[RJF22553]

Well, it looks like we're back to a Mini-vs-AR thread...

Too bad, and we've drifted off the original post.

Accustrut, trigger job, buffers and bushings will do the job. For newer Minis, you don't need the Accustrut. 2 MOA should be standard. If you need 1 MOA, get a good AR, a bolt gun, or invest (minimally) in some adds to the Mini.

The OP asked for options to accurrize the Mini. Let's stick to the topic and not go down this grotesque "Mini-vs-AR" meme.

Accustrut, trigger job, gas bushing adjustment, and buffers. Let's get back on topic!

 

[CouveShooter]

in no way am i saying the AR platform can't be accurate, or even made more accurate. there are some AR's that have accuracy potential very, very close to those of some very accurate bolt action rifles. but it's about picking the right parts, careful assembly, and usually spending more money on match grade ammo, or handloading to achieve that level of accuracy. the same can be done with the Mini 14 if a person is willing to spend the time and money doing it.

my AR's achieve the level of accuracy i'm happy with right out of the box stock, and unmodified, using regular factory ammo. i don't require any more than that from them. they are for informal fun target shooting, plinking for fun, and coyote riddance.

again, it's what a person is willing to spend in regards to money and time. for myself, spending more time and money on mine would be wasted. that is simply a personal perspective regarding my AR's.

I hear ya Dallas, found my 24” upper at the gun show, all in with Bolt for $400, Scope was $300, and it shares time on my CQB Lower so... for the price of a Mini, I’ve got an AR that’ll shoot 1 raged hole at 100 and tip a quarter at 300.

 

[Danoobie]

RJF is absolutely correct, because there is NO COMPARISON in accuracy
between a Mini and an AR. Let's just stick to the topic of attempting to
salvage what accuracy we can endeavor to wring from our Minis.

 

[hawkguy]

RJF is absolutely correct, because there is NO COMPARISON in accuracy
between a Mini and an AR. Let's just stick to the topic of attempting to
salvage what accuracy we can endeavor to wring from our Minis.

I have a problem with that statement, because I actually have both platforms and I DID compare their accuracy. although, at the time...I had no scope for my AR. I tested both @ 50 yards with irons and the 5 shot groupings were virtually a wash, with my AR being ever so slightly tighter. the accuracy was relatively close on every group, never any more 1/2 inch apart (unless I pulled a shot). and I have shot 5 shot MOA groups with my mini, but it is not the norm, so I can't claim it...i can average around 1.5-2" if I am on my game. sorry, but I'll take my personal experience actually shooting....over your claims.

sorry your mini sucks. I would be on the phone tearing up ruger's arse if they sold me a rifle like that. this approach might be more worthwhile and effective than coming to the mini forum to bash your mini lemon and promote the virtues of another rifle. no offense intended, just free advice.

thanks for the enlightenment. good luck with your mini shotgun.

 

[hawkguy]

Well, it looks like we're back to a Mini-vs-AR thread...
Let's get back on topic!

my apologies if I furthered drift. but go back to post #46 RJF. inflammatory, condescending, snide...shall I go on? i could be wrong, but everything about danoobie's manners indicate he is here to troll...not ask help.

and couveshooter has only made 2 posts that can be summed up "buy an AR." I already have one....so feel free to return to the correct forum to discuss the AR.

if i'm wrong, i'm wrong. either way, I'll bow out. I don't feed trolls. and this smells trollish.

 

[CouveShooter]

Sorry guys, my experience with the Mini has been that a fella could sooner reverse the course of the sun, than wring consistent accuracy out of this rifle... good luck to those hell bent on trying, and my apologies for tryin to inject a bit of humor.

 

[harkersislandnc]

A decent AR flat-top with a bull barrel is a .5 MOA rifle any day of the week,
with a respectable optic.The 100 yard range can be a lot of fun, when your
goals change from a 5-shot group in a quarter, then a nickel, then a dime.

I hate to say it but a half MOA rifle is a bit rarer than you make it out to be. I know this from building them and having several very accurate rifles. 1 MOA is easy then it gets tough.

