Ruger Mini 14

The scope should be fine,,, It's the mount you need to worry about...

I had a "B=Square" side mount on mine and had to re-tighten it a lot as it would vibrate loose every once in a while...
 
i just installed one my mini-30. Fits great and feels great too. I haven't sighted it in yet. I think you'd be happy.Theses are the factory rings.

mini-30.jpg
 
I know where your heading Dave. I have a few Mini 14's and they are great guns that will shoot with a comparable AR with just a few simple mods.
 
Quote:
It's the mount you need to worry about...



OldTurtle
The Ranch Rifle has dovetails in the receiver that fit Ruger rings. It works a lot better than those side mount setups.
 
I hunt with the ranch rifle and have a bushnell dusck till dawn scope on it if u use the ruger mounts u will never have a promblem. the promble i have is finding a round to shoot the same. at 100 yards its good in a 9 inch cricle.
 
Anyone that owns a mini 14 needs to log onto perfectunion.com, it is has a mini 14 forum with links to accurizing your gun. My 580 series mini will shoot 3/4", 3 shot groups all day with handloads and all I've done is add a muzzlebrake/flash hider, bedded the receiver and forearm and got a trigger job. The older minis have too skinny a barrel and there are a few companies that make barrel stiffeners for under a $100 that will shrink your groups in half. From there you can do the same things I've done to shrink your groups even more. A new AR carbine in todays market costs about $1200. A new mini with 2 factory 20 round mags will run you $700. A trigger job and bedding will add about $120 through great western gunsmithing. For under $850 you'll have a accurate durable gun that should last forever.
 
Quote:
at 100 yards its good in a 9 inch cricle.




That's probably about average for a standard out-of-box Mini. You can do a lot to try and improve that, and most of it you can do yourself, if you're so inclined.
A lot of people are not so inclined.
If you pay someone else to improve it, you end up with a rifle that won't outshoot an AR and costs as much, plus you can't swap uppers and shoot a different caliber.
But, if you prefer a Mini to an AR, for whatever reason, and don't mind the work to make a shooter out of it, they ain't half bad.
Lots of shots are within 50 yards, and the Mini will do just fine at that. It's just not going to win many range matches.
If you're dead set on making your Mini into a shooter without spending a fortune, this is the guy to know.

Great West Gunsmithing

He's in Salem, Oregon.
 
People (especially the black rifle snobs) are quick to dismiss the mini-14 as less than adequate. I would have to take exception. I've owned several mini's, and yes, a few of them left alot to be desired. I've also had some good shooters. I had a ranch rifle that wouldn't shoot well at all. $230 at the gunsmith had a match grade barrel on it and then it shot well under 1/2". The one I have now only has a Hogue stock on it, and it will put as many rounds of any kind of ammunition as you want to shoot into a baseball sized group at 100 yards. I've had a couple others that shot similarly. Thats dam sure "minute of coyote" or "minute of bad guy" accuracy. The whole point is that it will do it without malfunction with any ammunition that you can stuff in the magazine. Anybody that says their AR will do that is a liar of the worst order. I have 3 AR's now- 2 Rock rivers and a home built, and have owned a few others over the years. Yes, they are all more accurate...with their favorite loads. Problem is the RRA's don't like to digest much besides factory new commerical rounds. Even my reloads with commercial brass and a small base die have trouble feeding. My home built AR with the chrome lined GI barrel isn't quite as picky, but still will jam at inopportune times. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate ARs, I'm just not as in love with them as alot of people. They are fun to play with. The neatest thing about the AR's is that they are like a small block chevy-anything you can imagine you can get for them.

If it ever comes time to getrid of a bunch of guns and just keep a few, you can be I'll be hanging on to my mini and selling the AR's to the "cool guys"

Sorry for the rant, but it just ticks me off when folks that probably have never had a particular rifle start running them down.
 
By the way, the new 580 series minis with the thicker barrel have all been shooting under 3" at 100 yards out of the box from the reports I'm getting. That's as good as a guy can ask for a out of the box autoloader. That's about as good as 2 of my AR's have shot.
 
Birdbow ... I'm uncertain by what is meant by the ("580" series minis)? Are you referring to their mini 14 target rifles? In fact they just recently added two more new ones to the line up.

Please explain, I am certainly interested in the minis but am gun shy because of the .44 ruger auto I had some years ago shot all over the place.
 
I just bought one of these in November the 580 is the first three numbers of the serial no. When they came out with these Ruger addressed the gas block problem. Now the newest version made within the last year have a new heavier barrel and they added a taper coming out of the gas block for more barrel stability. Go to the website mentioned above and just look around you will learn every thing you could possibly want to know about them. I bought mine at Bass Pro Shops it was 699.00 I applied for their credit card and got an additional 10% off. Total investment so far with bushnell Sportsman 4-12x40 and extra 20rd mag 900.00 with tax and fees. By the way after breaking it in, the best group using winchester white box 45gr jhp was 2.5" moa shooting off a duffle bag from 100 long strides from target. I also tried federal Lake city ammo fmj boat tails 55gr, remington umc 55gr and ultramax fmj 55gr. In the future I'm going to try other rounds in the 45gr load. All of this is staight out of the box with no modifications.
 
Last edited:
Quote:
Sorry for the rant, but it just ticks me off when folks that probably have never had a particular rifle start running them down.



I wasn't really running them down. I have 2 of them that I bought new. They're reliable, and the accuracy is acceptable for self-defense, but they're not accurate enough to use for predator or varmint hunting.
Here's one, just in case you have any doubts:

016.jpg


The other one is a blued 184 series I've owned since 1985. It's shot many, many 5 inch groups since then. Never a single malfunction.

Or maybe you weren't talking to me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

I don't have a heavy barrel Mini, I'm sure that would improve the accuracy. That and a sub-8 lb. gritty trigger. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Quote:
Harris makes an adapter to install the Bipods.



Yes, it's a Harris bi-pod adapter. It uses the factory sling swivel to "clamp" and a setscrew to tension it. It works very well and you can remove/install it quick. You can remove the action with it on, no problem.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top