Posted: 8/14/2006 4:52:22 PM EDT
|
What are some of your thoughts on this rifle. I have an older one somewhere in this house, just could never find decent high cap magazines. |
|
20 something replies of the gun is fine, 10 of those being "My buddie has one" 60 something replies of its a POS, with only about 10 of those having actually shot one, and 8 of those being the Mini-14 13 references or pictures of the A-Team, even though that was the mini-14 4 personal attacks 2 bans and a partriage in a pear tree. |
|
Never shot the 30 but I couldn't stand my 14 so I sold it. I'm not a big fan of Ruger anymore personally. I'm sure the newer ones are fine, just a personal preference. The lack of resonably priced, good hi-caps seems to be a rather big problem to me. I think I would just go with the AK or even an SKS if I wanted the 7.62 round but didn't want to poney up for an M14. (Yes, I am aware that they are different rounds, but a semi-auto .30 caliber is what I am comparing to here) |
1 out of 8  |
 That about sums it up. |
I'll hold back on my thoughts on the rifle. You can google "Mini30 POS" yourself.The one I had only liked the Eagle clear plastic mags and the thermold 30/45 mags. The Eagles would split at the seams in short order, though. Hey, at least they fed for a while! I have a footlocker full of various brands of steel magazines the never worked or only worked for the first loading. I even welded reinforcements onto some of them in an attempt to fix them. |
|
I got one and like it a lot. I was looking for a different operating system and caliber and I just couldn't bear the thought of getting an AK. I have had good luck with USA mags in mine. It doesn't like lead nosed bullets, but HP's are fine. It's the one on bottom in the picture. KG gunkoted in OD and black with barrel chopped so the front is at 16" (welded). The scope is a 1.5 power Lepould and works like a scout scope. The cheek weld is a piece of kydex I molded on. You can tell that this is my fun gun. One advantage is that in Hawaii there is no regular capacity ban on mags that don't fit into a pistol (so mini's are okay). 
|
pretty big pic, but thats Frickin sweet looking IMO. I used to own a Mini and someday am going to get another one, only problem I ever had was with USA mags. My friend has a Mini 30 and the only probs he has is...You guessed it USA mags and chicom ammo since his had a light hammer spring. Hey I guess I take up two on the list.
|
|
I have owned one since 1996 and have shot one so I can speak from experience. When you are considering a Ruger Mini, you have to ask yourself, what is this firearm going to be used for? If its for fun and plinking, then go ahead and buy it. If you are buying it to train with, target shoot with some precision, and use it for personal defense, then look somewhere else. I bought mine after buying a Mini14. I didn't know much about dem guns at the time and although I wanted an AR15, I figured two Minis might compensate. The 14 was fun, reliable, but not very accurate. I decided, since I had relatives in WV, that hunting with a semi auto would be fun. I picked up the mini for a steal, scoped it, put a Harris bipod on it, and went to the range. I was not impressed with its accuracy. It was actually less accurate than the Mini14, mostly because the ammo I was using was Wolf 7.62. I also found that it did not function reliably on any Rusky steel cased ammo. UMC ammo was OK, but more expensive to buy. It was minute of bad guy, and I suppose accurate enough, but I didn't trust it for a real precision shot past 150 yards. I replaced the wooden stock with a Butler Creek synthetic (no folding becase of the AW ban). This improved the overall feel of the Mini30, but did little for accuracy. For aftermarket hi-cap magazines I found the Thermold 27/42 extendable magazines to function great in my Mini. I only bought three of them and a couple of USA steel ones that were so-so on reliablilty. Once again, if I was shooting Wolf, reliability in general was in question. Overall it is a fun gun but I lost interest in it when I bought my first AR which is what I really wanted to begin with. |
| USA mags as well as the clear plastic one's from eagle work well with my mini30. It also shoots good enough for me, I get a 1" group at 50 yards and can hit the 200 yard (4' wide metal gong) with boring consistancy. The heavier barrel and the fact that it is cut down to 14.75" (16 overall) must help in reducing the whipping and heating effects. All I shoot out of it is Wolf ammo out of it. I like this gun a lot and it compliments my AR very well. I have the AR with pistol grip, gas system in 5.56x45 and the mini montecarlo wood stock, piston operated system in 7.62x39. As for my mini 14, that's another story... |
