Mini-30?

[Frank Ettin]

...ever since the ATF declared it armor piercing after they paid someone to make a pistol for it.....

....AK pistols didn't start popping up until the last 10 years or so, largely because manufacturers knew this would happen. They wanted a reason to ban surplus ammo, so they convinced a company to make an AK pistol.....

Let's see you support those conjectures with some good evidence.

 

[Reloadron]

I've forgotten, what was the name of that company? And how was it, again, that the ATF's collusion was documented? Been so long the details have slipped my mind.

How any of this relates to the Mini-30 beats the heck out of me but I believe this is what it was all about.

Just think since 1994 how many lives have been spared by legislation like this. Oh wait... never mind.

Ron

 

[Frank Ettin]

I've forgotten, what was the name of that company? And how was it, again, that the ATF's collusion was documented? Been so long the details have slipped my mind.

How any of this relates to the Mini-30 beats the heck out of me but I believe this is what it was all about.

Except nothing there supports WardenWolf's claims (posts 43 and 48):

...ever since the ATF declared it armor piercing after they paid someone to make a pistol for it.....

....AK pistols didn't start popping up until the last 10 years or so, largely because manufacturers knew this would happen. They wanted a reason to ban surplus ammo, so they convinced a company to make an AK pistol.....

 

[Reloadron]

Frank, I wasn't trying o support Warden Wolf. Paid someone to make a pistol for it sounds like pure conjecture to me. Maybe borderline tin foil hat but I am not a doctor. My only point was to link to the story of what happened in '93 and '94, sadly I remember it well and was already old in '93 and '94. I am in no way supporting Warden Wolf's claim which I personally see as way off target. Speaking of target are we going to go back to the Mini-30 or have we evolved into another topic altogether?

Ron

 

[Frank Ettin]

...Speaking of target are we going to go back to the Mini-30 or have we evolved into another topic altogether?

I think the Mini-30 is a fine topic as long as we can avoid getting wrapped up in some conspiracy theory kidnapped by aliens in the Bermuda Triangle business.

 

[agtman]

I think the Mini-30 is a fine topic as long as we can avoid getting wrapped up in some conspiracy theory kidnapped by aliens in the Bermuda Triangle business.

Agree.

Okay, so are Mini-30s still a junk choice in lieu of a real .30-cal autoloader?

 

[Reloadron]

Agree.

Okay, so are Mini-30s still a junk choice in lieu of a real .30-cal autoloader?

Those who have one swear by the rifle and a good number of people see the Mini 30 and Mini 14 as overpriced inaccurate junk. Take your pick because neither side will ever convince the other, sort of there are no winners.

Me? I don't own one. Sold plenty when we had the gun shop but never, other than inventory, owned either rifle. That said, be it from scenes of The A Team or my love of the M-14 rifle, I always was attracted to the looks of the Mini rifles. They make for a compact fast handling rifle with a decent magazine capacity. They attract people like the moth flame thing or the lure of a fine looking lever action rifle. When it comes to the Mini-30 I never saw the 7.62 x 39 as much of a cartridge, it's a good 200 yard round like the 30-30 and that is as good as it gets. I still have an SKS though. The cartridge does well what it was designed to do. It was not designed as a bench rest target cartridge. It was designed as a short range combat cartridge and again,it does that well.

Anyway the good and bad of the Mini-30 or Mini-14 can be argued indefinitely with, as I see it, no winners. Love them or hate them like the Ruger 10/22 the rifles have been a long running production rifle from Ruger.

Ron

 

[jimmyraythomason]

They make for a compact fast handling rifle with a decent magazine capacity.

That they are! I fall into the camp that loves them. They are my all time favorite semi-auto rifles. I've owned 4 of them and still have 2. I haven't found anything about any that I have owned that I would call a negative. Light weight 5-30 round magazine capacity, easy mounting of optics, reasonably accurate, fast break down and cheap(ish) ammo. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion just as I am but I have found the Mini 14/30 to be the perfect combination of hunting/plinking and HD rifle.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

That they are! I fall into the camp that loves them. They are my all time favorite semi-auto rifles. I've owned 4 of them and still have 2. I haven't found anything about any that I have owned that I would call a negative. Light weight 5-30 round magazine capacity, easy mounting of optics, reasonably accurate, fast break down and cheap(ish) ammo. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion just as I am but I have found the Mini 14/30 to be the perfect combination of hunting/plinking and HD rifle.

