ruger mini 14-That Bad??

D

deke

New member
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will be in the market for a .223 shortly and have never heard any really good reviews regarding the ruger mini 14 in respect to accuracy, and would like comments regarding quality and durability as well.
I will be using the .223 for target shooting but also a few times a year for coyote and small game.

Just want some views on the mini 14 before I pass it up all together for other options in the caliber.

Thanks

d.
 
I myself would never buy one. I have shot three, and not one of them had very good accuracy. Not really the first one I would choose to hunt with, but hey everyone likes something different

Go with a nice bolt action .223. This would be my choice, then again I allready own two :D
 
I owned one.It was short, light and never failed to FForE and best of all it was minute of milk jug accurate;) If you were looking for a fun gun for the gravel pit and something to pimp later it may be worth a look.

B.A.Barakas
 
Last edited:
I really enjoyed mine...it wasn't a "tack driver", but with the iron sights it would group into about 4" at 100 yards with a full magazine. I have always liked the looks of these rifles, and they are small and handy and usually very reliable. :)

You should be able to find one for between $500 and $600 used, and likely get most of that back if you should decide to sell it. Why not give one a try?

Jeff/1911.
 
I really, really like Ruger guns and have owned many but I have yet to shoot a Mini 14 that could put together a tight group. I like them because they're fun to shoot and I've plugged many a coyote with one but if really tight groups are what you're after then I'd probably look at something else.
 
My mini-14 topped with a 3-9 power scope shoots about 1.5 inch at 100 yards with 55 grain winchester FMJs and it hasnt given me any reliabilitly problems. Its a nice rifle but there are rifles that are more accurate for sure
 
M96 said:
My mini-14 topped with a 3-9 power scope shoots about 1.5 inch at 100 yards with 55 grain winchester FMJs and it hasnt given me any reliabilitly problems. Its a nice rifle but there are rifles that are more accurate for sure
Click to expand...

That's pretty good for a Mini-14! :eek:

Jeff/1911.
 
I like my Mini reliable as all hell -non-restricted , good for banging away and you can shoot coyotes and other small game with them
Are they tack drivers -no- but they're not as bad as people make them out to be
And as someone else said if you don't like it you can sell it for your money back
 
If you want to install a scope, make sure to get a Ranch Rifle version, which is set up to mount a scope properly.
 
There are a lot of guys here who love to bad mouth Mini 14s, and they are admittedly not usually MOA rifles. But they are dead reliable, and I have a couple that shoot under 2 MOA all day long with the original peep sights. That's not bad.
 
I had both 14 and 30 and both were really in-accurate. Even with reloads. They were fun but if you want accuracy you got to put in some serious coin to make it accurate. And then logic takes over, and you ask yourself, "self, is it worth another $400 - $800 to make this $600 rifle more accurate?" and hopefully you'll say no. The $400 - $800 refers to the range of things like new heavy barell to one of those harmonic stabalizers that you have to order up from the states to make your barell stiffer. Good luck with your decision.
 
Last edited:
"...is it worth another $400 - $800 to make this $600 rifle more accurate..." Exactly. And the $600 is for a used one. Accuracy wise, both the Mini-14 and Mini-30 are over priced junk. Ruger sells every one they make so they have no incentive to fix the accuracy. Fun to shoot, but not accurate enough to be worth the money.
 
It's stuff like that which makes me feel okay having an SKS instead. Not as handy, pretty ugly, but it always works and it does shoot 4 moa lol.

A deerfield carbine though...I'd like to hunt with one of those someday.
 
people ##### and coplain about mini's..... I have owned more then a dozen of the 14's and 3 of the 30's.

all have shot 2 MOA or better.... a quality gun that shoots equal to an SKS for accuracy and reliability but is made in america and proportioned to american sized people and ergonomics.

not slacking the SKS, but it is a POS the way it comes from the factory, the dus cover is razor sharp.... the length of pull of pull and quality of the factory stock is the ####s and frankly the trigger pull is way worse then any ruger product with the cavet that at least you can get ruger parts to repair if you try a home trigger job.

for people that want a quality gun, right off the rack that is reliable and will feed and shoot anything and has proper good looking stock and comes with scope rings from the factory the MINI is a fine gun. I want to pick up a pair of them when money allows.

disclaimer, I have owned 3 SKS's, sold two as stock guns and modified the third with a $100 choate stock, new dust cover with scope mount, and had it bedded because the chote stock was so loose... overall I spent $700 on that gun. wish I had bought a mini, even after all that work best I could do was 3" groups.
 
I am planning to buy another too, once I am able...the Ranch rifle model. I had a non-Ranch rifle model before (the one I mentioned above) and the only problem I had with it was that with a scope mounted in it's Leupold custom mount, the brass would sometimes bounce off of the scope and back into the action. The Ranch rifle version should be good in this regard.

By the way, I've seen (and fired) a couple of Mini's with EXCELLENT triggers.

Jeff/1911.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom