Mini 14 vs AR15 reliability

if you have both, shouldn't you be telling us which its which?

Where's that dead horse? It's in need of beating...

IMO, AR is easier to clean, probably going to be more accurate. If a gas piston rifle is in order, an SKS is a good choice.

If you haven't noticed, I'm not a Mini fan. <...>

The edge, purely based on my experience, the AR is going to serve better, even though it too is a fragile design. They're being built better than ever nowadays, you know as you own one, and its user friendly. Pop a pin, pull your crap out, hit with a chamber brush, rag, lil CLP, call it a day. Hope your Mini serves you well, or rather, as well as the AR. When in doubt, AK or SKS

I have found that the Mini-14 can be more picky with mags. It will run like nobody's buisness with factory mags but aftermarket mags are really hit or miss. The AR's will run well with most quality aftermarket mags and in fact most of the best recommended mags are aftermarket.

From a reliability standpoint, my Mini has been every bit as reliable as my AR.
It's a 186 series, not the new model.

I never really cleaned my Mini. Both are easy to clean though the AR has more small parts.

My ARs have been more reliable; better mag quality, availablity and price are a huge part of that. My Mini never worked with anything but the factory 5 rounder. Second piece of that is the chrome chambers on the ARs, I had several torn cases with the Mini where 1/2 the case remained stuck in the chamber and the next round jammed into it. My ARs never had that issue.

I've been issued Mini 14s and M4s for work. I never had reliability problems with either one, but I never let them get super dirty or stay dirty very long after extensive firing. The only time I ever had reliability problems with the Mini was when using aftermarket mags, went back to Ruger mags and the reliability problems vanished. The Mini was however, probably the most inaccurate rifle that I've ever shot, truly horrible, an 8 inch group at 100 yards was cause for celebration!
I was very happy when we went to the M4s, I coulda bought my old Mini for $250, I didn't.

I think you would have to run either of them REALLY hard to make them fail. I know a lot of ranchers who keep a mini behind the seat. (But a lot of them are just too stubborn to buy something like an imported SKS.)

I have one of the new 580 Mini ranch rifles. IMO you'd really have to put alot of ammo down range to get it to the point of being so dirty it wouldn't shoot.
I can't speak for the older mini's but the newer models I like. They may not be tack drivers shooting from a bench rest, but it's plenty real world accurate enough for me.

If you've never shot one of the new models you should give them a try. They might suprise you just how nice they are.
Now,For those ranchers who are to stubborn to try an SKS all I can say is thanks. Those carbines are a beast, and they just flat out work, and the 762x39 ammo is still pretty inexpensive to buy. Both the Mini 14 and the SKS are my SHTF rifles.

The Mini was designed as an inexpensive gun for farmers and ranchers to keep on a tractor or pickup to be used for the occasional shot at coyotes or fox. It was not designed as a militarry rifle to be shot thousands of times in battlefield conditions.

I believe that if neglected and left dirty the Mini will probably be more reliable whan pulled from behind the seat of a farm truck after setting there for months. Kept resonably clean the AR will probably still be shooting after far more rounds have been down the tube than the Mini

This is soooo obvious! The Minis are sooooo reliable that they're used by most of the militaries in the free world.....not!

Use the right tool for the right job. Nothing wrong with either. Have had both-now have an M4 (others stolen). My "truck gun" is an M style SKS. I want something that hits hard and is reliable even when dusty/dirty. The two extra 30 rd mags make it better.

Magazines for the Mini, back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, were quite reliable. For no particular reason I bought a 40-rounder at a gun show. Just for the heck of it I ran a full load through my Mini at a much higher rate of fire than I usually did. Never the first sign of a hiccup.

I mostly used the 10-round factory magazine. That allows carrying at the balance point.

I always figured mine as a reliable truck gun and hunting/plinking rifle. There are other .223 semi-autos just as good for those uses, but I've never seen anything better--and that includes several ARs which have been mostly MOA or better.

The Ruger factory mags work extremely well. I like the 20 round mags.

I figure for every crummy aftermarket Mini mag out there there are around 1,200 crummy ARs given the fact;

Every single component in an AR has been half-assed by some "manufacturer" at some time.

The number of folk with a little bit of knowledge, less patience and even less willingness to spend for good parts and yet "built" an AR anyhow then foisted it on an unsuspecting market.

The wild variation in alternative build styles often causing componentry to conflict and misapplication of accessories.

I figure, were a fella to grab the next 200 Minis and the next 200 ARs that passed his way - strictly on reliability - the minis would show very well indeed as the mini 14 hasn't had the opportunity to be messed with by so many people as the average AR.

I'm certainly no fan-boy of Ruger in general or Minis in particular but for reliability they do kick butt.

As far as reliability, I figure after playing with four ARs and four Minis, it's a case of six of one, half-dozen of the other.

I've never noticed any difficulty in cleaning any rifle. Some take a little more monkey-motion than others, but so what?

I have shot both the AR and the Mini and have put literally tens of thousands of rounds through a Mini-14 I owned in the early-80's.

I NEVER had one misfire of any type and never a problem of any type! When I sold the gun, it shot just as well as when I bought it and it still looked like brand-new!

I do recall stripping the Mini after every shooting session and cleaning the entire gun down to the minutest detail (including the gas nipple and action rod assembly)! Mine was the stainless version, the blued version may vary.

I find that the Mini was a bit easier to clean than the AR. That is just my opinion, it is not cast in stone.

Going off of my friends' experiences, the Mini-14s have had less malfunctions and are less picky with ammo.

I like the way the Mini-14 handles better than an AR-15, and I think they would hold up longer without proper cleaning.
But..... I don't like Ruger's use of proprietary mags, lack of parts availability (zero?) and non-chrome lined barrels.

I had one of the NRA (581 series?) Mini-14s, and it was a tack driver. But Ruger wouldn't sell any spare parts, mags were $35-$40 a piece and the barrel wasn't chromed. Sold it and I don't regret it.

Both of my ARs are a bit more accurate than my Mini-14 Tactical. That being said, neither has the charater or fun-to-shoot quality of the Mini. The Mini walks-away in this category.

My mini-14s have been 100% reliable and they are not hard to clean. They run great with Ruger factory mags and they don't get dirty very fast. I can't speak to the AR side of the question as I don't own one.

In a one on one comparison using factory mags the reliability answer would probably be close to a draw with an average cross section of guns.
If I were going to pick one or the other accuracy, parts, accessories, cost of quality after market mags, ease of repair and modification, modularity would tilt the scale heavily toward the AR.
I have had both and none of the minis would hold 5 shots in a pie plate at 100 yds off the bench, some of my AR's are sub moa and I can usually run a full mag from any of them into a 4" group or less.
I understand they have made advances towards accuracy recently but I have not heard of Mini's winning any big accuracy matches like AR's have.

A Mini using FACTORY mags is the more reliable gun---easily. They are also less ammo picky and the new 580+ ones are accurate enough.

When an AR jams, its also MUCH harder to clear than with a Mini.

Now a properly maintained and lubed AR (Colt or better) using brass cased ammo will run like a top too----just needs more user input in the down times than a Mini to keep it that way.