New Mini 30's

Mini30SS said:
The problem is Palmetto State Armory puts out a 100% Reliable, American made AK that sells for 1/2 of what a Mini 30 does. Ruger should be ashamed of themselves for how awful their gun is out of the box, compared to the competition.

The fact that they both offer lifetime warranties for their rifles doesn't matter. With PSA, I'm confident that I'll never have to send the gun back. With a Ruger mini, it's a coin toss. In the late 80's I bought a mini 30 brand new, and thought I had won the lottery. I ended up sending it back for repairs when it wouldn't shoot the only ammo I could find for it at the time ( Chi-Com steel case). They sent it back about a month later with a target of 3 shots fired at 50 yds. ( Group size 1.5") from Hansen brand ammo. Which costs 4 to 5 times as much, and was pretty much impossible to find.

If not for the fact that an aftermarket company now makes a firing pin that actually works, and is reliable, I wouldn't own a Mini 30 today. I love the concept of the mini 30, but Ruger screwed the pooch with it's execution. They could have had 10 times the market share they do now, if they hadn't cheapskated by using the same firing pin of the .223/5.56 mini 14.
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d2wing said:
It seems to me that paying $1000 or more for a rifle that has issues and needs home gunsmithing to work and has accuracy issues is not something I would do. Shame on Ruger for not making this rifle reliable and more accurate after all these years. You can buy an AK for much less and an AR for much less as well. I have always been interested in the Mini-30 and Mini-14 but there are so many better options.
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I must have the Luck o’ the Irish with my Minis (Two 14’s and s 30). They shoot whatever I feed them, they are reliable and they are accurate enough for SD or field use.

Sure they don’t split hairs on the target range. But, in all honesty, if I wanted to shoot a rifle to do that the minis (or my somewhat similar action style M1 Garand or M1 Carbine) would not be the guns I would reach for, anyway. If all of my Garand-action style guns keep their shots in in the 9-ring on a B-27 at distance, I am content with that. :)

Stay safe.
 
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Yeah, I could put 9 out of 10 shots in 1 hole with my M-14 at sight in. If I could find one like that it would be acceptable to me. To each his own, it's a great country.
 
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M1key said:
Guess what Bill Ruger did with all those useless .308 barrels left over from the failed XGI rifles?
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There may be some truth to this for early examples. Nobody seems to know for sure. However, even my early 1987 rifle (2nd year of production) measures .310 and Ruger themselves confirm to adhering to CIP 89-01-04 and SAAMI Z299.4 specifications for 7.62x39 barrel diameter in production. For one, you couldn't sell out of spec rifles commercially in most European countries even back then and I remember the first Mini 30:s appearing on gun shop shelves in late 1986.

At one point there was an informal search for a .308-diameter factory barrel on Ruger-specific forums to either confirm or debunk the rumor and as far as I know, none turned up. That's when I had mine gauged and was slightly surprised to find it's .310 actual (= .311 nominal) because back then "everybody knew" they were .308.

The jury is still out on that one.
 
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The earlier quote about Mini-30 bore specs was from Brownell's website. I can't find the link, but there was an engineer who helped develop the mini-30 that claims that is exactly what Bill Ruger did. Bill's response to the inaccuracy of those earlier models was something like, "It will work fine for a bunch of country boys shooting tin cans behind the barn" or words to that effect.
 
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M1key said:
I have owned a few Mini-14s and the 30 but for the new price now, one could build a more reliable and accurate AR for half the cost of a Mini-"anything".
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But of course you could. That's the result of a non-proprietary design manufactured in highly competitive market where dozens, even hundreds of manufacturers sell a standardized, cross-compatible product. That doesn't mean everyone would want one, like everyone doesn't want a Prius, or whatever might the current "sensible" and objectively "better" car would be. Guns are rarely an either-or -proposition unless you're really strapped for cash and going to have just one, in which case AR may well be the one to buy.

But this thread isn't about AR:s so repeating the obvious serves little to no purpose.
 
Kick it up a notch and buy a Saiga 308 and then unconvert it. The A Team couldn't handle it. Get in the Van!
 
I have never bought a mini 14 or 30. Law enforcement where I worked had them as LE rifles in the 80's. Stainless rifles with scopes IIRC. Traded those in for Bushmaster carbines in the late 90's.
 
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