Mini-14

[Pitdog]

Picked up a Mini this past week. It is in REALLY good shape to be over 10 years old, someone has taken super good care of it. Got a handful of mags to go with it, and all of them seem to work well what I have played with so far.
It has been so long since the last one I owned, I forgot a lot about it. I did manage to tear it apart and inspect it, everything is clean and tight.
Anybody else got one they can share some experience with as far as accessories that are worth a damn and accessories that aren't?
Don't think I am going to go with a scop or any type of optics (if I keep it). I may wind up selling it or trading it off.

[Mac_Muz]

I never had one. Whats the round this one is in?

[Pitdog]

Mini-14 is .223, Mini-30 is in 7.62x39.

[Badger]

I presently have a SS Mini 14 bought back in 1990. I had a blued Mini 14 before that. I have always used Ruger or Fed Ord/PMI magazines with them and not had a problem.

[rAcErRicK]

Pit Dog, i had a mini and loved it. figured it would make a nice bug out piece. it was the one without scope mounts, and i wasted the money for the mount that goes on the side. No good, couldn't keep it zeroed. kinda silly anyway, a small and lite carbine doesn't really need a scope anyway. guys i've seen with them burn the barrel up pushin' em too hard. mine wasn't real accurate, but again, they aren't intended to be a long range gun anyway, right ? sweet little rifle, super dependable and tuff. loads of fun to shoot. also used it in action rifle competition. ammo is cheap, and plentiful. wish i'd have kept mine, i miss it. i think they are hard to beat, for what they are made for. i'm from the old school, and could not get used to the stock on an ar-15.
another thing i liked about them is they look like a baby m1-garand, and it just don't get much better than that. you should enjoy it.

[WRTN]

The mini 14 is a very marginal rifle with respect to accuracy. Figure "one minute of barn door". ;D They are adequate for a defense and truck varmint gun but accuracy beyond 100 yards comes at a very steep price to properly modify the gun to fire accurately. Mini's originally started out with a 1 in 10 barrel twist in 1975 and then went to a 1 in 7 twist in 1989. In 1994 it went to the current 1 in 9 twist rate which seems to be the sweet spot for most ammo in the 55 to 62 grain range.

Here is a good starting place for accurizing a mini:

http://perfectunion.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=106

If you want an out of the box accurate rifle. Savage makes a great gun for he money in their Model 12 series. Auto's have their place but if you reload and go shooting in a non-range clean environment, you find the auto slings the empty cases all over the place. The Mini 14 is the king of slinging empty cases and it can fling an empty over 75 feet in some cases. I can speak from experince in that I have NEVER been able to fire mine and recover all of the empties. They get scatered all ove the creation. ::)

[hunter63]

My Mini is a 1975 model, and shoots very well.
I consider it my coyote rifle.
There is a difference between this year and later models on scope mounts, so be aware. (got a later model mount for sale after I found out it didn't fit mine)

I can't believe the prices they are getting for a beat up used one though.

Rodger the "flinging brass", but on the other hand, I do reload .223, but seems like a "factory job" as I usally have a bunch at a time.
So mostly I use the cheap stuff and don't really care where it goes, if I find it O.K., if I don't , oh, well.

[WRTN]

My mini has the 1 in 7 twist barrel. It does OK with the 55 grain rounds. I can hit a gallon milk jug at 250 yards but not everytime. I use mine of coyotes as well. The Hornady 55 grain and 60 grain Vmax bullets work very well for that purpose.

My mini flings brass as far as 75 feet away in a 45 degree fan. Makes it a royal pain picking up the brass.

For the dollar spent the Savage Model 12 FV is probably the best out of the box very accurate rifle you can buy.

If you need a good semi for "other purposes", take a look at an L1A1, AR-15, M-1A, M-14, even the M-1 Garande is a great gun for this and they are fairly cheap. In addition to Colt, Rock Island and few others make a nice gun for this purpose. Ammo is also cheap and much more effective.

[Pitdog]

I parkerized mine and sold it.
Now I got an M-14 :)

[Tuckahoe]

mini 14 are neat but........with the current price of a new one you can build a nice AR-15

[ArmySGT.]

expensive tent stake. ;)