Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger Mini-14 accurizing...

For those that have them, where or who have you sent them to to be gone through and "upgraded"?

Asking for a friend....grin...

My first SS Ranch rifle, an early 196 series I had a trigger job done, had it glass bedded, put on a HAR BAR brace, had the barrel shortened and put on a Choate M-14 style flash hider. That work was done by myself, Connecticut precision (trigger job) and Great Western Gunsmithing (Gun Doc) who is out of business now. I ended up wth a 1.5 - 2" 3-shot grouping rifle with my handloads or a couple of factory loads. It stays accurate for 20 rounds or so before barrel heat opens the groups a bit. Before the mods it might group the first couple of groups 1.5-3". After that it was a best guess kind of thing. This is now my grandson's.

These days if I wanted to do accuracy work on one I would look into Accuracy Systems. I would start with a gas block, trigger job and barrel strut. If buying new I would go for a stainleess Tactical with a 16.5 " barrel.

My second Mini-14 Ranch is a 591 series. I have done a trigger job on it. It shoots as good as the modified one does with my handloads, maybe a bit better. I haven't felt the need to do any work to it yet. I might this winter. Not that it needs it.

Brian Pearce has two pieces on Mini 14s in the current Rifle, number 308, Jan-Feb. The main article covers the history and issues, and it appears the newer ones are much improved.

The monthly column is about the Accuracy Systems parts, mainly the reduced diameter gas ports, that really tighten things up, even the dreaded out-of-group first shot. Pretty cheap price for significant improvement. Almost, not quite, had me on the phone to get one headed this way. Came to my senses just in the nick of time!

Maybe later.

Always liked these because of the handy configuration. My brief fling with an AR left me chilled, if not cold. I do have a M1 carbine that handles like a dream, and the Mini 14 is a lot like that.

I feel the same, I have an AR but I don't know if I will ever warm up to the way it handles, my Mini-14, though, feels great in my hands.

I've only shot two and they were both MOA rifles.

Secret was a large scope, handloads and shoot it slow.


Like muzzle loader slow.



Maybe slower.

Yeah I know, kind of defeats the purpose at that point

I had this work done before Accuracy Systems prices went up. This is a full house accuracy job by them, I did the stock work.

Price wise, lower end AR's will shoot pretty good for a fraction of the cost. The better ones will probably shoot about this good, maybe still cheaper.

AR's may be a better buy for accuracy, but this custom Mini sure does handle nice and I like it.

Here's the Accuracy Systems link. https://www.mini14ranch.com/ They offer a bunch of options, you don't have to go all out.

DF

Their proprietary brake and three point bedding system. Trigger job is really good.

https://youtu.be/xqNbDfOJX6c

Worth the watch, if you have time y’all.

I watched the whole thing.

Very well done and informative. All my AR's are flat tops with glass.

I never fooled much with the std iron sights on the AR. Learned about the flip up L and std peeps. L on at 25 and 300, std. for 50-150 or so.

Not much practical use for me, because at my state of maturity, I've graduated from peeps to glass. But neat into. on mags, swaps, etc.

DF

There really wasn’t that much of a difference.

Punt...

This^^

That was my remark to him. Seriously...it aint mine!

Josh....just curious. Why does he prefer to mess with a Mini-14 versus selling it and buying a good AR??

Pearce covers most of the reasoning on why folks prefer the Minis over the AR in his article. Look and feel are the main ones, but reliability and compactness also figure in. From my limited experience, an AR isn't a top choice for something to stand behind the door until needed; they like to be kept "juicy".

Accuracy Systems also makes a "forever" buffer that should help keep scopes from dying on them.

Ummm, sell it?

Edited to add I should have just added a +5 to the rest....

I had ASI prep a mini 14 300 BO with a trigger job, bedding job, recoil buffer,

very picky with ammo but with the right ammo it is a 1" gun

with some cheap subsonic ammo that it likes it will shoot a 10 shot group 3 second shot interval 6-7 in 3/4" with 3-4 fliers to maybe 1"-1 1/4" group

I had 2 mini-14s done by accuracy systems. Well worth the money if you like accurate rifles. The mini-14 is more like a real rifle than a AR, and I do own several ARs.

I bought one of the closeout Minis at Wally World a couple of years back. Started at $399 but the last they had at the store had a cracked stock so another 10% off got it to $359.

Ruger came to the rescue with a new stock so at some point it'll go to ASI for upgrades and still cost less than a new mini.

It'll become my semi auto for when I call for predators in Cali. Will enjoy giving the the one finger salute.

Perfectunion.com has a great web site for the Mini 14. kwg
https://www.perfectunion.com/vb/