OK, I know what you all think of me for doing this horrible thing, but I have grown tired of looking for a nice surplus M1 carbine, looked at the IMI carbines, looked at all the $800 PLUS gun show COLLECTOR M1 carbines, came across a REALLY nice early 181 Mini, BLUE finish, shiney varnish stock and WOOD handguard, and I still have a couple of factory Ruger 20s around here somewhere. Many years ago had a nice 1976 200th year series 180 that I actually liked to shoot, but sold. Is it wrong? I have plenty of Lake City M193 to shoot. OK, so it won't group like my Bushy, Colt, Armalite or Daewoo, but I just like the look of the wood stock and handguard and a 20 round magazine in it. I promise not to be weak again and purchase another!

NHRAMark,

I know what you mean.  My mini was worked over good by Clarks , and it really shoots!  I wish I had a way to post a pic of it on here...its unlike any mini I have ever seen. There is still something to be said about a weapon made of iron and wood!

The barrel on mine was cut to 13.5 inches and topped off with the HK style front site/flash hider. I get MOA accuracy or better when I do my part.  My only complaint is that it gets hot....really hot.  I don't do much rapid fire with it because of that.

I hear ya about the M1 Carbines, too!  I would love to have one, but I just can't justify the cost of a collector.....and every dealer seems to think his is a Collector Grade carbine.

JarHead94

Here's my heavily customized Mini 14. I had it rebarreled to 6x45mm six years ago by Accuracy Rifle Systems. The stock is from Mike Turner of Turner Customs and was pillar bedded by ARS. Shoots GOOD.

Mini-14 always had a good action.

Rifle was designed by H. James Sullivan who also designed the Ruger Model 77 - both rifles have sold well over one million copies.  (Sullivan and Bob Fremont designed the original AR-15 for ArmaLite.)

Sub,

Thanks for the info.... I didn't know that.

Quoted: Sub, Thanks for the info.... I didn't know that.

J.H.94, many of us don't who did what.  I am/was an old ArmaLite collector and about fours ago ran across some information about who 'really' did what.  Stoner was with Reed Knight (Knight's Armament) the last years of his life where his last design was the SR-25 (Stoner Rifle 25).  Now the SR-15 would logically be Stoner Rifle 15 but I'm almost certain Stoner didn't design the rifle because in the past he brought in Sullivan and Fremont to design rifles in the 5.56/.223 caliber as Stoner believed the 5.56 was NOT suitable for use by the military.

Another example would be the Stoner 63.  Eugene Stoner designed the Stoner 62 7.62 (.308) but when Cadillac-Gage wanted to switch to the 5.56, Stoner again brought in Sullivan and Fremont to design the Stoner 63 (5.56mm).

Now for one last boring bit.  The first .22 rifle at ArmaLite was designed by none of the above !!  A guy by the name of Robert Enewold* designed the "Stoppette" (AR-11) in .222.  Then the Army made a change in the SCHV (Small Caliber High Velocity) specs necessitating the development of the 5.56/.223 cartridge.  And, from that came the AR-15 and, as they say, the rest is history.

*The information regarding the "Stoppette" and Robert Enewold came from a member here - "Gus" - Gus's father did much (if not all) design work on the 5.56mm round.

After reading my B/S in the above post I want to make clear two things:

1)  I'm a BIG Eugene Stoner fan and that might not be clear above.

2)  Stoner didn't do much design work in 5.56 not because he wasn't capable but because he chose not to.  Again he didn't like the caliber for military use.  (When Stoner joined ArmaLite in the 1950's the designs he brought with him were in 30-06.)

So far as I can tell, Stoner only designed two rifles in 5.56 during his long career.  One was something called the FARC that never went past the prototype stage and the Stoner 86 machine gun.  Last year I heard some rumblings that the Stoner 86 might yet be produced.  "IF" true, one would think that MG would be produced by Knight's.

The use of those stainless folding stock Mini-14s is the reason THE A-TEAM couldn't hit a damn thing!  

Uh now you done gone did it. You're going to hell now boy.

Quoted: The use of those stainless folding stock Mini-14s is the reason THE A-TEAM couldn't hit a damn thing!

But it looked real cool when George Peppard was firing it though in the opening scenes.

Hi my name is Mike and I also own a Ruger Mini-14. I bought it during the dark hours of 9-11 in a gun shop called Ironworks near Ground Zero. At the time I thought it would be prudent to own a second .223 carbine and the AR was at home guarding the homestead. It is a ranch in stainless steel with a hardwood stock. I did nothing to it except a nylon sling. I never bring it to any ar15.com shoots to avoid ridicule. But it shoots every time I pull the trigger and will do what it has to if necessary. I gave it to my son to make up for being away from home so long. He loves it and the timing and location of it's purchase is important to him. MIKE.

I could never buy anything that has a barrel that light. I mean seriously it looks like a straw.

Yep, it looks like a straw.  But not one that I'd want to be standing in front of.  

The stock on my Oly preban unscrewed itself at the range the other day, a rather odd thing to happen I thought.  It caused an immediate stop in shooting activities, jam-o-matic basically.  Took a few minutes to figure it out.  The stock on my mini has never unscrewed on me.

I have a GB model. I like it a lot. It is my only pre-ban rifle. I think mini's take to much crap.

sorry, I got impatient and double tapped. At least I got them both on the same thread!

My one and only "Mini" was a pre-ranch version and shot minute of pie plate at 100 yards. Damn picky about ammo as I recall as well. Let go with no remorse, which is rare for me.

Bob

I like my Mini-14 GB Folder.  Very pleasing to the eye with the nice wood and stainless. I really enjoy shooting it.

Plus it has some "evil" AW features (folding stock, flash hider, bayo lug), so it can't be all that bad.




James
Austin, Texas

I would love to put that stock on my GB.

^^ That one looks cool. But if your in the market to offend liberals I'd go with something black.

I Have the same rifle...  all black,  minus bayo lug and I have an AK atyle brake in place of the flash hider.    I was wondering if anyone sells a barrell mounted laser/laser mount...