BUY THE AK!!! The Ruger is not accurate, cannot be reliably used in a "social" situation without changing mags every 5 rounds, costs about the same, and is nowhere near as reliable as an AK-47. I don't know from where these figures for hundreds of thousands or even millions of rounds of ammo through a barrel come, but that is not accurate. If you don't believe me, call any of the major custom barrel manufacturers in this country and you'll get the real life expectancy of a barrel. Most chrome lined barrels last from 8000-10000 rds, depending on rate of fire, barrel heat, weight of bullet and weight of powder charge. A GOOD stainless barrel will last from 4000-6000 rds. before experiencing serious degradation in accuracy, and a non chrome lined chromoly barrel will last about 20% less than a stainless, given the same conditions. The barrels about which I am speaking come from Lilja, Hart, McGowan, Douglas, Pac-Nor, Kreiger et al, and cost anywhere from $250 to $600, not the $15 piece of junk tacked onto a Ruger. Do yourself a favor and buy the AK. It has a long life chrome lined barrel which is at least as accurate as a Ruger Mini-30, but the chamber is chrome lined as well, which is very important if you're going to use steel cased ammo. Ruger chambers can be battered out of spec by steel cased ammo, and Ruger recommends that you not use this in their Mini-30. In addition, high capacity mags are cheap, reliable, and available for the AK, and that is not the case for the Mini-30.
Sorry for the rant, but I hate seeing misinformation put out when people are going to spend good money, and are being encouraged to purchase substandard products.
Mike