Originally Posted By: mpmaxIf you just use a recoil buffer and address barrel harmonics with a strut or rubber recoil dampener you can tune a thin barreled mini 14.
I wouldn't buy a car if I knew it needed a new engine from day one.
Originally Posted By: junglekatThey say the new ones by ruger shoot great.
I hear this a lot, have yet to see it in practice. I'd be very interested 1) to hear what has changed in recent years that improved the accuracy of the Mini, and 2) I'd love to see a new Mini in action that proved the changes worked.
I bought have ran 3 new Mini's in the last 3yrs, a Target for my wife, which not surprisingly shoots very well, a Mini stainless for myself as a tinker toy, and a Mini-30 that my brother in law picked up this summer. The Target was a 1.2-1.5MOA rifle. The wife kept it for about 8mos and got sick of not being able to stack shots, so she sold it. My stainless Mini I like, but I had low expectations for this rifle. Will it kill a coyote at 200yrds? Yup. Would I take a shot at 300yrds? Nope. It's a solid 2.5MOA rifle.
My brother in law's mini-30 actually does very well. 1.5MOA all day long with Core-lokts (best ammo that he's willing to feed it). He was frustrated with it at first because he shoots about 4MOA with it, thought he had made the classic "mini mistake", until I laid down with the rifle and put up four 5 shot groups under 2" (20rnd mag). Frankly, he's a 3-5MOA shooter, regardless of what rifle he is holding.