Opinions on the Ruger Mini-14
- Thread starter ColKurtz
- Start date
As any firearm in our sport the sky is the limit and if you are willing to open the wallet. Look at how much people are spending on CZ's and AR's for that matter. What ever floats your boat.
However there are more Pro's then Con's for the MINI in .223/6.8/30/300.
http://www.ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/ruger_mini_prices.php
Last edited:
IchBinEinSniper
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brockvegas
IBTL - holy bad comment batman...
There are plenty used ones for sale...get one and give it a try. If you don't like, you sell again and have lost little through the experience.
There are plenty used ones for sale...get one and give it a try. If you don't like, you sell again and have lost little through the experience.
To the OP:
If you buy one, consider getting the Ultimak scout rail, Tech Sight rear sight, a trigger job is handy, 1911 buffers, reduce the gas by putting in a small diameter gas bushing. With those it becomes a really nice gun to shoot and relatively accurate.
If you buy one, consider getting the Ultimak scout rail, Tech Sight rear sight, a trigger job is handy, 1911 buffers, reduce the gas by putting in a small diameter gas bushing. With those it becomes a really nice gun to shoot and relatively accurate.
I bought my first SS Mini 14 around two years ago and wouldn't sell or trade it for anything... I love it. It can blast gophers easily at 125 yards. It's groups are meh but I operate on the clean kill accuracy principle... so for me it's accurate.
I also have the T97 (aka the lip splitting bastard) it also is accurate enough to hunt with, but like you mentioned about the quirky ergonomics.... it's a fun gun and not my primary .223 rifle.
Bought my mini 14 target laminate 10 months ago. Started out a bit inconsistent and was slightly disappointed with it and was over my head with trying to figure out where to start with bullet type and weight and where to put the damper. I of course bought the 55gr Mc umc ammo in bulk and fired away. Still wasn't extremely pleased but what can you expect with that ammo. I bought the 4 different size of smaller bushings for I think 70 bucks Canadian and a buffer for the recoil off amazon for i think 30 or 40 bucks. Mainly bought this so it wouldnt throw brass as far and rattle itself loose. After another couple trips I have it shooting about 1.5 at 100yds. And this still with that umc crap. So at least I know it's coming along. It takes time yeah but that's the fun in it. I think it has a broad range of potential and is fun to shoot and extremely comfortable from any position other than standing with the weight it has. It can only get better now with better ammo.
Trimmer 905
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The older Mini's really bite the big one. The new ones,because Ruger has beefed up the reciever and barrels with more steel and have added a flash eliminator,are tack drivers. Check out YouTube's Hickok45-Ruger Mini 14.
Last edited:
Lol, ever notice how they never actually shot any of the bad guys in that show? They just dumped mags to scare them awaykeep their heads down while they jumped into the van. They should have just yelled out "COVERING FIRE!" whenever they pulled the trigger.
I have more than 40 STANAG pattern magazines and they work in four different rifles that are in my safe. To me magazine compatibility is a big selling feature of a rifle. You can just keep them all when you sell a rifle and your collection slowly grows and you aren't out that money. My Swiss Arms was nice but by the time I sold it I had 9 magazines and trying to get someone to give you enough cash to make it worth including them all was a hassle, at the same time there was no point in keeping them because they wouldn't work in any other rifles. Same thing went with my HK's, great rifles but proprietary magazines are expensive, hard to find and useless in everything else you own.
OP, if I were you I would just continue saving and buy a decent rifle. The mini-14 is a well built and reliable rifle but the mags are hard to find and expensive (compared to AR mags anyway). The problem is that accuracy is inconsistent and you may get one that shoots or you may get one like most others who have owned one. There is the odd rifle that shoots well as you've seen by the comments already but most people weren't that lucky.
Non restricted semi auto in Canada requires cash. A rifle that should by all rights cost $1000-$1500 can almost double once it gets the non restricted FRT attached and then throw in the retailers hyping them up with pre-sale garbage and controlling the number released and you have a very expensive rifle that people keep buying so the price stays high. My favorite by far for a non restricted plinker is my AR180B-2 but they are hard to find these days and people are asking a lot for them now.
In all honesty almost anything we have available to us including the mini is more than accurate enough for field work shooting freehand at a coyote but when people start expecting bolt action bench rest accuracy from a semi auto 223 then nothing measures up to expectations and people are disappointed. The mini that I had was terrible and could barely keep 20 rounds on the same sheet of paper at 100 yards shooting with a scope off the bench. The mini is also way overgassed and throws brass twenty feet away and makes a large dent in every piece of brass so it's not well suited to reloading.
