Many times on these boards I have heard the Ruger Mini-14 and Mini-30 series of rifles take all sorts of verbal abuse. Well today I had the chance to test one just to see how bad they were. My findings were exactly the oppostite of what I had expected based on the comments I have read on these boards.
The gun was a Stainless Mini-30 with a 189-xxxxx series serial number. This one used only factory sights with the flip up rear. The magazines were USA brand 20 rounders (two were blue and one was stainless) and one factory 5 rounder. The ammo used was Winchester USA 123 gr ball and Winchester Super X 123 gr SP.
Reliabilty with both types of ammo and all mags was 100%. There were no malfunctions of any type and all mags fed smoothly and without a hitch. I had read that none of these aftermarket hi-caps were worth a dime, but my testing suggested otherwise.
Also, these mags seated well and were not any problem to insert.....also unlike I had heard. It took some getting used to, but these mags go in at an angle and are rotated back until they lock. Mag changes were fast and again, no problem at all.
Accuracy was also better than I had expected. While it didn't appear to be a match grade rifle by any means, the thing consistently hit what I shot at. The targets I chose were cheap cans of soda bought at the local discount grocer. These were placed at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards. This little rifle had no trouble in making these bounce and spew the soda all over the place.
After firing about 150-200 rounds through my buddy's gun, I took the liberty of cleaning it for him. This thing was filthy and other than just wiping off the metal and wood, I don't think he had ever give this thing a decent cleaning. This only shows how reliable these guns can be. So this just goes to show that you can't believe everything uttered on the net. If you want something, find one and try it out for yourself. If you like it then buy it. Don't just take others opinions about anything. I wouldn't mind having one of these for myself after trying one. I find them as accurate and reliable as any AK I have dealt with and more comfortable to hold and fire.