tossing around the idea of getting the tactical one to use with my 5.56 can. How are these suppressed?

Quieter.

lol. I guess I should have said how they run, is adjustable gas block needed.? Does it have crazy loud action noise?

I have no experience with a can on a mini.  I have fired one on an M1A though.  I know it's not the same, but it's probably similar.

In my experience, there is a large backblast out the action on each shot straight into your face.  Various scope mounts and the USGI blank firing breech shield can be used there to deflect the blast.  The action will of course cycle harder and you might consider an adjustable gas block to slow it down, but it should work fine without.  I use an adjustable gas plug on my M1A.

Seriously, as overgassed as the 58x series are, I can't see how a subsonic round and can combination wouldn't run just fine.  In fact, the 300 BO version is advertised to run great with subsonic ammo and a can.  The reviews of it with a can don't mention an exceptional amount of blast back through the action.

The OP did mention 5.56...300 BO is much closer to a pistol round and I believe everything you just said about no back blasts in that caliber.

Since "overgassed" was mentioned, this will obviously get worse with the can.  I don't like to cycle my guns harder than needed, but it likely will work.

I'm assuming that he will also be running sub-sonic ammo with his suppressor as there really isn't any point to a can with supersonic ammo so the reduced gas of the lower powered round is what I was referring to.



 

Not unless he wants a straight pull single shot.  "Subsonic 5.56" and "self-loading firearm" are generally mutually exclusive terms even if a can is involved.  So while it is less gratifying, just about everyone with a 5.56 self-loading firearm is indeed running supersonic ammo.  I don't think we consider it "pointless" though...

Odd statement given that Ruger states that their 300 BO version of the Mini tactical will cycle reliably with subsonic ammo with a can installed.



 

Please stop conflating 5.56, which I was specific about above, with 300 BO.  300 BO is everything you said it is and was purposely designed to be such.  5.56 is not, and is the subject of the original post.

Only using the 300 BO as an example.  Subsonic loads, no matter the caliber have lower charge weights and they can cause incomplete cycling in some weapons.  Because the Ruger Minis, regardless of caliber, are all famous for being over gassed it's very likely that the .223/5.56 versions will work fine with cans and subsonic loads as well.  The OP should check out Perfect Union's Mini14 and 30 section for information on subsonic .223/5.56 loads in Minis as they are likely the net's best site for all things Mini.

I'll be absolutely shocked if a Mini can be made to function with subsonic 5.56 loads and still be in a configuration to safely shoot factory supersonic ammo.  The math just doesn't jive.  Subsonic 5.56 is travelling at about 1/3 the velocity of supersonic 5.56, which means we are working with about 1/9 the original energy.  This is the Holy Grail for a suppressed AR15 and a reliable solution is just not out there.

If somebody finds something, please post it here.  Good luck on the snipe hunt!  

I had my Mini 14 Stainless Ranch's front sight moved back and the barrel threaded to run my Saker 556. The rifle functions fine and sounds about the same as my direct impingement ARs. There is some gas blowback but it varies depending on the ammo. Semi hosts will have some blowback unless you start altering the gas system, spring weights, and ammo. I haven't altered the gas bushing and probably won't.

The 582 series Mini 30 Tactical I purchased new did not have a square shoulder for the muzzle device. The shoulder was tapered causing the muzzle device to not stay true to the bore when tightened, resulting in a crooked can. I had to send it to Class 3 Machining to get the taper replaced with a square shoulder. I'm not sure if Ruger has corrected the threading on the Mini 14/30 and the Gunsite to be suitable for suppressors but they have all had problems reported. The strange thing is all of the Ruger bolts actions I've purchased in the last year have had suppressor friendly threading/shoulders. This includes three centerfire rifles and two rimfire rifles.

NOTE:  Subsonic 223/556 is not used by suppressor enthusiasts, that is what subsonic 22 long rifle is for. There are many benefits to shooting supersonic rounds through a suppressed rifle. Hearing preservation with only ear plugs is the big one for me. The idea that only subsonics are useful to be suppressed is typically stated by those that haven't used suppressors or have only been able to use them at a range. I will never hunt without a can again, and I don't use subsonic ammo for hunting. My 63 year old father was so impressed that he has purchased his own rifle suppressor for hunting with his .243 Win.

