I bought a standard mini 14(not Ranch rifle) back before the Y2K concerns as a contingency. I got a great price on it it. AR 15s cost much more then. I didn't own an "urban combat" rifle at the time. I had planned on selling it after the anticipated apocalypse subsided. I didn't expect much accuracy from it but it was a 2.5 to 3.5 MOA rifle and that was more than enough for a driveway length or city block distance employment. It was also fine for the woods I frequented as 50 yards was about the the maximum distance one could see. My Mini NEVER jammed with anything, but every single AR-15 that my friends had did at some point. That, or they suffered from some malady that required an armorer or trip back to the mother ship. My feeling at the time was that any accuracy advantage an AR15 had was muted by it's less than 100% reliability. So, I never got rid of it. I put a scout style upper forend on it with a red dot sight and improved my ability to hit with it at the distances I would use it.
I later bought a S&W Sporter 2. Most of the issues I observed in earlier ARs are gone. It seems they are more refined nowadays. And far less expensive, relatively speaking. It has far greater accuracy and has runs flawlessly. It is now my urban defense rifle in the unlikely event I would need one. The mini is now used more as a woods gun with the factory 5 round mags. Its looks don't scare people when that is a consideration. It is less bulky than an AR. But more importantly it is a reliable performer for what I use it for. One can ask for no more than that.