Quoted:
I've got 3 ARs, 2 are mid length gas carbines (14.7" and 16") and one is a scoped A4 (20") for long range.  They're fine as ARs.  I spent basic training with an M14 back in the 60s so I'm partial to the wood and steel battle rifles so it's natural that I also have 2 M1 Garands, 2 M1 Carbines, an M1A.  So, last year I bought a NIB Mini14 583 Series Ranch Rifle.  Out of the box it's a about 2 MOA shooter, much like the M1 Garands and M1A/M14 and better than the M1 Carbines.  

ETA:  The newer 58X Series Mini14s have a thicker barrel an are much more accurate out of the box than the older, pencil barreled versions.  With my mods below, shooting my handloads, and temporarily mounting a scope, my Mini produced 1½" groups at 100yds.  That's as good as my M1A does and significantly better than my M1 Carbines.  My iron sighted Mini is my go to gun for my favorite pastime, bowling pins at 200yds.

My plan for the Mini was as an irons only shooter much like my other battle rifles so it would not be getting optics even though it comes with rings and a Picatinny rail from Ruger. However, this is AR15.com and we don't leave anything 'as is' so after visiting the Mini forum on PerfectUnion to learn how to easily tune my new Mini, I took their advice and added/swapped the following items:

Choate Handguard swap:  $15 - Choate Handguard not only looks betterbut it cools the barrel much better than Ruger's.  No, it doesn't cover the op rod but neitherdoes the handguard on 5.5 million M1 Garands, 6.5 million M1 Carbines, and 1.4 millionM14s.


Wilson 1911 Buffers: $6 (set of 6) - Addition of 2 Wilson 1911 (yep, pistol) bushing, onearound the gas pipe in the front and one on the Op rod spring at the rear.  Together, they will tone down the cyclingjolts and eliminate metal to metal slamming.


Mini200 Rear Sight: $65 - Tech Sights' Mini200 rear sight gives better irons sighting andadjustment than Ruger's stock one.  Addto that their $15 optional aperture package with 3 different aperture sizes andwhen you use the target .042" aperture, you have a NM like rear sight.


Thinned Front Sight: $0 - Thinning down the .075"-.077" thick front sight to.050", combined with a target .042" rear aperture gives you a 'NM'equivalent sight set.


Gas Bushing Reduction:  $50 - Swap of the overly large stock GasBushing with a smaller one. Sets of .040", .045", .050", and.060" are available.  My .045"Gas Bushing reduces the cycling violence which improves accuracy on the Mini14while the .060" version works well with the Mini30.  Shorter barreled Tactical models need aslightly larger aperture size. (The reduced size gas bushing gives the addedbenefit of reducing the distance your Mini throws brass.  Mine went from 50-60 ft NIB to 12-15 ftcurrently with my handloads.)


Gas Block Torque: $0 - We've found that torquing the gas block bolts to 30 in/lbs whenreassembling and keeping the upper and lower halve gaps consistent aides inaccuracy.


Barrel Strut: $80 - Accu-Strut or $105 Mo-Rod, both barrel struts clamp to barrel andgas block to both dampen barrel harmonics and aide barrel cooling.  Developed for pencil barreled where they do alot of good but also help a bit on the new 58X series Minis.


Light Dressing of the Sears:  $0 - Lightly polishing of the sears in thetrigger group improves trigger function. Or step up to a Trigger Job: $55-$65 - Trigger Group job wherethe first stage is shortened and second stage is lightened.  Just like a precision trigger on an AR, itreally helps your precision shooting and if you want small groups, it's moneywell spent.  Not needed for plinking butreally helps decrease your group size.


Ruger Brand 20rd Magazines:  $26-$28 on sale - Yes they are a bit more,however, they are durable and extremely reliable.  Well worth the extra few bucks over theaftermarket versions because the flat work.


Of note for irons shooters.  Even though Ruger advertises that the Minishave a 'normal' 13.5" LOP, I found that the 'Heel to Aperture' distance (topof the buttstock to the rear sight aperture) on the current model Mini RanchRifles measures 15.5".  This is asopposed to a 14" Heel to Aperture distance on M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, andM14/M1As.  


I found that this caused me to strain my neck forward tryingto gain the same sight picture I am use to with the other platforms.  As I have all three other platforms, plusmore 'irons' rifles with the same 14" distance, I found the stock Minirear sight awkward to use.


