Mini 14 accuracy
- Thread starter Catpop
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That is where a barrel strut helps, first shot no more accurate than without but it groups smaller as the barrel warms up.
Look at it more closely, especially where it says "Shooting Scoped Mini-14"
HOWARD J
Member
Mini's were never made for a superior target rifle
They are a fun gun & great deer hunting rifle
They are a fun gun & great deer hunting rifle
MachIVshooter
Member
OP
OP
Catpop
Member
3, even 2 MOA is not my idea of accuracy with a bottleneck centerfire. But hey, I'll keep playing with it until I bump into a decent bolt action.
I do plan on getting the smaller bushing to try to keep my cases in the same county I'm shooting in. Haha! Yeap I've seen 30 foot ejections also. Empty cases on ground have an even worse 10 foot grouping! Not easy to collect them.
After reading about the accu-strut last night, I may try an idea I thought of last night! If if works, I let yawl know.
Don't worry Jim, I wasn't into the AR platform in the 60s and I'm not in 2015 either.
Thanks for all the help. Catpop
I do plan on getting the smaller bushing to try to keep my cases in the same county I'm shooting in. Haha! Yeap I've seen 30 foot ejections also. Empty cases on ground have an even worse 10 foot grouping! Not easy to collect them.
After reading about the accu-strut last night, I may try an idea I thought of last night! If if works, I let yawl know.
Don't worry Jim, I wasn't into the AR platform in the 60s and I'm not in 2015 either.
Thanks for all the help. Catpop
Sheepdog1968
Member
My 580 receiver mini 14 gets around 2-3 MOA when I put a scope on it. Good enough for me. You said it beat in orig post. If you want better accuracy getting a bolt action is better way to go. Leave the mini as is and enjoy it.
illinoisburt
Member
The point of an accustrut is to stiffen the barrel and provide some heat sink. That's why it really has no effect on first cold shot. Instead it helps to cut down on stringing. I got my mini-14 back in the 80's when AR's were pretty much unobtanium (Colts were expensive!). After lots of pie-plate "patterns" I did the same searching as many others: handloading, changing sights, bedding stock, truing the op rod and got exactly nothing for the effort. I heard about a couple smiths that were chopping the barrel back an inch or two and installing a front sight with a long barrel sleeve that had good results. They all claimed it was a harmonics issue with barrel whip. I saw a few accurate mini's that had a piece of straight bar stock welded under the barrel that shot suprisingly well. Pretty sure that is where the accustrut concept came from. Dropping $150 on an accustrut wasn't working for me. I went the simple an expedient route of a 6" section of 1/2" steel conduit and two barrel clamps (the type for small flashlights). Put a pin through the pipe so it doesn't walk with recoil. Worked better than I ever expected. Went from 7+" pieplate scatters to 2-3" groups with cheap steel cased ammo. Good ammo doesn't seem to improve this much, but it's all very consistent and shoots to same point of aim even as the barrel gets hot. Although your rifle appears to already be "mini-accurate", it certainly won't hurt to give it a try. I think I spent all of about $10 at the time for the clamps.
loose noose
Member
I've got the mini-14 186 series, that I bought brand new, back around 1992. As was previously mentioned was inaccurate as could be, (5-6" groups at 100 yards with terrible stringing). The first thing I did was a trigger job, which did little for the accuracy, The next thing I did was I installed it in an over molded Choate stock, and bedded the action in Accru-glass. This did improve the accuracy a bit, down to 3-4" 5 shot groups at 100 yards. Then, just about two years ago, I installed the 6" Accu-Strut to the barrel, and noted my groups shrunk to 1-1.5". Which is really outstanding groups for a mini-14. You might note also that I installed a Vortex Scope 2X7 on a over the receiver mount from Brownell's, I believe the company is called insta-mount, however it does require that you remove the rear sight, as it mounts in the rear sight aperture.
I did try the side mount by B-Square however the recoil kept loosening the mount, and I disposed of that instead. Note the mount is the S&K Insta-Mount from Brownell's. Hopefully this will help you with the accuracy end of it, although 2" groups out of your mini isn't bad. You might also note that I did significant load development with my reloads in order to get the moa groupings. Further my Mini doesn't throw the brass into the next county as was previously mentioned, in fact I get a nice little pile right w/I about 3' from where I'm shooting.
I did try the side mount by B-Square however the recoil kept loosening the mount, and I disposed of that instead. Note the mount is the S&K Insta-Mount from Brownell's. Hopefully this will help you with the accuracy end of it, although 2" groups out of your mini isn't bad. You might also note that I did significant load development with my reloads in order to get the moa groupings. Further my Mini doesn't throw the brass into the next county as was previously mentioned, in fact I get a nice little pile right w/I about 3' from where I'm shooting.
MachIVshooter
Member
The other approach to accurizing a mini is chopping the barrel. I no longer have mine, but whacking almost 4" off it cut my groups in half, from around 4 MOA to 2 MOA, sometimes a little better. It also improved the appearance of the rifle, IMO.
I had it chopped to 14.6" and an HK style FH welded:
I had it chopped to 14.6" and an HK style FH welded:
OP
OP
Catpop
Member
illonoisburt! How did you know what I was thinking? Actually I've got 2 or 3 ideas to try, but that was the easy one. I'm gonna strap 4 pieces of 1/2 key stock to the barrel with 3 hose clamps. If it works good I may turn a tight fit barrel sleeve. I'll let yawl know how it goes.
Thanks to all for all the great ideas.
Catpop
Thanks to all for all the great ideas.
