I have a 1994 vintage 181 stainless ranch rifle. When I first bought it I shot it next to a guy on the range who had an AR. At that time I had no idea AR's could be so accurate at 100 yards, but I quickly learned how inaccurate my new rifle, or I, was.

I have only shot it periodically over the years with years between since my last time out with it and today. Earlier this week I was literally thinking about getting my Mini 14 and my 6920 AR out on the range for a bit of a head to head. After reading all of these posts I think I may invest in an accu-strut after I shoot it to see if I can tighten things up a bit.

My 182 has an Accu-strut and a Techsight I installed a couple of years ago. I have a set of smaller bore gas bushings incoming, (thanks to this thread). If I can get sub 3” groups out of it (In my hands) it will more than serve my purposes! Great thread!

OZ

Can't hunt with a semi here in Pa.......... so ARs and Mini's are not "deer or Coyote " rifles here. But they could be more than "range toys". While the EOTWAWKI role is better served with an AR ,IMHO, my Mini setup is "low profile" vs "Tacticool"..... for urban SHTF!

If I'm after MOA or better I grab one of my scoped CZ 527 bolt guns in .223/5.56 [ and a handful of 5rd mags... yes CZ says, in their manual, that you are good to go with both!!!!! 8 years on High School and College Rifle Teams made me appreciate a good bolt gun and a sling..... scopes are just gravy for older eyes!!!!!!

Ok so that stock is aftermarket ...another $200?

Nice pic, I have a Garand , The BM59 was an attempt to bring the old M1 design up towards the M14 on a budget,
The M14 is better than both in every way so the best of three.

The M16 platform was cheaper to build than the M14, enabled the soldier to carry more ammo and had other advantages but when it was realized it couldn't reach out as far or penetrate mud walls in the open terrain of Iraq and Afghanistan M14s from the early 60's were pulled from storage, tuned and issued as designated marksman rifles.

Prices are affected by supply and demand.
In the 70's-80s when a Colt Sp1 was $400-$500 a $300 mini knock off of the M14 (Mini 14) made sense as a cheap plinking alternative but it is a cheap knock off of the superior M14 design and inferior to the M16/M4 in every way.
Fast fwd to today when so many co's make Ar15s that decent versions from PSA or Anderson etc are abt $450,
When Mini 14s are bringing $750 -$1k Imo it's hard to justify one especially if dropping more $ to bring it up to M4 standards and approaching the price of an M1A .

In summary:
The Mini 14 made sense when it was cheap but Ars are less today and still a better design.

If a buddy of mine hated the M16/M4 look that much they were willing to pay 2x for an inferior Mini 14 I'd tell them to spend a little more and get an M1A .

If I had to choose one rifle to bring to a hostile alien planet where the biggest threat was the size of a goat Im going M16
If the threat is bear sized but smaller than a Cape Buffalo I'm choosing the M14.

The best solution is to have one (or more) of each, all just Imo and worth every cent u paid for it.

I found a used mini years ago for 600 bucks, the story the LGS had was a customer bought it new, walked it over to the gunsmith counter and had a
Krieger Barrel put one, gas port bushing changed and some other work done on it. The customer shot it from inside his truck and broke a window with the empty case. I heard it from the salesman and the gunsmith.
I took it and went to the range, it is a target rifle.
best $600 dollar gun I ever bought..
The original owner had twice that into it.

People put a scope on a rifle and then expect great things from it . Things it was never expected to do . Then when it doesn't live up to their expectations , they go on the gun boards and post the same old rhetoric .

Mine is my only semi - not my usual cup of tea but it has a prime spot in the front of a safe as a defensive grab gun. I put it in a cheap but useful ATI Tech folding stock and stuck on a red dot and light. Made me feel unclean putting all that plastic alongside my walnut babies :Q (original stock was black polymer so no great change).

Love the reliability and appreciate the design lineage. Do not like the way the charge handle dents every case despite all my efforts to tame the extraction with smaller gas bushings. No biggie, just single cycle for zero and practice with steel cases.

It just works, no matter how dirty or how I feed it, and that helps me sleep better.

I never really thought of the Ruger as a house defensive rifle...but bet it would work better than a handgun at 25 yards lol. I shot the Ruger at just about a 100 yds yesterday with some of my reloads with 55 gr Ballistic Tips and 22 gr of 4198. Better than I expected and think it'll be a fair yote getter at 150 yds. Farther is for the 243 anyway

I paid $250 for the Mini 14 when somebody I knew needed cash for car repairs after I had just bought a Ruger GP100 for $250 from him a few days before. I changed the stock and shot it with my sons. My oldest son wanted it and has it now. We got 2" groups that opened to 3" when the rifle warmed up.