|
I have one for a very long time (I got one of the first ones sold), I bought it to have a nice semi to hunt deer with that does not look like some eastern block commie gun. It shoots 2.5-3MOA with most ammo & is reliable as hell (It hates Wolf ammo, The primers are too hard for it). Its no AK47, but then it never was supposed to be!! |
|
I have used one for deer hunting. I liked it, short and light with a cartridge that will work in the ranges I shoot deer in, 100 yards and less. I live in western Wisconsin, heavy woods and steep hillsides. Have a 2X7 power scope on and keep it all the way down unless I can sit on the edge of a field. |
Got one, used to diassemble itself at the shooting range - that was a big confidence builder - NOT! Did the NRA accuracy mod and shoots fairly accurately now. I've got 3 1/2 AR-15's and one AR-10. Haven't shot the Mini- in I don't know since when. Sell it to you cheap. ETA: I used this Mini- to shoot my first deer; maybe "cheap" isn't the right word..... You mean those kinds of thoughts? |
|
If I had to pick a gun to blow people off my driveway, 100s at a time, I would rather do it with a mini 14/30 (with god mags) than an AR15. That are what ruger makes, absolutely reliable firearms where reliability takes priority over all other features. My opinion. P.S. I have never shot a mini-30, but I own and have shot my mini-14 about enough times to wear the bbl out. |
|
Decent gun for what it is. If I were you I'd Have the barrel cut to 16" with a FH on it. This will help accuracy as Mini's are notorious for barrel whip. I'd also put a Ultimak scout rail on it, even if you plan on running just irons b/c it acts as a barrel stiffinger (again curbing that whip). Hicaps are around, just hard to find. www.perfectunion.com/vb/ Its the arfcom of Mini-14's and Mini-30's |
God mags make all the difference, those are flawless, with reg hi caps they are the DEBIL!!!!!! |
|
The weakest point other than relatively poor accuraccy as has been posted over and over here is the hit or miss dependability of mags available. If you just plan on using the 5rd. factory ones, no-worry. To the best of my knowledge Ruger never made any hi-caps for the 30 although I'm sure there are plenty of bogus mags w/ Ruger stamped floor plates around. The best mags I found for my Mini-14 were PMI 40rd mags. I also have a John Masen 30rd that has worked O.K. Not my favorite rifle, I think I keep it mostly for the A-Team appeal as suggested in earlier posts. |
| My friends dad has one. It shoots ok I guess. No problems that I have ever seen. It is hard to get good mags for it though. He only has 2 that actually work well. But the rifle itself we usually shoot every other weekend or so. I don't really care for it myself, I like the SKS better really. Well that and my AR. |
I own one, have had and used it for four years. Ruger did the cheap barrel ie. .308. So if you reload its a tack driver. I use it on deer ( crop permits) The cheap HP wolf works great out to 200yds with a cheap 3-9 x 40 scope. high caps= found some 20's that work, 30/40 never had any that ran 80%. I found some cheap 5 rd. (Ruger ) on flea pay. Its just another tool that shoots cheap ammo. i would sell it before I sell an AK or an AR. MY 2¢ ATB 
|
| Kinda expensive for what it is new.If you can get a used one cheap buy it.If you want a 7.62 rifle and dont want a traditional ak,take a look at the russian siaga.Looks like a sporter,takes 10 mags and has a decent scope mount,unlike trying to mount an optic on an sks. |
| I have had one since the early 90's. Hi cap mags were a problem but now they are not. Promag recently started making polymer mags for it and they work great. I now have 10 of them and they all work fine. The rear sight sucked so I replaced that. Other than that I am happy with it. It shoots when I pull the trigger and I can hit what I am aiming at. |
I had a Mini-30. I never found a raliable magazine that wasn't Ruger brand, and as far as I know you can only get 10 round Ruger magazines now. It comes with a 5 round magazine.  This is what became of the "most" reliable high cap mag I tried. The rest didn't fare this well.  Because of the reliability issues with non-Ruger magazines, I decided to get rid of it. I used the money to partially pay for this build. I'm much happier with this.  
|