New Mini 14 Range and Accuracy?

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JCooperfan1911

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Never warming up to the looks of the Armalites and being from the “wood and steel” generation, I have always liked the looks of the Ruger Mini 14 but held off buying them for years due to reports on the lack of accuracy.

But it seems the newer made guns are more accurate? Something about changes to the barrels and 580 series guns?

Desiring more effective range than the 300 yards of my M1 carbine. Would a new Mini 14 have a longer effective range than an M1 carbine? Say up to 500 yards using 77 grain bullets?
 
I have both the mini 14 and the mini 30. On my mini 30 i have a stabilizer. In my opinion, and based on my shooting skills, 200 yards is it for either of these two rifles.

With the mini 14 I am shooting 3 inch groups at 100 yards. It took the stabilizer on the mini 30 to get to 3 inch groups. It was about 5 to 6 inch groups without it. Both are really fun to shoot and i love the platform. But it is not a 500 yd weapon for me. Now I have never tried a 77 grain bullet in it. And I shoot inexpensive ammo.

Once that barrel warms up my shots start spreading out. If you are one or two and done maybe it can strike further.

Not trying to turn you off on the mini's. They are great fun but they are close in rifles for me.
 
The 223 cartridge will get you to 500-600 yards, maybe more. In my experience the target needs to be pretty big to get hits with a Ruger Mini-14. Those have a 9 twist barrel too, which might be best with bullets closer to 60-65 gr than 77.
 
“Better than the older Mini’s” is not a high hurdle to clear. There remains a broad gap between the precision of the Mini’s and that of AR’s, both for the money AND in raw potential.

I might believe a Mini can and will be sufficiently accurate to hit a man-sized target at 500yrds with appropriately chosen ammunition, however, I also believe they are not sufficiently accurate to hit a man-sized target selectively in controlled fashion as I would prefer.
 
I've always liked the look and feel of the Minis, but could not figure out why the firearm could only achieve minute of barn...

Whatever was the reason, and is "accurizing" the rifle a pursuit in vain?
 
I've always wanted to like the Ruger Mini rifles, but I could never get past the lack of accuracy I've had with their older models. Barrel whip in them is a real thing and accuracy suffered because of it. Not sure if their new models are any better, but the reputation has stuck for a lot of people including me.
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
Yuck.

Sounds like I won’t be wasting my time there.

The more I try and avoid ARs, the more they taunt me with their sheer efficacy.
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It's really just the abundance of parts ranging in quality from bottom - of - the - barrel to rifling with platinum inlays that makes the rifle stand out.

Better designs exist, but you don't get the same "dynamic range" to choose your flavor from.
 
I have three mini's. 14, 6.8, and a 30. Love shooting them all for the same reason of your interest. Active Mini forum at perfectunion.com. Some always shoot better than others, mine at all very nice carbines and good shooters. I don't shoot them as much on paper as I do steel. At 200 yards a six inch gets gonged every time. Mostly cause I like the noise. Not sure the 14 is going to like heavy 77 grainers. I don't go above 62 and mostly shoot 55.
 
I have both a AR15 and a newer thicker barrel Mini. The AR is a more accurate rifle,but there is something more likeable with the Mini. For my ageing eyes it doesn' t really matter as with iron sights 150yds is max for me. The Mini puts rounds in a 3" circle at 100yds with Federal American Eagle 50gr HP,which is fine for "on ranch use". I would sell the AR before the Mini,as I truly believe if I dropped both in wet mud the Mini would still fire. I have never known any firearm cause such visceral hate as the Mini....I guess it's what ever floats your boat.
 
Has anybody here described how the barrel stabilizer typically improves the Mini 14?

* The only personal comment on stabilizers (I noticed) was for the Mini 30.

The OP might no longer want a Mini 14, but it would be interesting to know about barrel 'stiffeners' on 14s......or we could quickly find an answer over at "Perfectunion". I owned both a used 14 and used 30 in 2008, but never warmed to the >stock< front post sights.

JohnB_40: some of the "visceral hate" for Minis which you describe might partly be subconscious or 'camouflaged'.
Years before the gun bug bit me, Bill Ruger's decision to voluntarily appease the anti-gun mob in the 1990s meant that Mini mags he sold to normal Non-Leo civilians were limited to Five Rounds, iirc while reading Lots about this topic at Perfectunion.
My Mini 14 had a 20-rd. OEM mag in 2008 Only because it had been sold with the gun by some agency (prison?) in the "State of KY", seen on a silver sticker on the buttstock.