__________________
FFL08

Well if I was going to fork out $1000 from a Mini.. I guess I'd get the stainless 'Tactical' one in 7.62x39 (make it a deer gun.)


Mags would be the hardest to find (you would be wise to stick with Ruger mags.)

But I can do a lot with a G and the AR platform.

__________________
Deaf

Got a young ypte yesterday begore dark about 75 yds He was excited about seeing our chickens I think. The previous poster does have a good idea for the Mini as a deer rifle in the 7.62. I can also use the 223 for deer here in Wy with 60 gr or heavier bullets. I won't be shooting more'n 60 yds or so anyway out the back window. How do the mini 30s shoot? better'n 223s??
BTW those Nosler Ballistic Tips really expand pretty well. Even on a skinny coyote

To each his own but you seem to be missing some key points.

Ruger called it a Mini 14 when in facts it’s more like an M1 Carbine firing .223 Remington.

Compared to the Mini 14, the M14/M1A is a moose of a rifle that is significantly longer and heavier.

Edit: I was going to let the BM 59 comment slide but I just don’t do that as your comments are off the mark in a couple ways.

The US government took a decade to develop the M14 using the M1 Garand as a starting point and they did an ok job of it.

In contrast two engineers at Beretta developed the BM 59 from the M1 Garand in 18 months, and did it using mostly M1 Garand parts most in their original form, with a few requiring modification, and only a dozen or so newly manufactured parts (depending on the variant).

Italian tactical doctrine was different than US doctrine and the BM 59 was designed with a very sturdy magazine under the premise that troops would only carry 1 or 2 spare magazines and instead would top off the magazine in the rifle using stripper clips.

Yet despite this they also incorporated a full auto capability and a very effective tri compensator and attached bipod that allows the BM 59 to actually be fired effectively full auto, something that can’t be done with the M14.

In short having shot M14s and M1As in service rifle completion for almost a decade, I bought a BM 59 mostly as a novelty and with low expectations. However, the more I shot it the more I liked it. It handles very well, better than the already well balanced M1A, has been extremely reliable, and is much softer shooting and faster in recoil recovery than the M1A. While I’ll take an M1A every time when 1.5 MOA or better accuracy is required, for all other uses I’d select the BM 59 long before the M1A.

Some of us use scope on rifles that deserve a scope and get great thangs form it too. No mini in this house and no factory assemble AR ever . Shot a few of both over the years and never found them to be worth owning or at a price that I could justify in the case of a few costlier AR's but I can assemble an AR just as good or better and cheaper .

I didn't start this thread to start arguments.. Just because I found a rifle to have/use for fun . I don't "build" ARs any longer...quit gunsmithing a good many years ago and yes I built real rifles too...little bit harder than "building" an AR. As far as the reason for owning the mini 14...well I did already shoot a stupid yote...a target of opportunity....the reason I bought the darn thing. Rather had another carbine but I did ok on the Mini. Sorry some here don't like one or the other But we all have likes and dislikes. But think of the TV program A team. There wasn't a hue and cry to get rid of the minis It was supposed to be a fun show...the mini is supposed to be a fun rifle...so was the AR at one time. Now it is demonized unfortunately..and unjustly...so just kinda let sleeping dogs lie and remember this shooting game is supposed to be fun..fun can be had with either platform. I like steel and wood firearms predominently...so I chose the mini...what anyone chooses is up to them.. no sense of arguing any sense of superiority for either...Now it's time to be off to see the wiz...er doctor for my regular check-up.,,,darn it!

The best part of this forum is sharing our observations and opinions whether we agree or not,
I Learn something new all the time,
Sometimes it can cause the thread to drift but new comments bring it back to point as well as steer it in new directions.

Like texting one person may think a statement is confrontational because u can't read emotions and some like myself tend to be Kurt because I'm too lazy to be flowery in what I text, PO's my gf all the the time.

You're the OP and I apologize for comparing your Mini 14 to the M1A.
Trust me I'm not offended one bit if another member says vanilla is better than chocolate or shampoo is better than conditioner.

