mini 14 question

[MTMilitiaman]

I have a Romanian AK that will do about 4 MOA, which is about as accurate as I've ever seen a Mini shoot. The difference is that the AK does it with cheap steel cased Wolf while the Mini fails to improve with better quality domestic loads and multiple handloads. And of course, even with the work I've put into my bottom of the barrel Romanian, it still cost me hundreds less than the cost of a Mini, and is also far more reliable.

I have seen a Mak-90 with iron sights shoot circles around a scoped Ranch rifle and I have an honest 2 MOA Yugo SKS I'll put against a Mini-14 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I've heard reports of MOA Minis but as far as I am concerned, they are like unicorns--everyone has heard of them but no one has ever seen one. Or at least I haven't. Until then, I'll believe it when I do see it.

 

[Candiru]

My Mini and my dad's (both 580 series) are about 2 MOA rifles with surplus FMJ.

 

[msgsummit]

This whole mini14 accuracy debate is silly.... if 2-3 MOA (from a 580 series) is considered inaccurate....Man, I just don't know what to say. Even 4 MOA is "Minute of Felon" if not Minute of Head". What's the deal?? Why is this considered terrible accuracy? I don't ever hear any body complain about the accuracy of an M1 Garand, which is a 3-5 MOA weapon.

 

[niteowl]

This whole mini14 accuracy debate is silly.... if 2-3 MOA (from a 580 series) is considered inaccurate....Man, I just don't know what to say. Even 4 MOA is "Minute of Felon" if not Minute of Head". What's the deal?? Why is this considered terrible accuracy? I don't ever hear any body complain about the accuracy of an M1 Garand, which is a 3-5 MOA weapon.

Exactly.

Sturm Ruger is a company that people love to hate. It doesn't matter if the friggin thing shot sub MOA out of the box, people would still find excuses to hate it.

 

[benEzra]

This whole mini14 accuracy debate is silly.... if 2-3 MOA (from a 580 series) is considered inaccurate....Man, I just don't know what to say. Even 4 MOA is "Minute of Felon" if not Minute of Head". What's the deal?? Why is this considered terrible accuracy? I don't ever hear any body complain about the accuracy of an M1 Garand, which is a 3-5 MOA weapon.

The new 580-series guns reportedly do not share the same accuracy problems as the older mini's.

The best group my 188-series Ranch Rifle ever shot was 5.5 MOA (5.5" at 100 yards), from a rest and rear bag. I tried premium and match ammunition from 40 to 69 grains, two different scopes, and iron sights. Finally got fed up with the accuracy problems after persistent POI shift kept me from satisfactorily sighting in a 2.5x shotgun scope.

My Romanian AK shoots better than that with cheap Wolf ammo. So I eventually sold the mini, kept the AK.

Ruger completely retooled for the 580 series and made some design changes, but yes, some of the old mini's were absolute dogs accuracy-wise. There were a few good ones as well, but it was luck of the draw.

 

[Maverick223]

Even 4 MOA is "Minute of Felon" if not Minute of Head".

Forget MOA for home defense...all you need is a few degrees of accuracy (there are 60MOA in 1 degree). In HD the distances are so short that the accuracy debate is absorbed. In a HD situation give me the rifle that is inaccurate and reliable...you take the precision match gun that is heavy and has a tendency to jam is not handled just right.

 

[Rshooter]

For the people who have sold their mini's so be it. I have kept mine over the years and been quite satisfied with it. If I want to shoot a match I have match grade weapons. If I want to have a nice day out plinking with a weapon that will deliver an afternoon of enjoyment I will take my mini and SKS. My mini has never had a FTF or FTE or FTAnything. It is based on my favorite rifle action and I trust it's reliability and soundness.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Have 2 580 Mini's and dumped my AR's---better handling--more reliable and accurate enough.

 

[NC-Mike]

I actually had my mini shooting pretty good. I put it in a Choate stock that was a nice tight fit, torqued the gas block, floated the barrel off the gas block, cut the barrel to 16.25 and put on a heavy brake.

It went from minute of barn to about 4 MOA. Then I realized I had attempted to make my mini shoot like an AR... So I sold it and bought a Bushmaster. Took it out of the box, loaded it and it is a solid 2 MOA rifle on my worst day, all day. Never missed the mini, even though it looked pretty tacticool when I got done with it.