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

this!

I have a Rock river arms Lar 15 and I have shot groups as small as .295 with a handload using Benchmark powder and the Sierra 52 gr hp.

Unlikely. Not sure why, but people go nut for them

Really enjoying this thread. It has all been said here about the comparison.

My 1 pristine safe queen mini-14 is never going to shoot like my AR's.. Ever. I came to grips with that a long time ago. Honestly, if I was getting 1.5-2'' groups in a 5 or 10 shot group out of my mini-14, I'd think I died and went to heaven.

I bought the mini off a TX State Trooper in '05, headed for the bayou just after Wilma hit NO and the LA coastline. At the time, I bought it for the M14 open-bolt cool factor, its pristine condition, and to bolster 5.56 friendly platforms.

I've never been sorry for a nickel I spent on my mini. It has functioned flawlessly. I still own it for the reasons I bought it, beauty, fun factor, and SHTF factor.

For $500, I've got a completely outfitted little 5.56 lead slinger that sits in its own bugout bag with multiple magazines and 300 rds of ammo.


But.. if I am finding society is breaking down, I can put a mini in a family member, neighbor, or friend's hand.

I love my mini for what it is.

The problem with that idea is that he probably won't be able to hit anything with it under about 25 yards and that will be iffy.

To answer the original question, for most of the life of the Mini 14, "yes, they are that much more accurate than the Mini,". About any store bought AR is adequately accurate for whatever purpose short of competition and many are accurate for that task too, dependent upon the type of competition.

The caveat is that supposedly the new Mini's are more accurate. I don't know what year it changed because to me it makes no difference. They weren't accurate enough for many years so lots of guys got soured on them. Combine that with the fact that most times you can buy an AR as cheap and possibly cheaper than the Mini and you have a situation that is "why?". The only possible reason I can think of is the guys that just hate the aesthetics of an AR and those guys are dying off at an alarming rate since most of us alive now have been seeing the AR since we were kids.

Dying off at an alarming rate, lol. That gets a GFY. Lol. I am under 50.

I got a good chuckle, thanks.

I have no objective evidence of it, but my guess is that a lot of the guys that hate the looks of any black gun are the pre-Vietnam era generations that are going fast. Most of us alive today grew up seeing the M-16 on TV in one war or another, if not using it. It's not that there aren't some thirty and forty somethings that don't like AR's. I just have the feeling that most of that crowd are older.

That's a good point one of my hunting partners is 73 and no ARs for him. Even at 73 he is always looking for the new and improved.
He says his wife doesn't want him to have one but I think if he wanted one he would have 3
He has Minis

Hank

Most of the older guys I knew didn't care for them. They prefer a 1911 to a Glock also.

dang them new fangled guns...

I still do... prefer a 1911

It's easy to forget, but until late 1980's our "gun culture" was in a sort of Victorian era; Viz. black rifles, riot guns, concealed carry and referring to firearms as weapons was widely frowned upon.

Sadly despite the plethora of high capacity rifles, not many can shoot them who buys them.

True that.
Old timer with Win '94 might trump pimple-face with AR-15.

Many can shoot them, but few can shoot them accurately enough... LOL.

I remember a match once, it was something in regards to muzzies and 9/11...

They put up a silhouette on a 1x2 all camo'd up with burka and such IIRC. It was after a highpower match.

The ticket was to push it up out of the pits sideways then face the firing line, and walk/run it down for X amount of seconds at 300 yards. Then turn it sideways to withdraw and pull down.

I had a pretty firm 300 yard zero. Winner was most hits... YOu could have a coach...

Iron sights sitting. I got into an NPA that was at the end of the "run" and then swung over to where it started so that I would be pulled by the sling and NPA wanting to go to the end...

Coach gave me a lead correction after the 1st and 2nd shots, but then I had that sight picture memorized and kept after the target. I knew I was close to the end of the run and my 30 round mag with 28 rounds in it. As it turned sideways to withdraw I could still see it, and so fired the last 2 rounds in the mag...

About that time it looked really weird as it dissappeared into the pits.

Finally comes back up by radio I had hit the 1x2 a few times center and as they turned it I hit it at least once sideways which snapped it in half.

Accounting for the miss from the snapped target, IIRC I had 26 hits on the target in the exposure which easily won that match.

One of the "kids" holding the target went onto MTU school with the army and was on teh big team even last I heard years ago. He was laughing, he said he was watching and as he walked now then then splinters would fly so he had to quit looking up... but had this weird floppy feeling as he pulled it down, and then realized I"d just hit a 3/4 wide stick at 300 yards sitting with irons....

In fairness, most of Ruger's rifles were known for spotty accuracy until the early 1990's - then they started hammer-forging their own barrels, and the accuracy of all their rifles improved thereafter. In particular the Minis got heavier barrels, too, at some point in their production, but I forget when. They also started using rubber buttplates at some point, which stay in one spot on your shoulder, which also helps.

I can't think of any thing a Mini can do, that an AR can't do as well. But there are a few things an AR can do, which the Mini also does well - like say fire five rounds at a running yote.

I am poor with irons anymore, however your in a different galaxy from whom I speak....25 yard shooters who are high 5'in it with 4 inch groups at the local gun range.

One thing I thought the mini did better than the AR was swinging it after running jack rabbits, I would start firing and see the bullets hitting behind it in the snow, on the 3rd round the mini would catch up the snow would turn red...

I didn't say I was anywhere near as capable anymore either. LOL. No clue, have not shot a match since 2004 or 2005 basically.

RE a mini as capable of dumping rounds as an AR, well yes, but I'd rather have smaller groups than larger when doing anything.... espcially moving targets as we alreayd have an uncontrollable factor there to start with.

As to swinging smoother on game, taht well could be.

All I know is I did fair with the AR on multiple moving pigs most times I had the chance.

Still want a helo pig hunt bad... just haven't made the time or spent the money to do it. Actually still hoping a friend buys a helo, as he flies them... and finds some folks with a need to thin herds.... would be a blast literally.
Pretty sure I'd stick with the AR though, rather than buy a mini. LOL

I think the 4 mini's I tried cured me of wanting another rifle made by Ruger, if that wasn't enough Bill Ruger's sucking the political weine sure did

Bills traiterous escapades did it for me in the 80s... Right quick.

Thankfully it was before I started an old goal, of having a 77 in every caliber made....I know, I wouldn't ever have bought enough to make a difference from them, but I damn sure won't now.

Quite a few of their guns still have some appeal to me, but will never be bought, unless used as a last resort.

But so many of them are big and clunky to me that it makes no real sense....