Ruger mini 30

two-dogs

two-dogs

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I've had a hankering for one for quite some time now and it has come to a head, as to buy one or forget it! I have a new model mini 14 and rarely use it. Do you have a mini 30 and what do you use it for and how do you like it? How is the accuracy? What ammo do you use? Are there better ones to buy or best to stay away from like the mini 14? Thanks for any advise that you can post.
 
I have the Ruger Mini 30 582 series of carbines in stainless/synthetic. It is a pretty decent rifle for the money. I like it a lot as it is cheap to shoot and light to carry. I use it for gopher exploding and it is a really fun gun. The only issue you may find with these carbines is that they may not always ignite milsurp ammo reliably. Mine would have about 2/3 FTF in a 5 rd mag. Not Cool! I ended up having to increase the hammer spring strength and it now fires all milsurp (i shoot non-corrosive Norinco and Dominion - CANADAMMO stuff) very reliably (<1 in a 100 FTF) These are fun guns but don't expect boltgun accuracy. They are plenty good to hit gophers out to 100 yards but after that it becomes a bit of a crap shoot. I have hit gophers at 200 yards with my Ruger but I would definitely be lying if I said that it was by skill and not luck. The rifle may shoot better if I was reloading and using a high quality hunting bullet but why would I want to do that if I am just blasting a little rodent? If you are big game hunting this would do the trick with a good hunting bullet out to 200 yards. After that I would definitely step up in caliber. All in all I would say that if you have an itch for a Mini 30 - you won't be disappointed if you get one. If you are searching for "ultimate accuracy" save yer pennies and buy a boltgun for half the price.
 
A cheaper fix is to just add washers to the hammer spring guide rod and increase the amount of compression. It cost me nothing as I had a bunch of washers from a couple of desks I built. Works like a charm.
 
two-dogs said:
I've had a hankering for one for quite some time now and it has come to a head, as to buy one or forget it! I have a new model mini 14 and rarely use it. Do you have a mini 30 and what do you use it for and how do you like it? How is the accuracy? What ammo do you use? Are there better ones to buy or best to stay away from like the mini 14? Thanks for any advise that you can post.
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I had the itch for a couple of fun, centre-fire semi-auto plinkers. I wanted one in both a 20 and 30 caliber so earlier this year I bought a 582 series Mini 14 in wood/blue and a Mini 30 in stainless/synthetic.

I prefer the stainless/wood look so I swapped out the Mini 30 synthetic stock with a used wood stock from an earlier series. The swap is simple, it took 15 minutes. The LOP on the older wood stock was too short for my liking so I added a John Masen recoil pad which made it the perfect length for me. I topped the Mini 30 with a Bushnell Legend HD 1.75-5x32 DOA 200. The scope is really designed for rifled barrel shotguns but I find the scope/gun combination is very effective for the shorter ranges I'm using it (under 200 yds). It is sighted 2" high at 100 yds.

Thus far I've fired several hundred rounds at paper etc. using non-corrosive Federal AE 123g FMJ and Barnaul (copper and lacquer over steel) 123g FMJ. I've had no FTF or FTE. It is a fun gun to shoot. It is very nimble, easy to control and has little felt recoil. Accuracy does not compare to a good bolt action hunting rifle but it is accurate enough for my needs of it.

I have been very satisfied with its accuracy and handling characteristics. Ballistically, the 7.62x39 has similar performance to my Marlin 336SS 30-30 and I have decided that I will deer hunt with the Mini 30 this fall. Over the last 2 weeks I've been shooting some soft points. I've tried PPU (PRVI Partizan) 123g SPRN, Sellier and Bellot 123g SP, MFS 125g SP and Federal Fusion 123g Spitzer Boat Tail. They all shoot well. I would be confident in any of them in a deer hunting situation out to 150 yards, which is typical range for my property, though I will gather more information on bullet performance before I decide which I will be shooting this fall.

The Mini 14 gets a steady diet of Federal American Eagle 55g FMJ for plinking and I have used a variety of quality hunting ammunition with it for pest/predator/varmint control around the property. It too is fun, nimble, reliable and accurate enough to do everything I have asked of it.

Overall, I'm glad I bought them both.
 
I'm wondering if I should buy a new one, might be better off. A used one could be for sale for reasons other than the seller just got tired of it. What ya think?
 
I wouldn't judge a used one harshly. Ruger builds them well. I am contemplating thinning the herd and selling mine and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Sometimes other things come up (I am looking for some very specific hunting transportation) so people look to free up cash for their latest projects. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used one for the right price. The other aspect is that they are very difficult to find new. I think Prophet River has them and is looking for over 1200+taxes new.
 
Why a Mini30 over an SKS? You could buy 6 SKS for the price of one 30.

Really, the only thing a Mini30 has over and SKS is that they are easier to scope.
 
Glock4ever said:
I wouldn't judge a used one harshly. Ruger builds them well. I am contemplating thinning the herd and selling mine and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Sometimes other things come up (I am looking for some very specific hunting transportation) so people look to free up cash for their latest projects. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used one for the right price. The other aspect is that they are very difficult to find new. I think Prophet River has them and is looking for over 1200+taxes new.
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cool, good advise! Please do PM me if you decide to sell.
 
