I’m a bit of a Ruger fan boy but it’s not really about brand loyalty, its mostly because Ruger, in my opinion and experience, makes guns that are brutally rugged and durable. And thats kind of a quality thats important to me. I love me some Smith and Wesson, but I think that, over a lifetime of medium- and heavy-handloads, the Ruger product will hold up better. Is it as nicely finished as the Smith? No. Is it bulkier than the Smith? Usually. But when handguns have been illegal for twenty years and getting spare parts is not part of the equation any more, I suspect Ruger will the the boomtoy that’s still chugging along.
And before anyone chimes in, yeah Bill Ruger stabbed gun owners in the back. But..he’s been dead for almost 25 years and every restrictive policy he had has been quietly relegated to the dustbin of corporate history. If you really want to boycott Ruger from something from 25 years ago, be my guest…but be consistent. Smith collaborated with the feds on restrictive firearms policies too. And Colt knocked the bayonet lugs off their AR’s long before the 1994 Assault Weapons ban. So..be consistent.
Anyway, I’ve always had a fascination with the Mini-14. Back in the day, if you wanted a .223 (or 5.56) carbine to face down the invading Red hordes with, you were either gonna have a Colt AR or a Mini-14. (Yes, there were other .223’s out there…Valmet, HK, etc….but they were rare and expensive exceptions). The Mini-14, back in those days, was the cheaper alternative to the AR. Nowadays it is wildly reversed with a regular Mini-14 dealering out at around 1/3 to 1/2 again as expensive as a mid-tier AR.
But…I’ve always kinda like the Mini-14 for its old-world style. As such, I couldn’t resist but pick up Rugers 50th anniversary model of the Mini.
The walnut stock is a nice touch. Unfortunately, with the demise of Tapco, the number of readily avaialble, and reliable, aftermarket mags has dropped to zero. Fortunately I stocked up on the Tapco’s when I had the chance. And, with a carefully thought out buying plan, I can probably swing a factory mag or two every month for the next year or so.
Does this thing do anything better than an AR? Well, it flies under the radar a little better, but thats about it. But, not every gun has to be for serious situations. Still, while it would never be my first choice for running out the door, there are far worse choices. Nah, this thing is just for fun and a bit of nostalgia…although, I suppose if worst comes to worst, it could be pressed into yeoman service and do the job.
By the by, I guarantee you that the comments will include something about how someone bought a Mini-14 in 1989 and couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn if they were standing in it. The oderl Mini’s definitely had a reputation for….shall we say….’questionable accuracy’. However, the new barrel design and assembly has alleviated that problem. To my old eyes, its about as accurate as an open sighted AR.
This’ll be the last Mini-14 I buy unless I come across a used one at a very good price. These things are simply too expensive for what they are to buy new. But…I really liked the looks of this one with its walnut stock, M1 sling setup, flash hider, and bayo lug.
The old Mini 14s really were that bad. Even if you were inside the barn, you might still miss its broadside. I sold my old Mini 14, and that’s the only gun I’ve sold that I don’t regret selling.
Traded mine for a Rem 700LR in .300WM, threaded brake, bipod, Timney trigger, 35mm one-piece mount, Viking sling and hard case that had less than a box and one elk hunt through it.
Thought it was a good deal.
Funny you bought this Ruger because I also have wanted one for years now and the price has always deterred me from pulling the trigger so to speak. And I agree with you on Ruger robustness and longevity. I however would buy the mini Tactical 30 in 300 BLK as this round has such versatility in terms of tactical ( ie; defensive use) and hunting with bullet weight choices from 110 grain up to 220. As a handloader it’s a very cool caliber.
I have one of the early police models with the stainless steel barrel and a bayonet lug. Is it as accurate as pretty much any AR? Naw. But it will do minute of criminal all day long which is what it was designed for back in the day as were all firearms then.
Pinpoint accuracy wasn’t something that was worried about until fairly recently.
It has been utterly reliable. They have been called the “American AK” for good reason.
Back in the early ’80’s when I became an adult, the Mini-14 was the ranch carbine of choice. Colt were about 4x the price unless you had the wherewithal to build you own. One of my Uncle’s friends built his own HBAR for what I recall was nearly two grand. The Ruger was available with factory 5 round and a large aftermarket of magazines that were all over the place regarding availability. Ram-Line advertised a plastic magazine that supposedly fit the Ruger Mini, the Colt and the Armalite AR-180. What could go wrong ?
Other than the M1 Carbine, the Ruger had a lot of the market all to itself. The A-Team was equipped with them and many police squad cars had them in the back trunk rack. Not renown for accuracy with FMJ bulk rounds but a pie plate within 100 yards was in danger. And reliable – yes, that. Really weird that the AR platform became so inexpensive while the Ruger price went through roof.
For the preparedness crowd, having a Min-14, Mini-30 and Garand had a trio of rifles with similar 1) sights – 2) loading bolt – 3) safety locations. So practicing with one helped with muscle memory for the others. A real pity that the 7.62 NATO version of this design was unable to be debugged.
Interestingly, you can pretty much get the same advantage, such as it is, from the AR platform since AR’s are available in all those calibers and even a couple magnums.
True, but 45 years ago, this AR barrel switch out was not an option. Most of these cartridges did not even exist.