As was mentioned earlier, if you want to try one out then buy a newer used one and if you don't like it you can sell it for pretty much what you paid for it.
Good luck
Last edited:
An adjustable gas block would be the best fix for the mini-14 but they are expensive and by the time you buy that and a cool stock and an accu-strut and scope mount and bla bla bla you could have just bought something else like a used XCR-L or even better would be an HK SL8-4 with AR magwell adapter. I've owned two SL8's and both were capable of 1 moa with quality ammo and both were 100% reliable. A little heavy for field work but a very well built rifle. My second one was even better with the HERA Arms BCK gen 2 lower.
Last edited:
I bought a mini 30 back in 1987 or so. Still have it and probably will never sell it.
Off a bench i"d be on my way to shooting a nice two inch group then a flyer would open it up to over 4 inches. Annoying as all hell it was.
I picked up an accu strut and did a little trigger work and the flyer problem seems to be cured.I like that hornady steel cased ammo with the sst bullet.
Off a bench i"d be on my way to shooting a nice two inch group then a flyer would open it up to over 4 inches. Annoying as all hell it was.
I picked up an accu strut and did a little trigger work and the flyer problem seems to be cured.I like that hornady steel cased ammo with the sst bullet.
LordEvilPepper
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Under a rusty barge in BC
I owned 2. The target model with hand loads an adjusted harmonic damper was indeed sub moa. But it looked stupid and the mini eginomics that suck you just wern't there... i hated how it felt, it was a bench gun. A mini 14 shouldn't be a bench gun.
The ranch rifle was rife with issues from new. It went in twice to ruger were i got bent over and told to suck it up. The first barrel was about 1.5 koa with 55 fmj, but it had an over sized gas hole and and was beating the #### out of the gun. It came back with a new barrel with excesive headspace and an improperly cut chamber. So back in it went. The 3rd barrel was 4moa with anything over 45 grains. I could decent groups with 40 grain bullets... and that didnt jive with my intentions for the gun... it was going to be my 300-400 m coyote rig and a 40 grain bullet is garbage for that. So i sold it at a huge loss ( it was in a sage erb chasis and lots of accesories, reloading stuff and brass)
when it comes to the mags... #### ruger mags... they are expensive and heavy. Get Gen 2 tapco mags. They run flawless; half the price, tougher and lighter. All that and you might actually find them in stock too.
The ranch rifle was rife with issues from new. It went in twice to ruger were i got bent over and told to suck it up. The first barrel was about 1.5 koa with 55 fmj, but it had an over sized gas hole and and was beating the #### out of the gun. It came back with a new barrel with excesive headspace and an improperly cut chamber. So back in it went. The 3rd barrel was 4moa with anything over 45 grains. I could decent groups with 40 grain bullets... and that didnt jive with my intentions for the gun... it was going to be my 300-400 m coyote rig and a 40 grain bullet is garbage for that. So i sold it at a huge loss ( it was in a sage erb chasis and lots of accesories, reloading stuff and brass)
when it comes to the mags... #### ruger mags... they are expensive and heavy. Get Gen 2 tapco mags. They run flawless; half the price, tougher and lighter. All that and you might actually find them in stock too.
I purchased a brand new mini 14 syn stainless after the election.I have found it to be an honest 2 moa rifle with ammo it likes.I put a crossfire 2 1 to 4 on top of it.a 300 I can do a 12 inch group. Not AR 15 accuracy but I am happy with it.Maga zines are also expensive but I realy wanted non restricted.
I own also a ranch Mini-14 stainless (bought new in 2013). Its a nice gun, 2-3 moa depending on ammo. Its light and its good looking.
But its reliable ONLY if you use Ruger magazines (at least for my gun....). I've tried few 5/20 and 5/30 aftermarket (plastic and metal) magazines and it was jamming all the time. But with the pricey Ruger factory mag its flawless... If you manage to insert those originals 5 rounds Ruger mags properly without taking 15 seconds and swearing, this gun is totally reliable.
And I agree with those who say that's its a lot of $$$ (today around 1100-1200$ a piece) for the results...
But its reliable ONLY if you use Ruger magazines (at least for my gun....). I've tried few 5/20 and 5/30 aftermarket (plastic and metal) magazines and it was jamming all the time. But with the pricey Ruger factory mag its flawless... If you manage to insert those originals 5 rounds Ruger mags properly without taking 15 seconds and swearing, this gun is totally reliable.
And I agree with those who say that's its a lot of $$$ (today around 1100-1200$ a piece) for the results...