 

[Dallas53]

i for one ain't going to say one is better or worse than the other! i currently own two AR's, in 223, and i would like to own a Mini, just not in 223. just a personal preference since i already own two rifle in 223! i would like to have the Mini 30 in 7.62x39 or 6.8 SPC, but it was dropped not long after they offered it, so, i suspect they are few and far between.

personally, i have more time and personal experience with the AR platform. just how things worked out i guess. but i do like the Mini platform as well, what little experience i have with them over the years.

i am also one of those people that believes any firearm can be more accurate than it is in it's original state, or out of the box, if a person is willing to spend the time and money on it. and i would never begrudge anyone taking on such a project, regardless of whether it's Mini, or an AR.

my best option for the Mini i would want is, a Mini 30 in 7.62x39, in the wood stock, (i hate the looks of the Mini in synthetic stock!) with a straight 4X scope. it's main usage would be fun plinking, and possible use at getting rid of coyotes and hogs. for myself, if that rifle can deliver accuracy to hit an 8" target at 100 yards, it would meet my goals of being accurate enough for me.

 

[Danoobie]

Well, I don't care how you cut it, or what you call it, Minis are not even in the same
ballpark as ARs, IME. I took an AR, on the first attempt, and built a rifle that takes
animals at 300 yards, all day long. Whereas, in the same time-frame as I have been
productively hunting, at ranges pretty much unheard of, for a Mini, I have been
struggling, vainly, to turn the 14 into an acceptable 50 yard shooter. As far as
I am concerned, there is simply no parity whatsoever in the two platforms.
Understand, I'm not trying to COMPARE them, I'm simply stating they are in
two totally separate, and not comparable, classes.
The simple reason being, that even after the accuracy problems are corrected,
the Mini's role will be for use as a 100 yard rifle.

So, with that in mind, let us DO get back to the topic of accurizing a Mini-14.
Has anyone had any luck with reduced diameter gas block bushings?

 

[Dallas53]

Well, I don't care how you cut it, or what you call it, Minis are not even in the same
ballpark as ARs, IME. I took an AR, on the first attempt, and built a rifle that takes
animals at 300 yards, all day long. Whereas, in the same time-frame as I have been
productively hunting, at ranges pretty much unheard of, for a Mini, I have been
struggling, vainly, to turn the 14 into an acceptable 50 yard shooter. As far as
I am concerned, there is simply no parity whatsoever in the two platforms.
The simple reason being, that even after the accuracy problems are corrected,
the Mini's role will be for use as a 100 yard gun.

ya know, this is one case that just begs for the question, if you are so unsatisfied with the Mini, why did you buy it in the first place? why still have it? why not just get rid of it and move on to something else then?

i'm sorry, but your posts on this thread come off more as bashing and complaining, rather than offering any constructive input.

hey, i get it though. it came out pretty loud and clear in your first post on the subject. you think the Mini is inaccurate, and the AR is better. okay, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it, but now it's pretty much like you're beating a dead horse. i think most who have replied here know your feelings by now. time to move on to something else instead.

i also think if a Mini owner wants to spend their money on seeking to make it more accurate, that is their personal decision. maybe going to the AR section of the forum and explaining how you made your AR more accurate would be better use of your time and energy.

 

[Danoobie]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, have YOU tried reduced gas block bushings? Because you seem awfully critical
of my posts, with no constructive suggestions on the Mini platform. You
WANT to discuss the Mini platform, fine. I did say "Let's DO get back to the topic."

HAVE you used reduced gas bushings, recoil buffers, new front sights, etc? Because while I didn't do ANYTHING to "make my AR more accurate" than
retrofit the platform for a scope, the oft claimed accuracy of a Mini has been evading me, for years. So, sorry to have offended you, by bringing up the
contrast, in order to attempt to illustrate a point. But, let's ignore ARs, and get back to the problem at hand.

 

[harkersislandnc]

The newer Mini-14s are quite a bit more accurate than the older ones. I currently don't have one but have never seen one that shot 5-6" groups. The ones I have owned/shot are comparable to most M4gry rifles I have seen. They were not desgined to be a match rifle. I like the Mini-14 but the biggest downside to them IMHO is a lack of reliable after market magizines. I hate having to pay what Ruger asks for mags.