Adding the Techsight's great Mini200 rear sight does help abit as it mounts such that the aperture is moved back .5" giving one a15" Heel to Aperture distance. While a bit better, it still didn't feel right to me so I removed thebuttpad and cut down the birch stock 1", reattached the buttpad, andsanded it down to meet the new buttstock profile.


This made a significant difference for me in that 1, I'mable to hold a natural sight picture with the rear sight, and 2, with my eyecloser to the rear aperture, the use of a smaller aperture helps increase theDoF giving me a clearer view of the front sight and target; something us more'seasoned' shooter need.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Coloradoglocker/20151122_084819_zpsfh704ffa.jpg

Compares nicely with my other walnut and steel mil rifles.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Coloradoglocker/20150618_105337_zpsv5bz0syz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/Coloradoglocker/DSCN8846.jpg
         

Quoted:
If you get an older Mini, make sure you find out what the barrel twist and use the right round before you declare it inaccurate.  Fortunately, this isn't hard to do.  Figure out what series your rifle is, Google it, and then you're all set.


I got a Mini from another member here as part of a trade.  I don't remember what series it was, but it had a 1:7 twist with a SS barrel.  I had a cheap-o Burris scope on it, and added a flash suppressor and an Accu-Stut.  I fed it 69 grain Prvi ammo, and as I recall, I could get about 3-4 moa out of it.  Not spectacular, but then again, I never claimed to be the world's greatest shooter.  I was a little frustrated with the horizontal stringing.  The rounds seemed to be in a more or less straight line...a 3-4 MOA straight line.  


The gun came with USA mags.  I believe they were 30 rounders.  I must be the luckiest man alive, because the mags worked perfectly.  I ended up getting rid of the gun because I couldn't wait to get funds to finish converting my Saiga.  I had 2 AR's at the time, and the Mini just didn't do anything better than the AR's.  It wasn't a TERRIBLE gun, it was just the easiest to part with.
 

Quoted:
raf is correct, however, you'll also note that my Mini is a new series with the thicker barrel and with the mods listed above it produces near 1 MOA results; plenty accurate enough for me.  According to the Mfg, the single unit aides mostly in heat dissipation but does provide some harmonic dampening as well.  Many on PU claim that the thicker barreled Minis don't even need an Accu-Strut which may be the case.  I confess that I got it primarily because I like the look of it better than without it.  It gives the front end a more complete look to my eye.

My favorite use for my Mini is shooting bowling pins at 200 yds.  They are a favorite as I shoot at them with my M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M1A, all with iron peep sights as well. While I have rifles with scopes, I've always been a plinker and just prefer peep type irons, especially with small rear apertures for precision.  Yes, I've tried red dots and EOtechs but I always come back to small aperture irons setups.  In addition, I've never been a fan of paper targets and much prefer shooting at reactive targets at random ranges.  That's how I learned to shoot way back in the dark ages; just after I invented dirt.  I learned on pine cones, dirt clods, leaves, etc., as a kid and have always preferred to plink that way over shooting at fixed range targets.  We didn't use targets except to sight in a rifle and then it was plinking from there on.  To me shooting at targets for groups is boring, however, YMMV.

I like the bowling pins because they are cheap (usually free), easy to see out to 300yds with my older eyes, and because they are challenging because of their shape.  At their widest point (4+"), they are 2 MOA targets at 200 yds but due to their shape, the sweet spot is less that 4" high which makes them mostly 1 MOA or less.  So, even though they are some 15" high, they are actually pretty small targets at 200 yds as they taper quickly.  So shooting them is challenging with iron sights but that's the fun.  As I've been shooting them for well over 50 yrs, I do fine on them.  In fact, recently, I've started to give the bowling pins a go at 300 yds with my Mini and M1A, both with NM sights.  That's a real challenge as it's a near 1 MOA target at that range at it's sweet spot and sub MOA over most of it.    

Quoted:
I had a mini 10 years ago. Was a nice handling rifle, but that was it. Pie plate targets at 75 yards, would eject the spent round plus the top one or two rounds in the mag at the same time, rear sight constantly broke off with simple range use.

That said, I wish I'd kept it for nostalgic reasons.

Quoted:
Mini mags, like M14 mags, don't drop free because they are held in place by a front pin.  That's why you have to insert them at an angle and rock them back to lock into place.  It's not a defect, it's their design.  The front pin holds the front of the mag and the mag catch in the rear holds the rear.  They were designed that way because there was a concern that the heavy 20rd M14 mags needed a front support pin.