Catpop
DougW
Member
I bought a 182 Series from a friend who bought it new. It had the B Square mount and a scope which I removed. Shooting open sights I can hit an 8" steel plate. I have AR's that are super accurate, but the Mini is just fun, and beat up enough that I don't worry about the dings.
OP
OP
Catpop
Member
UPDATE
This afternoon after work I removed the front sight, then strapped one, all I had, piece of 1/2" key stock to the bottom of my barrel taking care to shim the step down properly with 3 hose clamps. I then went to my short 75 yard range and got the following:
55 gr Ficcochi - 2" & 2 1/8" group. So some improvement there!
55 gr Winchester - 1 7/8" group
50 gr Hornady Varmint, H4198
19.5 gr- 2 3/8" total FTE
20.0 gr- 1 3/8" partial FTE
20.5 gr- 1 5/8" partial FTF
21.0 GR- 1 3/4" Function OK
So I conclude, as others, that there must be an harmonic issue?
Next I will get 3 more pieces of 1/2" key stock and try it with a total of 4 pieces.
Wonder why Ruger didn't put a heavier barrel on it from the get go? And no matter what I do pass the barrel cap, I can't change the diameter of the barrel before that point. So it won't get but so good. I will continue my quest and keep you informed.
Tx catpop
This afternoon after work I removed the front sight, then strapped one, all I had, piece of 1/2" key stock to the bottom of my barrel taking care to shim the step down properly with 3 hose clamps. I then went to my short 75 yard range and got the following:
55 gr Ficcochi - 2" & 2 1/8" group. So some improvement there!
55 gr Winchester - 1 7/8" group
50 gr Hornady Varmint, H4198
19.5 gr- 2 3/8" total FTE
20.0 gr- 1 3/8" partial FTE
20.5 gr- 1 5/8" partial FTF
21.0 GR- 1 3/4" Function OK
So I conclude, as others, that there must be an harmonic issue?
Next I will get 3 more pieces of 1/2" key stock and try it with a total of 4 pieces.
Wonder why Ruger didn't put a heavier barrel on it from the get go? And no matter what I do pass the barrel cap, I can't change the diameter of the barrel before that point. So it won't get but so good. I will continue my quest and keep you informed.
Tx catpop
benEzra
Moderator Emeritus
One tip I read once on the Mini-14 forum was to thread the barrel and install a heavy flash suppressor to add more weight at the muzzle; some also recommended cutting and crowning the barrel to 16.25" instead of 18.5", which has the effect of making the barrel less whippy. There was also a guy selling smaller gas bushings that would reduce the severity with which the op rod launches off the gas nozzle, thereby reducing barrel vibration (a lot of vintage mini's were overgassed). Anything you can do to increase barrel stiffness or barrel mass near the muzzle helps.
OP
OP
Catpop
Member
Looks like M1key is the one getting there! Now I could live with those results!
benEzra, that idea of adding weight to the muzzle would be easy enough to try. I'll add that to my list of experiments to try. Tx
Catpop
benEzra, that idea of adding weight to the muzzle would be easy enough to try. I'll add that to my list of experiments to try. Tx
Catpop
TexasPatriot.308
Member
casefull...put em up for sell, they should go fast.
Kayaker 1960
Member
Mini accuracy.
I had an old Ranch Rifle, I put a bushnell 2-4.5 scope on it and if I could keep all the shots on a dinner plate at 100 yards it was a pretty good day. I have other rifles that I can regularly shoot 1-1/2" or better groups with. I sold the Mini, I lost interest.
I had an old Ranch Rifle, I put a bushnell 2-4.5 scope on it and if I could keep all the shots on a dinner plate at 100 yards it was a pretty good day. I have other rifles that I can regularly shoot 1-1/2" or better groups with. I sold the Mini, I lost interest.
AJumbo
Member
I trued up and re-torqued the gas block on my 189, and "shrunk" my groups to nice, round 3-inchers. Tried a few different muzzle brakes, with no luck. I almost made a strut for it, but sold the thing before it sucked up any more of my money.
About the gas block..... the four screws holding it are staked, and a bear to back out. Use Kroil (or similar) and a long, strong allen wrench and you can do it, though you may need a breaker bar on the wrench. Re-tighten the screws evenly, using an automotive feeler gauge set to keep the gaps even. Finish it off with an INCH-POUND (not FOOT pound) torque wrench set to 30-35 inch-pounds. The best thing I got from this procedure was that I now own a really nice Blackhawk I-P torque wrench.
About the gas block..... the four screws holding it are staked, and a bear to back out. Use Kroil (or similar) and a long, strong allen wrench and you can do it, though you may need a breaker bar on the wrench. Re-tighten the screws evenly, using an automotive feeler gauge set to keep the gaps even. Finish it off with an INCH-POUND (not FOOT pound) torque wrench set to 30-35 inch-pounds. The best thing I got from this procedure was that I now own a really nice Blackhawk I-P torque wrench.
MachIVshooter
Member
Calling a spade a spade olisnt bashing. Yes, you can make a mini shoot. Its just not economically feasible, especially today, when you can build an AR that'll shoot sub-MOA for under a grand. To make a mini do that, you're looking at $1,500+ after paying ~$700 for the gun and dropping another $700-$800 for a place like ASI to work it over and install a new tube.
Well, I would agree with that...
The only Mini I still own is the M-30. The 14 couldn't compete (in my mind) with the AR.
M
jim in Anchorage
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$700-$800? All I saw on this thread was a home made strut.
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