Mini-14 SS Ranch Rifle

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Pancho

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Southwestern, Ohio out in the country about 40 mil
Forgive me for dragging up an old subject but I've been offered a SS Mini-14 for what I think is an excellent price ($450). My search in the forum has shown that the Mini has a mixed reputation but the material on the forum is so vast that I got bogged down.
I should state that my use for this gun would be for coyotes at 100yds. and less using the iron sights.
I would appreciate your comments considering my needs.
 
Buy it! That is an excellent price. It will be accurate enough for 100 yards shots on coyotes,just be sure to use good optics as minis are hard on scopes.
 
It will serve your purposes and that's a good price. Whether good or great depends on which series it's from... the latest 186+ series has the most improvements.

For some reason the Mini-14 gets a LOT of hate online, but it's a perfectly decent gun - just not fancy.
 
they are A+ in reliability and B- in accuracy. Neat guns but aftermarket magazines are finicky sometimes. It will certainly kill a coyote but how do you tell a coyote to show itself at 100 yards or less? You never know where you are going to set 2 weeks or 5 years from now. $450 is a very good price on a well maintained and relatively fresh barrel but expect 2moa out of that gun.
 
The 100 yd. range is dictated by my field of vision from my back porch across my lake. I was able to take one this spring at 50 yds. with a 22 mag. It was a lucky shot.
As a side bar to my original question, how tolerant is the 14 of off brand cheaper ammunition. Plinking and practice can get expensive at $.75 to $1.00 per shot and I'm not interested in getting into reloading, I don't have to time nor the inclination.
 
The older ones, like mine, have thinner barrels that heat up after a couple shots, shifting POI. (mine goes up and right consistently)

For hunting, as long as you have a cold-barrel zero; you'll be fine at 100.

They also eject the spent brass into a low earth orbit...Mine will throw a good 40 feet....not really an issue unless you were planning on collecting the cases for reloading.
 
1318968377053.jpg

The oak tree (the tree in the center of the picture) was slightly in front of where I took my shot with a '78 Mini-14 Ranch Carbine just using the iron sights. I took the picture standing beside the coyote back towards the house to show distance.

Coyote1.jpg

This was the result.

Yeah I think it'll do the trick. I've taken 8 or so coyote in the last few years on the property using the Mini w/ 55gr .223's. Have had no runners, all pop & drops.
 
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For $450 - BUY IT NOW. They are way better than AR folks would have you believe. Where it gets iffy is new ones going for almost $800 there for a while. For that price, sure, AR. But $450? You'd be hard pressed to find a really beat AR for $450. That's a lot of gun for $450...maybe not so much for $800.
 
Pancho said:
The 100 yd. range is dictated by my field of vision from my back porch across my lake. I was able to take one this spring at 50 yds. with a 22 mag. It was a lucky shot.
As a side bar to my original question, how tolerant is the 14 of off brand cheaper ammunition. Plinking and practice can get expensive at $.75 to $1.00 per shot and I'm not interested in getting into reloading, I don't have to time nor the inclination.
Click to expand...
Mine does fine with everything I've tried, including Vietnam-era 5.56, recent 5.56, PMC bronze, and Tula 223, among others.
 
I haven't tried steel cased in mine, but have only fed it cheap brass case like PMC and UMC, without any malfunctions.
 
My beloved (now deceased) 183-series mini ate any kind of ammo that fit in the chamber. Even with a cracked bolt, it was still ultra reliable. Actually hitting where it was aimed? not so much. But plenty good enough for your stated purpose. Hitting a coyote is well within it's capability-purposely hitting him between the eyes at 100 yds may be a stretch.

Long as I used the sights it's lack of grouping ability wasn't near as noticeable, but when I scoped it I was in for a rude awakening. It was a very good candidate for a Burris fastfire.

Not a sniper rifle, but for 450 bucks grab it before it's gone.
 
HoosierQ said:
For $450 - BUY IT NOW. They are way better than AR folks would have you believe. Where it gets iffy is new ones going for almost $800 there for a while. For that price, sure, AR. But $450? You'd be hard pressed to find a really beat AR for $450. That's a lot of gun for $450...maybe not so much for $800.
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Second that emotion. It's a really good deal. They're jumping in price significantly.
 
Ive feed mine a couple thousand rounds of wolf steel case with no issues. All those rounds were consumed in two sittings, 1k a pop, so the gun wasnt cleaned and never had an issue....besides a shell getting caught between the large turret of my scope and the bolt handle. Blowing apart pop cans at 100yds or so was pretty entertainin and consistent, but i didnt try group the wolf ammo.
 
Never shot one, but I know $450 is a good price. I just looked at one at Walmart today for $667 before tax. I didn't like the way it felt in my hands (the cover over the barrel/forend bothered my leading hand), but for a 100 yrd. gun, I think you have a good gun with a good round (I'm assuming it's 223). My grandpaw always said that semi-autos arn't as accurate as bolts or single shot rifles, but I think for your purposes, you don't need a tack driver 400 yrds. out.
 
Do as the others say. Buy it ASAP. Half the guys that say negative things about the mini have probably never even shot one. I have one of the newer 580 series mini's and it's a fantastic rifle. It 's my understanding that an acu-strut makes all the difference in the world with the older models.
 
mini

I love mine!!! If you go the perfectunion.com there are a lot of ways to make them shoot better if need be. I cut down my barrel and had a flash hider with the built in front sight pinned and welded and that took all the "whip" out of the barrel during shooting and now it shoots wonderful.

Eats up everything from wolf to the high end federal and even fragmentation rounds for metal.

One gun I will never get rid of....

Tony P.

P.S. buy the darn thing great price
 
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Pancho said:
As a side bar to my original question, how tolerant is the 14 of off brand cheaper ammunition. Plinking and practice can get expensive at $.75 to $1.00 per shot and I'm not interested in getting into reloading, I don't have to time nor the inclination.
Click to expand...

Mine eats pretty much any ammo...with Ruger factory magazines. I've never tried an off-brand magazine, but I understand they generally don't work well with most minis.
 
Can't say enough good things about the ruger mags. I have three 20 round Ruger mags one is kept fully loaded 24/7/365 and have never had the slightest problem with any of them.
 
The mini is a good coyote killer for sure. At that price if you don't want it send them my way. :D
 
I have a newer stainless steel model. If you want to see the accuracy capabilities of a newer(580 series) stainless Mini-14 here you go.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=661078

It was my write up on a new sight but there is before and after targets. These were 10 shot groups at 100 yards, no chicken-crap 3 shot gun rag groups. Ammo used from what I remember was American Eagle 55gr .223, Wolf 62gr .223, and Fiochi Exacta Match 77gr .223. This is what you are looking for, I hope it helps!
 
$450 is a good price these days. Reliability is excellent with quality magazines, accuracy varies but is usually mediocre to poor with factory guns. Mine was about 3-4 MOA @ 100 yards until I cut the barrel; Lobbing 4" off cut group size in half, and it's now 1.5-2 MOA, plenty accurate for shooting pasture poodles in the dark, where positive target ID is limited to ~120 yards on dark nights.

101_1130.jpg

The AR is a superior platform, no question. But you're very unlikely to get into a decent AR for $450. I say go for it.
 
I like minis, my newest is the 581 series tactical black mini, heavier barrel, very accurate, stays with me in my pickup when checking cattle, kill hogs and coyotes at 100 yards all the time. I guess I just like that M14 type action or Garand action.one thing, those minis eject shells with lots of force, sitting in a box stand will have casings bouncing around and you dont want a hot casing going down your back...
 
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