I like my mini 14 and all the other Ruger firearms I have.

WTF?

Nothing wrong with the Mini14 I used to own a couple back when they were cheaper than ARs. Early 90s.

But now they are overpriced for the market IMO.
Besides the Ateam used them

I've always wanted one but they are a little pricy

Whatever happened to the ones the Bermuda regiment had once they switched to SA80/85s?

I always wanted a Mini (A-Team and all that) but all the ones my friends had were pretty inaccurate in the 80s and 90s, nowhere near my AR's. I've heard that they shoot better now. Maybe worse was that they seemed so ridiculously God awful loud, but that may have just been my perception because at that time I had 24" 223s? I still kinda want a mini though....

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I had a Mini-14.  I loved the look of the rifle but never could get past the lousy accuracy.  I tried all kinds of different ammo and nothing helped.  Magazines were another issue.  The only ones worth having, that functioned properly, were the factory mags and when I owned it I believe 10 rounders were all Ruger was making for it unless you were a LEO.  Ultimately, I ended up trading the rifle towards another firearm.  Technically, the rifle was a decent rifle but the accuracy was the reason I parted with it.  It just wouldn't group.  Since then I have shot several others and seemed to suffer the same issues.

Thanks Mike! I love the Mini too. I have many retro AR's built with your fine products but the Mini holds a special place in my heart!

I shoot NRA-ARC matches.  I might take my mini to the next one.  I think it would be more better than an AR15.

Mine had a wandering zero, but I hear they fixed that in later models.

Despite this, I have fond memories of my first "assault rifle".  It never failed to go bang.

Love the mini14, I would say 95% of the shit people say are just repeating what they  saw on the internet.  It's  a 2-4 moa rifle that is super reliable and bad ass.

Maybe 4 moa on a good day, I tried 2 mini's before giving up, one was blue , 2nd one I traded for was stainless, nice gun's, easy to handle I'll give it that, but that's about it.

I agree with the OP completely.  Haters of all things not AR are just not welcome on this forum.

While the pencil barreled 18X and 19X series Minis may not be that accurate, the same cannot be said for the 58X Minis with the thicker barrels.  I have a 583 Series Mini Ranch Rifle and have tweaked it with some of the tricks I learned on PerfectUnion.com's excellent Mini-14 and Mini-30 forum.  The total cost of my tweaks was about the same as putting a decent trigger in my AR.  I did everything but the trigger job myself and it's all straight forward and easy to do.  And the result using my handloads is very satisfying and comparable to my Criterion barreled M1 Garand and my Springfield M1A with NM sights; an honest 1½ MOA shooter (sometimes a bit better) using my handloads made up using Hornady 62grn fmj bullets, H335 powder, Win SR primers, and LC brass. 

That's plenty good enough accuracy so that I use it to shoot bowling pins at 200yds.  Bowling pins are great fun and difficult as a reactive target at 200yds.  Even though they're 15" tall, a bowling pin has only got about 2"-3" of 2 MOA wide target area at it's thickest section while most of its under 1 MOA wide.  No, my Mini ain't all tricked out with lights and lasers and scopes and such but it's a compact, light, accurate, fun, and extremely reliable shooter that's a joy to carry, shoulder, and especially shoot. 



I have 2 ARs, a RRA mid length carbine and a RRA 20" A4 I scoped and use for 400+ yd shooting.  I've had them for 12+ years and they are great, reliable shooters, if a bit on the bulky side.  But for a fun time plinking and just enjoying shooting, my Mini is very, very hard to beat.  Besides, as it's about the same size as my M1 Carbine, I find the ladies prefer it to the more bulky, evil looking ARs by a wide margin. 

I have a GB with a falcon folder................bout as close as I can get to the A-Team, but I like it and it's accurate enough

I bought a Mini-14 before I moved to CA.  I actually learned to love the mini.

I may write a book some day.  I'm thinking of a title something like My life in CA: or How I Learned to Love the Mini-14

Have you seen my videos?

New Mini 14s are overpriced at around $800 new.  However you can find used 580-583 series Mini 14s in excellent condition in the $650 range, and you can find the pre-580 series mini 14s in the $400-$500 range.

This 184 series Mini 14 was $465 out the door, but that also included the Tech Sight RR200 rear sight, which is a $70 item by itself.




Accuracy wasn't anything special but the addition of a $90 Accu Strut improved it to a solid 2.5 to 2.75 MOA rifle, with 55 gr FMJ M193 clone loads.  And there is still room for some tinkering and improvement (glass bedding, shock buffers, gas port bushing, muzzle device, tailored handloads, etc).

Now...it won't hold a candle to my 20" bull barrel 1/2 MOA capable AR-15 varmint rifle, or my slightly under 1 MOA 20" free-floated heavy barrel match AR-15, or my 1.5 MOA capable SP1 and M16A1 clone.  But it compares very well to my M4gery, XM-177E2 clone, and my 16" pencil weight barrel AR-15 carbine. It also shoots as well as my AR-180, AR-180B and Galil.

In short, it's a $555 16 1/4" 7.5 pound carbine that shoots as well as any of my other pencil weight barrel .223 carbines.

The 581-583 series will deliver 2 MOA accuracy out of the box however, so unless you prefer the look of the older skinny barrel and  pre-ranch rifle Mini 14s, a newer one might be the way to go.

That is a we'll used rifle at the top of page. Wonder how many rounds have been down it's pipe? I have the same Choate stock. Bought it shortly after my first Mini in 1987.

That's a really nice looking rifle. Love the stock.

I like my ar rifles but I love my mini 14 rifles. They just seem to fit me better.