You know JRT I always like your posts and this is no exception. It's just a cool gun. I love posters on here that say sell your mini and buy a AR. More mini's for me!

 

[conrad427]

I have always liked the Mini's. They just feel good to me.

I like AR's too. They just dont feel very good.

 

[M1key]

never mind

 

[Frank Ettin]

Let's see you support those conjectures with some good evidence.

http://www.thegunzone.com/762x39.html

Perhaps folks have forgotten the story...

That link was already provided in post 52 and does not support the claims made by WardenWolf Except nothing there supports WardenWolf's claims (posts 43 and 48):

...ever since the ATF declared it armor piercing after they paid someone to make a pistol for it.....

....AK pistols didn't start popping up until the last 10 years or so, largely because manufacturers knew this would happen. They wanted a reason to ban surplus ammo, so they convinced a company to make an AK pistol.....

So let's knock off this conspiracy nonsense and stay on topic.

 

[ttarp]

Well it was a minor rabbit trail until Frank got involved...

I really don't understand why folks think the mini is expensive though, other than the Kel-Tec, what other non AR .223's are cheaper than the mini? And the mini30 isn't too much more expensive than a lot of AK's I see either. Its not like they're asking Scar money for it.

 

[Kame B.]

I really don't understand why folks think the mini is expensive though, other than the Kel-Tec, what other non AR .223's are cheaper than the mini? And the mini30 isn't too much more expensive than a lot of AK's I see either. Its not like they're asking Scar money for it.

Amen! There are other distributors that sell the Mini 14/30 way cheaper than the Ruger website. I've seen go from 630 dollars to 700 dollars at wal-mart and Academy Sports. Besides I doubt you will get a life time unwritten guarantee with those AK's like you do with Ruger.

 

[aka108]

I owned a Mini 30 at one time. It was the least accurate rifle I have ever owned. Sold it to a guy and told him about the accuracy. He still wanted it. I was glad to see it go down the road. They are nicknamed "mini s--ttys" for a good reason.

 

[RecoilRob]

https://www.shootersforum.com/gunsmithing/91462-questions-7-62x39-headspace-gauges.html
Link above to a discussion about SAAMI and CIP x39 headspacing issues.

I can't find where Ruger says they are currently making the Mini-30 to fire CIP ammo. Are they? If not...then the potential for the same misfiring problem exists as it always has with them.

I believe they did change the barrel from .308 to accomodate the x39 round but if you look carefully at the two drawings of cartridges you'll see that they are very close but not exactly the same.

The big bugaboo here is the shoulder angle. This lets CIP ammo go deeper into a SAAMI chamber than it's designed to and creates the situation where the firing pin has to reach farther for the primer than sometimes it can. The other way around with SAAMI ammo in a CIP chamber (which hardly ever happens..who shoots American ammo in an AK?) the action just slams it in and reforms the shoulder and shoots it no problem.

If I were to build a rifle in America in x39 you bet I'd make it have a CIP chamber which is 99% of the ammo that would ever make its' way into it. Unless there's something legal restricting Ruger to do this...I don't understand why they'd do it as it's caused a lot of returns to them.

Perhaps they've retooled the chambers to accomodate the CIP ammo better, or the production variations sometimes just stack up to make for the misfires...I don't know. Just throwing this out there for anyone interested in the Mini-30 who should know about it. I've still got a 180 series Mini-14 which IS a dandy little rifle and I wish they'd not played around making it the Ranch Rifle and all.

 

[Kame B.]

I owned a Mini 30 at one time. It was the least accurate rifle I have ever owned. Sold it to a guy and told him about the accuracy. He still wanted it. I was glad to see it go down the road. They are nicknamed "mini s--ttys" for a good reason.

I know right! There is nothing that can be done to these junk rifles.

