lcq said:
"...My 180B shoots 1" with 50gr Vmax handloads. A stock Ruger can't come close..."
A 180B (when you can find one available for sale) also costs $300 more than a stock Ruger (which are relatively easy to find).
Nobody would claim that the Mini-14 is a tack-driver, but its been around with only minor design changes since '74, so it must be filling a niche in the .223 auto-loader market. Ruger wouldn't still be producing them after all these years if folks weren't buying them ...and folks wouldn't be buying them if the rifle didn't have a 'fan base' and
some endearing qualities.
I purchased mine late last winter and have probably put about 500 rounds through it over the summer ...all without a single FTF or FTE. Accuracy thus far is about 3-4 MOA with inexpensive 55gr UMC ammo (typical for the Mini-14), but my gunsmith is giving it a trigger job to smooth out some of the factory trigger's harshness, which - along with more practice on my part - should tighten up the grouping a bit more.
People choose/purchase particular firearms for different reasons. For me, I tend to buy 'basic', then customize to come up with something that you may not see uncased at the range every day. The Mini-14, 870 and AR-7 that I own have all had more '$$$' put into them than what they initially cost me to purchase new:
...but that's half the fun for me (the customizing, not the spending of the money), with the other half being
shooting them.
Although, I
do wish that the Mini-14 took AR mags!
