Not the Mini (580) vs AR thing again...a quick comparison

My son asked me if we could run up to our range this afternoon to do some shooting just for fun and obviously I was happy to oblige. I let him pick the guns he wanted to shoot and he picked a 1911, Glock, Mini-14, and an AR. I wanted to sight in the AR parts gun I build a few weeks ago so that is the one I grabbed. He hates it when I sight in rifles because I take so long so I promised to just get a quick zero and I would refine it later. He did not know it, but I also added some Tech Sights to the Ruger that needed to be sighted in as well.

So off we went and had a great time. I got a quick zero on both the Ruger and the AR and thought I would post some pictures of the groups. This is pretty much a good AR built around an 16" FN CHF barrel with a 1/7 twist and a mid-length gas system. I was using a DD A 1.5 rear sight on the AR. The Mini is stock except for the Tech Sights. I used a pallet, some paint and an old duck tape roll to create a roughly 2.5 bullseye and placed the target at 100 yards. I then shot a 10 round group with each rifle from a makeshift rest using a fairly rapid pace. The ammo was PMC M193 Ball. The AR was warm, but the Mini was also most too hot to touch. My son loves that rifle and put a few rounds down range before I shot the groups. It was about 105 degrees today, so not my best shooting but a pretty good representation.

Here are some quick pics of the results:



The Target:



And the results:





To be quite honest they are just about equal. Both rifles need a little more attention to the zero, but I will do that when he is not around. I realize that AR can be build to be exceptionally accurate but felt this was a pretty fair comparison of similarly featured rifles. I am hopeful that some folks will find this information useful.

All in all we had a great day, burned some ammo, and had fun!

Unfortunately it is California. I belong to a local hunting club and we have some property north of Los Angeles near Gorman. It really is beautiful up there. I generally shoot near my vacation home by Victorville, at the Gorman range, or at a spot in the Owen's Valley.

The rifles are legal as they are deemed "Featureless". The AR has all the evil features removed. The Mini, the way it sits, does not have any evil features. The Mini is a 580 series that I bought when they first came out.

I built the AR to be my travel rifle. I am currently getting ready to leave CA when I retire and have been looking in the western freestates. All I have to do to the AR is change the pistol grip when I cross the state line and I have a nice set up for travel. It is a 16" mid-length with a A1 stock and rifle length receiver extention. It shoots really soft and accuracy looks good.

The A1 length stock is generally where I set my collapsible stocks. Since it is the same length and I can run a rifle length extention, I have moved to this configuration on a couple of my rifles. It doesn't look as cool as a collapsible stock, but is simple, robust, and more comfortable for me.

I have some different ammo to try through the rifles, but yesterday was just about my son and I having fun.

Sorry I left that out, 100 yards. That is the max I can shoot at that range.

EDIT: I guess I did put that in the OP.

illinoisburt said:

Is that a factory lower gas block on the mini? Kind of interesting with the rails.

Click to expand...

It is a Skinner light mount:
http://www.skinnersights.com/mini-14.html

It is probably not super tactical, but it is simple and it works for my needs.

bassjam said:

Nice comparo. One thing I've noticed since building an "A4ish" rifle is how much having the extra sight radius on a rifle length gas system AR helps. I feel like carbine's with open sights are really neutered for any sort of precision shooting.

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I agree. Shooting my A2 with irons is the best. I went with the mid-length on this rifle to soften the recoil impulse, give me more forend to grab and increase the sight radius. I wanted to to stick with a 16" barrel to keep the rifle compact for travel in my truck. With a 16" barrel and an A1 stock the rifle is about two inches shorter than my Mini 14. One reason the Mini might have done so well is the longer sight radius.

I am sure it is subjective, but a mid-length sight radius seems easier to shoot vs a carbine sight radius.