JAV8000
Member
This review of the 591 series Ruger Mini-14 tactical is a bit late in the coming as iv'e been busy preparing for my imminent deployment in the coming month. Luckily, I've recently gotten some R&R time and what better to do with it than sit on my computer and be (semi) useless.
In the beginning, theres always a mans first impression. My particular example came out of the box cosmetically clean and reasonably well finished. There are tooling marks here and there, but about what is to be expected of a field grade weapon. The action to stock fit was very tight and everything felt solid and well put together. The safety clicked positively from safe to fire and back. The rifle was supplied with a pair of Ruger Mid height rings, two wrenches for adjusting and removing the aperture iron sight, one twenty round steel magazine, instructions/safety booklet, and the always present gun lock. I immediately stripped the weapon down, following the instructions, and cleaned and lubricated the action and barrel. It was plesent to see that all components, outside of the synthetic stock and upper hand guard, were made of steel with the trigger components made of stainless. Having had extensive experience with the M16/M4 series of rifles, this weapon seemed less dainty and much more simple in construction and operation. The simple rear aperture sight is well constructed, if of an antiquated design when it comes to adjustment. At first glance however, it seemed quite adequate with a an aperture somewhere in between that of the flip apertures on an M16A2. The magazine was quite robust and made of solid steel. This makes me happy.....I'm not a huge fan of GI spec aluminum magazines, it's too easy to damage the feed lips. Enough of the first glance, it's time to shoot!
The first time I showed up at the range with this weapon, I brought along some Federal bulk pack .223 55gr. FMJ and some Black Hills remanufactured (blue box) 52 gr. JHP to chew up. Sighting in the irons took some time do to the adjustment process, screw both little bolts out, slide the aperture one way or the other, than tighten both down. It would have been nice to have some positive detents, but it does keep everything simple and private proof. The weapon was easy and quick to shoulder for me as its length of pull is quite short and so am I (5' 8"). This could be a bit of an issue for some larger framed shooters out there. Recoil was negligible, as expected, and the weapon functioned perfectly in slow and rapid fire. The trigger is military two stage and broke clean, though it was quite heavy at first. As I was dealing with iron sights, I didn't have the motivation to really open up past 100m or shoot off the bench, I wanted to see how it handled offhand and in the kneeling positions. The results were heartening, with 50m groups punching slightly smaller than baseball size, and 100m groups in the 8" range. I put about 350 rounds through her, switched to my Glock 17 for some recurrent handgun training, packed up, and went home. Before I even pulled out of the parking lot, I said to myself "She needs a nice scope, and that is that!" Come pay day I went optic hunting. I played with the various toys out there and ended up settling on a Leupold VXIII 1.5-5x20mm scope. Having heard that Minis could be quite hard on scopes, I knew I wanted something tough. I also wanted it to be as light as possible and have nice glass.....hence the Leupold! It was a bit more than I really wanted to spend for a 1.5-5 power scope, but you get what you pay for. All said and done, I brought it home and spent a couple hours reaming the Ruger rings to get everything straight.....word to the wise, those Ruger rings are far from perfect out of the box, Polish em up to get them straight before you mount up an expensive optic! I also picked up a three point sling for the Mini 14 from Specter gear, a couple spare 20rnd Ruger mags ($25 from CDNN), and a $70 ACCU-strut, very nice! Time to hit the range again, oh happy day! My time squaring up the scope mounts was well spent, I was able to hit the paper at 50m without having to tinker with anything. 12 rounds later I was zeroed at 100M and ready to start bench shooting for groups.
This time I brought along aforementioned Federal bulk pack, Black Hills, M855 surplus ball, and some Remington 45gr. JHPs, nothing too great, but good enough for this grunt to expect results. Everything grouped within 2", with the Federal bulk 55 gr. FMJ and the Remington 45gr. JHPs giving quite a few 1.5 MOA groups. Ten and even twenty shot groups grouped well too, most likely thanks to the addition of the ACCU-strut. With higher end or hand loaded ammunition, I'm sure I could shrink them even more. Sadly M855 didn't shoot better than 3.5MOA, but in all reality that stuff isn't exactly known for its exceptional accuracy. No malfunctions occurred in the 300+ rounds fired.
Now that your cursing me for being so long winded, I'll lay out a few closing comments. All in all I'm very happy with this weapon. It's light, has great handling characteristics, is robust, reliable, and as accurate as it needs to be for its intended purpose. On a side note, I haven't cleaned anything other than the barrel in the 800+ rounds I have run through it currently, and have had zero malfunctions. This is a testament to its "truck gun" capability. It's tactical AND practical! I intend on using it for hunting small to medium game, plinking, and home defense (that is when I don't live in the barracks anymore). One future idea I'm playing with is getting some trigger work done. The trigger has broken in quite nicely, but it would be nice if it was just a bit lighter. There it is THR, my little review of the newest (and in my opinion, best) red headed step child of the rifle world!
