Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Are AR-15's really that much more accurate than the Mini - 14?

Interesting observations.

I have a new Mini that shoots about as well as their test sample's did. I have an old Mini that shoots about that well too but I poured money on it to get it there. They both suffer from groups widening when they heat up.

I do like using them to hunt with better than an AR. They also seem more reliable. They are a whole lot harder to modify into a target gun than an AR. I am not sure that the cost to do so is that much different.

The Mini-30 results are so different from my experiences that I almost want to try a new on but I swore off.

My own AR seems to do better than their test examples with iron sights or with a scope. The one my youngest son built last winter shoots about like their test rifles.

I have a friend who has several AR's. He has at least one, a CAR that
exhibits terrible accuracy. About like an early Mini-30 [4-12" groups, worse when hot].

I see this argument often
I don't see them the same in many ways except caliber
I like them both in different ways

If I want to be super accurate grab my 527 or predator
Hank

Got a buddy that feels the same way you do, Oh.

Haven't bought a beer after a range session in years.

Wouldn't own a 14, but respect the $ they've saved me.

Why is it that the people who make money and careers shooting .223s all shoot ARs? All of them. Every single one of them.

Must be a Jewish banking cartel fluoride conspiracy.

The AR-15 is mentioned in the Protocols of Zion, and everyone knows Stoner was a Mason-Jew-Bilderberger.

Ahem, I really did have a Mini-14 that would do MOA. Unfortunately I believed it to be illegal in California, and sold it before I moved there (they weren't )

And I have seen one 5.56 AR that honestly would do only 3.5MOA before I replaced the barrel. And a .300 Blackout that would do 1.75MOA only with handloads.

But in general, I think the AR on average will outshoot Minis, and will be a more ergonomic rifle. I still have an old Mini, and one day I'll do some more work with it.

And I once knew an ordinary looking 16 year old girl who could bench press 160 lbs.

Generally, the Mini is likely the most inaccurate rifle you can buy new.

And I don't even mean guys who have to shoot ARs (military, etc.). But guys whose job it is to shoot .223s as quickly, accurately and reliably as possible. None of them choose to shoot Minis. None.

I own 2 minis, love them for what they are. They will not ever be as accurate as an AR, IMO. I had one back in the 80's, as the old saying goes, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

The newer ones are much better. I took a chance on one like 6 years ago when it was near impossible to find anything chambered in 223/556. I was pleasantly surprised. It is not a bench rest quality rifle by any means and it would not be my first choice on a prairie dog shoot. A SHTF, grab and go rifle, oh hell yes. But that's because I don't own any ARs anymore(yet).

They myth that Mini 14s are more reliable than than a quality AR platform rifle is simply that, myth. We still have the odd Mini show up at patrol rifle schools, and to a fault, every one of them has issues when run hard. There is nothing about a Mini that lends itself to more reliability. Everything about the gun is more complex.

I dont quite grasp why they still make the stupid things, and who buys them.

I owned a Mini 14 once. Bought it for a song on one side of the gun show and sold it to some one who really liked that funky folding stock before I left the same show at a nice profit. Still have my Ar's....

my best one was one I bought in 1977 or 78 for $135.00, the next one a SS version with folding stock I bought in 81 or 82 would not hit a 55 gallon barrel at 100 yards with 55 grain FMJ ammunition. Fool me once shame on you, fool me 4 times shame on me...

granted I love the handiness of the mini if it were $499 and an honest 2MOA gun then I would buy one tomorrow.

I have a friend trapped in California who dumped a lot of money into a Mini because that was all he could do at the time. I think the best it ever did was about 1.5-2 moa after a barrel change, new stock, and a barrel tuner. Even then it would hold it for about 20 rounds and start going all over the place.

I had the joy of zeroing about 75 patrol rifles for an unenlightened agency that thought you could just throw them in cars like a shotgun. Ever single one (collapsible stock carbines with chrome pencil barrels) had the zero confirmed by shooting less than a 2moa group at 100 yards with duty ammo.

