mini-14's suck......................

WaltherP-38

The Ruger mini-14 is NOT an accurate rifle. The barrel heats up after a couple of rounds,one here,one there.It isn't a tack driver! Dump it and get a good bolt action rifle in another caliber,you won't regret it.

Cyclonus

quote:Originally posted by WaltherP-38
The Ruger mini-14 is NOT an accurate rifle. The barrel heats up after a couple of rounds,one here,one there.It isn't a tack driver! Dump it and get a good bolt action rifle in another caliber,you won't regret it.


I agree with you on the mini 14 and I will NEVER buy another M77 mk II the one I have is the biggest POS in engineering I have ever seen in my life. Someone please answer why on earth would you make a box magazine so thin and leave a big air gap around it, Unless you wanted it to bend so Id have to send it back in. The thing still wont chamber a round if its in the magazine so mine can only be used as a single shot. Its a 6mm btw just in case anyone wanted to know.

fastcarsgofast

I have had good success with my mini 14's. With the accept ion of an after market flash hider being out of spec. they have always served me well and with more than exceptional accuracy. A "tack driver" but a good rifle if you know what to expect and don't expect to much. A better more reliable CQC rifle or truck gun would be hard to find.

jtmarine0831

The Mini-14 is definately an odd character! Some of them aren't worth a darn and some are amazing! I have only shot two or three that would group under 2" at 100yds, and I have shot many Mini's(more than 30 different rifles). I have yet to shoot one of the new target Mini-14s though. I have an old friend that I meet a few years ago that had done the same thing that Ruger is doing to their new Target Mini with the adjustable harmonic dampner. I think he's was a Queen, but when I saw that when he found a handload that he liked and got the dampner dailed in, it would group 5 shots in 3/8". I thought he was lying to me until I saw him do it again. But as mentioned in the previous posts, it is hard to beat a Mini for a truck gun.


Well said William!

William81

Not a tack driver because it was not designed to be one. I laugh my butt off at the range when someone shows up with a new Mini, with an expensive scope on it and expects to get MOA out of it.

The gun is a fun, reliable firearm. With the right ammo, it will shoot under 3" at 100 yards. I have owned a few Mini's over the years and still have a couple.

Not my choice for hunting, but I have taken a couple yotes with one.

Mr. Gunz

SKS makes a better truck gun, or an AK

Cubslover

quote:Originally posted by Mr. Gunz
SKS makes a better truck gun, or an AK


Yup, SKS makes some good guns, great company with good service.

sig232

My SS Mini-14 is quite fun to shoot and is fairly accurate. Not a hunting rifle by any means but it sure is a good offensive weapon.

Laredo Lefty

quote:Originally posted by WaltherP-38
The Ruger mini-14 is NOT an accurate rifle. The barrel heats up after a couple of rounds,one here,one there.It isn't a tack driver! Dump it and get a good bolt action rifle in another caliber,you won't regret it.


Then, by all means, dont buy one. I like them, I have 5 and they are all good shooters. Not tack drivers, but Ruger never said they were.

They are reasonably accurate and reasonably priced rifles. If you need a sub-MOA shooter, then pay the extra money for one.

Wolf.

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My opinion of the Mini-14 is that:
I don't think it was designed to be a super-accurate weapon. It's like expecting miracles out of a M1 carbine.

Back when the Mini-14 first hit the market, it was very popular with American mercenaries in South America and Africa. A sniper rifle it ain't, but three-inch groups at 100 yards is just fine for knocking down soldiers. Or, for knocking down deer, coyote, squirrels (bastids!!), or other small game or varmits for that matter. Most times deer are not taken at 100 yards anyway.

Having said that, however, I agree that tiny groups at 100 yards is not too much to expect out of a production gun from an outfit like Ruger, so I understand your frustration with the three-inch groups (I feel your pain. How did that make you feel? Etc. [:D])

I like the Mini-14 for a bunch of reasons, BUT as stated by others, I think the SKS makes a very nice "truck" gun. About twelve years ago I got several of them (3 Russian rifles [beautiful guns] and 1 Chinese carbine) for a very cheap $75; the Chinese gun was cheaper. I converted the Chinese gun to a sporter by s#!+-canning the bayonet, the cheesy wood and the accessories and installing a Choate composite plain sporter stock and gas-tube cover, a Williams peep sight and a five-round magazine, which did wonders for the gun's profile and allows you to grip the gun around its center of gravity for easy carry. Total cost including gun was under $150 at that time, but obviously an SKS costs more now. I have dragged it all over the place, flopped it down in the dirt and rocks, had it slide down a very steep, rocky hill, left it out in the rain, etc. With appropriate routine cleaning and maintenance (i.e. it is not rusty and has an un-pitted bore) the gun has never-ever-ever-ever failed to feed or fire and I feed it the cheapest stuff I can find. How accurate is it? God, I don't know! I never considered putting it on paper, but it hits what I aim at out to 100 yards or so.

ladams

I dont like the minis anymore becaus eof the prices they are now at. They were OK when you could pick up a used one for 250, but now all the used ones I find around are beat the hell and the asking prices is 500+ and the owners will not budge on the price. I spent my 350 on a nice m1 garand from the CMP, and never looked back. Great accuracy, potent energy and you just have to love that ping.

Wehrmacht_45

Its a good gun, but is not and was not designed for anything but practical accuracy. With good mags they are great and reliable guns, like all things Ruger. If you want more accuracy buy an AR for a little more, but you will have to keep it cleaner and feed it better ammo to get a good round count out of it before you have issues. Like someone said, its built more to mimic an M1 carbine.

dfletcher

I have a Mini 14 with a factory folding stock. It is a general purpose centerfire plinker and if you live in a lightly populated area a pretty fearsome home defense gun. It goes "bang" every time I pull the trigger and the bullet hits more or less where I aim. That's what I bought it for, that's all I expect from it and that's what it delivers. I think of it as an M14 type action with M1 carbine accuracy.

jhimco

Mine works just fine.

sandwarrior

I think the mini's have better accuracy than any AK I've ever shot. I can't speak for accuracy with the sks's but the stuff I shot out of them years ago didn't make them shoot as good as a mini-14.

All that said the mini-14 is a good truck gun capable of shooting 4-6" groups at 200 yds. Which is just good enough in most cases to shoot a coyote that far and a jackrabbit at half to 2/3'rds that distance. The sad thing is they were never built initially to as tight of tolerances as they could have been. Because the overall design is very much like that of the M14. A very accurate rifle. The accurized version, the M21, will consistently shoot MOA to 1.5MOA out to 800 m.