Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats One in the works.

I have been purging a few I don't use or have lost interest in, a Winchester 401 WSL and a Remington Model 8 25 Rem along with a couple others. One to make some wiggle room in the safe and two, to fund another gun project. I have long considered one of the Accuracy System conversions on a Mini 14. Our upcoming move out of state as our Alaska adventure draws to a close, got me to thinking I'd like to try one of their conversions in 6x45. I already have a left handed mini Mauser in 6x222 and thought it would be fun to run the two side by side for a comparison. I love calling coyotes and intend to get back into it heavily once we get moved down to Idaho.

A couple weeks ago I ran across a clean mini 14 at a local shop. Price was very right so I bought it. The previous owner had someone cut the stock to get rid of the curved butt plate and installed a thin recoil pad. It was well done. It went to AS last week with instructions to come back with a 24 inch .825 barrel and a 1 in 8 twist. I went with their ultimate package. I don't expect to run anything heavier than an 85 grain Partition but figured it wouldn't hurt to twist it tight in case I opted for heavier bullets down the road. Most of the time it will see 55-80 grain bullets. They said 4-6 months. We should have our house sold and be moved by then.

I stumbled onto a Burris 6x with a post and crosshair reticle from a gentleman on this site. I had been considering a Burris 6x mini or a Leupold 6x compact but the idea of a post and crosshair on a dedicated calling rifle intrigued me. I like a PCH for big game hunting and with most of my called coyotes in the past being under 200 yards and a large majority of those under 100 yards, a PCH ought to make a fast and effective reticle. If I don't care for it, I'll change out to something different.

It should be a fun project.

Sounds like a cool project Mart. Looking forward to hearing about the rifle. Good luck with all of your happenings as well.

Well the Accuracy Systems mini 14 made it back home today. It is now a 6x45, 1 in 8 twist, 24 inch .835 barrel. They said the test load, Black Hills, 62 grain varmint grenade, shot a .557 group. I could live with that out of a mini 14. It's off to the range Tuesday to break in the barrel. I opted to have the muzzle threaded should I ever want to add a suppressor.

Looks like a decent build. Curious to see how it shoots for you...

I dig that! Hope it shoots for you.

Best of luck.. Hope Idaho is awesome.. Love that place!!!!

I love the 6x45 with 105 AMAX's in a bolt gun. Should be good with Partitions as well, to fit the mag length of the Mini-14.

Did you make it out to the range?? Wondering how it shot for you.

Mart if you decide to sell the 6x Burris with the post, I am interested!!!

Thanks guys. The Idaho move didn’t happen. Several road blocks that convinced us both we wanted to stay in Alaska.

I haven’t mounted the Burris yet. I’ll let you know if I decide to go a different way on the mini 14.

The break in groups showed some definite promise. I have to go back to work tomorrow for my two week hitch. When I get back I’ll mount a Redfield 12x on it and get serious about some load testing.

Sorry to hear about the change in plans, but if Alaska makes you a happy camper, that is the place to be...

It does. As we got closer to the move time we both were filled with a lot of doubt and my wife with some fearfulness over being in a new area with me being gone two weeks of every month. She has had a recent diagnosis of early onset dementia. Nobody but me and maybe her best friend would notice right now. Mostly it's short term memory stuff and numbers. She gets easily confused with math. Hard for her because in all her years of retail she never had a till not balance.

She recently changed doctors from a PA who was too much of a wait and see type to my doctor who is pretty proactive. He said he was glad to hear we were staying and if he had known about her diagnosis before, would have advised us not to move. He claims it can accelerate the issue moving someone with dementia to a new area.

On top of all that we just never felt good about the move and both of us were afraid to bring it up to the other. Finally she admitted she didn't want to go. We do love where we are. Great church, great friends, we love our comfortable old house and she is at ease getting around the area. Taking her away from that would perhaps bring on a rapid progression of the disease and force me to retire earlier than I had planned. That could still happen and we'll deal with it if it does. We are only minutes away from world class health care. We only have about five years left on the mortgage which coincides with when I plan to retire.

Sorry for being so long winded. Guess I needed to let it out.

Best of luck to you and your wife... Life is not always what we want it to be... Best wishes...

Best of luck to your wife and you Mart.

Thanks guys. Life throws curve balls once in a while. She's doing well with it. Most folks wouldn't notice anything but being around her all the time I notice the changes as does her best friend. We'll deal with each day as it comes. She is still able to function without me there for my two week work hitches. But that could change next week. Or it could take several more years.

It's a lesson in patience for me. I just have to tell her again when she asks for the third or fourth time what my plans are for the day. I try not to get irritated. I succeed most of the time. We even joke around some with it. She asked if we could go to Hawaii in 2021 for our 30th anniversary. I grinned and asked if she had forgotten about going for our 25th. She swatted me on the shoulder and reminded me her memory wasn't that bad.

Really sorry to hear this Marty. Prayers for you and Etta.

Thank you sir.

Glad you are staying in Alaska !

Thank you sir.