I admit liking the looks and even the handling of the mini but they just dont perform as well as they should. It is the same reason that kept me from getting an M-14 scout, two much money for an outdated system.

A friend many years ago had a Shilen put on his. In the end IIRC he dropped about 1000 bucks into the gun, and with handloads it would shoot under MOA. Fairly reliably too.

This was late 80s.

I just don't see these days paying for a mini and dumping another grand into it, to make it what almost any AR is capable of with the right handloads.

Then there is the adaptability portion of the AR platform too.

Even the M1As we bought that were rack grade, would shoot sub moa with the right ammo.
Granted tuning them cost a 500 buck stock, and I forget... probably 2-300 upgrades plus a new Shilen barrel, and 150 bucks of bedding to get htem really solid reliable repeatable guns.

But I've yet to have seen a stock mini that would shoot MOA or just under as is. They are probably as rare as an AR that shoots over MOA wiht the right ammo also.

The debate will rage on
I have a couple stock Mini 30s my favorite is wood/SS

Its pretty accurate it does string them up when it gets hot
First couple shots really good

but I giggle like a little girl everytime I shoot it
Plus I can take kids up and for 5.00 a box let them shoot with no meters in the ammo can

Just take it out and have fun

Hank

What Jeff said. The Mini-14/30 platform is crap

The Mini 14 will soon be dead and gone,the AR has advanced by far more and it controls the market.I've shot better groups with pistols at 50 yards than any Mini I've shot.
Surprised Ruger is still trying...

I like the mini for how it handles. It just feels right, and some guys prefer the look and action. That being said, my best mini is worse than my worst AR. In fact, my best mini doesn't even equal the groups I get from either of my iron sighted Winchester M94's. I have an old and a new mini and they group the same.

The mini is a heartbreaker. It will throw out a good three shot group now and then. Maybe even a good five shot group. Just enough to string you along into thinking you may have the gun figured out (of course, the good groups are a statistical anomaly). Then the next group will be 6-8 inches. I am convinced when mini guys report their group size they are reporting the single best 3-shot group they ever got out of an entire case of ammo.

In addition, it will try its hardest to ruin whatever class you have on the rifle, as well as the windshield of your truck if you park close enough the brass can hit it. Minimum safe distance from the ejection port of a mini is about 15 yards. Once I actually embedded a piece of brass into a wood post as it was ejected by the mini.

In addition, my most reliable mini is less reliable than my least reliable AR. Both of my mini's have had to go back to ruger, where the replaced the bolt assembly in each. I have no idea why. They seem to run now, but who knows? All that being said, I do have a soft spot for the mini (when I don't want to wrap it around a tree). I think the mini best serves in the same role as an iron sighted .30-30. Think of it as a model 94 firing a weaker cartridge that goes bang more times before it needs to be reloaded. And is less accurate. And is probably less reliable. And is more expensive.

I got sucked into the 'new minis are better than the old ones' and bought a new one. I tell my friends that was doubling down on stupid. All this comes from a guy that still wants to like the mini more than an AR. It just hard to spend more on a mini and get so much less than even a cheap AR. I plan to not triple down on stupid. As always, your mileage may vary (but probably won't).

The Mini-14 weedles you - it tricks you into putting money into it. Give me back my dollar!

I will comment on old Minis, with the stupid slick plastic buttplate, that if you at least glue some rubber strips to the plate, so it doesn't squirt around on your shoulder, they will shoot better.

I have one of the old 180 series rifles. I'm getting tempted to fire it up, just to see what it will really do

The AR today is no doubt a better rifle for hard use, after its decades of development. It didn't have that reputation, though, in the 1970's, and many thought a scaled down M14-style action would have superior reliability. Bill Ruger was no dummy at judging his markets, so it's easy to see why the gun was popular at first.