Now that the new mini 14 has been out for some time I'd be curious to know if the consensus is that the accuracy issues were actually addressed with this new model?

Thanks

Now that the new mini 14 has been out for some time I'd be curious to know if the consensus is that the accuracy issues were actually addressed with this new model?

Thanks

I haven't heard of any improvements.
I fixed the 2 I had. They're gone.
Too bad, I sorta liked them.

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Lynnie, Professional Pest

I spoke with my gunstore owner/gunsmith and he said the newer ones were improved. I was considering a trade on one for my Model 39 no dash and had some questions on the Mini-14. He said still not super accurate but fine for 100 yards or so. That's all I know, Shoo

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"Get Hammered By a Shooboy!!"

It's a hundred yard gun. and with a Williams peep sight offhand I can do 5" groups all day long. That's what I bought it for. I've always viewed the Mini 14 as a stepped up 30 cal carbine-much better than a handgun ,223 is cheaper than 30 cal carbine and easier to get (and more powerful to boot), but never meant for serious long distance work.

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Forum consigliere

Wish the Mini I owned shot half as well as my M1 Carbine.

I as well echo the "too bad, I sorta liked the gun."

Emory

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Hard To Kill

I sold my Mini 14 too.
I have .22 rifles better.
And 30 carbine is a bit cheaper than .223.

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Need 1/2 moon Chiefs special

Not entirely, but they are better. If you can get one of the new "tactical ones" or recent GBs, those are better yet. The 580 series circa 2006 that I have is said to have been improved upon still further.

There's also a funky looking one with a muzzle device that can "dialed in" that is said to do 1 MOA.

Ruger does now sell 20 AND 30 rd factory mags to the public, BTW.

Improvements to the 580 series are a heavier barrel, repositioned front site, and a nicely fitted rubber recoil pad. Plus there's no longer a ranch or non ranch, they're all coming with provision for a scope and better rear sights.

You can put an Amega rail on, add a flash hider, or bed your gun, or else cut the barrel down to 11.5 or 12" and add a perm. attached flash hider to bring it back up past non SBR length to try to improve accuracy.

I've had four Mini 14s, still have one, my 580 series.

Of course I've have six ARs, and still have five with possibly two more on the way. Read into that what you fill.

If you look around you can still find the 181- series guns which were the 1st two years of production. Those guns will actually shoot very well. Ruger screwed them up in subsequent series and the shoot patterns instead of groups

Not sure about the new model. I had one about 15 years ago. I was able to get about a 10" group at 100 yards with iron sights. My buddy had one too. His was scoped, didn't do much better then mine. We both got rid if em!

How Ruger could put out such **** is beyond me. I will take my 30 M1 Carbine or my SKS any day.

Best

Bob

Gator where do you find the 30 round ones-I just checked their web site and didn't see them.

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Forum consigliere

I wish everybody who owns a Mini 14 or 30 would take a few minutes to do some reading on:

http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=86

The older Minis were not exactly tack drivers, but their accuracy can be greatly improved with some very simple mods. Simply adding a flash suppressor or recoil reducer costing about $20 can do wonders for the accuracy. My scoped Mini 30 would shoot 5 inch 100 yard groups until I added a slip on flash hider. It now shoots into 1-1/2" easily. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it works!

The only mini 14 I ever fired belonged to a friend. I don't know what he'd done to it, but it appeared to be factory original. It is an older model. I could shoot 3/4" groups with it at one hundred yards. I was pretty impressed with it's accuracy.

Drifting…….
I had a .223 Ruger stainless/synthetic bolt rifle I bought new that was maybe a 2 MOA gun. The groups were always so poor I never measured them with calipers. I also had a 77/22 I bought new that I ended up selling because of poor accuracy. As I mentioned above I had a Mini that shot patterns. I don’t know what series it was, but I bought it in the early 90’s and it wasn’t a Ranch rifle.

I’d be hard pressed to buy another Ruger rifle other than a 10-22. I really like the way their wood and blue steel guns look and function, and know the LC6 trigger is a big improvement, but I’m scared of their lack of accuracy. I think maybe Ruger needs to spend a few more bucks on their barrels?

Emory

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Hard To Kill

I have had my Mini-14 for a long time. The serial number is 183-86XXX, and I have a Leupold 3X scope on it. It is sensitive to ammunition. It shoots well with my handloads, but it ain't no target rifle. One day a friend was shooting it with some Malaysian ammunition. At 100 yards, the bullets were hitting the target sideways.

By the way, Feinstein wants to include the Mini-14 and the Mini-30 as "assault weapons" to be banned.

My friend bought a 580 series rifle from Walmart right before Christmas and we had some fun shooting it over the holidays. I wasn't impressed with the accuracy (4-5" at 100 yards)but he bought it for self defense and it's perfectly suited for that.

