Speedo66
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Some work well on their own, some require a longer aftermarket firing pin.
It is often blamed on the harder primers in the ammo.
Ruger’s Minis ?
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It is often blamed on the harder primers in the ammo.
BigBlue 94
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Just fixed a sticky extractor on my ranch rifle. Bought an extra firing pin and extractor spring from midway. Ive never had an issue with the aftermarket 20rd mag i have and i just bought two more. Its a fun gun to shoot, and i think it shoots more enjoyably than an AR. Of course im the one who recently got lightly heckled for saying I feel more comfortable with my Romanian sks than an AR.
jdh
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Something I'd forgotten about till just a few mins ago, is that my mini would shake its scope rings loose of the receiver fairly quickly, unless they were torqued down super tight. Might been part of some folks issues with accuracy, tho I don't know if it was just MY gun that did that or if it was common....wonder if it would be worse with the aftermarket mounts for non-ranch minis.
For whatever reason, most people seem to believe that being one of many shoveling contempt and hate on something shows that they’re “in the know” and with the cool guys.
I guess it’s part of some primitive herd instinct.
One of the chief attractions to the Minis is that they’re not ARs of some ilk, at least for me.
mgmorden
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Yeah I was prepared for a wait, and most people contacting Samson themselves are reportedly being told that timeframe, but I ordered from Brownells instead of direct and got mine within 2 months.
Nature Boy
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BigBlue 94
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That wood hand guard is freaking slick! Time to find a piece of beech and carve one I guess lol. Then match the danish oil i used on the stock when i refinished it... Good thing matching stain is part of my day job
Mosin Bubba
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They've definitely got reasons to exist IMO.
1. If a 223 Garand didn't exist, I guarantee you that people would be screaming for one.
2. It's a tradionally stocked (wood and straight grip) semi-auto in an "assault rifle" caliber. The only other contenders I can think of off my head are the M1 Carbine and the SKS, and they're both subject to surplus availability and pricing.
3. It's pretty AWB proof, and about a quarter of this country lives under an AWB. I've seen some newer proposed legislation that's been getting smarter and singling out the Mini by name, but AFAIK it's still legal in NY and CA, and that's 60 million people right there.
1. If a 223 Garand didn't exist, I guarantee you that people would be screaming for one.
2. It's a tradionally stocked (wood and straight grip) semi-auto in an "assault rifle" caliber. The only other contenders I can think of off my head are the M1 Carbine and the SKS, and they're both subject to surplus availability and pricing.
3. It's pretty AWB proof, and about a quarter of this country lives under an AWB. I've seen some newer proposed legislation that's been getting smarter and singling out the Mini by name, but AFAIK it's still legal in NY and CA, and that's 60 million people right there.
Speedo66
Member
Those stocks with the Carbine like oiler cutout were produced only for the French contract.
I like 'em.
mustanger98
Member
Do you have an idea when this pic was taken? Looks pretty recent.
The Mini-14 was invented as a military and police weapon. Government sales was the very reason Bill Ruger and James Sullivan initiated that project. I believe they understood they were too late to compete with the Armalite/Colt design for US contracts, though they probably believed that their design would have been competitive had it arrived at least 15 years earlier. Nevertheless, some other governments had not yet heavily invested in the Armalite or Kalashnikov designs by the early 70's. There were a lot of them, and there was substantial potential for government sales. Civilian sales of the AR-15 even in the US were weak. Neither Colt nor anyone else was selling a lot of this type of rifle outside government sales in the 70's and 80's. As it turns out, I believe they only ever made a substantial sale to France. I guess they probably lacked the international sales team that they really needed to make sales in Asia.
Nowadays, civilian sales in the US are really the only thing going for the Mini 14, but those sales are almost certainly a multiple of what they were in the 70's. The 14 can't compete with the AR-15 design for popularity, but it still sells and probably doesn't cost Ruger much to keep making it versus whatever savings they'd have by discontinuing it. It's probably still profitable so long as the operations that Ruger shares with other products continue.
The picture linked above was from a Twitter post in 2015. I suspect it was taken at that time. You can tell it's recent enough that at least three people are holding a smartphone.
Nowadays, civilian sales in the US are really the only thing going for the Mini 14, but those sales are almost certainly a multiple of what they were in the 70's. The 14 can't compete with the AR-15 design for popularity, but it still sells and probably doesn't cost Ruger much to keep making it versus whatever savings they'd have by discontinuing it. It's probably still profitable so long as the operations that Ruger shares with other products continue.
The picture linked above was from a Twitter post in 2015. I suspect it was taken at that time. You can tell it's recent enough that at least three people are holding a smartphone.
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daniel craig
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Great rifles for those of us who 1.) live in NY and 2.) don’t like AR ergos. 3.) want something a bit fancier than (or already have) an SkS
daniel craig
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Ergos
I think Mini 14 sales have multiplied like most guns sales have over the last four decades -- we're not just talking about the 2008 or 2020 panics, and even the trough of the 2016 slump was still a multiple of 1980 sales. I think only revolver sales have been relatively flat, but considering that millions of government agency sales were lost, the fact that they've remained flat means civilian sales have ramped up enough to completely offset police departments no longer buying them for standard duty weapons. What's been tough for Ruger (or S&W or Remington or Colt) has been stiff competition coming into the market from Glock, Sig, the new Springfield, as well as PSA and all the other clone complete and parts makers. So while I think Mini-14 sales have increased by an order of magnitude, their market share has shrunk to a fraction of what it was in the 70's and 80's.
This is in complete contradiction to everything you’ve read or heard:
300 yrds dead center with a Mini-14
Upgrading the Ruger Mini-14 “The Brownells Way”
300 yrds dead center with a Mini-14
Upgrading the Ruger Mini-14 “The Brownells Way”
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Nature Boy
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I've also read that they are select fire too, which is pretty cool
No idea
mrmike7189
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Just bought this in Dec, 2019. Still legal in Massachusetts as well ..........
and damn sharp looking rifles imo
and damn sharp looking rifles imo
Garandimal
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New Calibers...?
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