Ruger Mini 30

[a454me]

My son has my SKS and I'm looking for a light handy replacement , thinking about a Ruger mini 30 . Anyone tell me the good/bad experiences you've had with yours , do you recommend or not .
thanks

 

[wayne in boca]

I've had one for years,stainless w/synthetic stock.I like it,reasonably accurate and works every time.I keep a little 4X fixed power scope on it,hits what I point it at.Sorta like an M1 carbine on steroids.

 

[Ranger J]

I have one but it is not nearly as accurate as my SKS. You might consider a Saiga.
RJ

 

[lee n. field]

My son has my SKS and I'm looking for a light handy replacement , thinking about a Ruger mini 30 .

Any reason not to get another SKS?

 

[Mumbles_45]

Any reason your not considering one of the many AK clones?

 

[KaceCoyote]

+1 on the Saiga.

 

[kentucky_smith]

+1 on another SKS, preferably Russian or Chinese.

 

[magsnubby]

I had a stainless one for awhile. It was fairly accurate until the barrel warmed up then the groups opened up quit a bit. It was kind of picky about what ammo i fed it. Didn't like Wolf ammo at all.

All in all it was an okay rifle. I finally traded it for a Yugo SKS, a Russian Mosin-Nagant M-44 and a hand full of cash. I'm much happier with the SKS.

 

[johnnytang24]

I've never held one, but I wouldn't get one for defense based on the experiences of one crack-commando unit, the A-Team. They shoot thousands of rounds and never once hit anybody.

Thanks.

 

[wayne in boca]

Johnnytang,you are confusing the Mini 30 with the Mini 14.The reason the A-team couldn't hit anything is that the sun reflected off Mr. T's jewelry and got in their eyes.

 

[mainmech48]

I own several SKSes and a stainless Mini-30. With a single notable exception (a Chinese "commercial" SKS) average accuracy is a toss-up. With the stock magazines, so is reliability. Aftermarket "high-caps" are another matter in both. IME, one has to go through a sizeable number of them in order to come up with three or four reliable examples in both flavors.

The Mini with its shorter, lighter barrel does seem to open up the groups a bit more and sooner than an SKS with extended rapid-fire, but so what? You're not going to take either varminting down in Prairiedog Town, it doesn't really matter when plinking, and if you're in a real firefight you have more pressing matters to worry about (like having it go "bang" every single time it needs to, "how much ammo do I have on me?", and "how can I "GTFOH" with my skin intact?").

 

[colt.45]

im sorry, but suggetting to a man a gun that he is trying to replace is extremely retarded.

a454me: if you want a mini-30 then go for it. great for youngsters and i find that they are great for hog patrtol too because they are reliable and handle simular to a short shotgun. and from a cold bore, its as good as any gun. the mini-30 is a little more limited in the magazine selection though.

 

[possum]

i would say go for the mini-30 as well, for the simple fact that your son has the sks and if you ever want to shoot it than shoot his, and vise versa. i would rather have two different kinds of rifles over having two of the same type, especially when someone you know has one. when my dad gets a rifle or handgun then i normally don't get the same, just for the fact that we can shoot each others.

 

[dartos]

My Mini 30 would not cycle surplus ammo, only high $ rem. and other commercial ammo, I spoke with several gun shops and was told mini30s were known to have this problem, I loved the gun, but could not afford the high price ammo, ( I had purchased 500 surplus rounds that cycled perfectly through my SKS), I sold the thirty ...
Your thoughts please!
Kevin

 

[mainmech48]

Mine feeds everything I put in it as long as I use the stock mag or the four 20-rounders I culled from the two dozen or so I tested. Surplus or commercial, ball, SP or HP, brass or steel cases.

If yours didn't, a trip back to Ruger would've fixed it and they have a well-deserved rep for making it right for their customers no matter what. They've even been known to refund shipping for egregious problems if the piece is new.

While I only know about a dozen folks who own Mini-30s personally, I've never heard from any of them that theirs had any chronic problems with mil-spec ammo. One surplus type or even a certain commercial brand, perhaps, but certainly not everything original mil-spec. FWIW, virtually all of them routinely use whatever mil-spec ball they can get cheapest with at least satisfactory results.