Why does my Mini14 cycle faster than my AR?

G

greyeyezz

New member
This is just a head scratcher question that's puzzled me since I got my AR and in no way exemplifies accurate shooting.

I like to occasionally do some rapid fire bursts, (I'm not talking mag dumps) maybe 5-10 rounds. I can consistently get my Mini to rapid fire faster than my 6920, I have no idea why. Is it the weight, wood and steel vs aluminum and plastic? The gas systems? Conventional stock vs pistol grip? The Colt seems to have more inertia with that heavy bolt going back and forth, the Mini being softer.

The Mini is a 580 series tactical with wood stock, the Colt factory.

Theories?
 
I believe it has to do with the spring weights. as the AR is DI, it is closed off a little more than the Mini to avoid beating the hell out of your buffer and bolt carrier. the mini is mostly steel so it can handle more beating and the bolt slams back with more authority requiring a heavier recoil spring and allowing it to cycle faster, one member here showed slow motion of the M1 garand(same basic design as the mini) cycling side by side with an AR and the M1 was faster by quite a bit.
 
Both rifles cycle faster than you or I do. In fact, all semi autos do. The difference in the speed you can get from a 5-10rnd "burst" has to do with how you are operating the trigger.

How the trigger resets, and how you recognize and feel it makes a difference. With some guns it is easier than others. But the actions of all of them are shut (fired, extracted, ejected, reloaded and locked) before you or I have eased up on the trigger enough to feel it reset for the next pull.

Generally speaking.

There are individuals who have fast enough reflexes they can outspeed some gun designs. Ed McGivern was famous in his day and still remembered in the shooting community as literally, the fastest guy ever. Some of his records stand to this day, and those that have been beaten stood for decades, or longer. He used DA revolvers, which he claimed he could work faster than semi autos. If you are that good, I got nothin' for ya! ;)
 
I agree with 44AMP. I've seen Jerry Miculek use a 1911 to "outrun" a full auto Thompson and also seen him "outrun" a semiauto shotgun BUT I seriously doubt the average shooter can challenge the cyclical rate of either an AR or Mini-14.
 
The Mini-14's rate of fire is actually slower, and there was a select-fire version with which to make the comparison.

Apples to apples, the select fire Mini (AC-556) had a cyclic rate of fire of 750 rounds per minute, slightly less less than the recent (M4 and up) iterations of the M16 are capable of.
 
Ed McGivern's revolver record was 5 shots in 2/5 of a second. The timing equipment of the day was pretty primitive, but if we give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that's really an accurate figure then it equates to intervals of 0.10 seconds per round. That's 600rpm which is pretty slow for full-auto fire.

Miculek's revolver record is 8 shots in 1 second. That works out to intervals of 0.143 seconds per round or about 420rpm. I'm not aware of any full auto that cycles that slowly although the M3 grease gun is close at about 450rpm.

The cyclic rate of the AC-556 (750rpm) is considerably faster than either record. For what it's worth, that works out to 0.083 second splits--5 more shots per second than Miculek managed in his record run.

There may be some folks out there capable of running 0.083 second splits, pulling the trigger for every shot, but I haven't been able to find anyone claiming to be able to shoot that fast without using a bump-fire technique.
 
The cycling rate can vary between ARs, depending on the manufacturer. Bolt and carrier weights, buffer springs, gas system, etc. all have an impact on how fast the gun will run.
 
Besides the gas port hole size (and location both of which has been predetermined by the factory) the helix cut on the inside of the Mini-14 bolt has a lot to do with the unlocking. Another factor is the strength of the slide recoil spring.

It would be fun to film both under a high-speed camera and to do a side by side comparison.
 
Thanks John. I did not realize how much the Mini-14 handle bounced upon return to lock up. I should have know about gas escaping from the AR/M16 bolt carrier holes. Duh.
 
Ed McGivern's revolver record was 5 shots in 2/5 of a second
Click to expand...

The one of McGivern's feats that I always felt was the most impressive was firing 10 shots (from two guns) hitting a playing card at 20 feet, in 9/20 seconds, including the draw!!!

Back to the OP, don't confuse the cyclic rate of the weapon with how fast the ordinary person (or you or I ;)) can shoot it. The actual speed of cycling of either gun isn't the main factor in how fast we can shoot them.
 
How the trigger resets, and how you recognize and feel it makes a difference. With some guns it is easier than others. But the actions of all of them are shut (fired, extracted, ejected, reloaded and locked) before you or I have eased up on the trigger enough to feel it reset for the next pull.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. It's all manipulating the trigger.
 
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