You might be familiar with how many people totally (they claimed) boycotted Ruger guns on a permanent basis after Bill R's refusal to sell "normal capacity" mags to the general public----after he died the board finally decided to sell 'normal' mags to the "unlettered", "unwashed" gun-owning citizens of America. Correct me if some of this isn't accurate.
 
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The more I try and avoid ARs, the more they taunt me with their sheer efficacy.
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I don't dislike the Mini-14. I've had 2-3 over the years and they were reliable, if not mediocre at accuracy. But when I was buying them the only real option for an AR was a Colt selling for $700-$800. This would have been 1980's and 90's. I could pick up a Mini-14 for $200-$250. At that price point I could live with the accuracy of the Mini-14.

But today prices have flipped. To be honest I've not kept up with prices much especially during the last years craziness. But the last time I looked I could pick up a decent AR for $500-$700. For that I got a hard case, cleaning kit, and two 30 round magazines. The Mini-14's were approaching $900 and that was just for the rifle. Add a cleaning kit, hard case and a couple of 30 round mags for the Ruger and the OTD price would have gone over $1000.

Even if they were equally accurate I just can't justify the price difference. There is no reason why the Ruger should cost more than an AR. If I could still get one for $300-$400 I might be tempted.
 
Varminterror said:
“Better than the older Mini’s” is not a high hurdle to clear.
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Giggle snort.....I have an old Mini. :)

@jmr40 is right, at today's price point, the Mini 14 has no interest for me, and is ballistically inferior to the cheaper AR. Not to mention you can barbie doll up an AR a million ways to suit yourself.

Blasting at the gravel pit? Great fun. Scaring off intrudes? Sure, might even get one. Anything else, give my an AR over the Mini, and I love my old pencil barrel, crap accuracy Mini 14. it's just fun. :)
 
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I too wanted to love the Mini. I mean it looks like an M1 Carbine but in more powerful calibers. Fun to play with but the accuracy thing finally killed it.

You can trick out an AR with wood furniture, you know.
 
I've been fighting the urge to buy a mini for about as long I owned any firearms. Between proprietary magazines, accuracy concerns, and the higher price I've decided to save my pennies for when Fightlite SCR lowers get back in stock and then build an AR from there.
Not mine but some inspiration for sure.
IMG_20190222_102224_01.jpg
 
The only time I shoot at a target is zeroing an optic. I now have a 4X Weaver on this Mini14. I got to 3” group at 100. I’ve hit a small ground hog with it at 70 and another, larger at 60 and several others closer. I like the Mini better than my AR. ADB4-FBA0-D2-DD-4180-A41-C-12-A1058-CEA93.jpg
 

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I had a 581.
With 69gr Hornady, or 65gr sgks, it was a pretty reliable 1.5moa gun after tinkering.
With bulk ammo it never did much better than 2-2.5.

The mini-14 is one of the very few semi-automatic rifles I actually enjoy shooting, and I'm willing to pay a premium for one, and suffer an accuracy penalty that I'd never be willing to with/for an AR.
When they come out with one and 350 legends I'll buy another.


That said.....
Performance/cost wise, and especially out of the box, it lags far behind pretty much every other commonly available semi-automatic.
 
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JCooperfan1911 said:
Never warming up to the looks of the Armalites and being from the “wood and steel” generation. . .
Click to expand...

JCooperfan1911 said:
The more I try and avoid ARs, the more they taunt me with their sheer efficacy.
Click to expand...

I've thought of putting wood furniture on my AR many times. So tempting to do, I just haven't coughed up the money yet.

http://blackgunswood.com/products.html

Even Boyd's offers their version of AR wood in the product configurator. https://www.boydsgunstocks.com/product-configurator
 
somethingbenign said:
I've been fighting the urge to buy a mini for about as long I owned any firearms. Between proprietary magazines, accuracy concerns, and the higher price I've decided to save my pennies for when Fightlite SCR lowers get back in stock and then build an AR from there.
Not mine but some inspiration for sure.
View attachment 1000474
Click to expand...

That's a beauty of an autoloader. :cool:
 
JCooperfan1911 said:
Desiring more effective range than the 300 yards of my M1 carbine. Would a new Mini 14 have a longer effective range than an M1 carbine? Say up to 500 yards using 77 grain bullets?
Click to expand...
I don't have an M1 so can't make an informed comparison, but based on my own experience with my new Mini-14 I'd say it's likely to be inferior to your M1.
 
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