Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mini-14

Recently received an older Mini that was owned by a departed friend. It is in good not great shape, shoots all over. I know that this isn t suppose to be a rifle of great accuracy by any stretch, but it should be better.
Where is the best place to go to get info on tightening this thing up? It has value to me as it was from a good friend, so selling it off really isn t an option, but I want to be able to shoot and hit with it.

they do make a little gizmo to put on the front of the barrel that is suppose to help tighten them up.
I would do a google search. The new ones are suppose to be a lot better due to heavier barrels etc.

Check out perfectunion,

Correct on both points.

Well I had one, mine was a Ranch Rifle, minute of grape fruit at 100 yards was all it would do, I ended up sending it to Chief AJ back when he was gunsmithing. he did his thing on it, including a new barrel. It shot well after that, but like a lot of things I sold it for some reason. My guess find a gunsmith that works on them, chances are a trigger job and a new barrel will get it shooting decent. There was a time when it really was hit and miss with ruger barrels. Not so the last 20 or so years.

This, but before you get carried away I'll mention a couple things I've noticed dealing with them.

1-Stay away from bipods. They tend to torque the gas block which also torques the barrel.

2-Add one of those aftermarket muzzle brakes. The weight on the end of the barrel seems to tame the vibrations of that thin barrel.


3-While not as accurate as the AR platform, the ergonomics are much better, IMHO. I'd much rather carry a Mini afield than an AR when handling characteristics come into play. Most of my complaint is based in the heigbt of the AR action. The Mini is much more like your average sporting rifle in handling.

http://accu-strut.com/pages/accurizing.htm
Thanks guys, the info you gave above led me to this site, I will try the strut for sure and report back on any improvements.
Minute of grapefruit! exactly!
Bruin, yes I like how the rifle feels/handles, to my taste its much quicker on target to me than AR, now I just have to be able to hit them.
Thanks

Yeah, what Skot said.
A buddy if mine did these things to his Mini 14 and it went from a grapefruit to a plum size group. Good enough for most duties. The Mini isn't a varmint rifle after all.

I'll ad my vote for perfectunion - they have a section just on the mini: http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ruger-mini-14-mini-30/

and there is a vendor section for Great West Gunsmithing - (gundoc) that has a lot of info as well. If that guy is still smithing, he seems to do miracles with them: http://www.perfectunion.com/vb/great-west-gunsmithing/

First thing I would suggest, is that the older ones had a 1 in 7 twist barrel which likes heavier bullets than the common 55 gr. stuff. Try some 69 grain ammo first. Another is the orfice in the gas block. Gundoc and others make smaller orfices to tame down the action a bit, which won't throw the empties as far, and may help accuracy as well.

Ruger's website has manuals available for download, by serial number range, that should give you the twist rate for your barrel.

There are a lot of "fixes" for them which can go from mild to wild and pricey. Start with an ammo change and work from there.

Myron

The Mini is the US Made AK.

It shoots every time.

You can drive yourself insane looking for AR accuracy from a Mini.

Put a dot sight on it and use it for home defense. That's where it will shine.

Minute of Grapefuit is fine accuracy inside a house.


BMT

Also look into getting an adjustable gas block.
Keeps the brass from busting windshields and going on holiday.

Get an Accustrut, will help a lot.
Google is your friend

This one is a 188 series. Gun Doc did the trigger work, and supplied the smaller gas port bushing. Muzzle brake helped a lot with accuracy.
Mine likes M855 62 grain MilSurp ammo, and will give two inch or less groups all day long. Sight is a Vortex Strikefire.

Sam:

Nice looking rifle. My Mini-14 shoots 4-5" groups and I'd like to tighten it up. I've tried the Accu-strut with limited results (down form 6"). Who is "Gun Doc" and what did the work cost?

djs,
read my post above - it tells you who gundoc is and where to get the info.

Myron

I bought the ATI kit for mine. Admittedly its mostly for show but it does give it a mean look.

djs, speedsixman has the right info. Gun Doc did my trigger some years back, I forget what the cost was. The muzzle brake helped a lot, and heavier bullets are more accurate in mine than say 45 or 55 grain stuff. My handloaded 64 grain Winchesters are accurate enough for most things.

You can find a lot of good info over at perfect union website.

I bought my mini about 12 years ago. Took it out, and it was a minute of grapefruit shooter.

I made the following mods:

Trigger job
Hogue stock
Bedded and pinned the action
Downsized gas port
Torqued gas block
Shortened barrel to 16.5"
Installed recoil buffer.

It will now shoot almost to 2" with a few different types of ammo, and this gun loves winchester white box 45gr jhp's. It will keep those to about 1.5 or a little under.

I'm not picking of prarie dogs at 400 yards with it, but it is hell on jackrabbits and coyotes. I've had many a jack out there at 200 plus scoff at the mini, much to their detriment.

Handi rifle that just processes whatever crappy ammo you can throw at it without a hiccup or complaint. It wasn't a great out of the box shooter, but with a little work and not a lot of $, it shoots quite well.

I've since bought a nice little LMT AR (more or less as a FU to Feinstein and crowd, and bought that on the day she last introduced the AW ban), but will be keeping the mini.

This company can make the mini 14 shoot well but they are not cheap.

http://www.accuracysystemsinc.com/index.php

+1

I got one 10 or 20 years ago. Back when 223 was cheap, it was great fun

I gave up on the AR accuracy part.