Accuracy is all important to me, so a rifle that needs an additional $100 or more to bring it up to an acceptable level just isn't worth it, considering that the prices for the bone-stock rifle are right around $700-$750. I could buy a really accurate bolt action rifle or an AR-15, if I wanted an accurate semi-auto.

I really do like the Mini-14 and I'd buy one if the price was reasonable for what you get ($500 or so).

And AR’s love that ammo. It’s good 5.56 193 ball.

As to the posters original question. It’s my understanding that Ruger has made some improvements to address accuracy. I believe the rear sight no longer wobbles around like it’s ready to fall off? I’d go over to the Ruger Forum and look around, or buy a Noveske or Colt.

Emory

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Hard To Kill

I had a Mini-14 about 10 years ago I bought at Walmart on sale for $240. It was a pretty cool little gun but I liked my AR better so I sold it to my nephew. I always wished Ruger would make a "Midi-14", something in size between the .223 Mini-14 and the .30 cal M-14, maybe chambered for .243 Winchester. I would buy one of those in a heartbeat!

I got a Mini-14 Tactical model, M-14/20GBCPC, about three weeks ago. It has a synthetic stock and a flash suppressor. It is shooting 3-4" groups at 100 yards with stock iron sights. I have only shot about 50 rounds so far, so the grouping might improve more when I have a few more rounds through it. Love it so far!

my mini 14 that I bought in 82 or 83 shoots great, it does have a flash hider I installed
on it, keep in mind they weren't intended to be target rifles

I still have the Mini-14 I bought in 1982. It is plenty accurate for the sub-100 yard shooting I do with it. I do like the newer ones, though. Thinking about adding a second Mini to the collection.

My 580 series would group into about 4" at 100 yards, slow fire.
I was pretty happy with that. Then one day I shot a full 20 rd mag over a course of 2 minutes. With a hot barrel it wouldn't even stay on the paper. I decided that was not acceptable for a SHTF gun and sold it. Now I'm thinking it was a heck of a lot better than not having anything to replace it.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Interesting accuracy test! I would guess that 99.9% of shooters cannot shoot 5" groups at 100 offhand with a 1/2 minute gun much less a "clunker" Mini-14. It would be interesting to see how well it does from the bench.

FWIW- I have an early one that has been bedded and the trigger done that shoots very well, but most "current" gunsmiths are afraid of them.

Good shooting- and 5" offhand at 100 is good shooting!

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Good shooting.

Nice looking rifle!
http://www****ger-firearms.com/...?model=5847&return=Y
Ruger indicates it’s chambered in 223, not 5.56. Is that true?

Emory

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Hard To Kill

The Owners Manual states that it will shoot both without a problem. More info can be found on the Ruger Forum:
http://www****gerforum.com/phpBB/index.php

All previous mini's have been rated for 5.56. I wonder if they changed to a .223 chamber in the interest of accuracy?

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

All Rugers are stamped .223. So were Colts for years - both my circa '75 SP1 and my circa 85ish SP2 are so stamped, yet Colt has always used 5.56mm chamber dimensions. The Ruger, if I remember right, is using a Wylde chamber.

The shorter barrel "NRA" edition was also turning in better accuracy according to some users, but a standard fix for Minis for years was to chop the barrels down to "stiffen" them. Beats me what works and what doesn't since reports are all over the place.

They're sort of neat little guns which is I suppose why I kept getting them and still keep one. They weren't exactly intended for fending off the PLA, Martian hordes, or a sky full of Canadian paratroopers though.

Cajun - there were several threads about the 30rd mags on Perfect Union. Long story short - some are already turning up on Gunbroker, but some are also turning up at retail establisments. A guy in AZ bought some retail from the Tempe Cabelas for 45 dollars each. At this time Ruger is only selling them to distributors, however they will be on the web page as soon as production ramps up. They are not marked LEO only and will be available to anyone.

Thermold is also back in business and making working polymer Mini 14 mags, and apparently soon will also have Mini 30 mags as well. The mag issue for Mini 14s anyway is solved.

Mine was never that accurate and I ended up selling it, I am more of a shotgun person anyway when it comes to long guns. One thing I do prefer the mini to over the AR is the ease of care and cleaning. To me it is much easier to strip a mini down and detail clean it compared to an AR.

Hell, I just bought 5 20 rounders from them I'm gonna see if they will exchange them for the 30's and bill me for the difference.

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Forum consigliere

Don’t do it. You’ll make the rest of us look bad for having too much stuff. Keep the 20’s and buy more 30’s.

Emory

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Hard To Kill

They have but it is no longer the handy little carbine that it once was.