Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Which Ruger Mini 14 model?

Wanting to buy a Ruger mini 14 in 223 for deer/predator hunting. Which model is the best to buy? Is standard ranch rifle accurate enough?

They are all pretty much equally accurate/inaccurate (except the .223 only target model). I think the shorter barrel flash hider guns are a tad more accurate, but not enough to make me pick one over the longer naked barrel if that’s what I wanted. A bunch of guys will jump on here telling you an AR is more accurate and cheaper (they almost always are, if you can find them) but you have to define how good of accuracy you need the gun to produce. I really like the stainless synthetic stock with flash hider. Very light and handy, it’s my favorite .223/5.56 autoloader for most things. It isn’t a p-dog gun, but it makes a great truck gun for those that don’t like the AR.

My experience is that my brother bought one, the one pre ranch rifle. Accuracy was poor, so he had it rebarreled and some other work done to it. It’s quite accurate now. Also a coyote hunting friend had the exact same experiences with a ranch rifle. If you want accuracy, buy a good AR and be done with it. Yes, they are in very high demand today.

I actually just sold my AR for twice what I paid for it 5 yrs ago. I could not warm up to the feel of the ar platform. I like that the mini 14 looks/feels like a sporting rifle.
Will likely look for the stainless ranch rifle if accuracy will be similar across the newer models.

Have you considered a full stock AR? One of those with a 10 round mag and the carry handle removed is a sweet rifle. Palmetto Armory sells them.

I grew up with a 10/22 and other standard stocked rifles, and as a consequence the mini 14 and M1A come to the shoulder fast and naturally. Mini’s seem to shoot better with a bit of weight on the barrel. An old skinny barrel one shot better with a pin on comp installed. They can shake scopes loose, but I haven’t had any trouble with a redfield 1-7

The newest version of the Mini 14 is the 584 series. They are much better shooters than the early skinny barrel rifles. The 16" rifles tend to be the most accurate followed by the 18.5" Ranch rifles. The quality of the machine work is a little rougher than the earlier Mini's but the quality of the barrels and fitting the bolts seems to be better generally giving a more accurate rifle. Like everything you could get a lemon but Ruger's customer service is rated pretty high. The real unknown is finding a load your rifle likes. Factory FMJ's is questionable at best but I would think some of the varmint ammo may shoot better.

Your best bet is to reload your own ammo and taylor it to the rifle. It is possible to get consistant groups with some dilligennt load development in a Mini. I highly recommend the stainless rifles but it seems the blued steel ones seem to have an accuracy edge. I can suggest some loads I like in my stainless Ranch rifle if you are interested at some point.

Aleo keep in mind with several States putting huge restrictions on AR's tge Mini is in huge demand right now causing the prices to sky rocket.

kwg

I’ve been around a bunch of mini-14s and they were as accurate as most AKs. That said, if I wanted a rifle that felt like a sporting rifle that was still semi-auto, maybe I’d look at Browning and step up to 243?

KWG020 beat me to it. I think a newer one should leave you happy although I might prefer the mini-30. Took my first deer wit one of the original ones everyone loves to bash a long time ago using my knee for a rest and shot at about 120 yards. I just can't warm to the AR platform either- glad to find I am not alone.

Rusty,

I just bought a new mini. Its the stainless/synthetic that comes with the 2- 20 round magazines. I later bought 2 flush fit 5 round magazines for it. It's in 223/5.56 and for distances that that round is effective on deer it is PLENTY accurate. I'm very pleased with mine...very.

I'm thinking about a Mini-Thirty rebarreled to 9X39. My Mini14 shoots good enough. It will never be a long range prairie dog gun but it always goes bang and would do quite nicely as a deer rifle at proper range. good luck and Be Well, Rustyzipper.

