Ruger Ranch Mini14 accuracy?

B

Bullmoose

New member
I am going to buy a new SS Ranch rifle this week, but am wondering about the accuracy. A gun smith in my neighborhood says that they are sprayers. A gunsmith friend in Montana says that he just drilled and tapped an older non ranch model for a scope. He shot a 10 shot group with 7 in < 1" and the others not far out. What should I expect with a new out of the box
Ranch rifle and afffordable factory ammo and Federal Gold Match? I am getting it for use as a patrol rifle in tactical games, and would like for it to be my 'walk about' rifle when hiking in coyote country. 300 yard minute of coyote would be great, but anything on the far side of 200 would be acceptable. I am not interested in spending a $1000 for the ultimate accuracy job available from the top Mini 14 smiths. Any advice on available 10 round magazines?m
 
Perform a search on "Mini-14 accuracy" if you haven't already and you'll find far more info on the subject than most can stomach. I can't speak for all, but I've had 2 mini's, 1 Ranch, and they weren't able (nor was I) to do better than 4" at 100 yards, scoped or peep sighted. Many might condemn them for that, and I might too, 'cept I can't do any better than 4" with an M1 carbine, or a Winchester '94...
My mini's always hit what I aimed at out to 100 yards and a little beyond. After awhile, I just stopped trying to hit anything further away than that, and that made all the difference;) .
vanfunk
 
to me the mini is an inside 100 yd rifle. super dependable, takes anything, never fails to feed. feed it wolf, it will cycle. easy to clean, bang it around it will still fire. but 300 yards?? just not there.
 
Clearly the Montana gunsmith mean 10 shots in 1 foot not one inch. That's about what my Mini Ranch would do. Sold it down the road to buy a rifle that would reach out past 100 yards.
 
My standard Mini with a Ranch Products scout scope mount with a 2x eer scope isn't a tack driver but I can hit a coyote-sized target at 300 yards all day long with it.
 
Seems to have a little to do with the particular rifle, & a lot to do with the particular shooter (or maybe vice/versa, who really knows?). Add'em up & you get anywhere from 8-10" to 8-10' @ 300 yards ;) You'll have a lotta fun with it, that's for sure :)
 
Are you guys reporting 1 foot groups at a 100 yards using open sights? Just curious.... I plan on using my old 1.5x5 Leupold VXIII on mine so even with my old eyes I'll be able to see the crosshairs on the target........... The same everytime. I'll be happy with torso hits at 200 if that is all it will do, but hoping for more.
 
It should give you excellent accuracy if your idea of accuracy is a 4" or 5" group at 100 yd.
Otherwise, accuracy will be poor.
Personally, I wouldn't waste the money on a scope for it.
Just my two cents.
 
My Mini's (I have 2 and have owned 2 others.) will (would) average 2" at 100 yards IF you let the barrel cool between shots. If I got trigger happy, the groups would open up to 4 to 6 inches as the barrel heated up. The Mini is a fine weapon for what it is. Some want it to be what it is not, and therein lies their disappointment. HTH.

David
 
I refitted the gas block on my Mini-14 and glass bed the action (including the metal) INTO the stock! Dang gun at 50 yards put Winchester 64gr sp into a 1 inch group with open sights!!! Yes, the gas block is part of the problem. Also look at the slide to make sure it is true all across the face when it touches the gas block.

The Mini-14 and Mini-30 can become great shooters, but from the factory they are poor. Just takes some nerve and willingness to do some work.

BTW, the gas block is real easy to get off and back on. RCBS hex wrench sets largest hex fits perfectly. Use locktite to lock the screws back in and a feeler guage to check eveness of the tightning process (I tightened like I do car tires, skipped evenly).

Add to that, get a better rear sight that does not wiggle (as all Ruger mini-14 sights do!)

Oh, yes, I DID NOT ALLOW THE BARREL TO COOL, just fired 3 rounds strait.

Deaf
 
I shot my CMP qualification round with my Mini-14.

The AR-15 guys gave me dirty looks, but my target had tighter groups than theirs.

100 yards is a long way, especially when the wind is blowing.

Get the Mini -- shoot and enjoy. I can get groups of 3-4 inches all day long. Now, the AR's have much higher intrinsic accuracy, but how many folks are capable of using it under field conditions?

K
 
As much as I like my Mini, I don't count on it for any accurate work. To me it's more of a close-in tool. I couldn't image putting precision optics it.

If you want accuracey out of an autoloader, I'd advise checking out a FAL clone.
 
Thanks for the replies. I did some more research and found several tests indicating the rather bad accuracy of the Mini14 in general and few indications of the rather limited exceptions. Not sure what I'll do now about a patrol rifle, consider getting one of the $400-500 bbl and trigger job to get one of the guarenteed 1" MOA guns. Not at all what I had planned. Probably buy a long range 30 caliber bolt gun to be keep me busy. Who knows, maybe a tricked up $1500 Mini14 will look better to me somewhere down the road as I move fully into my senility years. Or buy a used one that I can test shoot before any money changes hands. Thanks again........
 
Heres what I have found with the two I have owned over the years - This is a max 100yd rifle. Past that accuracy gets very bad. Up to 60yds accuracy of mine is very good. Reliability is excellent and as stated before any problems are usually due to mags. For accuracy the first thing to do with the ranch rifle is replace the peep sight. As stated earlier in this thread it has too much movement side to side. I have installed a Williams on mine.
 
Since a cheap Ar-15 can be had for a little over $500 and a Marlin 30-30 is about $200, and both will shoot an inch or so, I think you should look around more.
 
Mini14s are fun to plink away with iron sights. I have owned four over the years. They are a waste of a good scope. Once scoped you find out that they don't shoot any better than with iron sights. The accuracy wasn't your poor eye sight after all, it was the gun. I cannot even imagine spending over $1k to fix one up. Just get an AR15 if you want a better rifle. Best. Watch-Six
 
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