Which is Better..MINI 30 or MINI 14 Rugger?

mine

I have had both, owning three 14's at one point and three 30's. I sold the 14's as accuracy was not great.

The 30's are much better. With reloads I can hit 1 inch groups at 100 yds.
With mil surp ammo they spread out to 2 1/2 to 3 inch groups at 100 yds.

I have three 30's now and am perfectly happy with them.
 
I Have Fired Both And Own A Mini 30 .i Like The Extra Horsepower And Surplus Ammo Price. 4500 Rounds Through Mine And No Issues.accuracy Varies With Ammo.
 
I had a mini in .223 and it was fun to fire but terrible for accuracy. The thirty is better for the cheap commie ammo.
 
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Ruger Mini 30

I own a Ruger Mini 30. I get 3" to 4" grouping at 100 yards.

She soots good and love the extra horsepower over the .223

Got a aimpoint red dot on it, its great, lighter than the SKS,

The SKS is a bit of a pig I own both, I prefeer the MINI 30 over the SKS for carrying.
 
I own a mini-14, 10-22, and 44mag deerfield carbine. All great bush and truck guns, fun plinkers and all group under 3" at 100yards, subject to ammo, which is fine for me.
The mini is still the family fav plinker. It's just a fun gun. Light weight for even kids to carry and shoot. Accurate enough to hit water bottles and pop cans all day long at 50-75 yards or anything else laying around. Also very reliable and low maintenance.
I don't think you'll got wrong with either the 30 or 14
 
gregc said:
i've had both a mini 14 (mid 80's) and a mini 30 (early 90's) and both couldn't hit a barn door if i was inside the barn shooting at the door. the mini 14 wouldn't print on paper and couldn't consistently hit a 5 gallon pail at 100 yards so it was quickly sold. i then ended up getting a mini 30 for coyotes and kept missing them. took the gun to the range and at 100 yards, it sprayed bullets in a 2 foot by 2 foot square. both guns were crap!!

i don't know what the newer ones are like but if you do plan on getting a ruger mini 14 or 30, i'd suggest you go to the range to try it out before you actually purchase it.
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I'll second this. I had 2 mini-14s and they both were really poor shooters. I could hit targets at 150yards quite well but but the jamming and bending of shells was too much.. it departed, and I got a Vz58. NEVER did I look back. :sniper:

Newer ones are supposed to be somewhat better, still $700 ... add 4-500 and get an AR.. the AR will outshoot any mini14. HANDS down
 
To bad AR is restricted or you would see allot more people with them for sure!you can shoot out side the range with your ruger mini even if it is not as accurate as an AR .Just that option makes them more of an all around rifle.nothing against AR just restricted gun laws!.
 
I owned a Mini-14 back in the late 80's.
Was SS with the folding stock.
Best I could ever do was 3-4" at 100 yards.
With some really crappy milsurp the grouping was +/- a barn door at 100.
Kept it for a couple of years and then traded it in for a folding police 870 for bear protection.

Read a couple of articles on the new mini-14. With the "fresh" tooling the reports have groups hovering around 1-1.25" @ 100 yards.

I suspect the harmonics due to the barrel has more to do with accuracy than the tooling.
Its inherently a poor design. Most of the mods includes replacing the gas block so you can use bull barrels. The idea is that a stiffer barrel will provide more accuracy.

Ruger sells a competition model that has a harmonic damper that allows you to "tune" the barrel to minimize variation from shot to shot.
You are basically using a mechanical device to change the vibration characteristics of the gun. Wonder how it works for longer strings when the barrel begins to warm up and the mechanical properties of the barrel begin to change.

I am guessing, that is the reason the -30's are slightly more accurate than the -14's. The larger barrel diameter required for the russian round means a stiffer barrel.

L
 
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i have amini14 target and get consistent 1/2-3/4 inch groups with hand loads and not touching the harmonic balancer.with rem 55gr fmj 1-1.5 inch groups.
i got a cz 58 it works awsome but the mini takes a scope nicely.igot the mini for coyotes.
 
ruger mini 14

Here are the pictures

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One of the range member have one (6.8 SPC) and he let me shoot it,I got to said it's not much different between the 7.62 and $$$ammo for 6.8!!! at 100 grouping 1' to 4' moa.Hit and miss.:redface:
 
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