Mini 14 accuracy

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Try different ammo and if your trigger sucks send it to these guys. I have a Mini Tactical with the shorter barrel and it shoots almost as good as a AR. The trigger was over 5 lbs. Sent the trigger assembly here and it is now 3 lbs. Scared me at first!

They do great work and fast turn around, like a week!

For $55 it is well worth it. The put a trigger stop on also.

http://brimstonegunsmithing.com/
 
This thread helps explain why no one ever got shot on the A-Team. They wanted realism. :D
 
The OP was looking for suggestions about how to improve his rifle and now folks are just dumping on the gun. It's not exactly news that older mini's strung badly as they heat up.

Two of these and a short section of 1/2" steel conduent worked quite well as a homemade accustrut replacement. At least in my experience got reasonable working accuracy from an older mini for less than the cost of one mag of ammo.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tactical-Ba...ltDomain_0&hash=item4628ef6ea0#ht_2595wt_1345
 
$700-$800? All I saw on this thread was a home made strut.
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A new production Mini14 will cost north of $700 in most locations - the point being made was that Ruger's new price is pretty dear for a rifle that may not have the accuracy to be a solid 200+ yard gun.

Having said that - a new Mini14 will have a heavier, more accurate barrel than the older production units and is arguably close to par with the low end AR15's for open-sighted accuracy.
 
A new production Mini14 will cost north of $700 in most locations - the point being made was that Ruger's new price is pretty dear for a rifle that may not have the accuracy to be a solid 200+ yard gun.

Having said that - a new Mini14 will have a heavier, more accurate barrel than the older production units and is arguably close to par with the low end AR15's for open-sighted accuracy.
Click to expand...

The $700-$800 I mentioned was the amount a poster said you'd have to spend to make a mini shoot, not the price of the gun.
 
If I already had a Mini-14 I would want to improve it. If I were starting from scratch, I must say I would get an AR. But this thread is for people wanting to improve accuarcy of a Mini-14 they already own.

You see a lot of .30 M1 Carbines that shoot 3"-4" at 100 yards and that's considered acceptable. What was the Mini-14 intended to replace for most shooters?

I have heard that for the Mini-14 Ruger went for light total weight and unluckily chose a combination of barrel thickness and length 18" with horrible harmonics (vibration or whip). Ruger should have realized that a lot people who want a .223 want gopher @ 200yd not coyote @ 75yd accuracy.

Newer Rugers with thicker or shorter barrels are more accurate. The older guns' barrels can be shortened to 16.5", have weight/length added with a "flash hider" or "muzzle brake", or have a strut bar attached to reduce whip or vibration.

(I am tempted to suggest full length stock with full length handguard like the Lee Enfield to dampen vibration or harmonic whip. Compare accuracy of a full stock Lee Enfield or a Mosin to a "sporterized" version with exposed thin barrel. Besides, the look of a "Mini-M1 Garand" might actually appeal to some people.)
 
The $700-$800 I mentioned was the amount a poster said you'd have to spend to make a mini shoot, not the price of the gun.
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Actually, the quote that you're quarreling with was:

To make a mini do that, you're looking at $1,500+ after paying ~$700 for the gun and dropping another $700-$800 for a place like ASI to work it over and install a new tube
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And that's an accurate quote - the rifle sells for $700 and ASI will charge you $650-$800 to accurize the rifle via one of their packages.

http://www.ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/ruger_mini_prices.php

I'm not bashing the Mini - I have more than a handful of them, in all factory chamberings, and I do think well of them. I just want to make sure that we're all actually having the same discussion.
 
You can do whatever you want to the barrel of an older one but if you do not smooth out the trigger it's still gonna jerk when you shoot it.

Carry on.
 
Actually, the quote that you're quarreling with was:


Quote:
To make a mini do that, you're looking at $1,500+ after paying ~$700 for the gun and dropping another $700-$800 for a place like ASI to work it over and install a new tube

And that's an accurate quote - the rifle sells for $700 and ASI will charge you $650-$800 to accurize the rifle via one of their packages.

http://www.ruger-mini-14-firearms.co...ini_prices.php

I'm not bashing the Mini - I have more than a handful of them, in all factory chamberings, and I do think well of them. I just want to make sure that we're all actually having the same discussion.
__________________
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I don't know what you think I got wrong. I quoted a poster that said you have put $800 into a mini to make it shoot and you quoted him saying exactly that.
No one had mentioned ASI up to that point much less offered proof their services where absolutely required to make a mini shoot.
 
$700-$800? All I saw on this thread was a home made strut.
Click to expand...

No one had mentioned ASI up to that point much less offered proof their services where absolutely required to make a mini shoot.
Click to expand...

If you want a sub-MOA mini, that's what it takes. If you're content with ~2, 2-1/2 MOA, then a cheap strut may be enough.
 
Jeepers, dudes. Let's keep this productive and honor THR principals.

I think the idea that Mini's don't shoot is kinda silly - they are known for being overgassed and uber reliable. So long as a decent magazine is used they are probably on par with any AK in the "it shoots" department. Maybe I missed a memo somewhere but sure seems like "it shoots" was a problem for some other popular gun design until fairly recently.

Anyway, what constitutes acceptable accuracy is pretty subjective and requires a lot of context. So before we get lost in the "how-small-does-it-shoot" thickets let's be realistic about what people are trying to accomplish. We all know anything under 2MOA is decent performance given the limitations of the mini platform, so unless the OP is asking specifically for something else that's probably the best discussion to have.
 
Mine, an older GB surplussed from the MS Highway Patrol, is an accurate rifle. I easily get 3 inch groups at 100, and that is great for me. Coyote or rabid racoons are my targets (or potentially bad men, I suppose) and it does the job just fine.
 
