New Mini 14 Target Rifle

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[snark]

I used to shoot Bullseye with a Ruger Mk II "Target" (Finger quotes!) pistol.

Talk about a bad joke sans punchline.

With the 9ish-lb trigger I had a hard time being competitive.

If this new Mini14 is anything like the other stuff from Ruger, it'll hold its own on the line just as soon as you replace everything except the receiver with after-market parts.

[/snark]
 
I intend to get my loving wife a Mini 14 soon. She doesn't need to shoot anything past about 50 yards, and needs something she can use easily, without excessive recoil, and she likes the look and feel of the Mini. The $600 price tag is hard to swallow, but oh well, best I can do for her personal SHTF rifle.
 
Everything on that new mini-14 has been taken from pretty much every mini-14 website I have seen... Ruger let the common user hash out what worked and what didn't.. then they emulated.

Nice to have your R&D tried and paid for by folks outside your company...

I bet the new rifles will still get tricked out and tinkered with...
 
IMO, no one who cares about the RKBA should ever buy anything from Ruger (or Colt, BTW). I have a problem with any company that harbors the attitude that we lowly peasants should only have "sporting" weapons.

Let's support companies that take the RKBA seriously.
 
Wow. For years, I've been reading peoples' comments on firearms related BBSes about how "if Ruger would only do XYZ to the Mini-14 at the factory...." And now they've done it. There may be tons of negative energy in this thread, but I'd bet that it'll sell, except at some store where they insist on selling at MSRP. As WarMachine pointed out, they generally sell for a bit less than MSRP. *IF* it performs OOB the way other Minis do after aftermaket mods, it just might be worth $6-700 to someone who was thinking of buying one and sending it to some custom shop. Other than the OlyArms plinker, that is still less expensive than an AR. If it developes a good reputation over the next few years, I may even buy one.

My only comment to Ruger would be "Start making 30 rounders again!"
 
I had a Mini-14 but when I bought an AR15 I sold it.
Compared to the AR15, the trigger and bolt machinery on the Mini-14 was kind of crude and clunky. I can definitely see the attraction if you wanted to throw the thing in the back of a truck, it looked like it would stand a real beating, more so than the AR15. But for shooting at targets or plinking, the AR15 is much nicer.
Running around in the woods and mud, I imagine most AR15 owners would not want to risk getting their expensive electro-holographic optics dirty, or getting crud in their expensive tactical buttstocks.

For me though, I found it easier to take the bolt out of the AR15 for cleaning. The Mini-14 was a pain with that return spring on the bolt, you needed three hands to get it back in.
 
I love all the Mini hysteria...

They work good. I have been on plenty of outings where the vaunted AR has failed and failed misserably. I have an AR and love it, but it is not the end all be all. On one trip we had some surplus ammo that was a bit dinged up. My mini ate it all day long. My friends Match Target AR jammed up and he was done for the day. There is no easy way to extract a stuck case from an AR
w/o a cleaning rod. That is something he always carries now.

I recently bought a new 580 series mini and will say that it is great. It shoot 2 MOA all day long. I can hit coyotes out to 300 yards with little problem. It is much less clunky than an AR for riding in the truck. With a 5 round mag it slides easily in and out of the window and the bottom of the mags don't tear up the seats.

I think BHK hit it right on the mark.

As far as Ruger's company practices I have a couple of thought. First is design your own firearms, start your own company and then you can sell to who ever you like. And, we need to becareful with boycotts and the like. It is exactly what the anti's want; devide and concour. We don't have many good firearms companies left that make diversified product lines. We better protect and support the ones we do.

Matt
 
They work good. I have been on plenty of outings where the vaunted AR has failed and failed misserably. I have an AR and love it, but it is not the end all be all. On one trip we had some surplus ammo that was a bit dinged up. My mini ate it all day long. My friends Match Target AR jammed up and he was done for the day. There is no easy way to extract a stuck case from an AR
w/o a cleaning rod. That is something he always carries now.

I recently bought a new 580 series mini and will say that it is great. It shoot 2 MOA all day long. I can hit coyotes out to 300 yards with little problem. It is much less clunky than an AR for riding in the truck. With a 5 round mag it slides easily in and out of the window and the bottom of the mags don't tear up the seats.

I think BHK hit it right on the mark.

As far as Ruger's company practices I have a couple of thought. First is design your own firearms, start your own company and then you can sell to who ever you like. And, we need to becareful with boycotts and the like. It is exactly what the anti's want; devide and concour. We don't have many good firearms companies left that make diversified product lines. We better protect and support the ones we do.

