its subjective, but there are no armies using the mini as far as I know, I always wondered if the full auto guns beat themselves to pieces. The AR is an amazing weapon. I shot my 6.8spc yesterday and got acceptable groups with benchmark and 95 grain TSX bullets, it made a few 1 inch groups for a change, pretty happy with it today. The Mini is a 1-9 twist IIRC so not sure what bullets you plan on shooting, the 1-7 ar will stabilize the longest barnes and 75 grain swifts but I think a 1-8 will also. In short if you live in a place you cannot own an ar, then buy a stainless steel mini and be happy, I would use only Ruger magazines and I would buy a bunch of them. At self defense ranges it will more than work.
