Curt Barrett
New member
Well, I finally had the time and good weather to test the new mini 14 I got at the beginning of winter. I had bore sighted it and shot the gong in the pasture previously but that's about it. I rung the gong a bit with the iron sights too. It has a "craptacular" Simmons master series scope on it. The fit and finish of this rifle was good. It felt like a handy carbine. Light and pleasant to carry. Trigger broke at 6 lbs and is rough as a cob. A definite handicap.
I bought some 1 inch grid sight-in targets. Today the wind was about as calm as it gets here. An occasional mild breeze but mostly calm to dead calm and about 70 degrees.
I also bought a used Bushmaster 16" M4 looking AR last week. After a good cleaning and replacement of the dead Trijicon front sight, I thought today would be a good day to sight it in too. The trigger on this rifle was heavier than the mini and broke at 7 1/2 lbs. It was surprisingly smooth for an stock AR and actually felt lighter than the mini because of this.
Before I start I want to say I have no ax to grind with the mini -14 or it's fans. I truly wanted this thing to be a shooter and really want to come back with a positive report. I'm not expecting AR-accuracy and would be totally happy with2 1/2" to 3' groups. I have had at least 5 minis in the past. I really like the rifles but the accuracy was never there. I had heard rumors of improvements being made so I thought I'd try another.
After cleaning the mini I took it and the AR to my "shooting range" in the sheep pasture. This high tech shooting range consists of dump truck load of gravel dumped a little over 100 yards from the feedlot gate. lol! I took a couple shots at the gong first to clear out any remaining cleaning fluid. Both hit the gong. Hopes were high.


Then I started shooting at the paper. I was using some surplus 55 gr FMJ to start. I sighted in on the lower right target and shot five times. I couldn't see the hits while shooting and I just shot all 5 and walked down to look. The results were rather disappointing to say the least. They strung across the target to the upper right corner making a 7" group. I made a circle with the pen to indicate where I was aiming. I hoped the the poor trigger and low quality ammo were the cause of this less than stellar performance. Here is a pic of the first group.

Next I tried some Black Hills 52 gr match HPs. All my .223s like this stuff. This time I made an effort to sight it in a bit. First shot was high but centered. Second shot was about right for elevation but a couple inches right. I made an X across these two shots. I adjusted the scope and shot 6 shots for group. Disregard what the target says for a measurement. After looking at it again I see it was 6 1/2" not 7 1/2". Good news is, that still makes this the least accurate mini I've owned....and that is saying something. LOL! Here is a pic of the second group. I was aiming at the very center of the target. Two of the lowest right shots drifted into the first group. Sorry for the sloppy graphics.

Here is a pic with everything outlined with a black marker. Dotted line indicates the first group. Two of the three lowest shots are part of the second group though. The shots with a 1 and 2 next to them with an X are sighting shots. Hope it's not too confusing.

Next I tried the AR. I don't know the history of this gun. Saw an ad in the classifieds and bought it. It was very dirty. Had to scrape quite a bit of carbon off the bolt and carrier. I doubt the bolt had ever been stripped. Gas ring slots were all lined up. Looked good once it was cleaned up.


The iron sights were laser bore sighted in the living room. I used the surplus 55 gr FMJ again. Norinco I believe. For a target I used plain white butcher paper with an oversized orange targ-dot in the middle. Again, no optics on this rifle. I don't wear glasses but would probably benefit from a pair. Things were a bit fuzzy looking through that peep sight with these old eyes. I slightly raised and lowered the muzzle so I could see the orange dot appear and disappear to better see where it was.
First shot was high. Adjusted a bit and the second shot was still a little high. Adjusted again a little too much and was a little low. Adjusted up a little and just shot for group. I shot 5 shots. Group measured 3". Here is a pic.

Anyway, not sure what to think of the mini. I guess I try a different scope to rule out that. If that isn't the problem I think I'll send it to Ruger first. I really don't see how they can hold their head up selling a product like that. I hope it is the scope. Much easier to deal with.
Good hunting, Curt