The mini-14 shooter took his time, not that its a bad thing, but the Spikes shooter was pretty quick with the follow ups. I know you said it wasn't a competition, but if it were there would need to be a time frame and number of shots.
That's a nice mini-14 with the Shilen, wouldn't mind having one.
Are you one of the shooters? It would be nice to know how the mini-14 is working out for the owner, I've always thought an aftermarket barrel on a mini would be an interesting project as I've always liked the action.
I'm the Mini 14 shooter, my brother is the one with the "Punisher" Spikes AR. He has a very nice, expensive geissele trigger, my Mini 14 still has the stock trigger. I have to take my time with that thing, in fact if there is one complaint I have about the Mini 14, it is the trigger. But hey, it's my fault I haven't sent my trigger group to brimstone gunsmith. $55 bucks is hard to complain about, just dont know why I haven't got off my butt. The Shilen barrel is nothing to laugh at, I'll tell ya that. I've had the barrel for 2 years now, and the Mini 14 is one I got back in 1997. The rifle already shot pretty good with the old pencil barrel, it was my go to pig gun for the longest time before I re-barreled. It will keep 1.5 inch groups with basic commercial ammo. The best I've used so far is Winchester SXZ 55gr practice ammo ($11.50 a box of 20rds), it is a Bass Pro Shops exclusive ammo. But not really, you can find the same stuff in the white box at wal-mart in 5.56, not .223, and the Shilen barrel is .223 only. We both shot the Winchester SXZ 55gr .223 ammo. I say go for it, find a old cheap Mini 14 ranch, and re-barrel it, or if you have an old pre 580 series laying around. The barrel was $230.00 2 years ago, now it is $259.00 on MidwayUSA, it was a $90.00 install from a very reputable gun smith in my area (
https://dproutdoors.com/). The fun in the rifle is trying to localize the gas system, Mini 14's are over gassed to insure reliability with all kinds of ammo, and that is the down fall to the mini 14's accuracy. It's give and take with that rifle, you can reduce the gas bushing till you are restricted to certain types of loads, or keep it's undeniable reliability, and violent action. I've reduced the bushing to .050, added a stiffer recoil spring, and recoil buffers in the action. I also fiberglass bedded the receiver, fabricated a "pinky finger rest" grip cap, cut the curve out the butt, and fabricated a inch thick butt piece so my slip-on recoil pad and cheek riser could have a nice tight fit to the stock, and the perfect LOP. All in all, me and my brother both agree the Mini 14 was more fun to improve than it was to build his Spikes from the ground up. I'm a tradesman by career and I love a challenge, the Mini 14 is a fun project to someone that is good with their hands. This gun aint meant for lego builders.
Here is a 1.3 inch group I recorded, you can clearly see that it is nothing than bad trigger pull that throws one shot off of .3 inches from being MOA accurate with cheap commercial ammo. It can keep these groups with reasonable sustained firing from the rifle. I've never mag-dumped the rifle with the new barrel on it:
Grip cap:
Butt stock: