Bill Ruger Interview/Mini-14

K

Kentucky Rifle

New member
You know how you keep old gun magazines around thinking that someday you'll re-read something of GREAT importance? A few nights ago I couldn't sleep. (BIG surprise.)
I happened to pick up an old gun magazine that featured an interview with Bill Ruger. He made the statement that if the timing had been a little better, there was no doubt in his mind that the army's basic rifle would be the Mini-14 and not the M-16. I was flabergasted! Has anyone else heard him say such nonsense?

Will


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Mendacity is the system we live in.

[This message has been edited by WLM (edited September 17, 2000).]
 
Entirely plausible. Who wouldn't take a Mini-14 over a Sharps Trapdoor if they're with Custer at Little Big Horn? Likewise, if Washington had 10,000 soldiers equipped with Mini-14s, the British would never get close enough to do a bayonet charge and the revolution would have ended in 1776. Would we be saying, "Remember the Alamo!" or "Remember what happened to Santa Ana at the Alamo?" Finally, which of us in 1940 wouldn't take the Mini-14 over the M-1 carbine? Yep, timing is everything.
 
Nonsense, if they had mini-14s back then, they'd all have blackpowder .223 rounds and their guns would have foul up in 2 shots or so :)

Now if they'd had sharks with lasers on thier heads then they would have just sunk the British Navy before it brought troops to the shores.......

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The Alcove

I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
Hmm. Actually, considering the track record of Army Ordinance, (Chauchaut, anyone?) the Mini-14 would have had as good a chance as any other rifle out there at the time.

LawDog
 
I heard that from my late friend and gunsmith, Jerry Lee Wilson, who actually knew Bill Ruger.

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Gun control started the Revolutionary War!..."itcta alea est"
 
Originally posted by WLM:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>…Bill Ruger … made the statement that if the timing had been a little better, there was no doubt in his mind that the army's basic rifle would be the Mini-14 and not the M-16. I was flabergasted! Has anyone else heard him say such nonsense?[/quote] Well, Will, you have the reference as the verifiable source, right?

That would be just one of the more remarkable things that Papa Bill has uttered over the years… and given that he is the original architect of the high capacity ammunition-feeding device portion¹ if the 1994 Crime Bill, perhaps he should rest on his laurels and keep quiet for the foreseeable future.

« -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- • -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- »

¹.- See William B. Ruger, Sr.'s Nasty Little Secret.

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• Dean Speir, jus' visiting from The Gun Zone
 
Got to agree with Mr. Speir. The Mini-14 couldn't be a military weapon since the military needs assault weapons. Thanks to Ruger's traitorous actions, the Mini-14 is specifically exempted from being included as an assault weapon, as a matter of federal law. So, it couldn't be one of those "evil guns."
 
Hey Buzz does that mean that if I Buy a new one and put at folding stock, flash hider and bayonet mount on it it wont fall under federal law? (You know the GB version)
BTW actual assault rifles need to be select fire, so maybe the AC556 is what he was talking about as the mini is semi only and wont do auto work so it or any other semi only isnt an "assault rifle" by definition.

Based on Hackworths asessment of the original 16 in Nam it wouldnt surpise me if the mini did win.

[This message has been edited by oberkommando (edited September 18, 2000).]
 
I'd instantly take my folding stock Mini over my old service rifle. My Mini hasn't jammed yet. My A2 jammed with great enthusiasm.

I HATE jamms.
 
I wouldn't have taken anything else over my issue M16A2...unless it would had been an M4 (and we really didn't have those back then).
 
oberkommando

Nope, the exception applies to the Mini-14 without folding stock. However, you can add a bayonet lug, pistol grip, grenade launcher, etc if you wish and still be outside the scope of "crime" bill.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by oberkommando:
Based on Hackworths asessment of the original 16 in Nam it wouldnt surpise me if the mini did win.

[/quote]

The thing is, the problems the M16 had in Vietnam were almost totally due to poor training and some bad lots of ammo. Which means in any objective competition, the M16 would win (since presumably the testers would be competent with the rifle and would not have one of the bad lots of ammo).
 
Given the improper propellants of the time and the lack of training and cleaning equipment, could the Mini-14 have succeeded where the M16 failed?

On the issue of blackpowder for the .223, darn if I didn't overlook that one Dangus. Guess we better op for the Mini-30 and hope that it get past three shots. Better yet, the Win. 94 in 30-30.
 
Question about a mini-14 with the 'works', ie. pistol grip, flash hider, grenade launcher, ...

I thought that you could only have ONE of those on there. Two or more, then you'd have an assault rifle. It says any semi-auto that accepts a detachable magazine.....
 
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