mini-14gb clone

Brobee

Brobee

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Alberta
Hello everyone....

I've loved the look of the mini-14gb ever since I saw one for the first time...I owned a couple for a bit however they were nothing to scream about in the accuracy department so I wound up selling them. I still had that closet interest though and would secretly think about them everytime I'd take one of their bigger cousin M14 type rifles out for a spin. When the new 580 series came out and folks started writing about how they were somewhat improved in the accuracy department I bought a couple to play with. The couple I wound up with proved to be quite a bit more accurate than my old GBs however cosmetically the front sight of the civilian version always screamed "fugly" to me. I looked and looked around for a commercialy available GB style sight post/bayo lug but to no avail, so as a project I had a couple made up. I was super excited to pick the prototypes up from the machine shop this afternoon:

bayo_lug_sight_base_c.jpg


bayo_lug_sight_base_d.jpg


Rather than the conventional built-in sight of factory lug on the original gb part, I thought I'd try a dovetail such that an M14 style front sight could be used. The hole for the 1/8 roll pin is only just started such that it locates properly for the edge of the barrel. It has a large flat on the top to use for indexing during installation (square stock clamped to it for use as a level).

My mini-14s came back from the gunsmith last week threaded 1/2x28 for an ar15 style flash hider, and crush washers and m1a match sights showed up from brownells yesterday; I'll get to bluing the bayo lugs this evening and then do some bubba work on my ranch rifles this weekend! The plan is to mark where the lug shoud go using an array of bayonets as a measuring jig, knurl the barrel under where the lug will go, loctite the cr*p out of it, and then pound her on. Once the loctite has set up I'll drill the hole for the pin.

I'm super excited and will post pics to share my excitement of the bubba gb as I get them done! Range report to follow shortly. Sadly I don't know if the wife would approve of the feral-hog bayo hunt though....:)

Brobee
 
got up early and did some bubba work while the rest of the family was sleeping. Need to clean off the loctite a bit but here's a preview:

blued_finished_mini-14gb_clone_f.jpg


blued_finished_mini-14gb_clone_e.jpg


blued_finished_mini-14gb_clone_a.jpg


Range report to follow as soon as I can get out for some trigger time!

Cheers,

Brobee
 
I was planning to do something similar with mine, but I would make my own flash hider/front sight in the same fashion as an M14 front sight (Basically with the M14-style flash hider and front sight in one).
 
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found the same post on perfect union with the added pics and came back here. That looks fantastic, I've always dremt about doint this to my factory folder, to allow me to use a bayonet and a bfa with the flash hider. Would love to take that setup out as the enemy force and shoot some blanks at my buddies. If you tool up any more I'd love to buy one
 
Well the wife gave me an afternoon pass and I got out to the range this afternoon...woohoo! I took two of my gb bayo/m14 dovetail converted minis with me for the purpose of zeroing and practicing some sitting and squatting practice. I also brought along the camera so I could document the sight settings when zeroed for those interested in the height geometry of the m14 type sights on the dovetail.

I zeroed both guns 2 inches high at 100 yards.

The first gun was a stainless 580 series. The M14 style sight I used on this one is a tritium bar night sight made by Smith Enterprise. From the top of the sight to the leveling flat on the dovetail sight measures 0.570.

Here is a photograph of the elevation required on the rear sight to achieve zero:

stainless_rear_sight_a.jpg


And the front sight:

stainless_front_sight_a.jpg


On the rear sight there is some room to move down and lots of upwards elevation ...all in all I was very pleased!

The second gun was a blued 580 series. The M14 style sight I used on this one is a 0.062 National Match sight made by Smith Enterprise. From the top of the sight to the leveling flat on the dovetail sight measures 0.585, 0.015 higher than the fatso night sight.

