Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Mini-14 or AR-15?

When I get some money, hopefully before the election just in case the outcome is bad, I'd like to get either an AR-15 or a Mini-14.

I've had both before but I'm just wondering how you guys would choose, one over the other? With factory 20-round mags now available for the Mini, and new tooling for the "more accurate" barrels, is it a more viable choice? I was limited to hit-or-miss aftermarket mags when I owned mine.

I did like the manual of arms and simplicity of the Mini but I'm just wondering if I should have the rifle our gov.org uses as my "Minuteman" rifle.

You can do way more with an AR, I have only seen 1 Mini-14 that would shoot and that was with extensive work....maybe the new ones shoot better I dont know but the older ones were usually a spray and pray.
Go with the AR, I think you will be much happier.

Thanks, that's what I figured...

Ditto on what Tom264 said. I had a mini 14 once. It was minute of "target" at 100 yds!

At the very least buy a stripped AR-15 lower before the election to have on hand. or a complete lower. That was my tact, but since I couldn't decide on an upper, I ended up with a second complete ar-15.

They are such a flexible platform that I just coudn't see getting a mini. Also what is the barrel twist on the mini? Typical ar-15's are 1-9 which will launch up to most 70 gr even in the 16" barrel, and you can go 1-8 or 1-7 for the really heavy bullets.

My thoughts are get a good ar lower, then choose your upper, maybe a 16" M4 for general use, and a 20" flat top w/ a fast twist barrel for longer range work.

I have had 3 mini 14s I really liked the handling of the little rifle, I could go on for a long time but just get an AR-15, get a Colt LE carbine if you can afford it, or an LMT or Noveske. Some are saying the new Charles Dailey gun is good I don't know on this one, but I do know from first hand experience about LMT, Colt and Noveske. Despite anything anyone else tells you, there seem to be no Mini14s in use by todays military forces except perhaps The Republic of Cartoon in Backdoor Cameroon.

One of the cheapest routes to go is the RRA car a-4 kit get a stripped lower locally for ~$150 and you have your complete gun for ~$800. Oh yeah, a couple bucks for a rear sight. The upper is fully assembled, and lowers are pretty easy to put together.

Another vote for the AR.

BMT

AR for sure. Many, many options to choose from.

No question, get an AR-15. You get MUCH more rifle, with much more flexibility, quality, accuracy, parts swapability (was that a word?), etc.



Look again at the AR-15. It just doesn't get much simpler than that.

Have fun!

Years ago, I had a brand new Mini 14 for about 3 weeks. It was, and still is, the biggest POS that I've ever had the misfortune to own. You might be able to hit something if you could get close enough to club it with the Mini. Otherwise forget it. It should be a crime to use the words accuracy and Mini 14 in the same sentence. I replaced the Mini with an AR and there's no comparison. Like the others have said, get an AR and don't look back.

I had a brand new one about two years ago. I did like it, it was a sweet handling little gun. I've had probably 4 factory ARs and built three on RRA receivers, so I wasn't unfamiliar with the platform...

However, the Mini worked great until it had 500 or so rounds down the pipe. Then all of a sudden the groups started opening up, and at one point I had to kick the bolt open a couple of times during a shooting session -- no explanation for that.

I was shooting Federal surplus green-tip ammo. At closer ranges there was a lot of vertical stringing.

At 200 yards with iron sights I could put a hurting on a man-sized target -- not any group size, per se, but 15 out of every twenty rounds would hit center mass area. This stopped after I cleaned it twice and all of a sudden it opened up like a shotgun.

I was wondering if this was indicative of the gun as a whole or whether they had gotten better. I don't see why these guns can't be made to be more accurate...

Gas piston rusted to gas port or became so dirty it froze to gas port. I have seen it happen as well. Ruger is a good company, they make excellent quality rifles and pistols. The mini is just the odd man out for them. I would not hesitate to hunt with any of their rifles or doubt the quality of their bolts or pistols/revolvers for any reason

Find someone with an FFL and look into this as an entry level gun if you like:

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I had one of ther older Mini-14's and it was very inaccurate. I really liked the rifle but it shot so bad I couldn't justify keeping it and traded it off. I try to keep an open mind about things and when I heard they had re-tooled the production line for the Mini's I figured I would give them another try. I have one of the newer 580 series rifles and am very pleased with it. It'll do 1 1/2"-2" 100yd groups consistantly with good ammo and has NEVER jammed or failed to feed. every now and then it'll even shoot MOA, but not enough claim it. I take care of my guns so rust has never been a problem. They came out with even a newer version than mine of the Mini-14 this year. They call it the 581 series, it has a slightly larger contour barrel than the older one's. It's not as heavy as the target model, it's like one contour size up from the older one's. I like them for their intended purpose. they're light, they carry easy and shoot better than most folks are capible of off hand, all though most people will never admit that. You'll hear a lot of gripe's about Mini-14's and some are well deserved but most are about the older models. The newer ones are much better rifles.

All that said, if I was only going to own one "Patriot" rifle it would be an AR-15. I've owned Garands, FN FAL's, AK-47's, Mini-14's, SKS', a Galil and a HK93. The same could be said about those too. All nice rifles and some were very cool, but I just like the AR for it's seemingly inherit accuray, reliabilaty and flexablity. The two AR's I own now are both set up for extreme accuracy but I'm thinking about buying a chrome lined upper just to spray ammo with. Fun is where you find it.


Terry

I have several AR rifles by Colt and Bushmaster. I have a great little AR180B by Armalite.
I also have a pretty darn good 188 series Ruger Mini-14. Often folks will talk trash about the Mini, but have never really owned one. The constant negatives that they read is passed on as personal experience.
It amusing to read about how much money a fellow will pour into his AR to make it 'tactical' and more accurate, yet if another guy puts money into his Mini, his efforts are derided.

That being said, I will still take the AR platform over the Mini for the purpose of self defense in a time of social unrest, or political turmoil.
The reasons have nothing to do with how well the Ruger works, but center more on the availability of factory magazines and spare parts.

My Ruger will shoot two inch groups all day long, some groups even smaller. I have never experienced a failure of any sort, and have put well over 4K rounds through mine.

I have two AR's and one Mini-14 (an old one, 180 prefix.) The Mini is not on the same planet with the AR's with regard to accuracy. That said, IME it has been incredibly reliable with little or no maintenance. It has always gone bang and functioned with any kind of loads I've put in it. Almost like an AK. The Mini also (to me anyway) is a lot handier gun to carry around, more like carrying a gun as opposed to a piece of equipment. Overall, I like the AR's better. If you're into tricking out, either for performance or just to look like an action hero, there's a huge industry providing AR trick stuff.

Ruger may be good but they are anti gun and I"ll never forgive them for that....

THe AR is the hands down pick over the mini, though for about 2500 bucks a mini will shoot with a good AR, but the AR is all there and versatile, no question here, AR all the way.

Jeff

For about $300 over the cost of the rifle, a Mini will shoot with a 'good' AR.
No amount of money will ever get a Mini to shoot with a 'great' AR though, the platforms are just too different. The AR is just a much better design when it comes to tweaking it for accuracy.

My point all along here, was that the Mini is no where near as bad as the internet chatter says. For what they are, and for what they were designed to do, they are fine.

I"d bet money any day on a "good" AR outshooting a 300 buck doctored mini. Any day. I"ve seen it too often that even the cheap ARs will shoot knots once the right load is tweaked....

They are a fairly reliable, 2-4 moa gun much like a lot of 30-30s, and suffice for many things. From an anti gun company.