Have you compared velocities with and without a can?  If so, how do they compare?



 

It is generally accepted that the bullet velocity is slightly increased by adding a suppressor. Dustin Ellermann of Top Shot TV show fame did a great video and basic table of his findings at the link below. The .223 showed a small decrease in velocity but for the most part the change is negligible for all cartridges tested. In my experience, adding a suppressor has either tightened my groups or left them unchanged from the non-suppressed groupings. There are a lot of theories as to why this is a common occurrence that can be read about in suppressor dedicated forums. For the most part I ignore the change in velocity due to adding a can when shooting supersonic. Subsonic is a different story as there is a velocity ceiling at which the sound barrier is broken.

http://fishgame.com/2015/11/how-does-a-suppressor-affect-velocity/

you cant use 300 BO as an example.  2 totally different beasts.  
In 556 subsonic, the gas just aint there.  Tiny .223 hole (barrel) and low powder.. I bet it would be even harder in a mini than an AR to get it to cycle well.  Thats a heavy charging handle/action rod, spring, and bolt to move.

This subsonic 5.56 ammo that actually cycles AR15s.

http://clarkarmory.com/products/allegiance-223-110gr-silentstrike-ammunition

Here is a video of it working.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:n7OuDacRkwIJ:www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/02/23/allegiance-ammunition-silentstrike-subsonic-223/+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Very special ammo.  Given the heavy bullet used, I do wonder about stability issues in slower twist barrels, and stability issues are what you don't want when there is a can at the end of the barrel.  The use of powdered tungsten for bullet construction shortens the overall bullet length for the weight, increasing stability.  Without some physical data (i.e. length and BC) on the bullets themselves it's a guess as to how stable these are in any given barrel.

They are not the first folks to offer specialty subsonic ammo, but I do remember the other offerings being sensitive to the exact rifle configuration used.

thanks everyone for the help,

I was concerned about the thread shoulder after seeing a pic on the web of it being a tapered shoulder.

With Ruger's pension for overgassing their Minis it's a wonder that a suppressed subsonic .223/5.56 doesn't cycle the action.  The 300 BO shooting subsonic only cycles the action when it's combined with a suppressor.



 

You have a point about the next zip code ejection.. Well, I guess one could find out!  The Noveske pig simulates the extra gasses like a suppressor if no suppressor is available.  I would certainly be interested in seeing if sub sonic 223 would cycle with a can on a mini.  I wonder if anyone has ever tried.

If a 5.56 chambered Mini-14 could reliably cycle non-specialty subsonic ammo in an unaltered configuration, they would be the darlings of the NFA world and it would not be a secret.  The fact that they are not, leads me to believe that they don't.  I bet they would work with that special tungsten stuff though.

The fact that the 300 BO is advertised by Ruger to cycle with subsonic loads and a suppressor (with YouTubes to boot)  leads me to believe it will do it.  If a 300 BO can do it, a supersonic .223/5.56 aught to be able to be made to work as well.  





The 300 BO case only holds about 18-19grns of powder at sub-sonic velocity producing pressures while a .223/5.56 case holds 25-28grns of powder at super-sonic velocity producing pressures so the force on the gas system of a suppressed Mini-14 with their huge gas bushing aperture just logically would seem like a no-brainer.





And, the reason the NFA world might not care about the Mini's abilities is more like that most AR types hold their nose at a non 'tacticool' platform that you can't hang 50 things from like you can from an AR platform rather than it won't work.  I'm not saying that it will work for certain, but rather I'm just saying that it should be a piece of cake.






 
 

Oh yeah, SUPERsonic 556 will run fine, but you were talking about SUBsonic ,
"Seriously, as overgassed as the 58x series are, I can't see how a subsonic round and can combination wouldn't run just fine. In fact, the 300 BO version is advertised to run great with subsonic ammo and a can. "
SUBsonic 556 has always been an issue to cycle on any platform with a suppressor.
I would agree with Southern Raider, and thought the same.  If it could, the Mini would have already made the biggest comeback of firearms history!

If you are going to suppress a Mini 14 running supersonic, I'd be looking into a smaller gas bushing for sure.