You see what old pharts like me had to go through ? :^)
It was a good thing the surplus firearms market in late 80’s – early 90’s and the 2nd wave came to pass.
Re: The A-Team
I used to watch the A-Team when I was a kid, decided my .223 would be a Bushmaster since the A-Team never hit anybody with those mini-14’s. 😂
Agreed, the mini is a fun toy, and a reasonable purchase, years ago when all else was too expensive… as I got mine in the early 90’s. Over the years, I dressed it out and personalized it to work for me… Professionally drilled and tapped it for mounting a scope, and changed out the ghost site for a “v” grove.
The mag problem was solved when I discovered a perfect clone of the factory mag… Galati international, as they offered a line of steel mags made by John Mason… so I loaded up on their 20 round mags… My last upgrade was the Samson folding stock which is a quality piece… When it first went public, the waiting period was about 5 months. But once it was on the rifle, was worth the wait… The biggest con I have is if one scopes their mini, in order to fully clean it, you have to pull the rotating bolt out… and the scope must be pulled in order to do so… hence, re-zeroing… Now-a-days, quality quick release mounts are available so hopefully this will defeat that issue…
Over all, an interesting piece in the inventory of my collection…
Price difference is old school building the rifle from near scratch vs. building a rifle from standardized parts made by others. Mine is a 187 model with the 1/7 twist. Shot poorly (hard to remember but I believe is was 9 to 10 inch patterns… er, groups. Went to work. 45 buffer on the recoil spring to soften the slam, bedded with epoxy, aftermarket barrel stabilizer to stiffen the pencil barrel and bonus heat sink to keep it cooler. At the range a young Marine was admiring it and I let him shoot a couple mags. He managed 3/4 inch group ten rounds at 75 yards. Repeated it three times. He wanted to buy it really bad. Told him it was the wife units rifle and she had a 20 ga that she was really good with.
Hi. I’m John. It’s been 75 days since I bought a …er…uh I mean 2 days since I bought a gun……..Seems like you are doing a little better with your habit… that rifle should be called “seduction” because it is just makes your fingers want to fondle it.
Back in the day, I was informed that the reason behind the indifferent accuracy was the somewhat random twist rates found in their barrels. Determining that, and matching appropriate bullet weights would address the problem to a large extent.
I never fired the one I had, so no personal experience for reference. (Had a NiB SS folding GB that got sold to a TX collector after an injury.)
I have one of the Ruger ranch carbines. It eats both 223 and 5.56 and also uses AR mags. Nuts on accurate out to 300 yards. It is a bolt action which is very solid. Good gun overall.
Are you talking about the bolt action carbines? I know some of the ruger bolt guns take AR mags but I’ve never seen a mini14 that did.
Yes. Ruger American I think is the model looks like a carbine but shoots better than the mini 14. Short barrel threaded for a slicencer or flash hider.
Really like it.
I’ve got an 80’s model Mini-14. The 50th Anniversary model has me checking my savings account!
So they solved the crappy accuracy problem, and provided a new one?
Ruger, being Ruger.
That bayonet lug two and a half bayonet handles’ distance back from the muzzle insures two things:
1) If you ever try to mount one and poke someone, you’ll penetrate almost deep enough to piss them off, before they make that weapon your new suppository
2) If by some miracle you catch them in the neck and they actually suffer harm enough to mean business, your new Ruger will now have the exact same accuracy as their legacy Mini-14s.
Huzzah. Like I said, Ruger being Ruger.
Pity they didn’t opt for a little more walnut downstream to make the bayonet mount worth something besides dead weight, or better yet, stand up, let a clue hit them in the forehead, and put picatinny hardware or M-Lok mounts forward, to hold something useful, like a weapons light, an aiming laser, or somesuch item with actual functional utility.
And for the commenter that mentioned the Mini’s use by TV’s A-Team, it’s also worth noting that in the entire run of the series, the total number of bad guys they actually (simulatedly – which, if it isn’t a word, ought to be) shot with them remains at absolutely zero. But they killed thousands of empty cardboard boxes subjected to SFX spark pellet hits and squibs. The only way TV Minis could have done any damage worth noting would be if they’d used the incompetent propTart from Rust, or if they’d started swinging them by the muzzle like Davy Crockett. Neither is a ringing endorsement of the item.
They were affordable ersatz substitutes for ARs at best, or as a replacement for an M-1 carbine, but I sold my one and only Mini-14 a decade or more in the past, and miss it not a whit. It’s too expensive to plink with, and my money’s better spent on ammunition for any of a brace of ARs, or M-1As.
FWIW, the only three things Ruger’s done right are fixing its abysmal accuracy (using the phrase “Mini-14 Accuracy” is very close to an oxymoron, but I’ll take it on faith that you’re right about that happening), putting a proper carbine sling cut in the stock, and selling magazines bigger than 5 rounds to ordinary customers now that Bill (and his latter-life fuddite outlook on who should buy what) is cold, dead, and buried, where he and it belongs.
But that’s not still not enough to get me to buy another one.
Maybe if it had a compass in the stock, and a thing which tells time. 😛
OT: CZ,
Being busy away from regular haunts, I missed Paratus this year, despite your timely reminder of its advent. So I have some things to get in the mail for you belatedly. They sit here on the shelf and mock my inattention, so hopefully telling you about it will help my follow through.
Best Wishes.