Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Ruger Mini 14

Great report pappy
I would skip the stronger spring. It just bangs the gas block that much harder. If you have slowed up the speed of the op-rod with smaller gas bushings, you don't need the stiffer spring. The next thing I would buy for my Mini is a scout mount rail from Ultimax. Some of the guys who own Mini's on Perfect Union have bought the scout mount rails and put a red dot on them. Save the money on the spring and get the scout mount.

kwg

The most loved/hated carbine ever.

All this talk of the mini 14 is good I suppose, but what about the mini 30, now let’s talk mini’s

Mini 14 discussions are always interesting.

MIni 30's. Get a second firing pin with a bit more protrusion, skip the extra power hammer spring and stop wasting your money on Wolf ammo.

kwg

Okay, about that SHTF ammo weight, just for grins. Kitchen scale, so ounces and grams.

50 round box Fiocchi .223 1#5.8oz Single round 12grams

50 round box .22 Mag Fiocchi 40gr 9.1oz Single round 4grams

50 round box .22 Mag Hornady 30gr 8.1oz Single round 4grams (obviously the scale ain't all that accurate at that weight)

A single round of CCI Mini Mag weighs 3grams for comparison, again subject to the crappy kitchen scale accuracy.

Previously I weighed a box of 5.7 and IIRC it weighed just over 12oz

My notion of SHTF would be being mobile, maybe limited to what I could carry, and not looking for trouble, but rather avoiding it and trying to make meat along the way. .22 mag is much more effective than .22LR, weighs less than half of what .223 weighs, and the ammunition is much more resistant to weather and handling than LR as well. In addition, we now have some pretty good .22 mag pistols, so one ammo type can work for both. If we eliminate the heavy plastic boxes the rimfire round comes in, 3x the ammo can be carried if .22 mag is chosen over .223 for the same weight penalty.

Just something to mull over. If the doody hits the fan, I’ll stay put if at all possible, being old and creaky, and thus have all kinds of stuff available.

Hmm my 882 Marlin ss bolt gun in 22 mag is a good shooter with Hornady 30 gr Vax load at $20 / box. Normal 40 gr fmj or jhp not near as good. 35 to 40 cents a round about the same as 55fmj 223. The mags for the 882 were hard to find and cost 3 to 4 times as much as a 30 rd ar mag. That's infrastructure that doesn't exist for my 22 mag or mini 14's but you can go damn near anywhere and buy ammo , magazines, and all the parts A to Z for an AR. The commonality of AR's availibility is overwhelming compared to anything else with only the common 10/22 comparable. I had 2 different mini's, ar for the win.
Mb

In your doomsday scenario, if you need more gun than a .22 you can always shoot the guy with a bigger gun and take his ammo. That's how you rock after armageddon.

speaking of firing pins, do the mini's have a reputation for breaking them?? Then ruger will not send you one, and you have to send the gun in to them? I am not speaking from experience on this subject, but what a crucial part to have break when you needed it most.

Not that I’m aware of. I’ve dry-fired mine a lot. AS sells them, OEM and “improved”. Haven’t checked Ruger, Brownells, Midway, etc. AS also has complete bolts and some other parts. No idea if fitting is required.

I had forgotten that, but AS will help. They’re a good bunch to work with. Sending a “worked over” Ruger back for repair, not a good idea. They’ll do their best to make it “factory” and at your expense. No thanks.

DF

Bob, how long since you bought .223? I haven’t seen any $.40 in a long while. Just checked ammoseek and there’s a lot for $.44-$.45, shipping extra, and cheap crap I wouldn’t expect to get good accuracy from. No sense picking an AR for its accuracy and ending up with it shooting like a Mini because of cheap ammo.😛 I sure wish I could go back and scarf up some of that Fiocchi I used to buy loaded with VMaxes for $20 for 50. Still have some 40gr. The last I bought was just over $30, with free shipping. Pretty good stuff. Costs more now, but still a good deal.

You’re right about AR stuff being all over, and cheap. How long that will last under SHTF is anyone’s guess.

I’m not saying Minis are better than ARs; that’s just silly, but a good one is a good capable rifle, and they have some advantages, flush-fit mags is one, for me anyway. Low to no maintenance is a pretty big one.

Fun stuff, this. Lets hope it stays that way……

Parts for old ones are either limited availability or unavailable from Ruger according to their website.

My SS Ranch came with a rail that screws to the receiver flats. I’ve run red dots, prisms, and scopes on that. Might someday replace it with one that clamps to the dovetails. Now it’s wearing a SWFA 1-4.

One other thing I did was to drill out the swivel bases to accept regular QDs. That gas block is harder than woodpecker lips.

M-Lok is a huge plus on ARs. I already have three small ones on my BC upper, a swivel stud, and ones for a Streamlight and tiny CT green laser.

can get a new AR for 500 bucks...thats enough reason not to buy a mini. Granted if the tool fixes the problem thats all that matters.

Check out the rail on the AS worked over Mini I posted earlier. Works well.

DF

rost, I've got plenty of ARs. One mini. Don't need a $500 AR.

I have one Mini, the one shown, more AR’s.

DF

wonder which would last longer under heavy use of $500 AR or mini??

AR.

IMO

DF