I've had several Rugers over the years, I still have my first handgun... a Ruger Super Single Six, with the .22mag cylinder...Paid $75.00 for it in 1972, had for awhile a Ruger semi auto pistol was accurate, reliable, but a bitch to reassemble after field stripping, Also had a mini-14, it was reliable,(not real accurate) and I had one reliable mag for it .. a Ruger factory 20 rounder,The biggest single problem the mini has is the skinny barrel,second biggest problem would be the sights, they are crude, But, the biggest problem of all is, that Ruger is well aware of all of these shortcomings and refuses to do anything about it, a heavy barreled mini(or at least a heavier barreled mini) would, no doubt do wonders for it in the accuracy dept. This is the real bone I have to pick with Ruger, The mini could be a real shooter, But for the average owner it just isn't worth it to put the money into it, to get decent accuracy out of it,(better off with an AR) With an AR,all one has to do is select the upper needed for the type of shooting you're going to do and go, barreled uppers cost alot less than custom mini-14 gunsmithing.....Rugers aren't bad, they aren't the best either, you get what you pay for, You want a bullet hose? buy a mini-14, you want accuracy, buy an AR.