Matt
Click to expand...

+1 Great post
 
I'd have to try out two or three of them on different days in order to prove to myself that they are any good. The Mini I owned and sold was, functionally dependable but in the accuracy department absolutely the worst piece I ever owned.
 
As stated before the Mini is the best darn $300 rifle that you can buy for under $700. If they cost 300 smakers I doubt anybody would complain. Or if they cost $500 and accepted AR mags I bet Ruger wouldn't be able to produce them fast enough.
 
the mini 14 has a VERY pleasing aesthetic quality...one might even say it's look is iconic. it is extremely comfortable to handle. it is very light...even with a nice, full, factory 20 round magazine in place. it is made well, it's rugged, and is supremely reliable. for a comparably sized firearm, balistically, it beats the pants off of an m-1 carbine(i mention this since the two are regularly considered side-by-side). griping about the mini 14's accuracy is akin to griping about the accuracy of an sks or an m-1 carbine. none of these firearms was developed with competition in mind.

let's assume for a second, that there are a good many people that really love these qualities of the mini-14(one here). if ruger decided to make adjustments to the platform that markedly enhanced it's accuracy, then some of those that love it already, and are maybe interested in that platform for say competitive shooting, will probably be keen on getting one, regardless of the price. to go on about it no longer being light and handy is a waste of time, as the firearm, in this configuration, is no longer intended to be light and handy, or function in the role of that utility-type rifle....it is simply intended to be a match grade rifle, with a loved and familiar feel and look.
 
ECVMatt said:
On one trip we had some surplus ammo that was a bit dinged up. My mini ate it all day long. My friends Match Target AR jammed up and he was done for the day. There is no easy way to extract a stuck case from an AR w/o a cleaning rod.
Click to expand...

Holding the weapon about 70 degrees, slam the buttstock on the deck while pulling on the charging handle. Maintain control of the muzzle and keep it pointed in a safe direction. Repeat as necessary. This will clear most stuck cases.

You can also avoid it by not using 5.56mm military surplus ammo in a rifle with a .223 target chamber. The .223 has a shorter leade to begin with and a "match" chamber will be even tighter in order to insure accuracy. If you then feed it 5.56mm ammo, you will see higher pressures because 5.56mm ammo is loaded hotter to start with and is designed to be used with a longer leader. These high pressures will often cause the brass to stick to the chamber, particularly as the chamber heats up.
 
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There's a reason The A-Team never actually shot anyone:D


Seriously, I have no experience with one. I do hear from quite a few people it is not very accurate, after a few shots. We did have a shooter compete with one a few times. He runs an AR now. It wasn't reliable at all. For the money there are other similar platforms that will supposedly have similar accuracy, or better, and cost a lot less.

And the #1 reason not to own a Ruger: Ruger's political stance on firearm issues.
 
The street price is $799.99(800). I will have one in my hands on Wednesday when Ruger has its bi-yearly shoot with us (Gander MTN.) If I want it at the end of the shoot I can have a NIB for Cost or the Test fired one for 10% Below Cost. They are handi little rifles. They are not a combat gun. The AR are dogged by every other crowd. I know the Israeli's Hate them and want there Galis (sp?)back.

I will give it a chance on Wednesday. I f I like it ill take one home.

BTW- We have a part number for a mini 14 chambered in 6.8SPC in our inventory computer.
 
I don't just like my mini...I love it. :rolleyes: Does it stand up against an AR? No. It was the first semi-automatic rifle I ever owned and aside from the sentimental value. It's durable and reliable and shoots well. (well not great I have shot three inch groups, but not consistantly.)

Plus beginners shouldn't just dump $1000 into an AR off the bat, you need to learn how best to maintain and get the highest possible performance given the inherent limitations of it's design. It makes you appreciate an AR all the more. There is no reason to go backwards but its gone from my learning tool to my "knock around gun" and it's been great for those.

Also I bought mine used (as did a friend) for about $400 dollars (after taxes). I've put countless thousands of rounds through it in addition to it being used and it still performs the well and so does my buddies.

And even with all of my love for the Mini. I will never, ever, ever want or think its a good idea to by this target mini. The Mini-14 has made it's niche much lower in the found chain then the AR. Nobody needs this gun.

BTW, if you look around those larger ruger clips can be found. I just bought one yesterday at the first place I called.:neener:
 
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