for years I have heard the mini 14 has a wisp thin barrel with only one millionth of an inch around the bore but lord and behold I miked the barrels on an M 14 M1 garand AK 47 and the barrels on those guns measure almost exactly as the mini 14 barrel BUT they have a .30 caliber hole drilled in them not a .22 so the mini has a thicker barrel which is no where near as good as the others