The hard thing with the Mini-30 always seems to be accuracy and inappropriate use more than anything else. This is not a long range rifle.
I remember a thread on the 'Campfire years ago about the SKS. The problem isn't that the SKS makes a bad deer rifle, but you team up a (in those days) $50 SKS and ($.10/round) ammo and you get a sprayer. By the time you get the bugs worked out of the SKS and feed it reasonable ammo, the cheap goes away in a hurry, and what you end up with is somewhat less than a 30-30. The same is true of a Mini-30, only you don't have a cheap rifle to start with.
Bullet choice? I'd try a 130 Speer for starters and H4895. If that does not float your boat, I'd try a 150 grain 30-30 bullet.
If you use the Mini-30 as a close-in deep woods rifle, you will usually find it fits just fine. If you start lobbing stuff at deer across a wide field, it is not going to work as well. Somewhere in your searches you should be able to find a load that gets you a 2" group at 50 yards