They are also much lighter and come in stainless steel. The sks is a good carbine but it isn't really a comparison between the two. It is like saying you shouldnt get an XCR M because you can get 10 SVTs
 
Let's see:

1.) SKS built over 50 years ago with no warranty! My Mini 30 was built last year and I can call Ruger if I have a problem. Whom does one call if their SKS craps out? How much value do you place on warranty. If you say nothing than I think you are being unreasonable.

2.) SKS weighs 8.5 lbs the Mini 30 weighs 6.5lbs. People pay big bucks to flute barrels to save less than a quarter of that weight difference. Is that not worth anything?

3.) SKS is built with blued steel. Typically you pay more for stainless - at least the stores I frequent do...

4.) Scoping you mentioned but what value does that have? Trying to use a crappy dust cover mount, rear scout mount or drilling and tapping the receiver doesn't seem like a great option to me. Rugers come with a pictanny base or you can use the single piece rings. The SKS doesn't come with anything. How much do you have to add to put on scope?

5.) Detachable Magazine System - A lot of folks are paying big money to install these on their bolt rifles let alone a semiautomatic. I have seen guys drop over $3-400 to add this feature to a bolt gun from a hinged floorplate.

6.) Better iron sights - the Mini 30 has an adjustable for both elevation and windage rear peep which a hell of a lot better than the v-notch sights on the SKS which are way more difficult to adjust. I have seen guys pay $200 for better iron sights from the Norinco M14 to the M1A style sights...

So you tell me what value you place just on the six points I made? I think it would be unreasonable to say nothing but maybe you don't place as much value as I do on those options but I think there is definitely value there. I don't hate the SKS (I think they are a great intro gun to the sport) but a lot of folks will state that a Mini 30 is over priced compared to an SKS but I know a few guys that have taken a $220 SKS and added just some of the options (new stock, detachable mag, scope base, etc) and pumped up their SKS to well over $600-700 and it still isn't as a good as a ruger straight out of the box. Your thoughts?
 
I use my 30 for deer hunting and it's lighter and handles quite better than any SKS. It's scoped at1.5x5 . If I was to use it on the range only I might consider an SKS but the 30 beats it hands down if you want to hunt.
 
Glock4ever said:
So you tell me what value you place just on the six points I made? I think it would be unreasonable to say nothing but maybe you don't place as much value as I do on those options but I think there is definitely value there. I don't hate the SKS (I think they are a great intro gun to the sport) but a lot of folks will state that a Mini 30 is over priced compared to an SKS but I know a few guys that have taken a $220 SKS and added just some of the options (new stock, detachable mag, scope base, etc) and pumped up their SKS to well over $600-700 and it still isn't as a good as a ruger straight out of the box. Your thoughts?
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You make all valid points that I would not argue. My personal experience with the 30 is nil and the SKS small thus the question.

I thought I wanted a Mini30 or SKS a few years ago but corrosive ammo wasn't for me. I wasn't going to spend time cleaning so neither were purchased. Now that there is plenty of non-corrosive around, I did buy three $147 SKS on Boxing Day at the local Gun Dealer. For me, a 7.62x39 was to be a range blaster for having fun. I tried all three out and sold off a couple keeping the one that seemed to shoot the best. I knew that I could lose weight by removing the bayonet and fix some extra LOP w/o any extra expense. The detach mag means nothing to me, esp as the stripper clip option on the SKS works very well. I never did plan on scoping it, so the sight could easy be improved by adding a Tech-Sight http://www.tech-sights.com/sks.htm and still keep overall cost very low overall. I feel that because I am probably not going to hunt or scope my SKS, that I am better served with it over the 30.

I guess it really just boils down to how you plan on using your rifle and how much you want to spend. :)
 
Fair enough - value is in the eye of the beholder. I find that folks will unfairly compare and dismiss the Ruger Mini family. The Mini 14 inevitably gets compared unfavourably against the AR15 and the Mini 30 against the SKS. The fact is that there is very limited options for a North American made, non-restricted semi under the 1k point (at least prior to the price jumps this year). Ruger did shoot themselves in the foot by having poor QC in late 80s early 90s (their barrels were outsourced and while some of their rifles shot well there were a lot that shot like total poo) and their support for low capacity mags which really peed off many shooters so they still have a bit of an uphill climb winning the older shooter crowd back, who still remember their POS rifles - I was burned by Ruger twice and I was very hesitant to buy a Ruger for over 10 years (my first 22 Hornet and a 270 Win that both looked like a shotgun at 100 yards) when I bought my first Ruger (77/17) since the divorce, I have been hooked.

I think today's 581/582 series Minis and Rugers in general are a really good deal. For the most part, they shoot fairly well and Ruger is one of the most generous companies for out of the box bits (frequently you will get a lock, rings/bases, and little extras - my Mini-30 also came with blue locktite and 2x spare mags instead of just 1x magazine and with scope rings/bases as well as an additional picatinny base). If you took out the extra parts that you would have to buy from the other companies your rifle is even that much more cheaper. Just my 2 cents...
 
The last few posts have been right on! My recent Mini30 with PRV Partizan ammo soft points is shooting just over moa, whereas my SKS is four moa... No comparison, but the SKS is reliable and fun and affordable for young folks...it's just a spray and pray old Soviet battle rifle, and there's no point in pretending it's a viable accurate hunting rifle past 100 yards on deer.
 
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