Mini-14, Disliked "Why"

T

Turk

New member
Since coming to the Fireingline I've noticed a lot of posts concerning the Mini-14 not being a good rifle.

Years ago I owned a Mini-14 and it was a good shooter but not a tack driver. I even squirrel hunted with it with reduced loadings to 22 mag. velocities using FMJ bullets.

What excactly are the your dislikes about this rifle. If your rifle is not accurate have you tried differnt loading? Is there cycling problems? etc. etc.

Have a good day.

Turk
 
Biggest criticisms seem to be accuracy and expense of good high capacity magazines. Advantages are that it is small, handy, and reliable (if the mags are good). Used to be cheaper, but price is still creeping up.

M1911
 
Personally, I think that the costs of machining it make it a more expensive rifle than it ought to be. The accuracy doesn't warrant the expense. In a day when good AK variants can be had for $200 and $300 even in .223, that are at least as reliable as the Mini 14 and shoot about the same, I can't see spending the $500+ for the rifle. That's my 2 cents.
 
Some folks have had trouble getting groups inside of 2". Others have had reliability problems--possibly from their choice of after-market magazines. Thus, performance has been erratic.

I've owned four of them; two stainless, two blued. No Ranch Rifle or Mini-30...I've never had a problem. To me, they've always been a 1-1/2" MOA critter at best, which is plenty good for jackrabbits and coyotes within 150 yards.

The odd thing about magazines is that I've never had problems with blued or stainless; 20-, 30- and even 40-rounders. I'm not sure of the point of a 40-round mag, other than to facilitate turning money into noise. A 30-rounder isn't much better.

But I'll agree with anybody that tack-drivers, they ain't.

I have not owned one which was made after around the late 1980s; possibly quality has declined...I don't know.

FWIW, Art
 
Hi, Frontsight,

Let's not lose sight of the fact that the pay scale of the workers who make those AK clones is a LOT less than the pay of the American workers who make the Rugers. I am not urging that people buy junk just because it is made in the USA, but price is not everything.

Jim
 
While it is true that price is not everything, it's also true that a couple of US companies are making AK variants, too. If this is going to be an "I drive a Chevy because it's an American vehicle, by God" thread, then I'll drop out for sure. I have three Toyotas, a Subaru, and a Ford. I buy what works. The Toyotas will probably last well over 300K, but the Ford will probably not. I intentionally drive it less.

BTW, I never said that the Mini 14 was junk, just that it is overpriced, due to design. This same topic was covered recently in the "Why are M1A's so expensive?" thread. That design is expensive to make these days. If they (Ruger) moved away from the M14 style of action, and went with a cheaper action, sure...it would be worth the money then. Right now they're using great actions and bad barrels (or something). That combo makes a rifle that looks neat, American, and rugged, but shoots poorly.
 
The mini-14 is disliked because most shooters expect sub-moa precision from any rifle. The mini-14 is in the same precision and reliability class as the AK-47. But it is more politically correct in appearance and shoots the more American-common .223 cartridge.

Thus I have both an AK-47 and a Mini-14.

Now if I wanted tack-driving accuracy and precision from a .223, I'd get a varmint-barreled bolt-action.
 
I owned a Mini-14 Stainless Ranch. I didn't like it because it was inaccurate; difficult to disassemble for cleaning (compared to AR's, for example), and hi-caps were hard to find and expensive.

One thing that I do like about the newer Mini's, however, is that they have a better anchor line attachment point.
 
My experiance with'em from an accuracy point of view is that they're ok. My biggest problem is a lack of decent mags with more than a 5 round capacity. If I could locate 10 round mags that were reliable, I'd own one.

Giz
 
The Mini 14 I had was a real dog,,,I wanted it just plinking,,, but it could never get to shoot well enough even for that.. Lots of miss feeds,, etc... But I have a buddy that loves his.. to each his on...

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TOUJOURS PRET
Swamprat
 
Some people may have gotten a lemon. As for the others, they always say that jealousy does terrible things to a person. Imagine buying a fancy AR and finding that it jammed more than a Mini 14 that was half the cost. I would be a little sore too. :)
 
I have 3 AR-15's, 1 MAK-90 and 1 Mini-30. The Mini-309 is the least accurate even though I've got a Simmons scope on it, use handloaded ammo loaded specifically for it and have bedded the action per the NRA Gunsmithing Guide for the M1/M14.

I am now selling the Mini-30 and keeping the other 4 (and buying an AR-10 carbine).

I see this issue as less a Mini vs. AK issue but more of a Mini vs. AR. The advantages of the AR are more parts availability at much less price (assumes you have the small diamter pins), easier to accuraize, you can make great changes in the rifle configuration by changing the upper and it uses pretty easily found USGI mags.

The only advantage the Mini has is that its about $300 cheaper.

My .02.

Albin
 
PreserveFreedom: I've put thousands of rounds through my two AR15s. I've had a total of 2 feed failures, due to a worn magazine. That's more than reliable enough for me.

So bring your iron-sighted mini-14 and meet me on the 600 yard line.

M1911
 
I would have been interested in the Mini-30, but I read at least 3 different articles where the Mini-30 was the least accurate (by a large margin) of AR's (in 7.62x39mm), SKS, and Mini's tested.
 
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