...

It is very handy and reliable 2.23 carbine with the Ruger factory 20 round magazines and iron sights... Realistically it has a 200 yard + / - range

B

[bkb0000]

Mini-30's?

si

(characters)

[kdog989]

a mini 14 was my first gun, waaaaaaaay back two years ago, stainless 185 series it wasn't very accurate but it was reliable if you use ruger mags and only ruger mags, which are expensive. heats up very fast. got it for 5 sold it for 6 to put towards my ar, which is a much better gun in my opinion. My friend has a mini 30 and it is much more accurate than my 14 but kinda sucks cause ruger only made 5 (at the time) round mags, i think they make 10s now too

[Oscar 319]

si

(characters)

The only first hand experience I have with a Mini-30 was a stainless model my Grandpa had for a while.

The accuracy was terrible. I never put it on paper, but I am willing to bet it was 5" groups at 50 yards. It was terrible.

It also was unreliable, failing to feed about 1 in 10 rounds. Maybe it was the ammo, the mags or just that gun. He traded it away.

I never put my Mini-14 on paper (that would ruin it), but I never seem to have a problem hitting what ever I point the irons at.

I also recall a gov agency (I can't remember the details) who had adopted the Mini-30 for prison duty and had ditched them due to accuracy and reliability issues.

My opinion: They are junk.

[500grains]

My experience with 4 mini 14s, all in .223:

1. Use ONLY Ruger 20 rd magazines. All of the mags from other makers jam.

2. Expect 4 inch groups. When you get 2.5 inch groups, be delighted.

3. Enjoy the fact that it is short, light, and not too pretty to scratch, because those are its best points.

My friend's experience with 1 mini 14:

1. Receiver cracked at 3500 rounds.

[luckybychoice]

USA 20 rd mags and National 40 rd mags work as well in my Mini-14 as Ruger mags,i have some 30 rd mags but they're so cheap there is no name on them but only one of the 4 30 rds mags don't work.

I don't like the magazine release or the magazine pin,and trying to do a quick mag change with that setup is a joke,and the point made about the rifle heating up is spot on,but it is a fun plinker,light,and has a good feel to it,and the price you paid for yours

[Grayling14]

Mini-14: Sporting/hobby/commercial grade gun. Reliable, but not durable. For best results, use OEM mags and SAAMI spec ammunition only. Shoot it enough and you will have certain parts issues at relatively predictable intervals. If you can get a spare firing pin. You'll be needing it.

Newer generation (580+ series) are better than the older ones.

Can anyone comment on the bold type in the quote? Why SAMMI spec. ammo since the Mini-14 is 5.56 chambered?