Here is a photograph of the elevation required on the rear sight to achieve zero:

blued_rear_sight_b.jpg


And here is the front sight:

blued_front_sight_b.jpg


While I was expecting to require a bit more elevation on this gun given the slightly higher front post I was using it surprised me how much higher the rear sight needed to go to get zero...certainly much higher than the 0.015 difference in height between the two front sights. I'm not too stressed about it though because out of all the M1A type front sights I have the Smith Enterprise one is certainly the highest. I have a little bin at home filled with M1A and M14 front sights and lots of them are noticably shorter than the Smith Enterprise NM sight. If I decide to stick this particular front sight (instead of going with a shorter NM sight I bought from brownells a couple years ago or another one from my bin) I'll likely mill 15 to 25 thou off the post so I can lower the rear sight a bit. There was still alot of elevation travel remaining in the rear sight, however I think it would be a bit better if it was 2 or 3 threads lower in the rear sight block. For those contemplating their own conversion I know that Springfield Armory stocks three different heights of front sights. The SE sight I used would certainly be the highest you'd likely encounter.

Given this was my first range session with my GB clone converted guns all in all I was very pleased with how they zeroed and shot. Here's a picture of me and my 100 yard target at the end of the squatting/sitting positional practice shooting session:

pose_with_target_c.jpg


And lastly my vanity shot for the afternoon. I tried to get one with the brass flying out however my timing was always slightly off the camera shutter going off after remote triggering...:(

vanity_pose_a.jpg



The weather has been crappy up here...teasing us with spring but then winter coming back with lots and lots of snow. It snowed earlier this week then melted up a bit later in the week with high winds. Today it seemed nice (yet chilly) to start with some scattered clouds however by the time I was all packed up after the range session black clouds were rolling in and as I type this it is snowing heavily!

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Brobee
 
mini

So, Ill ask....

How much shooting did you do ? (did you get the barrel hot?)

What was the accuracy like Hot & Cold?

Did you get a pre-mods base on accuracy to see of there were any changes?

Did you lighten the factory Ruger trigger?
 
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With two guns I went through 140 rounds over the course of about an hour and a half. The zeroing work was slow fire from prone with several walking trips downrange for target patching. I then changed targets for my position practice. Ammunition was winchester whitebox 55 gr and 62 gr. I went through 20 round strings with each gun and then changed over to the other to hopefully keep them from getting too hot. When I was done though the gas blocks and barrels were both hot enough to burn me through my pants while I tried to photograph the front and rear sights for the range report.

Guns had never been fired prior to this outing, so I don't have any prior accuracy info.

Zeroing was more of a generalization exercise than anything looking for precision...no measuring done however I'd estimate the stainless one was printing about 2 to 3 inches and the blued one was printing about 3 to 4. The circles on the target illustrated above measure 5 inches diameter, 10 inches diameter, and 15 inches diameter.

Given that I plan to only run these guns with iron sights only (no optics ever) as fun guns, handling/position practice, and training guns I am more than pleased with how they turned out.

Cheers,

Jason
 
see now you should moldify and sell some ofthese, I would buy one so modified.... I would prefer it though if the rear sight did not have to be screwed up so high.

let us know if your going to push this farther,
 
God, I'd like to Love the Mini. It's just that the ones I've handled have sucked sooooooo much. At the very least these ones seem to both look great AND shoot nicely. I think there's a market for someone doing accuracy/tactical work for these rifles (hint, hint) there are a few places in the States making money on this type of work.(hint hint hint) :D

Oh crap, I just realized that I agree with Wes - does that mean I'm banned? :p
 
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I have a custom accuracy tuned mini-14gb in the EE right now for $200 more than a new stainless mini would run you from wholesale today...it is a screaming deal compared to even just the parts that went into it writing off the work I did as free. It has generated a little interest however no one has bitten yet. Given that level of interest I'm thinking I'll steer clear of getting set up to match tune minis.

As a non-profit venture (but not free) I can make the bayolug dovetail sights available but folks would be on their own for threading and installation. I have a list going that needs 20 people at $100 trigger the machine shop time...there are 6 on it right now. Fire me a PM if you would like to be included.

Brobee
 
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