I got a Mini-30 last year. It shot alright, no malfunctions but it is nothing to write home about. Any ideas as to why it has such average to poor accuracy. With iron sights it shot no better than a WSAR-10 I had. It now has a scope, it tightened up my shot groups some, but my shot groups are still not all that grate. I don't think it is accuarte enough for hunting. I am acctually thinking of selling it. I was thinking it had to do with the fact that7.62x39 is just not a good round for accuarcy, but I got a Yugo M-70 with iron shghts that shoots groups as good as my Mini-30 with a scope. Any ideas as to why.
4" groups are good groups for a Mini. I get better groups out of my SKSes. That is why I have three SKSes and no mini 14s. I would buy them, shoot them, get frustrated and sell them quickly.
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That,s the difference between a sprayandpray shooter and a marksman.A marksman knows a light barrel heats easily so he keeps the heat down.Most scoped Mini-30s will shoot under 2"groups at 100yds if the barrel is kept cool.This may require 10minute cool downs between shots. ,,,sam.
My mini-30 shoots fine for what it is. I have no problem keeping under 2" at 100yds. I don;t let the barrel cool down for 10 minutes between rounds but I don;t heat it up any more than my high-powered centerfires either. The mini-14 is a little different.... it's almost "moody" and even in a good mood scatters them pretty good.
I have shot mid quality Remington Ammo, and real cheep bulk Wolf Ammo. Here is the problem, I have done side by side comparisons, same box of ammo in each rifle, obviously same shooter, me. Each time the Yugo M-70 AK, with open "iron sights", shoots not better groups but the same size groups as my Mini-30 with a scope. It puzzels, me? Is it that my AK just happens to be a really good accurate rifle, or is it that my Mini-30 is just a poor rifle? I was asking to see if anyone else seamed to have similar experiances. It is a fun gun but I am real disapointed with it I expected more.
That,s the difference between a sprayandpray shooter and a marksman.A marksman knows a light barrel heats easily so he keeps the heat down.Most scoped Mini-30s will shoot under 2"groups at 100yds if the barrel is kept cool.This may require 10minute cool downs between shots. ,,,sam.
I don't remember where I read this, But, one of the Ruger big wigs asked why the Ruger shooting teams did not shoot Mini's in competition. The result was that new space rifle Mini.
As was stated, the mini was not ever designed to shoot with AR type accuracy. But, that doesn't mean they are not a fun gun to shoot.
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I was complaining to a co-worker about how my Mini-30 shot and he said that there were two reasons why; 1) that the front sight was attached to the barrel such that as the barrel heats up the sight would be thrown off, kinda what has already been said by Samuel. The other reason he claimed was more technical something about the barrel chamber being based off of .308 case dimensions, not exactly being a perfect fit for a 7.62x39, but enough to get the job done. I cannot imagin Ruger fudging on barrel specs. Another reason I have been told is that western firearms companies never quite got the 7.62x39 right, in other words commi ammo commi gun. Is the Mini-14 any better or does it too suffer from so-so accuracy?
i dont hate em.
they are really cool looking and do what they were designed to do.
and if they were dead nuts accurate without throwing big money at them id own one.
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I don't see how anyone can say a comparably priced AR shoots better than a Mini-14. Yes, a Colt HBAR will hit MOA, but it's and $1300 gun. Getting a Mini-14 and throwing that kind of money at it will get you the same accuracy, with the reliability of the Garand action. Yes, I own both. Both my late 90's Mini-14 and my new 5.56 AR Carbine shoot the same. Difference is, the AR would cost me more money than a new Mini-14. I get 2 MOA out of both of them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jrswanson1
I don't see how anyone can say a comparably priced AR shoots better than a Mini-14. Yes, a Colt HBAR will hit MOA, but it's and $1300 gun. Getting a Mini-14 and throwing that kind of money at it will get you the same accuracy, with the reliability of the Garand action. Yes, I own both. Both my late 90's Mini-14 and my new 5.56 AR Carbine shoot the same. Difference is, the AR would cost me more money than a new Mini-14. I get 2 MOA out of both of them.
Jim
The problem is that you buy a mini-14 for, say, $600...then you have to pay that, plus another $800 or so dollars to get it to shoot sub-MOA. The funny part is that even with one of the "Conservative" upgrade packages that they offer, the cost of which is $400, the accuracy guarantee is only 1.75MOA!!! So, at a minimum, you buy a $600 rifle, put $400 worth of upgrades into it, and you have a $1000 rifle that won't shoot as well as a rack grade AR-15!!
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There are several distinct reasons that SWAT teams and most police departments have not used the Mini-14 since the 1980's. No military unit that I am aware of uses the Mini-14. With the Mini-14 you get: poor accuracy, dreadful ergonomics, a limited supply of serviceable magazines, tons of aftermarket magazines that do not work right, lack of modularity or mission-specific tailoring of the rifle. With the AR-15, you get just the opposite of all of these.
__________________ "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."
