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best ammo for an old mini ruger

cook640cook640 Member Posts: 8 ✭✭
edited December 2008 in Ask the Experts
I have a mini ruger that is over 30 years old, what is the best ammo for it?
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Comments

  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 15,576 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    .223rem 45-55 grain. No nato spec ammo(M-193,M-855).
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  • 5mmgunguy5mmgunguy Member Posts: 3,092 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Welcome to the forum...do you reload? Are you planning to start? I had one of the early Mini-14s, I reloaded for it. 55 gr SP with 26.3 grains of 748...wasn't really hot but the Mini 14 shot it very accurately. 2 inch at 100 yards...and that is very good for a Mini 14. Not sure how yours will do but by reloading you can experiment and find a good load the gun likes. Part of the fun of shooting in my book.
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  • MFIMFI Member Posts: 7,899 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My preban Mini shoots anything I put in it.. Best for it ? Tough question ? What will make it shoot more accurately ? What is more reliable ?
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  • cook640cook640 Member Posts: 8 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm looking for what is more accurate.
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  • NwcidNwcid Member Posts: 10,674 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by quickmajik
    No nato spec ammo(M-193,M-855).


    Please site your source.
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  • SNIPERXXSNIPERXX Member Posts: 74 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Check the twist rate of the rifling 1 in 12 - 1 in 9 - 1 in 7 etc. It is my understanding that the twist rate of the early guns was slower so it would favor lighter bullets.You can check this simply by inserting a tightly patched ram-rod into the barrel all the way down to near the chamber.Mark the rod with a felt tip pen, a tiny dot will do as close to the muzzle as possible.Pull the ram-rod out slowly until the dot comes back around precisely to the same position as it started (1 complete revolution). Measure the distance from the dot to the muzzle. If it is 10 inches then your barrel has a 1 in 10 twist etc. As a general rule guns with a slower twist tend to shoot lighter bullets well and faster twists tend to shoot heavier ones. P.S. the lower the second number, the faster the twist.
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  • shooter10shooter10 Member Posts: 461 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Source - John Shaefer 1988 - Rifleman magazine

    "U.S. military specifications for M193 Ball ammunition require a 55
    grain bullet (q 2 grains) at a muzzle velocity of 3,250 q 40 fps from a 20
    inch test barrel measured 15 feet from the muzzle. The accuracy requirement
    from a test fixture calls for a maximum of a two inch mean radius at 200
    yards from ten 10 shot groups (which equates to approximately three MOA).
    "Statistically average" M193 ranges from 1.2 to 1.6 inches mean radius,
    which is equivalent to 1.8 to 2.4 MOA. Velocity from an M16 rifle or
    pressure test barrel usually runs about 3,200 fps due to gas loss through
    the port. Accuracy is typically around 2 to 2+ MOA from an M16A1 rifle at
    ranges of 100 to 300 yards. M193 ammunition is suitable for use in 1 twist
    in 12 inches or faster twists. While commercial sporting rifles in this
    caliber usually have one in 14 rifling, the M193 boat tailed bullet is
    barely stabilized with that rate of twist at ambient temperatures, and will
    not stabilize at all when the air temperature drops below freezing.

    In 1987, the twist was changed.
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