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Ruger Mini 14

Layne12gunLayne12gun Member Posts: 178 ✭✭✭
edited May 2013 in Ask the Experts
I just got a new catalogue from Ruger and the Mini 14 rifle is missing from the pages. A local gun shop told me that they have ceased production and are concentrating on thier new SR 556 AR Rifle.
Has anybody else heard of this? Thier web site is still showing them.
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Comments

  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,650 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It's the first I've heard of it, but wouldn't be surprised at all. I owned a couple of them years ago. They functioned OK, but accuracy wise AR's beat them bad.

    I always felt the relatively heavy internal moving parts and skinny barrel killed the accuracy, as compared to the AR's DI mechanism.
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  • competentonecompetentone Member Posts: 4,696 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    (I guess this is how rumors get started.) With the World Wide Web at your fingertips, why not just check Ruger's website:

    http://www.ruger.com/products/mini14/index.html

    What a surprise! The Mini-14 is still there.

    I haven't seen the latest Ruger catalog, but if Ruger left the Mini-14 out, I'd guess it would have been some advertising decisions -- perhaps some decision that it sells well enough on its own, so there's no need to include it in a catalog?

    My point is that "the local gun shop" can be one of the worst places to get accurate information about industry information. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a gun dealer tell me something is discontinued, or is about to be, I'd be a rich man. It seems to be a common "sales tactic" to try to get people to buy. (It's funny too, because when something really is discontinued, it's been my experience that the best place to still likely find it, is at the "local gun shop.")
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  • Layne12gunLayne12gun Member Posts: 178 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks for the information.. I checked the web site before I posted the question. Yes they are still on the website. but the web site has been unchanged for over a year now. I tried to call the factory but got no response and customer service said that they had Mini's still in stock!! which I thought seem to be an odd answer. Not trying to start rumors at all. That is why I went to "Ask The Experts" as I felt some one may have attended the Shot Show or the NRA convention where an anouncement was made.. I did not get to attend this year. Thanks for the information
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  • Emmett DunhamEmmett Dunham Member Posts: 1,418 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Maybe it is a sign from the gods that the gun rush is over; they had some Mini 14's in stock! The price that I have been seeing them sell for would make me think that Ruger made a lot of money off of the 14 in the last six months. I have been reading a lot of posts about the new Mini's and they have been really positive on the accuracy side and one poster stated that the new Mini has kept right up with his AR.

    Emmett
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  • MFIMFI Member Posts: 7,899 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Is this the new for 2013 catalog you have ? If it is several guns are missing in it because they are not "new".. I haven't seen the new Product Catalog they come out with every year. We get them sent here to the shop when they come out.. Ruger's dealer program sheets had the Mini's on the order form so they are definitely still being made..
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  • beantownshootahbeantownshootah Member Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by competentone
    (I guess this is how rumors get started.) With the World Wide Web at your fingertips, why not just check Ruger's website:

    http://www.ruger.com/products/mini14/index.html

    What a surprise! The Mini-14 is still there.

    I haven't seen the latest Ruger catalog, but if Ruger left the Mini-14 out, I'd guess it would have been some advertising decisions -- perhaps some decision that it sells well enough on its own, so there's no need to include it in a catalog?

    My point is that "the local gun shop" can be one of the worst places to get accurate information about industry information. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a gun dealer tell me something is discontinued, or is about to be, I'd be a rich man. It seems to be a common "sales tactic" to try to get people to buy. (It's funny too, because when something really is discontinued, it's been my experience that the best place to still likely find it, is at the "local gun shop.")


    Ha ha! This.

    Ruger Mini-14 is an old Ruger stand-by; whatever the merits of the actual guns, they've been selling these for over 30 years now. (And for 30 years, we've been hearing about how they aren't accurate compared to ARs).

    Because of stupid cosmetic-feature gun laws in some jurisdictions, ordinary Ruger mini-14s (which have no bayonet lug or vertical pistol grip) are sometimes legal to sell in places where AR-15s are not, and that alone is reason enough for Ruger to continue making these.

    I'm pretty sure Ruger is still selling boatloads of these rifles, and if they were being discontinued, we'd be hearing it from other (more reliable) sources. Of course these are still listed on Ruger's website, in multiple different variations (including a "target" version, and of course the mini-30 in 7.62x39).

    So I don't buy this story either.
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