Is a Ruger Mini-14 a good rifle?

Ya heard wrong, them plastic AR's are floaters ( /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif ) they keep bubblin' back up to the surface. Ya havta put them lead weights in the hand guards, THEN they make GREAT anchors.

Jake
 
Ok, I'll bite...

First, Skunkhunter, if you want a Real praire dog killer buy a Remington varmint rifle(hvy barrel) in some flavor such as the VLS in 223 caliber. It will last you a life time and will love it more than most anything else on this planet.

Mini 14's? Well, it's good to hear that some have had such great results with it. However, I personally have not done that well and doubt if most others have either.

My "CUSTOM" mini with approx $1,300 into it, with 20" german made heavy bull barrel, custom trigger, bedding & scope etc will only "AVERAGE" Approx 1 5/8"-1 3/4", "5" shot groups at 100 yards with factory ammo.

Some groups ran smaller, some were larger, and I have not witness anyone do any better with theirs so far...Most were worse, Many Much worse!

That 223 I described above will shoot groups less than half that size or smaller with factory ammo and from 1/4" to 1/2" groups with handloads all day long. For me the ONLY rifle, is a gilt edge accurate rifle.

Pls don't misunderstand me, I really like my mini as they are "fun" guns. They will work well on coyotes at closer range, say 150 yards and under.

So just depends what you really want from your rifle. Be honest with yourself and you will make the right choice.

Happy Hunting
 
YoteAssassin, I want to thank you for your honesty. I would have to witness these 1/2 MOA claims to believe it myself.

Willy, I was just yanking your chain which is obviously easy to do. Your overconfidence is amusing. Getting in a pissing match over who takes the most coyotes would be pointless. I get my share. You might be the greatest coyote hunter as well as owner of the worlds most accurate mini for all I know. Frankly I could care less. Your wild claims about mini accuracy does not give me much faith in your veracity anyway. Why would I believe anything you said about numbers of coyotes taken? I certainly wouldn't want to subject myself to rambling, BS filled e-mails by giving you my e-mail address. I know the truth about the subject at hand so don't need to waste any time pursuing the matter. You can't change history brother. I've yet to see a horse beat so dead. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Good hunting.
 
You wanted to bet not me,you dont yank my chain and both my minis shoot under MOA I killed over 140 coyotes this winter 39 in feb they all went to Weibke fur in Itzen Mn. to a contest they had going,No i didnt win,no Im not the greatest coyote hunter that ever lived ,there was two guys that entered more than me in both contests. Dont make bets you cant back and never show all your cards at the same time.I know there are guys that take way more fur than me but this is what I do every day all winter so its not that good.But its what I live for now if it comes down to shootin I got the guns here(Minis)you dont believe it you drive here and you can see them work first hand.Other wise I guess you and your AR buddies should back off. I dont think Im being unreasonable here, Just sick of the guys that Know everything.Also you dont see me slammin ARs on AR posts because they dont interest me! Catch my drift.
 
Maybe all these people who hate the mini 14 should specify that stock ones are junk. Deal? I have seen stock ones shoot and they are terrible. After changing barrels, stocks, and the like to the point where only the actions (very nice and reliable by the way)are as they were from the factory, can you really still call it a mini 14? By then it's a custom/modified gun and should by all means turn in good accuracy. With an AR, you have several different options to choose from to optimize your accuracy, but they will cost you more than a stock mini 14.

I personally opted for the AR and love it. If I wanted to plug money into a mini, I would do it and probably for the same price get a decent shooter, but my AR does it when I simply feed it the ammo she likes. I guess it's apples and oranges. I'm just rambling I guess, but my point is that from what I've seen (firsthand) and read, if you plan on going to the store, buying a mini off the shelf and shooting sub MOA groups, you are sadly mistaken. I think this is why people are so against them. However, you can't blame the guns for not doing something they were never intended to do in the first place. It is reliable, and that's where it stops for a stock mini.

Dead horse here fellas. :rolleyes:
 
NEEIIIGHHHHH, NEEEEEIIIIGHH.......BAMMM!!!....thump

(Me shootin the dead horse with my mini) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Jake
 
Willy, well I guess I'm glad I didn't bet you because I certainly can't top 140 coyotes. By gosh you make the vaunted "Q" look like a rookie. Trapper/Predator Caller mag is missing out. Could you share some pics with us?

