Mini-14 users. I have two questions.

J

JHS

New member
I have a ranch mini-14,new.
Situation 1: The spent brass has a sever ding about in the middle, maybe closer to the mouth than the base. Most of the rounds have this, some more than others. the real bad ones I can't reload and 70% are bad.
Question: Is this normal in a mini 14?

Situation 2: I will use this M-14 for predator control,coyotes and prairie dogs.If Y2K is a fubar then used for defence.My kids like to use it also.
Question 2: Optics, scope recommendations.
I hope I am clearer than mud on these questions.
Thanks
John


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Keep the Faith and the Constitution
 
I have a Mini and in high school used it for prarie dogs also. I reload for it and have never noticed the dings in the brass, but it has been a long time since I reloaded. I have a B-square scope mount on mine and have tried several different kind of scopes and have had rotten luck, shoots fine one day, sucks the next. I just figuers that the semi action was knocking the scopes of, but I never tried a very high quality scope. I found the mini was not the best praire dog rifle in that it does not hit much past 100 yards, just my opinion. However I still own it and will never get rid of it as it is fun to shoot and looks cool.
Later
Daren
 
The dings are likely being caused by the bolt hitting the top round in the Mag during chambering... That's about as much hel pas I can be on that topic.


For the scope, I say you should skip it. The Mini-14 will be accurate enough to whack predators out to 100 yards.. 4 or 2 legged.

Maybe get a different gun for the Prairie Dogs... Seriosuly. For the price of a *good* scope and a mount you can get a Used Rem Bolt action and a Simmons 3-9x30 or something for the little bastards....
 
I pick up my Mini-14 Ranch on Tuesday and was going to pose questions regarding a good scope for it too. Thanks for having the thread all warmed up for me.

I've read the old posts about the Mini and gather that most people find them to be somewhat less than accurate. I haven't read much about mods that may help though. Let's hear 'em. Most of my shooting will be done inside of a hundred yards, so I'm thinking about a low magnification scope for fast target aquisition and a decent field of view.

Does anybody have any pet loads that work well in the Mini? Bullet weights for the rifling twist etc.

Thanks for any input, I should be doing some shooting with my mini in the next few weeks, so maybe I'll be able to post some info too.
 
I used to be a devoted Mini-14er until I started making lots of money for ARs, etc. ;)

I think the brass dings may be caused by the spent cases dinging the operating handle or some other edge on the receiver as it gets ejected. I have a Ranch rifle that does this on ALL my brass. At first I thought it was because of a scope that was mounted, but even removed I still get this result. How far is your spent brass flying BTW? I noticed that on my Ranch rifle it zooms about 20-30 feet away with a lot of force. A non-ranch Mini-14 I own only ejects the cases about 7-10 feet, and I never get a dinged case. It could possibly be of benefit to have a 'smith lighten the extraction. Just a possibility.

Also, as far as scoping the Ranch, I would either leave it iron-sighted, or install a decent red-dot sight. I placed a Tasco and a C-more on both of my minis and they work great! And actually placing a scope with magnification on your gun may leave you a little disappointed, especially at ranges greater than 150 yards. Good luck. :)
 
JHS,

I agree with spleenandideal about the dot!

I had a Mini-14 Ranch stainless and put a 3 x 9 on it. The groups at 100 yards were about 4" to 6", depending on ammo. Way too disappointing for me so I sold it to a friend and bought a Colt 6700 AR-15 (1" to 1 1/2" at 100 yards!)

I told the friend about the accuracy and he bought it anyway (he thought $750 for an AR was too much) and he put a Millett 3 minute red dot on it. It's fast as hell to use and the dot is close to the group size so if the dot fits on your target, pull the trigger. By the way...my friend shot my AR and ordered a Bushmaster with the AK muzzle brake, fluted barrel, night sights etc...(over $1000 - go figure)

Mikey
 
I have a mini-14 ranch in stainless & it too
dings the brass about halfway up the cartridge. While the ejection is powerful I believe the dings are coming from the bolt striking the round while it's in the magazine.
My accuracy was good enough to blow hell out of a 1 pound coffee can @100yds. until my eyes gave out. I've since mounted a used Simmons 6X18 scope. We'll see what that does.
 