 

[M1key]

I owned a Mini 30 at one time. It was the least accurate rifle I have ever owned. Sold it to a guy and told him about the accuracy. He still wanted it. I was glad to see it go down the road. They are nicknamed "mini s--ttys" for a good reason.

You must have owned a pre-'93 made with one of those crappy left over XGI barrels. The XGI .308 was an abject failure and Bill had to use that warehouse full of barrels for something, so he came up with the Mini-30 idea. They had .311-.312 chamber throats and .308 bores which swaged the steel jacketed bullets down to proper size.

They were miserable shooters. May both you and your idea RIP, Bill.

You might try one of the new versions. My Tactical is 2 MOA for five shots--but I only shoot brass. Others get good groups with Silver Bear, Yugo, and some others.

M

 

[Ibmikey]

As i indicated previously i have twenty five AR's and one Mini Tactical. That does not in the least imply the Ruger is junk......Ruger is not noted for releasing sub quality weapons. When i take my Mini out for exercise i throughly enjoy the experience as it kind of reminds me of my Garand and M1 Carbines that i love. Now that Ruger has put the Mini out in 300 Blackout i may just find a need to invest as that is a great caliber for fun shooting. My Tactical will hold it's own when shooting cans, bricks and dirt clods and is a fun shooter even though my preferences are with the AR family.

 

[ThomasT]

I owned a Mini 30 at one time. It was the least accurate rifle I have ever owned. Sold it to a guy and told him about the accuracy. He still wanted it. I was glad to see it go down the road. They are nicknamed "mini s--ttys" for a good reason.

Well at least your opinion is actually based on owning one of the rifles and not just on what you read on the internet so I give your opinion some credence. But like the point made in post #20 did you try handloading for it or at least try some good brass cased american made ammo? Or did you just buy surplus or some of the russian imported steel cased ammo?

For some reason people think they can take these out of the box and feed them junk ammo and thye should get tiny groups with them. Like the old saying, "garbage in, garbage out".

How many will buy an AR and feed it steel cased blasting ammo? Most buy good military surplus from the US military or make careful reloads and then brag about how well their ARs shoot. With good reason. They spent a little money on quality ammo and traded out parts they think will make them better.

 

[aka108]

I shot new Winchester cartridges, reloads, Cheetah from Africa and various Russian steel cased ammo thru the Mini 30. None seemed any more accurate that the other. Far better results on the target with a Norinco SKS.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

I've had a Mini-14 for 25 years and we use them at my work. I like the feel of the Mini---it feels 'handy'--for lack of a better explanation. If you don't ask it to do what it can't, it won't disappoint you. I don't have 1 on 1 with the -30, but I have no reason to doubt it would perform on par with a Mini-14. Back to the original post, if budget is a factor I think the Mini-30 has drawbacks similar to the -14 in that it uses proprietary mags and parts. While Ruger is good on repair work, the only parts prone to failure on a Mini are the bolt internals---the rest is almost indestructible. I went the AK & SKS path myself in 7.62 x 39. The cost of going in either of those paths would be half of setting up a comparably outfitted Mini-30. But no, you can't get the balance and feel of a Mini with either platform.

 

[ThomasT]

I shot new Winchester cartridges, reloads, Cheetah from Africa and various Russian steel cased ammo thru the Mini 30. None seemed any more accurate that the other. Far better results on the target with a Norinco SKS.

Well then you get credit for at least trying. Maybe you got one of the miss matched rifles with a 308 bore and a 311 chamber like mentioned above. Who knows? I have a couple of SKS rifles and they scratch my 7.62x39 itch.

 

[DaisyCutter]

The Mini-14/30 was over-rated before the internet, and under-rated after it's lack of accuracy was parroted across the internet.

For a handy rifle to carry in your truck on the back 40 while checking irrigation siphons, and zapping the occasional chicken eating coyote within a couple hundred yards, the Mini-14 was almost ideal.

As mentioned earlier, the now cheaper AR is probably better.


Still, the smooth unencumbered ergos of the Mini make it nice to live with on the farm, just not Fallujah.

 

[kwg020]

The 583 series of Mini's is finally showing the potential of what they are capable of. Too bad it took Ruger so long to figure it out. The damage has been done.

kwg