What will an AR do that a Mini-14 won't?
I'm pretty new to .223 and I'm looking for a little education. I like the simplicity of the Mini-14 and the price too. AR's just look complicated and come with far too many options (kind of like a 1911).
What are the real advantages of an AR over a Mini-14?
Thanks for your help.
As someone who sold a 188-series Ranch Rifle and used the proceeds to buy an AR, here are the thoughts that prompted my decision.
(1) Accuracy. My mini was an accuracy lemon (5.5" at 100 yards with match ammo, from a rest and rear bag), and the newer 580+ series mini's are better, but the AR is still a more accurate platform out of the box. To get a 1 MOA mini, you will generally pay a good bit more than you would for a 1 MOA AR. And at the high end, you can free-float an AR barrel; you can't free-float a mini, and the mini will always have more barrel harmonics due to the heavy piston assembly launching off the cantilevered gas block.
(2) Ergonomics and modularity. There are good stocks available for the mini, but it is cheaper and much easier to set an AR up to fit you than it is to set up a mini similarly. The AR has a bolt release, the magazine release is easier to use, and the AR's straight-in magwell is somwhat easier to reload than the mini's rock-and-lock design.
(3) Ease of mounting nontraditional optics. The mini-14 Ranch Rifle makes it very easy to mount traditional round-tube scopes on the receiver at the appropriate height, but mounting an Eotech/Trijicon/Aimpoint so that it will cowitness with the iron sights is extremely difficult.
(4) Magazine availability and cost. Until recently, full-capacity factory magazines for the mini were exceedingly expensive and hard to come by. Now that Ruger is making them again, they are cheaper and easy to find, but they are still (a) proprietary and (b) much more expensive than quality AR magazines.
The two rifles are pretty much equivalent in terms of ballistics, capacity, and reliability.
The mini is a little simpler internally, is much slimmer (assuming you go with the straight stock), will accept a folding stock, and has a very traditional look compared to the AR's aluminum-and-polymer design.
They're both good rifles, so it basically boils down to personal preference and what your priorities are.
The Ruger AR has a gas piston and is probably a lot more reliable because of it. (Strictly speaking, since it has a gas piston, it's not really an AR, but that's another subject for another day.)
Doubtful. Properly assembled, a DI AR is as reliable as a piston AR; the most common cause of AR failures (other than improper assembly and lack of lubrication) are magazine failures and debris between the bolt carrier and receiver, neither of which a piston does anything about. Piston conversion can also have carrier tilt issues, which don't necessarily impact reliability but do impact durability.
Try loading IMI 62gr AP ammo in a Mini mag, I will save you the time, it won't work. Ammo is longer than the mag opening, haven't tried to load any other ammo in it.
That's either defective ammo or a defective magazine, not the fault of the mini design itself. My mini shot fine with M855 (62gr green tip, non-AP) and liked it as well as it liked premium match ammo.