I picked up a mini 14 &30 when NY implemented the “safe act”. They don’t shoot anywhere near as well as a typical AR, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use either to 150 or so in deer. Interestingly, the 30 shoots better than the 14 with Remington and Hornady ammo. The only thing that shoots comparable in the 14 are 77g OTMs which I did not expect. Every factory soft point or hollow point in the 50-55 grain range has been as bad as FMJ surplus stuff. Does anyone know why the 14 is fine with mil spec ammo but the 30 primer strikes won’t fire wolf ammo half the time?

Seems like I remember reading here somewhere on the Camp 🔥that there is a parts kit available for the Mini-30 that fixes the primer strike issue.

The Mini-30’s I’ve owned were definitely more accurate than the Mini-14’s. Mini-14’s are accurate enough for deer hunting at reasonable ranges, as long as you don’t heat the barrel up too much at all. Best accuracy was obtained with 3 shot groups. Any more and the group size typically open up substantially.

Aftermarket firing pin *may* fix the mini 30/steel cases issue.

The 580 and newer Mini 14s are definitely better shooters than previous editions, I have no experience with later Mini 30s so I can't say on those. I do know accuracy with the earlier Mini 30s was dismal.

I have found that the 62 and 63 grain .223's seem to be more accurate than the 55's in my Mini but I have found some accurate 55 grain loads. Finding the right powder and load seems to be the key to an accurate Mini 14 in .223. With 55 grain Hornady soft points and 25 grains of H335 I can keep them under 3 inches at 100 yards most of the time with an occasional 1" group but 2" to 3" is pretty standard. FMJ's do not shoot as well as flat based soft points for me. American Eagle 55 FMJ's do well in mine but PMC 55 grain FMJ's don't shoot near as well. I don't know why. All in all the weak link is me. Astigmatism and shakey hands are my nemesis.

As for the Mini 30's, It has to do with pin protrusion. Some pins from the factory do not stick out as far as others. It only takes a few thousands of an inch to keep from lighting off a round. There are replacement pins out there if you want a back up pin. It seems Tula primers are also set deeper than some other brands of steel cased ammo causing their ammo to be less dependable. It's been said that friends don't let friends shoot Tula in their Mini's. Some folks will install a stronger hammer spring. A stronger spring will usually cause a broken pin so don't go there. Go to perfectunion.com and check out a guy named sandog. He has spent some serious time with the Mini 30's and if he can't answer your question it can't be answered.
kwg

It's been a while now but I'll tell this story again...

Back in the 90s a customer brought in a Mini-14 standard rifle of that era and told me the barrel was shot out, as he admitted he and his buddies had totally abused the rifle, having "shot the sh*t..." out of it with many mag dumps, etc.

He asked me if I thought I could do anything with it. I said I'd check it out and let him know.

I inspected and thoroughly cleaned the rifle, ran some JB through the bore, adjusted the receiver fit into the stock, etc... I remember the trigger was gritty and seemed about 2" long on the thing, but other than cleaning I didn't play around with it.

Anyway... I didn't own a 223 rifle at the time, but I had a half box of Win White Box 55 FMJ left over from the riots, so I proceeded to slow fire 10 rounds at 100 yards.

The resulting "group" was over a foot across, just barely on the paper, so I remember thinking to myself that " yeah this barrel is toast"...

I was about to call the guy and let him know the bad news when I found another 7 rounds of my match ammo I had loaded a while back in the bottom of the ammo box. I said what the hell, loaded them into a mag, picked another target and shot up those too.

I remember that load was 69 gr Sierra Match Kings and older silver Win primers but I don't recall the powder.

When I walked downrange I didn't see any bullet holes in the paper, but when I got close enough I was surprised to see the holes were all in the black and that the resultant group measured just under 1 1/4"... with all those 7 rounds but one into 1"...

While not match grade, I'd say these rifles, especially the newer ones, can be pretty easy "Minute of Tin Can" shooters with decent ammo.

I don't know how folks can expect to see the accuracy potential of any rifle system shooting other than Match Grade ammo.