Ruger Mini-14 accuracy

I had one of the first production Mini 14s offered for sale, the gun gun shop in Saskatoon where I bought it told me it was the first Mini to land in the province.
At that time I farmed and the Mini was my Coyote rifle and as such virtually lived in my pickup or on horseback.
It was by no means a tackdriver but accuracy was certainly adequate for varmints, regrettably I traded it away after several years, now I wish I had it back.
As for handloads which is all I used it preferred a 55gr. HP over either 3031 or W748 powder.
 
Grock-co said:
Earlier models had a pencil sized barrel, get it hot and it would move around, no more accuracy, I do not know if it could be changed out for a heavier barrel, never looked into it
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That is what the Accustrut or similar was designed to rectify.

Slamfire said:
I see - the Target model has a laminate thumb-hole stock, 22" barrel and adjustable harmonic dampener. And a 50% higher price tag. :p
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And is limited to .223...no 5.56 allowed.

I'm another pro Mini owner.

My old 187 series Ranch rifle is exactly that, my ranch rifle.

Lots of good info available on improving their accuracy and a strut for the older series is a must imo. Polishing the trigger group goes a long way. If you shoot steel cased coated ammo...clean your chamber regularly!!!
 
this pic is from another thread...had to post it here lol


BC604 said:
ruger-scope-mount.jpg
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sgt.rock said:
such a fanbase for a heavy, expensive, shotgun-patterning underpowered gun!! (I am not trolling, just don't see the hubbub about them)
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Heavy? Yes it made to resemble the M14

Expensive? Try buying a non-restricted semi auto 5.56/.223 in this country for less that doesn't have a plastic receiver...

Shotgun pattern? You should read through the thread and stop spreading misinformation because they group as well or better than most non-restricted semi auto 5.56 available in this country.

Underpowered? How is it underpowered? This confuses me...

The only valid complaint that holds water against the Mini-14 is the price of 20/5 magazines which is completely unacceptable. Ruger could fix this but they outright refuse to.
 
Turkinator said:
Heavy? Yes it made to resemble the M14

Expensive? Try buying a non-restricted semi auto 5.56/.223 in this country for less that doesn't have a plastic receiver...

Shotgun pattern? You should read through the thread and stop spreading misinformation because they group as well or better than most non-restricted semi auto 5.56 available in this country.

Underpowered? How is it underpowered? This confuses me...

The only valid complaint that holds water against the Mini-14 is the price of 20/5 magazines which is completely unacceptable. Ruger could fix this but they outright refuse to.
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I've long wanted a mini for all the reasons already mentioned ..... the price and availability of the ruger magazines in Canada is the biggest reason I've not picked one up. The ruger mags have long been touted as the only reliable 5/20 and 5/30 magazines.

And another complaint that has been put out on the internet has been about the reliability of steel cased ammo in the mini 30.

It's interesting to read the experiences of people that have actually owned this rifle for those of us that don't have first hand experience and are trying to sort through all of the bad press. There are not many choices of non-restricted, semi-auto rifles in the about $1,000 range unless you include pistol calibre carbines.
 
I like my mini14 rifles. Shot stuff with them. Not Remington 40xb accurate, but good enough. Everyone makes magazines for them. There are a lot of copies of the
ruger magazines and some are as good as factory when you use them. Some need the fine adjustment, but what doesn't these days. Some non ruger made assys
are good to buy and use. I have swiss rifles and my rugers are right next to them along with the restricted colt ar15 collection.
 
Juster said:
There is the poor man's Accustrut:
mini14_strut-1a.jpg
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ok that's very ingenious Juster.

Did you come up with that?

I would go one better and use a longer rod and notch it to fit over the end cap (gas block), or at least move it back to be snug against the gas block. Leaving the gap there would allow movement that could be negated.

Great idea though!
 
