Mr transformer
Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2011
- Messages
- 48
I thought it appropriate to share this little experience.
A mini 14…. I have never owned one, and never thought about buying one.
Up until a few days ago, I had never held a mini 14 in my own hands, or used it, or looked up any information on them. Nether did I have any opinion on ruger products. I had never had any experience with them
A few days ago friend of mine ask me for some help with a mini 14 he had. He bought it new many years ago, but never used it. He generally defaulted to his shotgun when he had to kill pest. So he never really had a need to pull it out and use it. Some coyotes had moved into the area and was killing pets and threatening livestock so he needed something that could reach out and touch something. So he pulled out the mini14 that he had stowed away. It was still in the factory packing. He doesn’t shoot much so he wanted me to take a look at it and make sure everything was still in good condition from the long storage.
I pulled the handle off, and took a look at it’s underbelly. Everything looked clean with no signs of moisture damage. Put the handle back on and it cycles nice. The bore was factory fresh with nice sharp rifling and no rust. I gave the bore a swabbing. He had just bought a new $100+ bushnell scope for it, so I put that on while I was at it.
We took it with a couple 22 rifles and some cardboard to a holler to sight it in and let him get use to the thing. We used federal lake city .223.
I wanted to get it roughly sighted in so I put the target up at 75 feet. I was going to do one shot tests until I got it close then move out to a distance and zero it in with three shot groups, then let him have at it. The target in question was a piece of cardboard about 1 foot tall with a cross in the middle sitting right on the dirt.
This is where things started to get strange.
I took one shot, it hit about 4 inches high and 2 to the right. I did the necessary number of clicks to bring it down 4 inches and left 2.
I fired again. It was right on the vertical line but 3 inches low. I cranked it back up about half the number of clicks that I had just cranked it down.
I fired again. It hit 1 inch below where I had just hit (4 inches down.) and one inch to the left. At that point, I was starting to double check my memory to make sure I was cranking it the right way……. So I cranked it up another couple inches….
I fired again, and it just barely clipped the top of the paper. About 6 inches high.
I may be a slow learner but it was finally starting to sink in that something wasn’t right in Denmark.
I double checked the scope mounts and anything else that may have been loose. Found no problems. So I made a three shot group at 75 feet just to see what would happen. First one hit the top edge of the paper. Second one hit right close to dead center. Third one hit the dirt right at the base of the target. I was utterly dumbfounded. It was a true *** moment.
The only conclusion that my mind could come to was…. The new scope is busted.
So.. I took the scope off and send a half dozen round downrange with the iron sights….. for a reality check.
My reality check bounced…..
The first was high. Second hit low Third was high, forth and fifth hit the ground below the target. Sixth didn’t hit a damn thing. I checked the barrel to see if it was a squib, but the barrel was clear. At that point, I was wondering if I was drunk, but it dawned on me that I have never drank alcohol or taken drugs in my life, so that couldn’t be it. I pulled out the marlin 60 and proceeded to make a ragged hole at in the 75 foot target and then went open sights to mow down a line of pop cans at 200 feet, so I knew that it wasn’t me. He tried shooting it himself with the same results.
Went to town and got some Remington ammo and tried it again with same results.
Took the gun completely apart and everything looked good. Put it together with everything nice and tight and it did the exact same thing.
After searching the web, I got the idea that it was a pretty inaccurate gun, but my mind had a hard time coming to grips with what I seen with my own two eyes. I have never seen a rifle shoot that badly in my life. (Unless someone took a hammer to the barrel)
After a little more shooting, we found out that it’s “pattern” is about 5 feet in diameter at 100 yards. With the center of the “pattern” shifting depending on how fast you fired the rifle. (barrel heat)
After doing a little more research, he came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to buy a good used semi auto 223 and put the ruger in closet than try to get it to shoot good. It is just not worth messing with. He is just going to keep it in the house when he needs to shoot something point blank, because that is all it’s good for.
Now I understand the statement “couldn’t hit a barn door from inside the barn”
A rifle like that should have never gotten out of the prototype stage.. :banghead:
A mini 14…. I have never owned one, and never thought about buying one.
