the new mini's do shoot much better out of the box. slip one into a hogue stock, install a decent sling and de-tune the recoil violence out of it (reduce the gas pressure by re-bushing the block or instal one of the new adjustable gas blocks and this little carbine (2005 and later) is adequate out to 300 meters). adequate for means capable of hitting dinner plates with iron sights from a bag at 300 meters.
no, dorothy, it is not a machine gun. during rapid fire it will get hot and it will get wild so if you are in an "oh god we are all gonna' die" sort of scenario maybe the mini is not your best choice. but that is not what you are supposed to do with it anyway. 5 rounds are enough if you keep your head together. 30 rounds aren't enough if you can't. besides, if you are in an "oh god we are all gonna' die" frame of mind you probably won't survive your fear so what gun you are waving around really won't make a helluva lot of difference.
so yeah. i like the mini. but then i have to as i live in california and here you just don't get to have an AR. actually, i don't want an AR. had one in 'nam and though it was ok, i greatly preferred the m14. now there was a rifle! yessir, nothing like humping the boonies lugging around a 10-12 pound rifle, 100% humidity, 110 degrees hot and sweating so hard you can't even see.
like the man says, you want to make 1" ragged holes in stuff at 100 meters go buy a bolt rifle. you want a "beater" to bounce beer cans at that distance, buy a mini.
just have some fun. life is too short.
doc