Mini-30

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RainDownmyBlues

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So I'm thinking about a mini-30.

To be honest I've never even picked one up. But I like the look, and the action.

I've heard they weren't all that accurate, has that been rectified? I don't need ridiculous accurace, as I don't plan on scoping it. Heck, if I need a tack driver I'll build an AR to the specs of the SDM rifle I carried on my final deployment.

Anyway, opinions, gripes, likes?
 
Price magazines before you buy. Factory mags as the aftermarket ones are mostly junk.

There are other options in 7.62x39 that work better at a lower price. BSW
 
There are other options in 7.62x39 that work better at a lower price
Click to expand...

Yes, but none of them have the handiness of the Mini-30 which handles very much like the M1 Carbine but in a more powerful, less expensive, and more available round.

Ruger factory mags only if you expect your Mini-30 to work.

With the same ammo, my Mini-30 is more accurate off sandbags than any of my AKs, but not as good as my AR in 7.62x39 is.

--wally.
 
Mini 30 is a great little rifle. A lot more accurate than most folks give them credit for. It is handy and reliable and factory mags are comparable in price. Also I had good success with aftermarket 20 and 30 round mags after a little tweeking.The Mini 30 is also a great little deer/varmint rifle.
 
Have to be varmint/coyote. The reason I don't hunt deer is you have to use a shotgun, which I don't like.
 
Coyote mainly. And opossum. I'm off active duty so I moved back to my home town and got a house with my girlfriend. My dad has a lot of land out about 15 miles away. Thinking about building a house out along the river there. Nice chunk of land, but I watched coyotes chasing deer today and only had a shotgun, so that was a no go.
 
I love the mini-30 especially the new 580 series. With a few easy mods like 1911 buffers, trigger job, and a barrel strut they become very accurate. I have a Series 189 (old style) I ramped the breach with a moto tool to make after market mags feed reliably but I would recomend factory mags, even at the higher cost.
 
The Mini-30 580 series WOULD be the best 7.62x39 rifle on the market, including any AK-clone, if not for two game-breaking problems:

1. Magazines. Everyone has said it, and I price it. The cheapest Mini-30 magazines with a capacity greater than ten are National Match. It's a twenty round magazine and it costs 16.99, but if it feeds more than two rounds at a time properly you've bought the good one. Promags are an equal joke, but there is a thirty rounder for under $40. Still, it won't feed well. This is all assuming you actually find some. Midwayusa only now has some in stock.

2. Price of the Rifle. The cheapest 580 series Mini-30 I've seen in the wild was $839.99. For that price you could buy an AK-clone AND 1000 rounds of ammo. With some left over for the magazines.

The Mini-30 580 series has accuracy and the potential for MOA accuracy (accu-strut). It also shares a lot of after-market compatibility with the Mini-14 (stocks and scopes). But until it's price to compete and has magazines, it'll be only a curiosity. Example: "I'm curious if anyone has bought this piece of crap in the past year?"
 
I'm on the Perfect Union forum quite a bit and it has tons of great info for Minis. I suggest you check it out.

Many of the guys there are getting 2-3 MOA with their new Mini-30s. (usally after they retorque the gas block and add a barrel strut of some sort)

My 580 Mini-14 on average does 1.5"-2" groups @ 100 yards. I have a .045 gas bushing, *Accu-strut and a 1911 buffer on the receiver end.
 
Hammerhead6814 said:
The Mini-30 580 series WOULD be the best 7.62x39 rifle on the market, including any AK-clone, if not for two game-breaking problems:

1. Magazines. Everyone has said it, and I price it. The cheapest Mini-30 magazines with a capacity greater than ten are National Match. It's a twenty round magazine and it costs 16.99, but if it feeds more than two rounds at a time properly you've bought the good one. Promags are an equal joke, but there is a thirty rounder for under $40. Still, it won't feed well. This is all assuming you actually find some. Midwayusa only now has some in stock.

2. Price of the Rifle. The cheapest 580 series Mini-30 I've seen in the wild was $839.99. For that price you could buy an AK-clone AND 1000 rounds of ammo. With some left over for the magazines.

The Mini-30 580 series has accuracy and the potential for MOA accuracy (accu-strut). It also shares a lot of after-market compatibility with the Mini-14 (stocks and scopes). But until it's price to compete and has magazines, it'll be only a curiosity. Example: "I'm curious if anyone has bought this piece of crap in the past year?"
Click to expand...
The hi-cap Mini-30 magazines ARE coming from Ruger, just as long as some stupid political garbage doesn't take place first.

I hear ya on the price though. I bought a brand new Mini-30 back in 2003 for $550. I wont even say what I paid for the 580 I have.

However I think $839 would be on the extreme end. I've seen em around my area for 700-750.
 
They are really fun rifles with great sights. From an ergonomics and practical standpoint, mine made me a very good shooter. It's a fun cartridge and it worked well with the gun for me to use as a handy, accurate, irons-only all-around (very pretty) gun. However, when I needed money a few months ago, I had no trouble deciding that among my 10ish gun collection, this was the one I "needed" the least for two reasons.

1. Magazines. I want at least 10 normal capacity (20 rounds+) magazines. I can buy 3 or more AK/AR mags for the price of one Mini 30 magazine and I still can't be confident the M30 mag will work right out of the box.

