Ruger Mini-14 Club

[Dave Markowitz]

Last few I saw, however, were $50 each and it took the shop a while to get a hold of em...

J&G Sales and 44mag.com both list OEM Ruger 20s in stock, so you can order directly. CDNN and CTD sometimes have them as well. Unfortunately, you're correct about the price. After the AWB expired the market price was about $35 but it's gone up to about $50 today. Again, if you can find an FFL who handles LE trade-ins you can get them cheaper. E.g., I have some hardly used trade-ins which I paid $25 for. I even have a Ruger factory 30 rounder for which I paid the whopping sum of $20.

Benelli Shooter: Who 'smithed your rifle? It looks a lot like one I saw in a gun mag about 10 years ago.

 

[Benelli Shooter]

DRC guns in Texas did mine. He does excellent work. My only complaint was the wait. It was around 6 months. But, he does good work.

My Garand is more accurate off the bench. But, I did a test at 100 yards with 12" steel plates. From kneeling, I compared the two rifles. I could consistently get more hits with the Mini than the Garand. The Mini is an easy gun to shoot.

 

[Squidward]

Mini-30 Python (snake skin)

Wow, just... wow!!

 

[JerBear]

Here's my new Mini-14 in 6.8 SPC.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

JerBear,

Welcome to THR. That's a nice looking rifle. What kind of accuracy are you getting with it?

 

[def4pos8]

1st Reduced Image Attempt

If this loads, it'll show my slightly modified Ranch Rifle. Specs: Hogue Overmold stock; Accuracy Systems adjustable gas block; Ruger Govt/LE 20-rd magazine; Leupold 6x42, Reticle #4.

I'll likely tape the 'scope soon to reduce its glare.

This is my KISS carbine. A 580-series, it's very accurate, light, handy and easy to maintain.

 

[Snapping Twig]

Do Mini 30's count? If so, here's mine.

GunDoc trigger job, torqued gas block and 150g reloads. It's an older .308 model and came with this Butler Creek stock.

332379[/ATTACH]"]http://

 

[CPLofMARINES]

Quick question guys, does the MINI-14 take 5.56 or .223 REM.



Semper Fi!!

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Snapping Twig ... Sure, we'll accept the Mini-14's brother into the club.

CPLofMarines ... while the receiver is marked .223, as far as I know they have 5.56mm chambers. The owner's manual says that they are meant for .223 or 5.56. I have shot plenty of 5.56mm in my 182-series Mini-14 with no problems.

 

[CPLofMARINES]

Thank You, Dave

 

[Sistema1927]

I don't have one now, but I have owned two, including one of the very first in 1974.

I took that rifle to High School in a pickup truck rack, showed it off to the Assistant Principal in the school parking lot (things sure have changed, and not for the better), and used it to shoot coyotes to pay for a couple of semesters of college.

 

[armoredman]

Yes, Mini-14s are made for both 5.56 and .223 Rem. I need the gas block - how much are they, and do I need an gunsmith to install it?

 

[def4pos8]

armoredman

Cost of the Accuracy Systems tunable gas block is $90 + shipping.

I installed it myself. You must be careful to "step-torque" the cap screws, slowly tightening them in an alternating pattern, just as any mechanic would do for cylinder head bolts or cylinder base nuts/bolts. I checked the screws after warming things with twenty rounds but haven't had to bother with 'em since.

A decent instruction sheet is included. Reading and understanding it certainly helps make what you need to do very clear. I thought the install was easy.

 

[JerBear]

"Dave Markowitz said:
... What kind of accuracy are you getting with it?"

_______________________________

With the right ammo it shoots great! With factory ammo--Hornady 110 gr. vmax and Silver State 115gr. Sierra HP--it groups about 2 to 2-1/2 moa, but with handloads it does even better Here's a .jpeg of the last 100 yard target I shot. The target contains about 20 bullet holes shot while sighting in the scope. I made 3 or 4 scope adjustments; bringing the point of impact down and to the left.



These handloads are 115 gr. HPBT (MidwayUSA blemished bullet special; I think they're the discontinued Hornady bullets.) However, it shoots equally well with 90 gr. Speer TNT HP and 110 gr. ProHunters. I've only loaded with Hodgdon H322 powder and Win SR primers so far. The brass is the small primer Silver State which is excellent!

 

[jobu07]

My humble addition. Some changes have been made to the rifle since the pic was taken.