In the beginning, theres always a mans first impression. My particular example came out of the box cosmetically clean and reasonably well finished. There are tooling marks here and there, but about what is to be expected of a field grade weapon. The action to stock fit was very tight and everything felt solid and well put together. The safety clicked positively from safe to fire and back. The rifle was supplied with a pair of Ruger Mid height rings, two wrenches for adjusting and removing the aperture iron sight, one twenty round steel magazine, instructions/safety booklet, and the always present gun lock. I immediately stripped the weapon down, following the instructions, and cleaned and lubricated the action and barrel. It was plesent to see that all components, outside of the synthetic stock and upper hand guard, were made of steel with the trigger components made of stainless. Having had extensive experience with the M16/M4 series of rifles, this weapon seemed less dainty and much more simple in construction and operation. The simple rear aperture sight is well constructed, if of an antiquated design when it comes to adjustment. At first glance however, it seemed quite adequate with a an aperture somewhere in between that of the flip apertures on an M16A2. The magazine was quite robust and made of solid steel. This makes me happy.....I'm not a huge fan of GI spec aluminum magazines, it's too easy to damage the feed lips. Enough of the first glance, it's time to shoot!
The first time I showed up at the range with this weapon, I brought along some Federal bulk pack .223 55gr. FMJ and some Black Hills remanufactured (blue box) 52 gr. JHP to chew up. Sighting in the irons took some time do to the adjustment process, screw both little bolts out, slide the aperture one way or the other, than tighten both down. It would have been nice to have some positive detents, but it does keep everything simple and private proof. The weapon was easy and quick to shoulder for me as its length of pull is quite short and so am I (5' 8"). This could be a bit of an issue for some larger framed shooters out there. Recoil was negligible, as expected, and the weapon functioned perfectly in slow and rapid fire. The trigger is military two stage and broke clean, though it was quite heavy at first. As I was dealing with iron sights, I didn't have the motivation to really open up past 100m or shoot off the bench, I wanted to see how it handled offhand and in the kneeling positions. The results were heartening, with 50m groups punching slightly smaller than baseball size, and 100m groups in the 8" range. I put about 350 rounds through her, switched to my Glock 17 for some recurrent handgun training, packed up, and went home. Before I even pulled out of the parking lot, I said to myself "She needs a nice scope, and that is that!" Come pay day I went optic hunting. I played with the various toys out there and ended up settling on a Leupold VXIII 1.5-5x20mm scope. Having heard that Minis could be quite hard on scopes, I knew I wanted something tough. I also wanted it to be as light as possible and have nice glass.....hence the Leupold! It was a bit more than I really wanted to spend for a 1.5-5 power scope, but you get what you pay for. All said and done, I brought it home and spent a couple hours reaming the Ruger rings to get everything straight.....word to the wise, those Ruger rings are far from perfect out of the box, Polish em up to get them straight before you mount up an expensive optic! I also picked up a three point sling for the Mini 14 from Specter gear, a couple spare 20rnd Ruger mags ($25 from CDNN), and a $70 ACCU-strut, very nice! Time to hit the range again, oh happy day! My time squaring up the scope mounts was well spent, I was able to hit the paper at 50m without having to tinker with anything. 12 rounds later I was zeroed at 100M and ready to start bench shooting for groups.
This time I brought along aforementioned Federal bulk pack, Black Hills, M855 surplus ball, and some Remington 45gr. JHPs, nothing too great, but good enough for this grunt to expect results. Everything grouped within 2", with the Federal bulk 55 gr. FMJ and the Remington 45gr. JHPs giving quite a few 1.5 MOA groups. Ten and even twenty shot groups grouped well too, most likely thanks to the addition of the ACCU-strut. With higher end or hand loaded ammunition, I'm sure I could shrink them even more. Sadly M855 didn't shoot better than 3.5MOA, but in all reality that stuff isn't exactly known for its exceptional accuracy. No malfunctions occurred in the 300+ rounds fired.
Now that your cursing me for being so long winded, I'll lay out a few closing comments. All in all I'm very happy with this weapon. It's light, has great handling characteristics, is robust, reliable, and as accurate as it needs to be for its intended purpose. On a side note, I haven't cleaned anything other than the barrel in the 800+ rounds I have run through it currently, and have had zero malfunctions. This is a testament to its "truck gun" capability. It's tactical AND practical! I intend on using it for hunting small to medium game, plinking, and home defense (that is when I don't live in the barracks anymore). One future idea I'm playing with is getting some trigger work done. The trigger has broken in quite nicely, but it would be nice if it was just a bit lighter. There it is THR, my little review of the newest (and in my opinion, best) red headed step child of the rifle world!