2. The firing pin would contact but not fire some of my Wolf Steel Case 7.62x39. Some batches (of 1000) would work fine. Others would almost never fire in the Mini.

I paid $600 and sold it for $600. I would buy a good example at this price all day long.
 
I don't need a 30 round magazine. Hell even the 5 rounder would work. can you load from the breech with a stripper?

Also these days are there any advantages to getting the .223 chambered mini-14?

A few of my men had some problems downing enemys with the 5.56, but i don't plan on engaging human targets. As I said, I had a SDM M16A4. 20" barrel with glass, I never had much of a problem. But I also always took two shots if I had the ability.

But with a coyote I don't think it's necessary, but the larger round I still would prefer. As far as I know, most of the accuracy problems have been addressed after the update of the old rifle, correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I owned one of the earlier Mini-30's. Never had any problems with its reliability. It was, however, the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned. Sold it. I've not had good experience with any of the Rugers I've owned. All have been sold and I never missed any one of them.
 
My 189 series Mini30 apparently was an anomaly when it came to accuracy. See post #15 <http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=503414&highlight=Sarah%27s+target> This was with 122 gr. China Sports FMJ.
 
Eh. So many mixed views.

I loved the rifle I carried on my final deployment, but to build an AR like I was issued I would probably drop 1,700 and i don't really want to drop that much coin, I'm getting ready to build a house haha.

I really liked the Garand style action. When I was attached with a Marine unit(odd since I was army) I became good friends with a guy who was the Marine equivalent of my designated marksman. That lucky duck got an updated M14. It could reach longer, and hit harder than my SDM rifle. but again, I don't want to drop nearly 2k on a new Springfield. :banghead:
 
they have factory mini 30 20rd mags already. the only thing i dont like about the mini 30 is that some rifles have trouble with cheep steel cased ammo & their hard primers. brass is fine though. their is alot of good info on the perfect union mini 14 forum. i have the mini 14 & i am verry happy with it.
 
I really want to like the Mini30. It's a Ruger and it's made in the USA.

My Mini30 shoots about anything you can get in the 5-shot magazine and will hit a 9" paper plate nearly every shot at 100 yards. My AK can hit a saucer at that distance. The one Vz58 I shot was better than both of 'em even with steel cased ammo.

The CZ Vz58 is lighter, has better mags and you can get it with a trick folding stock (if you want that sort of thing) for about the same $ as a Mini30 and you won't have to spend the extra $ for all the accurizing tricks.
 
My M-30 wouldn't reliably fire Wolf MC HP which is too bad because I was hoping to use that ammo for defense. 1-2 out of 20 would get a light strike. I recently installed an extra power hammer spring from Wolff to hit the primers a bit harder but it didn't help. I hear that the Brown/Golden/Silver Bear SP use primers that arn't as hard as the WMC so I'll try them next. I still have a half case of older Uly (makers of Wolf MC) that fires reliably for practise so it just depends on the primers that the manufacurer uses. Some cheap imported ammo works, some doesn't.
 
I won't tell you to stay away from the Ruger

they are a great little gun but, all the afformentioned shortcomings are true. A Saiga in 7.62 x39 is just as accurate if not more accurate. They cost less than half the price of a mini-30. They can also be had in 223 or 5.45x39. The 5.45x39 ammo is incredibly cheap right now and is supposedly much more accurate than the 7.62x39.

Also, you could buy or build an AR for the price of a New Mini that would be much more accurate. I just bought a new Bushmaster Optic ready carbine for $850that is shooting sub inch at 100 with anything I put through it. My two heavy barreled Olympics, a 16" and a 20", are both 1/2MOA guns. The 16" cost me $600 new a few years back and the 20" cost me $800. You should be able to build a very good AR for around $800. It doesn't have to cost $1700. You can always add stuff later you know.:D
 
Soon after the presidential election, Ruger decided to sell 20-rd. Mini 14 mags to the public.

In the last few months, they decided to sell 20-round Mini 30 mags to the public.
You can clarify this and learn lots more on 'Perfectunion', 'Mini 14 (and 30)', then 'Magazines'.

Much less money will buy a really good SKS and a peep sight from 'Tech Sight's for about $45, which is made to go on the rear bolt cover, even for an 'AK clone'.

If you exclude the much higher price, and can not resist the better, classic US looks, my ('03) wood/stainless Mini 30 is lots of fun. Now and then it has an ftf with Wolf or Monarch ammo (hard, non-corrosive primers), only on the first strike.
My two metal 10-rd. Promags are pretty reliable and seldom misfeed.
 
+1 on a M-30. Especially the 580 series. Better tolerances and tapered has made them very good guns. Accurate out to 100-150 and still plenty of punch. Mags can get a little pricey, but look at places like CDNN.com ( CDNN Investments) I have never heard of any of the 580's being picky about ammo at all. My 580 Mini-14 eats every thing I feed it without complaint. If you want real time information on the Mini-30 platform then go to http://perfectunion.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=86 and see what the owners of these guns have to say. You will find more complete and accurate information there than anywhere else.
 
Good if you can find soft point or hollow point ammo. FMJ is a poor choice for varmints, and dangerous if you are going to shoot opossoms in trees. Have you thought about a mini 14 in 6.8 spc?
 
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