Can anyone tell me if a five year old Mini-30 has a .308 or .311 bore ?

Thanks,Dyno

.308

Someone help me out on this one....

I thought I remember a Ruger representative recently telling me that for the past several years Mini-30's have a bore diameter that starts at .311, and then tapers down to .308 at the muzzle.

Did I get that wrong?

Garrett

Gents;

I did some research on the Internet recently on this topic, and the general concensus seems to be that the Ruger 7.62x39 rifles, BOTH the Mini-30 and the M77, are nominally .311" in groove diameter.

The reason for my interest is that I recently traded for a new-production M77 in the "7.62 Russki Shortski" caliber, for use specifically as a cast-bullet rifle. Slugging the bore on this Ruger of mine showed the groove diameter to be .3105", with NO taper to the bore diameter from breech to muzzle. It's definitely not .308", for certain.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)

This might partially explain why the Ruger's shoot so poorly.

The grooves in both the Ruger Mini-30's I've owned were .308" dia. The chambers have a very long tapered cone shaped throat to accommodate the use of standard .310" ball ammo, leaving one heck of a jump for the bullet. This is why it’s hard to get the Mini-30’s to give good groups.

I beleive the 7.62X39mm Ruski is a .310 caliber

a new-production M77 in the "7.62 Russki Shortski" caliber
Are they still making that? I can't find one anywhere. Had a hankering for one of them, or CZ527 in that caliber, a few years ago, bought 1,000 pieces of brass, dies, etc.., then, blammo -can't find one anywhere

R-WEST

[ 10-23-2003, 18:42: Message edited by: R-WEST ]

R-West, pard;

Honestly, I can't say. I traded for this brand-new M77 rifle from a friend, but I don't know its actual date of production.

All he said about about it was that he'd gotten a good deal, and thought it was from a limited-production run made for one of the big wholesalers.

Apart from that, who knows? It has the UGLY hogged-out canoe-paddle synthetic stock and a wispy ultra-light barrel. Stainless steel, of course.

I got it strictly for cast-bullet shooting at paper, because the case size is so well-suited for that task. Over seven hundred rounds to date(in two months!), seventy different load recipes, and the little beast is shooting pretty well. Loads that it likes will go well under an inch for ten rounds at fifty yards, and I'm just identifying its preferences before moving back to 100 yards.
It still needs some trigger work, and I hope to do that this weekend.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren Mk1)