 

[Navigator]

Well you guys just got me interested in shooting my Mini-14 and AR again. I just paid my annual dues and am back on the forum.

I don't even know what generation Mini that I have. It is SS and one I bought it from an old Navy friend back in the mid-90s while were were stationed in Virginia. I took it out to a friend's farm and noticed two things, it was extremely loud and not very accurate. I installed SS "flash-hider" and it seemed to tone down the extremely sharp "crack" a bit. A couple of years ago I installed a rail for a scope and put it back in my safe. I will be taking it to my gun club to put a few rounds down range and get used to it again as soon as we get a break from this incessant rain. I don't know what it is about this firearm but I sure like it.

And I agree with Danoobie about the Mini and the AR being in a different class. I've put thousands of rounds through my military M-16, back in the day, and the Mini is no where close to it. I still like my Mini and when I bought it, was told it was a 50-100 yard shooter.

 

[RJF22553]

Here we go again: AR versus Mini...

Let's get beyond this tripe and get back to the OP: accurizing the Mini...

 

[Dallas53]

Here we go again: AR versus Mini...

Let's get beyond this tripe and get back to the OP: accurizing the Mini...

thank you for that. exactly RJF.

now i don't currently own a Mini, but if i ran across one of the Mini 30's in 7.62x39 at a really decent price, it's quite possible it would make it home with me!

and, i might think about making it little more accurate. and from the best of my understanding, many of the mods and tricks that apply to the Mini 14, also would work on the Mini 30 as well. so this thread is of interest to me for future application of it's information provided.

 

[Navigator]

Here we go again: AR versus Mini...

Let's get beyond this tripe and get back to the OP: accurizing the Mini...

Not tripe my friend but rather just comparison being that they are both semi-auto that use the same round, barrel length etc. For me I've always wondered why the Mini and the M-16/AR-15 variants had such significantly different accuracy. Some of the posts on this thread have explained it.

One of things I've wondered is why no one has come up with a heavy barrel for the Mini-14. Not being as technically conversant as most on the forum I suppose the answer is obvious to most.

 

[primer1]

Not tripe my friend but rather just comparison being that they are both semi-auto that use the same round, barrel length etc. For me I've always wondered why the Mini and the M-16/AR-15 variants had such significantly different accuracy. Some of the posts on this thread have explained it.

One of things I've wondered is why no one has come up with a heavy barrel for the Mini-14. Not being as technically conversant as most on the forum I suppose the answer is obvious to most.

Accuracy systems offers accurizing of the mini platform with a nice thick barrel.

 

[Danoobie]

Accuracy Systems offers an accuracy guarantee, too. Only drawback is, it doubles the cost
of your rifle.

 

[RJF22553]

Navigator, plenty of relatively low-cost option to accurrize your Mini to make it a 2 MOA shooter: good for BG impact at 200-300 yards. Another member of this forum routinely shoots (and hits) bowling pins at 200 yards with iron sights. The Mini is highly underrated. My old pencil-barreled 181GB - unmodified - could reliably knock down pop-up silhouettes at an Army range at 300 yards with irons. It isn't a sniper rifle and I never got it for that, but for combat accuracy, it is fine. If it isn't, it can be made so for little coin.

Ruger came out with the equivalent of a "heavy barrel" when they were in the 580-series production (a "tapered" barrel). 2 MOA out of the box. Comparing earlier minis is like comparing Windows 3.8 with XP...

 

[Danoobie]

Everybody keeps repeating "combat accuracy" and "minute of man", like they have
some relevancy in the average practical shooter's world. Anybody going to be taking
their Mini-14 into battle, any time soon? I know I don't go down to the range, with
the goal of making my rifles accurate enough, should I ever need them, for HD.

The point of attempting to accurize a Mini is for varmint hunting. You need a rifle which
has little POI deflection from POA, in the 25 to 100 yard range, in which you are going to be seeing animals pop up.