My NEW Ruger Tac-30

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With a bipod and 3-9x40 scope I get 4-6" groups with brown bear at 100yds for my AK. Gets 10-15" at 200yds found wolf is not as accurate for my AK.

If this mini-30 does better than that than im sold!
Nice to have a gun that can shoot almost 1MOA with good ammo but can easly take my steel case AK ammo and shoot that better than the AK if I need it to.
 
crazyivan said:
With a bipod and 3-9x40 scope I get 4-6" groups with brown bear at 100yds for my AK. Gets 10-15" at 200yds found wolf is not as accurate for my AK.

If this mini-30 does better than that than im sold!
Nice to have a gun that can shoot almost 1MOA with good ammo but can easly take my steel case AK ammo and shoot that better than the AK if I need it to.
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The only problem I see with this rifle is that it's a Mini-30. For those of you scratching your heads, I'll say one word:

Magazines.
 
The only problem I see with this rifle is that it's a Mini-30. For those of you scratching your heads, I'll say one word:

Magazines.
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Two word response: Factory 20s!

:)
 
Just like most other rifles, at least now you can buy working 20rnd. magazines for the Mini-30.

:)
 
Maverick223 said:
Just like most other rifles, at least now you can buy working 20rnd. magazines for the Mini-30.

:)
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But they cost like, $60 a magazine :what: ! Unless you buy Pro-Mag, but then you haven't bought a magazine, you've bought a weird paperweight.
 
Brownell's (competitive, but not the cheapest place in town) has them for sub-$40.00USD as seen here. Not terribly cheap, but much more costly magazines exist, and unlike many of the AR type magazines they tend to be very well constructed. They have nothing on the average AK magazine, but then again, they aren't mil-surp. either.

:)
 
Yeah thats the problem with the mini-14/30 Mag costs.
You can get mini-14/30 mags for 34.97 at cheaperthandirt, thats where I would get them at I think. Unless someone knows of a better price somewhere?
 
My VZ.58 is a tack driver compared to the Minis of old (and new AKs for that matter), but I haven't had the opportunity to compare to the newer ones. If this one is any indication, the Mini does a bit better, though I have only shot Barnaul, Tula (mostly Wolf), Novosibirsk, Ulyanosk (8M3 "Sapsan"), et al....none of which compares to some of the premium ammo shown here. That isn't to say that it would show remarkable improvement or suddenly become a sub-MOA rifle (I doubt that), only that I haven't given it a fair shake. As it stands it can do about 1.5MOA with factory irons and me pulling the trigger on Barnaul ammo...and that is good nuff' fer me. toothless.gif
 
For years everyone complained about no factory high cap. mags for the 30(I being one) and now they have answered and the complaints still exist. :banghead:
 
The problem with those magazines at CDNN is that they are Promag's. For those of you who do not know what that means, Promag's do a better job as a paperweight than as a magazine for a gun.

Hate to bash, but three different kinds of Promags (AK, SKS, and BHP) have all been nothing but a waste of money for me. I must have bought a dozen of the BHP's trying to get a working one. I went through three SKS and after the first AK I never tried again. They have quality like Rosie O'Donald has a man.
 
Sights make a difference. I went from 5" groups at 50yds out of my yugo sks down to 1 1/2" groups when I installed a tech-sight 5 years back. The ammo was the same: Wolf 122gr HP. My experience (I've exhaustively tested my dad's old mini thirty made in the 80's) is that the old minis don't like .311 bullets. All the domestic produced ammo mysks doesn't like. The foreign ammo doesn't shoot worth a crap out of my dad's mini. It may not make as much difference with newer guns now, but after hundreds of rounds through both guns, I've noticed a pattern. Maybe that's why the newer minis have a .310 bore?
 
One complaint I've heard from multiple sources against the new Ruger Mini-30 Tactical is the apparent lack of tactical features, such as a pistol grip and collapsible stock. So I figured I'd play with this one a little bit and see how it turned out.

Choate Machine & Tool sent me their new Mini-14/M4 stock for testing on the Tac-30, featuring Choate's M4 style five-position telescoping buttstock assembly. Buttstock has dual compartments for batteries and a rubber nonslip butt pad. Included also is a barrel liner and receiver reinforcement. I'm 6'2" and found only the first three positions usable, as the last two made the length of pull too long. Barreled action dropped in easily and without modification.
sr1u.jpg


Amega Ranges sent me their Mini-Scout-Mount III to include in the project. Included was their Mini-14 mount and Tactical Light Mount Kit, which consists of one 2-in and 4-in 1913 Picatinny rail adapter and all necessary mounting hardware.
sr2n.jpg


For the primary optic, Burris sent their 2.75x Scout scope with their low-height 1-inch diameter XTR scope rings.
sr3v.jpg


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sr5bg.jpg
 
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For the secondary optic, Burris sent their FastFire II mini-holographic sight along with a Picatinny Protector Mount. As a backup, this optic will be mounted offset on the right side.
sr6.jpg


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The project has evolved into a weapon of mass destruction.
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After assembly the Mini-30 bears little resemblance to its original form. With the modifications, the Mini-30 Tac can be considered a true tactical platform. The transformation from a stock Mini-30 Tactical to the 'Tac-30' is complete.
 
are you left handed? or can you see the red dot from a right handed position?
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I don't care for red dot optics, nor have I used a similar setup, but many of the 3-gun competitors set their rifle up similarly and do so on the same side IIRC. You simply need to rotate the rifle slightly to use the reflex sight for close range targets.

:)
 
12guagecody said:
are you left handed? or can you see the red dot from a right handed position?
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Like Mav replied, it may look like its far to the right side but it isn't, just cant the rifle left just a bit and your eye lines right up with the red-dot, it actually feels normal, its fast and no adjustment with your head is needed.
 
Didn't have much time. The sun was setting. Temperature was 64 and the wind was 15-20mph variable with 25mph gusts so I decided to forgo the the 100yd test and went to the 50 instead.

Ammunition used was Wolf 154gr SP and 122gr HP, Military Classic 124gr FMJ, and Monarch 123gr FMJ. (Monarch is ammo made in Russia for Academy sporting goods stores) Also tested were 15 loose rounds of Wolf 122gr HP.
firstf.jpg


50yds prone
secondnw.jpg

20rds Wolf 154gr SP are grouped in the head area. Center mass is 20rds Wolf Mil. Classic 124 FMJ.

Wolf Performance ammo spent cases show acceptable primer strikes, but lighter than I've experienced with brass cases.
third.jpg


Wolf Military Classic 124gr FMJ primer strikes appear to be deeper than the Performance brand.
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No malfunctions with either the Wolf 154gr SP or 122gr HP or Monarch. I experienced one failure to fire with the Military Classic, which appeared to have a sufficient primer strike. The round discharged properly on the second attempt. Which is odd as the Military Classic showed deeper primer strikes than Wolf Performance brand. So very pleased for this range session and that out of 95 rounds of steel case ammo I had only one light primer strike. Accuracy seems to be acceptable.
 
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I think, like with the 10/22 "tactical", you can get them straight from Ruger with the Tapco pistol grip M4-like stock already installed.
 
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