I bought one of the new Mini 14 Tacticals with the shorter barrel and that thing was a shooter...it would do a inch or better at 100 yards with 60gr Noslers and 55 gr Sierra GK HP's...kinda regret selling it.

I have never owned either mini, but I have seen a couple that were excellent shooters. I think overall, though, that they are marginal shooters, but are dependable and durable. I do not like Ruger rifles because whether it is a bolt or auto, they are inconsistent. One shoots good and the next is crap. I think there are better firearms out there and especially at the price that Ruger wants. A guy that just rebarreled a rifle for me said that he has encountered Rugers that had soft metal in their receivers and it was hard to maintain a headspace.

I wonder about this demand for ultimate accuracy. I became interested in firearms to the point of reading everything I could in about 1950. I read all the gun articles in all the sports magazines,Outdoor Life,Field & Stream,True,primarily because of authors like John O'Conner,Warren Page and Lucien Carey. I even went so far as to correspond with O'Conner and Carey and can say they were responsible in my attending Gunsmith School at Trinidad. The point is accuracy at that time with a hunting rifle was considered to be adequate if it was under 3". If you had a 1" rifle you had something pretty special. I don't remember the benchrest group sizes at places like Oil City then but they in no way resembled what is done today. I was a fanatic on accuracy and the first rifle I built was a 220 Swift with a bull barrel,Weaver K12 scope on an FN action with an English walnut Marksman style stock. It would consistantly shoot under 1" and I won lots of bets shooting dimes at 100yds. People today get that type of accuracy from off the shelf hunting rifles with factory ammo and don't think anything about it. In fact many EXPECT it. Have only had one Mini14 and it was a Ranch rifle when they first came out and it was totally acceptable to me for what it was purchased,coyotes. After sight in i'm not really sure I ever really shot any groups with it. It must have been very accurate or I would definitely remembered it.

quote:

I wonder about this demand for ultimate accuracy. I became interested in firearms to the point of reading everything I could in about 1950.

Our bullets, barrels, are better than way back then so accuracy is better.

I think a part of it is due to the trend of people only shooting off 500 pound benches with 40 pounds of sandbags.

When you eliminate the human factor then the quest simply becomes smaller holes. And expectations are based on the groups you get from the bench.

If more people shot NRA highpower they would quickly discover that the human is the limiting element once you get rid of the bench, sandbags, and rests. It is one thing to have a sub MOA rifle, it takes years to be able to shoot 1 MOA prone with a sling. The ten ring is seven inches at 200 yards, only the world’s best put 20 shots in that seven ring standing. It is very easy to put a bullet feet to yards away from the center when shooting in the standing position. I have done it. I’ll do it again.

For unsupported shooting, 3 MOA is not unreasonable accuracy in a deer hunting rifle, because it is still within your hold.

If you are shooting from a bipod rest, you would expect more accuracy from your rifle as you have a firmer shooting position. F Class had to go to a half MOA target because bi pod shooters were easily cleaning the two MOA target and they needed a way to discriminate scores.

Have owned and Have shot both Mini 14 and Mini 30.

The Mini 14 was accurate with the Winchester 40rd White box from Walmart.



Mini30 wasn't as accurate.

Both were fun

I've had several of both over the years. The Mini-30's shot MOA with Chinese machine gun ammo. The Mini-14 shot MOA if you shot one shot every 5 min. The gas block didn't heat up and distort the barrel. In any case I sold them all as they weren't my cuppa tea. I haven't fooled with them since the early 90's.