Earlier this month I turned 70 and didn't make much of it with only a dinner with the family as I wasn't 'feelin it'. I got over myself in a day or two and my wife said because I didn't get anything, if I saw something I wanted, just to pick it up for my birthday. I didn't think much of it until 2 separate things coalesced to change my mind.

1st, I saw a Wood Handguard thread 2 days ago on Monday with links and pictures of his walnut stock he got last year. Of course I clicked the links including the one to ASI's page with the beautiful pictures. Beautiful walnut stocks.

2nd, yesterday I got sent on an errand to pick up something for my wife for the Thanksgiving dinner we're getting ready to host tomorrow. We live in a small valley to the S/W of the Denver metro area up against Rockies and I got sent to pick up the item off of I70 east of Denver right at 65 miles from us. (I know, why couldn't she have found it closer? )

Anyway, I have Android Auto on my phone that connects to the 8" display in my truck so on the way I asked it for directions ASI as I thought that they were somewhere around where I was headed. Turns out that they are in Byers, about 20 miles further east of where I was going so I said, "What the heck." and stopped by.

Look at the beautiful walnut stock that followed me home!!



I considered their wood HG as it looks great too, however, I am going for the M14 look vs the M1 so I wanted to keep to my original HG idea.  Look how well the Rust-Oleum brown works with the walnut and how well that straight 20rd mag looks!!

Now I'm figuring that the Choate sight/FH combo I picked up and narrowed may just have to get installed.  

What am I looking at?

A 58x series Mini 14 with:

- an 4" Accu Strut;
- a Tech Sights R200 rear sight,
- an Accuracy Systems walnut stock;
- an M1 Carbine sling;
- a Choate ventilated handguard painted with flat brown Rustoleum; and
- an Original Equipment 20 round magazine (which has no curve to it and thus looks a lot like the M14 magazine, plus these appear to be identical to the original 180 series 20 round magazines, except they don't have the Ruger name on them).

If you look close you'll also notice he has drilled a "lightening hole" in the safety, like the M14 and M1 - a nice touch.

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I have more or less the same setup under way, but on a 184 series Mini 14.

It has a 16 1/4" barrel, with the short 4" "socom" Accu Strut, the RR200 sight and the Accuracy Systems walnut stock and hand guard.

I have a Choate hand guard and M14 style flash hider on the way, but Choate is pretty slow on their shipping. I'll decide which one I like better once it arrives.  The long flash hider should improve the barrel proportions when it arrives, and should also reduce the vertical stringing a bit.

I'm also using a 1" M1907 style sling.

DakotaFAL's Mini is beautiful and I did consider the wood HG but opted for the cooler, ventilated version I made up.  In addition to his listing of my Mini's tweaks, I have added to it above to make it a complete listing.

On the agenda shortly: I will cut 1-1" off of the buttstock,reshape the buttplate to the new size and reapply it to reduce the Heel to Aperture distance to 14" from it's current 15". I did this with the old birch stock to make my Mini consistent with my other mil rifles, M1s, M1Carbines, M1A, AR15s, etc., which all have a 14" Heel to Aperture distance.

Got the new buttpad yesterday but was busy so this morning after chores I mounted and trimmed it.



As you can see, the shorter buttstock length is much more in keeping with the length of my M1A and other mil rifles. This is the length it should be to shoot irons with. It's not dependent upon your arm length, but rather your head placement.

It shoulders great so now I can't wait to get it to the range. I weighed the final configuration and it comes in at 7lbs 9oz w/o the mag. That's an increase of 6oz from the birch stock but the solid feel of the walnut it great. I'm in love all over again!!!

To compare, here is the stock before I shortened it compared to my M1A's. It's only 1" but it makes a world of difference.

You guys are making it hard to not buy a walnut stock.  I need to pay off some bills before I can get a few OE mags.

COsteve, any ideas how to get the stock cut the 1" off the LOP like you did, if I haven't the access to the right tools nor know anyone in the area I would trust to do it?

Yep, you can call and order it directly from Keystone Sporting Arms at (800) 742-0455, and ask for customer service.  They'll sell it  for their std price of about $190 + shipping.  You tell them you want the solid walnut stock, not a laminate, and you want the buttstock cut shorter by 1".  They'll want you to got through one of their distributors like ASI, however, be persistent, explain that ASI wants an extra charge and the order will take longer, and they'll take the order.  Or you can order it from Carl, owner of ASI but he'll charge you extra over the $199.99 for the special order.

BTW, I should note that another advantage of the walnut stock is that it fits very tight to the receiver.  That's a good thing as a tight fitting receiver will give you more consistent groups.  Great stock all around.  My only regret is that I waited so long to get it.

Those all look really great!!