Up until a few days ago, I had never held a mini 14 in my own hands, or used it, or looked up any information on them. Nether did I have any opinion on ruger products. I had never had any experience with them
A few days ago friend of mine ask me for some help with a mini 14 he had. He bought it new many years ago, but never used it. He generally defaulted to his shotgun when he had to kill pest. So he never really had a need to pull it out and use it. Some coyotes had moved into the area and was killing pets and threatening livestock so he needed something that could reach out and touch something. So he pulled out the mini14 that he had stowed away. It was still in the factory packing. He doesn’t shoot much so he wanted me to take a look at it and make sure everything was still in good condition from the long storage.
I pulled the handle off, and took a look at it’s underbelly. Everything looked clean with no signs of moisture damage. Put the handle back on and it cycles nice. The bore was factory fresh with nice sharp rifling and no rust. I gave the bore a swabbing. He had just bought a new $100+ bushnell scope for it, so I put that on while I was at it.
We took it with a couple 22 rifles and some cardboard to a holler to sight it in and let him get use to the thing. We used federal lake city .223.
I wanted to get it roughly sighted in so I put the target up at 75 feet. I was going to do one shot tests until I got it close then move out to a distance and zero it in with three shot groups, then let him have at it. The target in question was a piece of cardboard about 1 foot tall with a cross in the middle sitting right on the dirt.
This is where things started to get strange.
I took one shot, it hit about 4 inches high and 2 to the right. I did the necessary number of clicks to bring it down 4 inches and left 2.
I fired again. It was right on the vertical line but 3 inches low. I cranked it back up about half the number of clicks that I had just cranked it down.
I fired again. It hit 1 inch below where I had just hit (4 inches down.) and one inch to the left. At that point, I was starting to double check my memory to make sure I was cranking it the right way……. So I cranked it up another couple inches….
I fired again, and it just barely clipped the top of the paper. About 6 inches high.
I may be a slow learner but it was finally starting to sink in that something wasn’t right in Denmark.
I double checked the scope mounts and anything else that may have been loose. Found no problems. So I made a three shot group at 75 feet just to see what would happen. First one hit the top edge of the paper. Second one hit right close to dead center. Third one hit the dirt right at the base of the target. I was utterly dumbfounded. It was a true *** moment.
The only conclusion that my mind could come to was…. The new scope is busted.
So.. I took the scope off and send a half dozen round downrange with the iron sights….. for a reality check.
My reality check bounced…..
The first was high. Second hit low Third was high, forth and fifth hit the ground below the target. Sixth didn’t hit a damn thing. I checked the barrel to see if it was a squib, but the barrel was clear. At that point, I was wondering if I was drunk, but it dawned on me that I have never drank alcohol or taken drugs in my life, so that couldn’t be it. I pulled out the marlin 60 and proceeded to make a ragged hole at in the 75 foot target and then went open sights to mow down a line of pop cans at 200 feet, so I knew that it wasn’t me. He tried shooting it himself with the same results.Went to town and got some Remington ammo and tried it again with same results.
Took the gun completely apart and everything looked good. Put it together with everything nice and tight and it did the exact same thing.
After searching the web, I got the idea that it was a pretty inaccurate gun, but my mind had a hard time coming to grips with what I seen with my own two eyes. I have never seen a rifle shoot that badly in my life. (Unless someone took a hammer to the barrel)
After a little more shooting, we found out that it’s “pattern” is about 5 feet in diameter at 100 yards. With the center of the “pattern” shifting depending on how fast you fired the rifle. (barrel heat)
After doing a little more research, he came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to buy a good used semi auto 223 and put the ruger in closet than try to get it to shoot good. It is just not worth messing with. He is just going to keep it in the house when he needs to shoot something point blank, because that is all it’s good for.
Now I understand the statement “couldn’t hit a barn door from inside the barn”
A rifle like that should have never gotten out of the prototype stage.. :banghead:
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He can do that bad with some high end buckshot. Might be time to trade that thing on an AK. Even the worst internet rumored, canted sites, worn out assembled by blind monkey ones will shoot slightly better than 5 feet at 100 yards.