Turkinator said:
Unfortunately there are two very different rifles out there that share the Mini 14 name, the 181 series ruined the name with its terrible reputation while the 581+ series like you have are hands down the best value in a non-restricted .223/5.56 in Canada.
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Strongly agree. I've owned almost every single non restricted .223 "black rifle" over the years. XCR, AR180, T97, Tavor etc The price tags were so far out to left field it's ####ing ridiculous. I always ended up selling them due to what I was getting for accuracy/reliability for that price to get the cash back. Was never happy with the results to cost ratio of any of them.
Finally found a 581 series mint mini14 on the EE for $825 shipped to my door.
It's as accurate as any of the others mentioned. It eats any type of ammo I put through it and I mean any. Haven't had a single stoppage since I got it hot weather of cold. It's light, well balanced, acceptably accurate and extremely reliable and it's under a grand. All these years I was wasting my time and cash. Granted the pre 581 series were beyond acceptable accuracy for me. But the new ones are as accurate as any other semi auto non restricted out there for a fraction of the price. Best bang for buck semi auto non restricted going right now.
She's my one and only! Getting a tech sight replacement sight imported from the US now and she'll be even better. The rear sight is the only weakness of the the whole design IMO though. Terrible rear sight design.
 
Travis Bickle said:
Strongly agree. I've owned almost every single non restricted .223 "black rifle" over the years. XCR, AR180, T97, Tavor etc The price tags were so far out to left field it's ####ing ridiculous. I always ended up selling them due to what I was getting for accuracy/reliability for that price to get the cash back. Was never happy with the results to cost ratio of any of them.
Finally found a 581 series mint mini14 on the EE for $825 shipped to my door.
It's as accurate as any of the others mentioned. It eats any type of ammo I put through it and I mean any. Haven't had a single stoppage since I got it hot weather of cold. It's light, well balanced, acceptably accurate and extremely reliable and it's under a grand. All these years I was wasting my time and cash. Granted the pre 581 series were beyond acceptable accuracy for me. But the new ones are as accurate as any other semi auto non restricted out there for a fraction of the price. Best bang for buck semi auto non restricted going right now.
She's my one and only! Getting a tech sight replacement sight imported from the US now and she'll be even better. The rear sight is the only weakness of the the whole design IMO though. Terrible rear sight design.
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Did you order the apeture kit for it as well?? Totally worth it. Also thin the blade sight down from .085ish to .050 and shooting gets real fun.
 
Dont have one now, but have had them in the past. The last one I had was new 2 years ago. I sold it as there was this new rifle MR1 that I thought was going to be so superior.. and twice the money. WOW.. was I wrong. Kicked myself for selling the mini.. the MR1 was POS. I tried several loads, and couldnt get it to group as well as the mini I had just sold.
For the price.. a mini is a great gun. It will never be as accurate as a bolt gun.. but its far more accurate than other non restricted rifles as twice the price.
 
BrotherRockeye said:
ok that's very ingenious Juster.

Did you come up with that?

I would go one better and use a longer rod and notch it to fit over the end cap (gas block), or at least move it back to be snug against the gas block. Leaving the gap there would allow movement that could be negated.

Great idea though!
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Lots of people on the internets do this, often a hollow tube with the notch you describe. You can have a light tube, or solid steel, see what works best.
You could use tubes of different mass, for harmonic tuning. A easy dremel project for not a lot of cash with eBay barrel clamps.
Changing the position of the clamps might allow harmonic tuning too. But presumably the extra mass helps heatsink and stiffen the barrel.

011-1.jpg

h ttp://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=82587

You could do this on other rifles too.


Edit: Use a turnbuckle!
dub300.jpg


Disclaimer: I have come close to owning a Mini-14 many times, but I have never actually fired one :).
 
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Juster, that second setup looks like it would work a little better.

If you ever get the chance, take it. Fun little irons!



Here`s a pic of a real Accustrut on my 187 for reference

eCcwIxU.jpg
 
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Juster said:
Disclaimer: I have come close to owning a Mini-14 many times, but I have never actually fired one :).
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What? You need to get one of these little guns. When you do, make sure that you test fire it thoroughly before you start adding plumbing fixtures and other assorted hardware to the barrel; you might be pleasantly surprised by how well it shoots. Yes, yes, I'm talking about the newer gen guns, with the tapered section just forward of the gasblock...thought I'd mention that before a hater starts howling again...:)

Just a quick suggestion: if you need or want to mod the gun to improve accuracy, I have had excellent success with the Limbsaver rubber-donut accurizer thingie on my Mini Target. You can get these things cheap, under $20, and when you slide it onto the barrel it allows for "tuning" similar to the factory barrel tuner on the Target model, but without all that extra weight. Well worth a try.
 
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