OK, now I understand, you want sub-sonic.  I mentioned that on some other threads here and response was overwhelmingly, "Why would you want a sub-sonic .223/5.56 rd?  That's what a 22 short or long is."  Because even a 22lr can be suppressed to be more quiet than a sub-sonic .223/5.56 and be employed in a much cheaper, lighter, and weapon, their position seems logical so I'll agree that a sub-sonic .223/5.56 rd is sort of a silly idea as they claimed.



 

As a sub-sonic 22 cal light weight rifle, I'd propose something like a silenced Ruger 10/22 with an optic of your choice.  Much cheaper than an AR, much quieter suppressed, much cheaper to shoot and with those suppressor barrels where the suppressor is wrapped around the barrel so it looks like a heavyweight, you can have a compact shooter.  Add some 25rd factory mags and a red dot optic and it would seem you're set.





If you want a traditional can, Ruger makes some models with a threaded FH already.











If you want a more traditional '30 Carbine look' with a rail to add your optic and just add a silencer barrel, they have a Model 21102.











Seems to me that the 10/22 is ready to go as a suppressed sub-sonic 22 cal platform.



Edit to add:  I'm not joking with this response. While a suppressed Mini-14 shooting supersonic ammo makes sense, one shooting sub-sonic ammo vs a suppressed Ruger 10/22 shooting 22 short, long, or long rifle seems to make much more sense to me than a Mini-14.

I'm assuming you mistyped "supersonic .223/5.56" and meant to say subsonic.  After all, that's what we've been discussing.

Stop.  Please just stop.  You repeatedly point to 300 BO in this thread to justify performance in another caliber.  We're going around in circles again and again.  I know you want to believe the Mini-14 can do just about everything, and it's abundantly clear from this thread and others that you are a Mini-14 fan almost to the point of blindness.  

The simple truth of the matter is that 300 BO was designed from the ground up to have very similar pressure profiles at a particular gas port position in both supersonic and subsonic loading so that rifles work either way.  On an AR15, that gas port position is at the pistol length.  In practice the pressure curves are slightly different, and often require a suppressor to function with the subsonics.

5.56 just doesn't work this way.  Look at the subsonic ammo referenced above.  To get it to work, they had to double the bullet mass and make the projectiles out of tungsten to keep the size manageable and assure in flight stability.  This is a hint as to the challenges involved.  But hey, just drill the gas port larger.  Don't let engineering, physics and a wealth of shared experiences get in the way of a good discussion.  After all, you saw something that looks similar but is entirely unrelated on a YouTube video and people are trying to tell you why it's different.

Go ask in the NFA forum.  They tell you they same thing we have been telling you here.

Actually no.  The OP asked about suppressing a Mini-14, period.  His OP didn't specify a sub-sonic round.  My discussion above concerned suppressed supersonic loads and the minute
the discussion switched to the silly notion of a sub-sonic .223 rd, I changed platforms to the 10/22 shooting a 22lr.  Look at my last 2 posts on page one.



As a sub-sonic rd, the .223 is ill suited.  The case capacity even with powders like Trail Boss, results in a low case density charge which may produce unreliable ignition and/or produce low accuracies (both as described by a quick Google search on sub-sonic .223).  Even if one uses the heaviest bullets that can be loaded to magazine OAL with Trail Boss or other fluffy powders, handloaders haven't found a combination that works very well. Certainly not producing enough gas to cycle the action.



 

This is you in this thread.  No offence, but you're kinda all over the place and it appears you're contradicting yourself..

I just ordered a YHM 762 can...it'll see time on some of my mini14's... I'll let you know how it does in 6 mos. or so... :)

To OP---did you end up suppressing your mini?

I had a can on both my 16" mini and 13" mini SBR.  I didnt particularly like either one.  lots of gas in the face.

its obviously quieter than without a can, I just dont feel like the action lends itself to being suppressed.
I've since sold my threaded 16" and only shoot the sidefolder without a suppressor now.

here's a vid I did some time ago comparing to a SBR ar15 with yhm can

youtube link

just now got one. at the time of op, I was window shopping for one. Last week my dealer got one in on trade and I grabbed it up cheap, I may get around to putting one of my cans on it shortly, First order of business is to get it out of this tactical stock