Ruger Mini-14 Tactical

doorgunner said:

I've owned two of them. I bought one of the early production tacticals when they first hit the gunshops. Accuracy was much better than the old style Mini's. The best that I got was 2.5 inch groups at 100 yds, scoped, after trying everything available on the commercial ammo market. I soon sold the rifle, thinking that if I couldn't get consistent groups down to 2 MOA or better, than I didnt want to mess with it.

About a month ago, I purchased a later production Tactical, which in outward appearance is exactly the same as the first, just a much higher 580 serial numbered gun. This rifle is absolutley a tackdriver. I've been able to get slightly over 1.5 MOA with a three shot group, using Winchester Ranger 64gr power points, and a Redfield 3-9X40 scope. The groups (unmeasured) with iron sights at 50 yards is a ragged hole.

The rifle doesn't seem to get overly weird when the barrel heats up, although I don't run it hot, like so many do at the range. Reliability has been flawless with every brass cased factory load that I've put through it. I only use Ruger factory 20-rd mags, so that's the only basis that I can comment on, from the magazine angle. I don't run steel cased ammo through any of my guns, unless they are AK platform rifles.

I won't get into details, but I work in a law enforcement capacity, and my issue long gun is a Bushmaster M4, which I shoot a whole lot, and have absolute trust in. The Ruger is my personal rifle, and I have zero reservations about ever putting it in service to protect my life, should I ever find myself in that position.

Quite frankly, this current Mini-14 Tactical is as reliable, as accurate, and is as easy to handle as I could ever want. Ruger should have worked the bugs out of the Mini-14 platform decades ago, but I'm quite satisfied with what they bring to the table with the current production Mini-14 Tactical carbines. If you feel the need to wring out sub-MOA groups, then spring for a heavy barrel 20-inch AR15, with quality optics. If you are in need of a solid, bullet-proof defensive carbine, and don't mind springing for great factory mags at $20+ a pop, then I highly recommend this carbine.

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At around $400 the mini is a good gun. At $600 it is way overpriced. If they really were 1/2 the price of an AR it would be different.

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Will they never be content until all other rifles are abolished?

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jlott00 said:

i had a mini tact and shot 400 rounds of wolf through it with no cleaning and didnt have one hiccup. i miss it...... was handy as heck

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altitude_19 said:

They say wolf will ruin any rifle. Haven't seen it happen to a quality weapon yet. Mine works fine on wolf ammo. My gripe about ARs is the affordable models run on gas tubes. I can tell you, there is nothing the grunts hate more about their rifles than that darn tube. Can you show me a piston powered AR for a good price?

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Rugers are not the best choice out there, I would not buy anything with that bad a reputation, the saiga rifles take AK magazines and are known to be both decently accurate and reliable in x39, 1-3 inch groups in .233 as well. Ruger is developing a reputation for horrible long guns and superb handguns as of late. Saiga rifles are also a lot less than Ruger, and built on a proven action in calibers that action was designed for, If the M1 garand type action ran great in .223 i imagine that would have been our first choice in the 60's.

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winchester '97 said:

Rugers are not the best choice out there, I would not buy anything with that bad a reputation, the saiga rifles take AK magazines and are known to be both decently accurate and reliable in x39, 1-3 inch groups in .233 as well. Ruger is developing a reputation for horrible long guns and superb handguns as of late. Saiga rifles are also a lot less than Ruger, and built on a proven action in calibers that action was designed for, If the M1 garand type action ran great in .223 i imagine that would have been our first choice in the 60's.

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brotherzoo said:

I only shoot brass cased ammo personally, and reports on steel cased depends on who you ask. My Minis have always been more accurate than they're 'supposed' to be and My ARs are more dependable than they're 'supposed' to be. I do prefer piston ARs though. They're both great platforms, just different. I ended up backing out of the Minis beacause mags that work are $40+ and you used to have to hunt for them too. I can get great AR mags, with Magpul followers and top notch springs for $7 all day long, and $11 for the 'fancy' makes, and at the quantity of mags I [strike]HOARD[/strike] collect, that overs the price gap between the guns themselves very quickly.

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I heard that the old Mini-14's in the early 90's were bad compared to the new ones today in that when the barrel gets hot it shoots everywhere where you can't get any consistent groupings even on paper.

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KMO said:

That is a little bit overstated. Some "barrel whip" is experienced with multiple firing, but it is often described on forums as worse than it really is, and also often repeated by those who have never owned or fired a Mini-14. If it was really all that bad, Ruger likely would not have waited 30+ years to design the newer tapered barel. The traditional barrel condition is also easily mitigated without much investment.

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