 

[Tarvis]

It's an older .308 model and came with this Butler Creek stock.

Ahem, did I read that right? You have one of the prototype's for the mini 308, or are you confusing 7.62x39 with 7.62x51 (.308), the former being what mini 30's are chambered for..


Also: I set up my dillon for reloading .223, but the brass I'm using (fired from several different rifles, mostly from my dad's well worn mini14) doesn't fit in the chamber of my rifle; the bolt doesn't fully close without serious force. It will still fire, even when bolt isnt fully closed, but as you can probably guess I stopped loading with the old brass. Anyone had this problem before? Anyone know a solution? Fireforming, just shoot it, buy new brass???

 

[deth502]

'84, i beleive or was it '85

id sure like to see some more pics of the .308 ruger.

any thoughts of selling??

ive never actually seen one, but i know one of the main probs was billy ruger not wanting to sell a rifle to the general public that could use those dangerous high caps!!

will it take a m-14 mag or do you need special ruger mags??

 

[armoredman]

The Mini 308 was never sold, to the best of my knowledge, it wasn't reliable or accurate. Too bad.
Tarvis, I have used some pretty beat brass so far, to reload for my 580 series, and full length resizing them has given me no issues whatsoever. If you necksize, stop - works far better to full length. I am using standard Lee .223 dies, BTW.

 

[RH822]

Here's mine, I've had it since 1983 and have never had any problems with it.

 

[def4pos8]

Snapping Twig's 7.62 X 39 has a GROOVE diameter of .308. Some makers produced barrels/rifles to that dimension, rather than .310/.311. My sizing dies have expander balls for both.

Some makers thought that availability of .310/.311 bullets would be sort of thin as the cartridge just began to become popular and chambered/rifled their products to accept readily available .308 bullets. Most makers have gone to the standard .310/.311 by now.

Snapping Twig has one of these early products.

 

[RCR29]

I'll play. My 182 series GB

 

[Snapping Twig]

Thanks def4pos8.

You are correct, the groove diameter on my Mini is .308 as opposed to .311 and the bullet selection is fantastic.

Mine really likes 150g bullets. I get under 3" groups at 100 yards and I am strongly leaning to getting an Accu-Strut to tighten it up even more.

To my way of thinking, this Mini is excellent for practicing my marksmanship at 1/2 the cost powder-wise. My 30-06 uses between 49 to 57 grains of various powders, whereas the Mini uses 23.5 grains. Add to this the hard hitting power of a 150g bullet leaving the muzzle at @ 2100fps and you have a short bodied, easy swinging semi auto rifle to hunt with.

Not that I'm in the business, but it would make a great SHTF rifle too.

 

[IrvJr]

I have a new style Mini 14 Ranch stainless (the 580 series with the garand-style sights). I like it a lot. light, reliable, accurate enough (i only shoot it at a max of 100 yards) and fun. some day I'd like to develop some handloads for my mini - i've heard that they can shoot more accurately with a heavier weight bullet.

i've posted a link to this article before, but there was a SWAT magazine article about the Mini 14 vs the AR-15 floating around and it had some good things to say about the Mini.

http://www.ar15.com/content/swat/200203-AR-15_vs_Mini-14.pdf

In the article the author puts a handful of dirt the magazine well of each gun and shakes it around. After cleaning each gun's barrel, he tries to test fire a magazine from each gun. The Mini 14 ran fine, but the AR experienced a malfunction.

A lot of folks seem to despise the mini, but I think it's a good lightweight carbine/plinker. It has good practical accuracy and it's easy to maintain.

 

[def4pos8]

Regarding Reloads

There are reasons Ruger's lawyers don't like reloaded cartridges and say so using large, red letters in the user's manuals.

Failing to small-base/full-length size, measure, and trim to specification .223/5.56mm brass can result in failures to chamber and/or unsupported, inertial ignition of a cartridge. This is bad.

I've observed it once, in an M-1A, and that was enough. An inch lower and the shooter would have had the bolt in his skull. That guy ruined a fine, match rifle because he was sloppy in his reloading technique.

Whatever the source -- Speer, Hornady, Nosler, Accurate, etc -- manuals tell us to be much more careful with case prep for self-loading (semi-auto) or auto-loading rifles. Sloppy production techniques are simply dangerous.

 

[Tarvis]

I'm not sure if i checked the length, but that could be the problem. I use a dillon 550 for .223 with the dillon dies and I'm not sure if it's a full length, so I'll have to check.