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Posted: 9/11/2011 9:38:58 PM EDT
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Does anybody have experience of these? Our laws permit a 12" inch barrel without additional paperwork, and these rifles can be found cheaply, so I thought it might interesting to have one to compliment the Mini-14. I guess I would get the barrel shortened to 13" inches, then have it screwcut and add a moderator or muzzle-break.
It would probably be an early 2000's production Ranch rifle. I'd load ammunition for it, although nothing too expensive with regards to bullet choice. How accurate would it likely be out to 300yds, and would it be suitable for shooting cast bullets? One important point to note is that these rifles were built as manual, straight-pull actions for the British market. I don't need to worry about it cycling reliably, since it'll be operated in the aforementioned manner. Thanks. |
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Quoted:
Does anybody have experience of these? Our laws permit a 12" inch barrel without additional paperwork, and these rifles can be found cheaply, so I thought it might interesting to have one to compliment the Mini-14. I guess I would get the barrel shortened to 13" inches, then have it screwcut and add a moderator or muzzle-break. It would probably be an early 2000's production Ranch rifle. I'd load ammunition for it, although nothing too expensive with regards to bullet choice. How accurate would it likely be out to 300yds, and would it be suitable for shooting cast bullets? One important point to note is that these rifles were built as manual, straight-pull actions for the British market. I don't need to worry about it cycling reliably, since it'll be operated in the aforementioned manner. Thanks. Sounds fun! With no gas operation issues to be concerned about, I cannot imagine why it wouldn't work just fine. I've never played around with cast bullets, so I cannot help you there. Accuracy potential would be pure speculation at this point. You might get some idea by talking to someone who owns a Krinkov. That's the only short barrel 7.62X39 that I can think of. |
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Interesting project.
The 30 of course is going to be a more workable situation than the 223 with cast bullets. I have had some issues with Ruger Rifles and Pistols with cast bullets as some of the Rugers seem to have barrels that are not a slick as some other brands. For example I have a 44 mag load (240 commercial cast plain base with a stiff but not off the charts load of Alliant 2400) that I use to great success in several S&W pistols and a Marlin lever gun. This load is quite fast ,accurate and in a clean barrel (no copper crud) leaves little to no lead and what little it leaves seems to brush out well with several passes of a dry brush. This same load in my Ruger blackhawk leaves nasty lead that is a stinker to clean and quickly builds to the point where accuracy falls off. If you don't have one I would recommend 'Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook" as a good source for all things having to do with cast bullets My suggestion would be a heavier bullet to keep the velocity no more than 1700-1800fps Keep us informed |
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One important point to note is that these rifles were built as manual, straight-pull actions for the British market. I don't need to worry about it cycling reliably, since it'll be operated in the aforementioned manner. I have a tunable gas block on my Mini -14, which allows me to shut off all gas flow to the piston, which stops the action from cycling. They are available from Accuracy Systems. You could also use a short piece of steel rod instead of a gas bushing, which wouldd prevent any gas flow to the piston as well. |
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Sounds fun! With no gas operation issues to be concerned about, I cannot imagine why it wouldn't work just fine. I've never played around with cast bullets, so I cannot help you there. Accuracy potential would be pure speculation at this point. You might get some idea by talking to someone who owns a Krinkov. That's the only short barrel 7.62X39 that I can think of. That's good to hear! The Mini-14 I've found quite reliable as a straight-pull action, unless you don't FL size cases, or try firing certain types of milsurp through it (RG really jams it up). We can buy genuine Saiga carbines and they're OK at 200yds, but I believe the barrel on them is even shorter than this would be. I may get a Saiga instead, but finding a 7.62X39mm rifle or carbine version for £350 is getting quite difficult these days, and virtually all of them I see are in .223 Rem. Quoted:
Interesting project. The 30 of course is going to be a more workable situation than the 223 with cast bullets. I have had some issues with Ruger Rifles and Pistols with cast bullets as some of the Rugers seem to have barrels that are not a slick as some other brands. For example I have a 44 mag load (240 commercial cast plain base with a stiff but not off the charts load of Alliant 2400) that I use to great success in several S&W pistols and a Marlin lever gun. This load is quite fast ,accurate and in a clean barrel (no copper crud) leaves little to no lead and what little it leaves seems to brush out well with several passes of a dry brush. This same load in my Ruger blackhawk leaves nasty lead that is a stinker to clean and quickly builds to the point where accuracy falls off. If you don't have one I would recommend 'Lymans Cast Bullet Handbook" as a good source for all things having to do with cast bullets My suggestion would be a heavier bullet to keep the velocity no more than 1700-1800fps Keep us informed Ranges here are officially rated for different calibres, and not many can handle a full powered 7.62X39mm, so a lot of people bought AKs in the calibre to download the cartridge. I'm looking at downloading 12g slug at the moment for the same reasons. I have some gunsmith work I'd like done on my Mini-14 at present, so if all that goes smoothly, it'll show that what I'd like to do here is viable. It tends to be a bit of a "what the Hell?" moment when you bring a Mini-14 rather than a bolt-action to a gunsmith here. The Mini-30 comes as a stainless/synthetic ranch config here, so most of the work is cosmetic stuff on the finish. |
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If you read his post, he stated that his rifle is a manual, straight pull action rifle. He has no gas system. actually he never stated he had one, just asked in anybody had experience with them. I was merely teling him how he could easily modify a standard Mini 30 to be straight pull action. |
| Back to the original question, on Perfectunion there have been many people who have cut down ( sbr'ed ) their mini-30's. Although not into the configuration you will need. They report no problems, the only thing to check for on a regular mini-30 is the gas piece may need to be tuned to ensure adequate pressure to cycle the op-rod reliably. |
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shouldnt be a problem.
you can even get an adjustable gas block. (you can get them in different barrel profiles) Accuracy systems has a replacement gas block that you can adjust. i assume it would make a SBR more reliable. i have seen SBR Minis ( dont recall if they are 14 or 30 models) on their website before... New Style  
Old Style (they sell them too)  
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The adjustable block won't do him any good without a gas port in the barrel.  aww heck, your right on that 
sorry about that, i got in too big of a hurry when i posed, didnt notice where you are from.... 
well, the info is there in case anyone state-side wants to look into a SBR Mini.... again, sorry about not being able to help ya out there... |
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