Mini 14 223 lovers

I'm a fan of the Mini, have had a bunch over the years from the various series, and I'm not one of those guys who needs to insert some idiotic comment regarding barn doors and other measures of poor accuracy into every thread about the Mini...but I would strongly recommend that you get one of the newer 58x series guns. They are generally much tighter and more accurate than the older series.

My first Mini was purchased only a year after their initial introduction, and it was a pretty decent shooter, although still not up to the standards of today's production. But as the production continued the guns seemed to get worse and worse, and accuracy suffered. A lot of used Minis from back in the day are also found being sold with high round counts, and that doesn't help matters either.

When you get one, swim against the current a bit and try feeding it decent quality ammo. The traditional complainers tend to expect the best accuracy while using the cheapest, worst ammo, and then cry when they don't get it. That isn't reasonable with any gun.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. That confirms what I’ve been reading from reviews. I’m not a competitive shooter by any means but I don’t want to be disappointed by my purchase. I think I’ll just keep looking on here until I find what I want.
 
My 583 series was decently accurate 2" group at 100 yards if you let the barrel cool between rounds.
The group got a bit bigger as the barrel heated up and I got more fliers.
They are a 9" twist so heavier bullets tend to be more accurate.
Mine had a fair amount of free-bore but the mags limit the COL so the accuracy suffered.

Terry
 
Struts, or even simply muzzle devices/weights, were a great benefit to old Mini's, for sure. But...you really have to want to make your old slug into a shooter to go that route. Otherwise, for the person looking to buy one it makes more financial and practical sense to take the money spent on gun + added gizmos and just put it towards a newer version.
 
jjohnwm said:
Struts, or even simply muzzle devices/weights, were a great benefit to old Mini's, for sure. But...you really have to want to make your old slug into a shooter to go that route. Otherwise, for the person looking to buy one it makes more financial and practical sense to take the money spent on gun + added gizmos and just put it towards a newer version.
Click to expand...

True enough, most folks should go the easy route...me, I like piddlin around and for me things like indexing a gas block is time well wasted :)
 
Good point. Unless I find and absolute steal of a deal I’ll keep my eyes open for a new one even if I pay a little more. I don’t do much tinkering... I prefer good to go as is! Thanks again for the advice. Now I’ll just sit here and click “refresh” on the search page for the next little while... with everything going on, time shouldn’t be an issue!
 
I just found a chat about the tuner. Apparently I should start with the weight flush with the muzzle and turn it in about 1/2 a turn at a time up to 3 turns. Apparently 0-3 turns is where best accuracy is usually found.
 
A half-turn per adjustment sounds about right; doesn't much matter where you start as you will probably try it along its entire length of travel. I will mention that when I had a Target model I found that I could get pretty much the same effect by simply removing the heavy tuner altogether and then installing a rubber donut-like tuner made be Limbsaver on the barrel. It could be placed anywhere along the barrel's length, but with almost every load it worked when very close to the gas block.

I actually went a step further, and had the barrel bobbed off and recrowned at 18.75 inches, essentially creating a standard (non-Target) Mini with a heavy barrel. Using the Limbsaver device gave me accuracy virtually equivalent to the original Target configuration but in a shorter, handier package that probably weighed almost 2 pounds less than it had, and for very low gunsmithing cost. It was my primary coyote slayer for several years; terrific rifle.
 
I love your idea of shortening the barrel. I have wondered about that. I dont like how heavy the gun is but I was wondering if shortening the barrel would ruin the accuracy. As is, the rifle weighs 10lbs with the scope.
 
Short barrels have no reason to be less accurate than long...and a nicely-done new crown by a good 'smith may very well increase accuracy.

Sorry, tried to post a pic; haven't been able to do it for a couple days now, not sure why. If you'd like to see it, it's here:

https://i.imgur.com/cdWRRqc.jpg?2
 
I did, but I had only the one, and I was playing with it on several different rifles. That pic was taken for an ad when listing the rifle on the EE, and I had no intention of including the dampener so I left it off.

It's only a benefit if you like playing with loads and bullet weights all the time, or perhaps if you have a large supply of some particular load and want to tune the rifle to shoot that stuff. I much prefer the old-fashioned way of finding a load that works in a given rifle; and when I find one or two, I'm happy and stick with them. The dampener was just something I played around with for awhile.

It looks pretty goofy too. :)
 
The gun would almost, but not quite, hit consistent MOA groups both before and after the barrel bob, with the respective tuners and lots of different loads including some cheap commercial ones. Shortened, and with no tuner, it would go slightly more, about 1.25MOA, with a few loads (different ones than before). I eventually got that 1.25MOA with a couple of standard new-production Minis, and let the Target one go.

To clarify, I didn't use any expensive Match ammo, mostly stuck with 65gr and under bullets, no target-oriented-only stuff; this was a coyote rifle and that's all I cared about. If you are an accuracy addict, I am dead sure you could do better.

What got me was that a buddy bought a Target Mini at about the same time I did...and his was always just a wee bit better shooting than mine. :)
 
I'd say that's pretty good accuracy. I have not been a fan of heavy guns. I actually wanted a regular mini 14 but this is deal I came across so I took it. I'm very tempted now to get mine shortened.
 
I went to the range with my mini for the 2nd time. Sometimes I can shoot a reasonable group and other time its all over. I'm wondering if the ATI stock is a problem. It has a folding but stock and there is quite a bit of wiggle where it joins the main stock.
 
I went out for the 3rd time with the mini today.
I used my fmj bulk ammo as tuning fodder.
I ended up with my best results at 3.5 turns in from the muzzle. I then switched to my 53 grain Hornady match bullets propelled by BLC2. My max load was best at 15/16" 3 round group. Next time around I will try 5 rounds with the same load.
BTW - I switched back to the factory wood laminate stock this time and achieved much better results. The ATI Strikeforce Stock gave inconsistent results.
 
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