I agree with just about everyone. Got mini because I liked looks (still do), but accuracy was so bad even off a rest I traded it at a gun show. As someone else said, I built an AR out of various parts and never looked back. It reliably shot moa at 100 yards all the time at 100 yards.
 
Ruger, for some reason, can't make barrels. Never been able to figure that out. Here's a thought tho, at 9 power, the closer you get to the muzzle the greater the parallax. Crank the power down to 4 and see if it makes a diff. All the mini's I have fired have been strictly spray and pray weapons.
 
I used my Minis as fun guns-plinking & deer hunting until my body don't let me anymore.
When I want dead on target I pull out my Savage 12FV bolt heavy barrel ( 10 # ) 223
with a 24 X scope & make a big hole in the center of the target
Have fun
H
 
Ruger, for some reason, can't make barrels
Click to expand...

They seem to do OK on the bolt guns. My KM77VT holds an average .72 MOA for 5 shots @ 200 yards with my handloads. I'm not a Ruger fan by any stretch, but they did alright for me on that rifle. Of course, if I'd waited just a little longer, I could have bought a 700 VLS, but it wasn't available in .220 swift at that time. However, I don't think a VLS would shoot much better, just prefer Remington and the adjustable Walker trigger.
 
UPDATE #2
2nd range test, same parameters EXCEPT use 4 pieces 1/2" x 12" key stock clamped in 3 places to barrel 90 degrees apart.

Out of Fiocchi factory ammo, substitute Rem 55 SP for beginning and ending baseline groups.
Rem begin 1 1/2" and end 1 5/8"

H4198 50 gr Hornady Varmint
20.0 gr 5/8" FTE
20.5 gr 13/16" FTE
21.0 gr 1 3/4" FTF partial
21.5 gr 3/4", 1/2"
22.0 gr 1 1/8", 1 1/4"

Sooooo it looks like we're getting there. I'll continue to test different loads to get a better sampling, but 21.5 gr looks good with H4198.
Next step is to turn a custom barrel sleeve to replace unsightly key stock. May take a little while depending on work load, but I'll keep you posted.

I hope we can finally find an economical way to make the Mini group.
Later, catpop
 
Could you post a photo of the rifle so I can see what you are describing? I am unfamiliar with key stock and what you are doing with it.
 
Couple of years back there was a boat load of stuff on making Mini-14 and Ranch Rifles shoot better.

Lots of photos, too.

One would think that taking the high road would mean either offering folks meaningful assistance or simply not commenting.

Some folks have reported improvements with variations on the accustrut idea, from expensive purpose made units to simple mini Maglite instalations with two mounts and every thing in between. Up stream is a link to ebay for such mounts and the cost to try it with an existing Maglite (or heck maybe even a bit of old rebar laying around) would be under $6.

Other have reported inprovements by simply using a pin on flash suppressor/ muzzle break to change barrel harmonics.....I am still looking for one of the first of these I ever saw back in the 1970s that looks like an M-14 service rifle flash suppressor with front signt ears that used the mini front sight myself.....though some insist that best accuracy comes from having the barrel threaded and such a muzzle device screwed on and sodered.

Some have reported success from removing a bit of the barrel, as little as 1/2 inch in some reports of going SBR in others or as above going SBR and wielding on something to make 16 inches again.

Some have suggested modifications to the trigger group, from sending it off to specialist to simply polishing parts your self.

It has been mentioned that the gun is over gassed and some believe this is responsible for some accuracy problems. There are DIY gas blocks with varying size gas ports to soften the action. One basically tuned the Mini/ranch rifle to the ammo they normally use rather than having a shoots anything rifle.

If you want to spend big money there have been folks that custom make barrels and install them.

I try to keep in mind that when Ruger was first doing news releases on the Mini (and it had neat mini M-1 Garand/ M-14 sights in prototypes) they were initially talking about the Mini being a Law Enforcement Only rifle. When "Bill" did release them to the public he did not want us common folks to have the 20 round magazines developed with the rifle (lord I wish I had the pile of LEO only marked on box 20 rounders I bought at the Graf Rod and gun, sold them with the stainless when I needed money).

Keep in mind this was a rifle to replace 25 to 30 year old M-1 Carbines that had often been ridden hard and put up wet in the trunk of police cruisers. Before the feds sort of surplused M-16 A1s to LEAs a mini was cheaper for sheriff Andy to buy than a SP1. Keep in mind that LE shootings beyond 75 meters are almost non existant unless they terminate at unarmed women trying to care for their families. (sorry politics snuck in). In a day when the two most common department rifles an LEO had access to were a shot out M-1 Carbine or a Winchester 1894 in .30-30 they Mini-14 looked like a pretty good deal.

They were never meant to be a 450 meter service rifle. Don't expect them to be.

Do you complain and moan because your Nylon 66 is not as accurate as your 54 Anshultz? Or your Anshultz does not shoot as fast as your Nylon 66?

A mini is what it is, you can make it better though not as good as SOME other rifles in accuracy.

-kBob
 
Sirgilligan,
I'll try to post pic, but don't really know how to yet.
Keystock is nothing more than material used to make keys for machinery. Keys fit in slots cut in shafts and pulleys to keep them from spinning against one another.
Picture four 1/2" x 1/2" x 12" pieces of steel laying parrellel to the bore and clamped on with 3 hose clamps. Hope this helps.
Catpop
 
If I can shoot a perfect score of 100 out of 100 at fifty yards with the mini 14 irons you should at least do that or better at 100 yards with that scope.
 
Tnxdshooter,
That's great marksmanship!
One question: what is your mini's group size at that range? I'm not familiar with the size of the "10" circle.
The best group I could get with a 9 power scope was 2 1/2" at 80 yards. It appears your mini may be capable of much better.
Congrats,
Tx, catpop
 
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