Anyway, the reason AR guys post in mini threads is because most of us had a mini before an AR and experienced the lack of performance that they monotonously deliver. The man who started the thread asked if the mini was worth investing $400+ dollars in as a varmint rifle. Those who said "no" were simply honestly giving their opinion that he should not. The math is pretty simple to me. Unless your "varmint hunting" is restricted to coyote size or larger animals at under 100 yards, the logical answer in my mind is no. I like everything about the mini except it's performance in the accuracy dept. You stated "Wish I could buy some of these poor shootin junk Minis off you disatisfied guys". So are you saying if skunkshooter or myself elect to get a mini and it doesn't perform, you would be willing to take that rifle off our hands? Heck' I'm in if that's the case. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

In contrast, I and most AR owners I know, have stock ARs or ones with not much more than a trigger, that can double as a prairie dog rifle or coyote rifle. My iron sight ARs outshot my scoped minis. I'm not suggesting skunkhunter get an AR over the mini. He made it clear he didn't want to spend that much money. And I can accept that a lot of people don't care for ARs. But I do recommend not getting the stock mini as a coyote rifle or varmint rifle. Chances are he will be disappointed. I'd consider a good bolt rifle instead of risking the frustration that would almost certainly follow the purchase of a "stock" mini. That's just my opinion.

OU812, you make a very good point. Well said. When I speak ill of the mini, I am referring to a stock, off the shelf mini. I've had several and they were all stock except for some non-accuracy related accessories. One of them did actually shoot fairly well. Like the fella earlier in this post, it was the old wood handguard model. I think with some money invested it could fill the role of a close to mid range coyote rifle.

skunkhunter,to answer your question, is the mini "accurate, fast, and worth spending $400+ on?" In my opinion...

accurate - a stock one...NO

fast - depends on what you mean. Handling?...yes. Velocity of the cartridge?...there are faster. Loading the next cartridge?...yes

worth spending $400+ on? - Not in my opinion.

0070.gif


horse.gif
 
I thought I already busted a cap in this poor sufferin animal! WAMMY, just slammed it in the head with a sledge! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Jake
 
Curt Myself I think you got a chip on your shoulder and any body that does well,or should I say better than you and it dosnt sound like that would take much.Your going to slam em .You dont like Minis so slam any body that does.140++ coyotes is not that many,it dosent even average 1 per. day for days spent hunting them I got some pictures not digital so dont know how I can get em on here,But I do know that they would make your AR luvin eyes Bug out.We got a few of your whineypuss 2 coyote a year guys around here that complain year around about guys like me because they cant do it. Thats tuff cause I can and I do and I do a lot of it with a Mini.I just write here to get guys like you tee,d. Someday you might listen to somebody and figure out what your doin wrong But your kind I doubt it! Smoke on that through the Wkend cause I got nothin to prove to guys like you.
 
Thanks no hard feelings ,ButI new youd back off your kind always does.Just remember curt "What I dont know, You dont need to know"
 
Oh we can continue if you would like Willy. I just figured we fouled skunkhunters thread enough. If you would like to continue this over the phone or by e-mail we can certainly do that.
 
Just thought I would chime in here. Had a Mini-14 Ranch rifle (actually a realitives). Like most Mini-14's it wasn't the most accurate but was reliable (I believe they are know to be quite reliable). They sold the gun and I didn't have the funds to buy it at the time. A year later I wanted a semi auto .223 but wasn't for sure what to get. I wanted an AR really bad but didn't didn't think I could afford it. Started looking around the net (wasn't too familiar with AR's) and decided too get a 20" varmit setup AR. Went with a RRA (Rock River Arms) setup built by RBPrecision. Paid $485 for a complete upper and $230 for complete lower with national match 2-stage trigger but no stock or stock parts (buffer and spring). Reason I didn't get them is because I wanted an ACE brand stock instead of the normal A2 stock they would come with. The ACE stock and parts sent me back another $90. All together $805 for what I got (plus $10 for FFL transfer of lower). Could get the same setup minus the fancy ACE stock and the 2-stage trigger which would knock about $135 which would make the gun $670. Still a good amount more than an Mini-14 but a MUCH more accurate (guaranteed 3/4 MOA accuracy with descent ammo but 1/2" 100 yard groups are pretty common with these setups). Another sweet thing about the AR's is being able to swap uppers really easy and quickly. I'm gonna get another 16" M4 style upper soon just as fun gun.
 
Willy Lewison,
My first serious calling rifle was a mini-14. I killed more than my share of coyotes with that little gun and I never even lost ONE coyote that I hit with that bugger. I absolutely loved my mini-14. I had done some trigger work on it myself, and it sported a cheap Bushnell 1.75-5X variable. My big mistake was the day I shot a few groups from the bench, and learned that my sweet little carbine was throwing some pretty wide groups. Didn't take me long to trade that thing in on a new Rem 700 BDL in .22-.250. Sad part of that move was that I started taking longer shots, getting some bad hits and losing a few coyotes as a result. The moral of this story? A mini-14 right off the shelf will kill a lot of coyotes at 100 yards or less. Most of my coyotes are shot at 50 yards or so anyway. Want a long range varmint rifle? Buy a good bolt gun and mount a good scope on it. AR's are good shooters, shucks even I know that. Would I own an AR? Nope. Why not? I just don't like em. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
You guys suck, I started getting pissed off 'cause Willy kept attacking Curt. Yeah, you D*CK Heads pulled one over my eyes. Oh, why did those '76 minis with a wooden handguard shoot so good?
 
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