Ruger Mini 30 opinions...accuracy, trigger etc.

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Northman999

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Fellows,

I've been finding myself looking more and more at the Ruger Mini 30 lately, but I've had a mini-14 (ranch rifle, stainless) and was totally pissed to find it was the most innacurate rifle I'd ever owned, and had the worst trigger I'd ever encountered on any firearm. I've already got an SKS, and I do love it, but I want to get my wife shooting, and she complains that everything I own is "too heavy".

So, for people who have owned or shot them. What is the Mini 30 like in terms of accuracy, reliability and trigger? Is it just a Mini 14 in a different caliber, or might it actually be good for something?
 
mini 30

I have owned the mini 14 and they are very inaccurate because of the lighter grain bullet and the short barrel and rifling.

However, since I have bought (sold the mini 14) my first mini 30, I have found this to be highly accurate. Consistent gong shots at the 200 and 300 yard range.

I even placed clays at the 200 and can hit those quite well.

I do use a pistol grip synthetic stock though. Since then I have bought two more of these and sold my SKS's .
 
I've never owned a Mini-14, but I do have a stainless Mini-30, and I concur with newbie - after all the things I'd read about how bad the accuracy with a Mini is - I was very pleasantly surprised the first time I took it out to the range. It still isn't what you'd think of as bench rest competition material (1.5 to 2MOA), but for a woods-range deer hunting/backwoods can plinking/gong-ringing/incredibly fun little gun, it's darn hard to beat, if you ask me.

The trigger (on mine anyway), is "acceptable", but not "incredible".

Reliability - I put the Wolff hammer spring in mine to stop the occasional fail-to-fire's I was getting with the cheap mil-surp stuff ($9 for the spring from Brownells). Since then, it has been 100% reliable with everything I've fed it - CZ mil-surp, Wolf 154 grain, and a variety of loads (some pretty hot, some not) featuring WC-735 powder from Hig's and various bullets ranging from the 110 grain Frontier CMJ's to 150 grain Hornady .312's -- zero failures or issues of any kind.

It's annoying too, because I took this gun on a trade for one I was trying to sell to raise money, and the plan was to sell this one, as it was/is (in theory) worth more than the one I trade for it... well, now that I've got it and shot it, I'm having a real hard time convincing myself to part with it!!!
 
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agree

I agree with brotherjack. I was too pleasantly surprised, so much so that I bought two more and intend to keep them.

The mini 30 is hard to find as well, and if you do find one that is for sale get it before they disappear.

I dont believe Ruger makes these anymore.
 
newbie said:
I agree with brotherjack. I was too pleasantly surprised, so much so that I bought two more and intend to keep them.

The mini 30 is hard to find as well, and if you do find one that is for sale get it before they disappear.

I don't believe Ruger makes these anymore.
Click to expand...

Ruger still makes the Mini-30 and probably always will. It's not going anywhere.
 
Just out of curiosity, as you can buy a stainless model, are you still into all the issues with shooting milsurp ammo? Thats about the only issue putting me off at the moment.
 
Camj said:
Just out of curiosity, as you can buy a stainless model, are you still into all the issues with shooting milsurp ammo? Thats about the only issue putting me off at the moment.
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What "issues" are there, other than the need to clean the gun when you get home from the range (as opposed to never/rarely cleaning)? I give mine a normal cleaning after a day at the range shooting the cheap CZ mil-surp, and have never had any problem with it at all. I have never tried not cleaning it, so I don't know if I'd run into problems or not.

Since the issue is corrosion - I would expect that the stainless gun would be a lot less sensitive to it, but certainly not immune.
 
Thnaks brother Jack: I think thats the question I was curious about. If stainless is less senistive then IF you could not clean right away for what ever reson it is less of an issue than non stainless. There are times after being at the range that the firearm goes into the safe until the next day.
 
Personally, I wouldn't stress much if it was just till the next day, but I would not wait two or three days. When I was researching this topic, I ran across a couple of stories of guys with stainless mini-30's that had been left un-cleaned for unknown but long-ish periods of time after corrosive ammo and found the actions had locked up (though at least one of them was able to get the gun back in working order with liberal application of solvent, lube, and a rubber mallet on the charging handle).
 
My understanding is that only some of the early series mini-30's ever had a .308 bore. Newer ones are supposed to be .310 or so. I shoot .312 150 grain Horandy's in my handloads, to no ill effect (actually the most accurate load I have for mine).

I wouldn't worry about it.
 
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