Enjoy your Mini, the thread has actually motivated me to dig mine out of the safe (that's the hard part) and bring it out and shoot it with my buddy that had one.
I'm not offended by anyone's opinion and actually enjoy the connections to other platforms.

The whole M14 vs Garand /Bm59/ FAL etc would make a great new thread.
Cheers

I've got a 580 series (newer) rifle and it does 1" @ 100 yds with my handloads and Federal fmj factory ammo.....after I put a smaller gas bushing (.040) in it and a Colt 1911 buffer at the front of the action. All of this softens the slam-bam-thank you ma'am of the violent .080 factory gas port. These rifles are not bedded to the stock like a bolt gun and they will move just enough to make them inaccurate, multiplied by the older barrels not being as good as the 580's. However, the older Mini's will benefit from this treatment in the accuracy dept too. The gas bushing kit I bought had 5 different size bushings and so far I stopped at .040 since the accuracy was good. As a side benefit, the smaller gas bushings stop the darned rifle from throwing empties into another zip code!

I had no problem with thread drift...I do it too..Didn't have a problem with comparing to the M-14/M1A. I had one or two of them in the past myself... A little large heavy and more recoil than I wanted for a plinker/fun gun. ...But the one to have with stuff hitting the fan. I hope the fan never gets hit that hard. The one I got fits the reason for having it...even if it shot better I'm not certain any of us can use that pin point accuracy in all circumstances.

Country and Western.

Attached Images

IMG_1129.jpg (126.9 KB, 39 views)

I'd like to change out the gas bushing in mine but how hard is it to take off the gas block and then re torque it? that part has me apprehensive.

__________________
Forum consigliere

It’s not hard at all.

- The bushing side of it is self aligning.
- you’ll want to tighten the screws evenly to maintain equal space on each side.
- torquing to 20-25 inch pounds gives the best accuracy but it’s not critical.

What issues am I will I face removing and replacing an accu-strut while changing the gas bushing in a series 182?

Thanks,
OZ

Gosh, I've probably had at least 8 or 10 Mini's in my lifetime, all from the mid 70's through the mid 80's...now I have none. Back in the day, Winchester model 94's and Mini 14's were bought and traded a LOT where I grew up (SW Virginia).

To me, they were always a very handy truck gun. I cannot remember any functional issues with any of them, they were all very reliable.

I always liked them, actually I wouldn't mind having another one now!

I'm not taking a swipe at anyone in particular - in fact, I'm quite sure we have a few shooters here that make it their aim (no pun intended) to search out a rifle and a load that can shoot MOA and then can actually make use of it. For the rest of us mortals, it has been my experience that a lot of talk about dime sized groups at 100 yards and off hand shots at game animals to 200 yards and waaaayyyy beyond never seems to be quite demonstrable when I question someone or opine I'd like to see that when they are actually on the range with equipment and fodder in hand. (Understanding that my definition of in-the-field/hunting marksmanship entails standing on your hind legs, shooting without a rest, and at a target that can move at any second)

Accepting we're talking about the Ruger Mini 14 here i can only relate mine, an old 181 series purchased when that was the latest, was always 100% reliable and off of a rest it typically shot minus 3" groups at 100 yards and for running-n-gunning shot minute of pie plate at 200. These days, with a lead sled, a scope, and all the time I need my old eyes can still make some pretty respectable rifle shots and with the newer 5.56 offerings with a reflex sight I can still do better than average I would think out to 300 yards which is the max on my club range. But I never was a fan of scopes and such on the Garand, M-1A. M1C, or Mini 14. In my bragging days I actually hit an egg (as in only one) suspended on a string at 100 yards offhand with my Garand and open sights in a five shot string with five eggs that had to be shot in order to score. These days with even a good aperture sight the old eyes are doing good to see a paper plate target at 100 and make my hits.

As most have acknowledged, the Ruger mini was never intended to be a target grade rifle. I've heard many horror stories about some that wouldn't shoot minute of wash tub at 75-100 yards. I'll take their word for it - just saying I've never seen one personally. Though I do know a guy who sent his much later series Mini-14 back to Ruger complaining it would only shoot a six inch group at that distance; they sent it back after (supposedly) checking it with a note saying they considered that to be "acceptable practical accuracy".

Can't blame someone who can't bond with a particular gun. I had a Winchester 70 FW in .223 that went through almost two dozen hand loads before finding one that shot with anything near just respectable accuracy. Traded it off with no regrets.

__________________
Qui plantavit curabit