Armory Sponsor
|
The barrel on it and the mini-30 (7.62 x 39) seem to be too "whippy" for any accuracy. You'd have to have smith re-barrel one with a heavy barrel to get decent groups out of it. Most consider it not worth the price as any AR15 will group better than it will without modification. Forgot to mention: most hi-cap magazines for it are junk or nearly so. |
|
so is the accuracy why I see tons of stuff for it in my catalogs but you guys never talk about them? how about this question since Im here and now thinking about it, in the survival forum alot of those guys have ruger 10/22s as part of their SHTF battery. I dont understand. the normal 22 is like the size of a pencil eraser and the caseing is like not much bigger. Why is this a good choice for protection? I thought they were for shooting pop cans and offing vermin? Ill also ask this over at the survival forum, thanx |
|
Minis can have respectable accuracy if the action is properly bedded into a synthetic stock. In fact, Ruger offers an "All Weather" stainless version with a composite stock. The materials needed to bed the action will cost about $30 from Brownell's. A $50 cryo-treatment of the barreled action often helps a lot as well. A properly set-up Mini will be about 1.5-2.0 MOA. Check out this forum:www.perfectunion.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8 For info on the 10-22, go to www.rimfirecentral.com |
|
I've loved mine over the years and have found it to be very acurate and have discussed this with a number of other owners who have different opinions. Best I can tell some are really dead nuts on while others are not. I suspect tool wear may be an issue or even model for mine is one of the first models. My Mini has had no issues with .223 or 5.56 rounds and have a number of high capacity mags which feed flawlessly. Still like my ARs better by a long shot, he he, pun intended.  By the way, the other two are M48 Mauser and 1943 Russian Nagant. |
I was a mini-14 fan for a long time. I had a good one, though accuracy was still not up to AR15 standards, it was decent. When I started shooting other's mini-14s I realized what all the fuss was. It seems you have to buy one made on the right day of the week  ..22 for SHTF - It is great for bagging game - many people take deer with it. It is quiet. Ammo is cheap and you can store LOTS of it without taking up much space. With proper shot placement it is still very effective on BGs. I wouldn't want to depend entirely on a .22 for self defense, (ie. in a situation where I was being attacked - especially by multiple persons) but I would use it for darn near anything else. |
|
I wouldn't say the mini-14 is a total POS, I had one for a while and ended up customizing it some to agree with my tastes a little better. I shortened and recrowned the barrel to get rid of the whippiness of the long slender Ruger profile, and welded a different front sight/flash suppressor on it to bring it back to 16.5". It was a preban, so the fitting stock was a Butler Creek side-folder. I enlarged the gas hole a small amount to aid in cycling, and it ran like a champ after that. It actually ended up more accurate after the mods than before, even with the barrel really only being 13" or so, and the sight radius being shorter. I attribute it to the barrel having a much more squatty profile and it being less prone to the typical mini-14 barrel whip. Here's a pic:  I no longer have it, it's one of the many firearms I had to let go of when I was saving $$ towards the downpayment of my house. I sometimes think about building another, it was a pretty compact reliable setup. The only real problem was finding good mags for anything resembling affordable. |
|
A few points: The Mini-14 is about half the price of an AR15. BEFORE the AWB, PMI aka Fed Ord 30 rnd mags were easily availble for a mere $13, vs $8 for NIW USGI mags. Yes, the Mini-14 is not as accurate as the AR's these days. The Mini-14 is a VERY reliable, lightweight, carbine, and excellent for its price and intended usage. Replacing the stock with one of the tight fitting synthetics (Choate, Butler Creek) will greatly improve accuracy, from 4-6 moa to 1-2 moa. |
| I used to have a police surplus mini-14 years ago. Had a folding stock (the nice wood & metal one) bayo lug & flash hider, it was a nice little gun. Of course, back then you could find whole batches just like it at the local gun shop for $250 each. Wish I could still get them for that. |
| I've been on this board for a about four years now, and have heard tons of bad news about mini's. Mine works with out malfunctions. No it's not as accurate as the AR15, the mags are more expensive and less available, and there are not spare parts readily available. Mine has never broken, my low-quality USA mags work without a hitch, and it is still a lot of fun to shoot. I don't even use the PMI mags cause they are worth more and I don't need them since the cheaper USA mags do the job. |
Armory Sponsor