JHS,
I noted that you said you have a ranch rifle. I have a mini-30 Ranch and as you are well aware that fold down rear sight the factory uses is practicaly worthless. I've experimented with several replacement sights. None really worked out. Ashley makes a nice ghost ring sight ($60- Brownell's) but that gave me problems as I wear bi-focals, so it went back. I tried the williams (about $30- CTD) which gives a good sight picture, but it's bulky and difficult to fine tune as it has slide and lock screw adjustments. I have heard others report that it also has a tendency to wander. Dakota makes a nice looking sight, but Brownell's is out of stock and the shipment is already three months late. Don't know if they ever will get them.
As for scopes, high powers aren't needed since these are basicly 100 yard rifles. What I finally ended up doing was buying Bushnell's 1.5 X 4.5 Shotgun scope ($55- Midway) and putting that on. So far, so good.
Despite all of this, I do like my Mini. Hope this has been some help.
 
I've never owned a mini, but I wouldn't rule one out if a great deal came along. I work with guys who use/like them. One major accuracy problem I have noticed is the "quick detachable" scope mount. I think it's made by B-square. I'd stay away from this one.

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Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9
 
I also had a mini-14 ranch that really dinged up the brass. They all do this, as far as I can tell. I believe it is because the ranch ejector is solid, and the violence of the extraction caused the case mouth to impact the operating slide,whereas the non-ranch is spring-loaded and absorbs some of the shock of the casing as it is extracted. Don't hold me to this if someone contradicts me though, as I don't have two to compare right now.
 
Whoa baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Grayfox, you say a shotgun scope? That sounds like a great idea. I've been looking for a short, low power scope for my ranch model. I might just have to try that!!!!!
 
Gotta agree with Grayfox.

I've got the same scope on my mini-14 Ranch. It works great! Just put the little circle on the target and keep squeezin' the trigger.

Varmint Masters magazine did an article on accurizing the mini-14 a few issues ago, but I can't find that issue.

Bob
 
Thanks to all for the advice. Shotgun scope will be looked in to.
I think I will write to Ruger about the dings,see what they say,
John

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Keep the Faith and the Constitution
 
I have the Ranch too.
I get dings right at the mouth and the brass can be reloaded.

I have a Bushnell 3x-9x,32 rangefinder. I take 300 yd shots routinely and hit what I aimed at. Its taken more deer than I can recall. I will never get rid of my Mini

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
DC:

Does you scope need to be resighted after several practic rounds?

What wt. bullet do you use for 300yd hits?
Distant avg. on deer you have taken.
What powder do you use?
Any thing else that you could tell me. I did'nt see why a .223 round couldn't make 300yds, those little bullets are traveling fast.
Thanks
John
 
JHS...Let's see avg deer distance is around 200 yds....I generally won't take a deer with the Mini much farther than that unless both he and I are totally still and there is no wind. Rabbits, squirrels and coyotes are fair game at any distance ;).

for deer 55 grain softpoint, IMR4198 powder 20 grains. I don't reload that often. Also remember that Calif Mule deer are smaller than whitetails.
Most of the time I play with factory ammo.

Resighting the scope: it holds quite well, but I always re-sight it prior to a hunt...for plinking, I'll tinker with it when I'm not happy with a shot.
I shoot it maybe 3 times per week and have had it since I was a kid. I've never shot an AR so I can't compare. I'm just very satisfied with it as a fine utility rifle.

Oh yeah, after a bunch of sustained rounds, it does get innaccurate when the barrel heats up...so at the range, your best performance will be at the beginning

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
I have spoken to a very good gunsmith about this very issue recently. He has found that if you put a "target" crown on the barrel the accuracy improves significantly. As I understand it, a "target crown" is shaped such that the muzzle looks concave. The muzzle hole is "deeper" than the outside diameter of the barrel. There was also an article a while back about the cryo treatment being effective too. However, that seems a little extreme for a 100-200 yd rifle. IMHO
Good luck
-Mike
 
The Mini-14 is not an accurate arm! My Ranch Rifle groups 6" to 8" at 100 yds. too, but if I want good groups at that range I'll use something more suited to the task like a .22 centerfire or 6mm. Also didn't like the folding rear sight either and mounted a Simmons 22MAG 4x scope on it, inexpensive and the silver matches the stainless pretty well. Mine also dings the cases somewhat, but never to the point of being non-reloadable.
As previously stated, it's fun to shoot and looks cool and I'll hang on to it awhile.
 
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