Ruger Mini 14's ?

[Hangfire]

Granted Mini 14's were never designed to be a 1000 yd. prairie dog gun and they aren't really known to be tack drivers, the two I've previously owned (back in the late 80's and again in the mid 90's) shot patterns not groups off bags at 100 yds. with the factory supplied iron sights so they went down the road pretty quickly......completely forget MOA with the two I had the best I ever got with them was MOB (minute of barn).

I'm reading that the newer ones are considerably more accurate than the older ones......just not sure what year of mfg. constitutes a newer one and if purchasing used how a person could tell if it was a older or newer production model ?

Without having had to pour a lot of $$$ into it anybody have a off the rack Mini 14 that will at least hold a 2"-3" group at 100 yds. consistently and if so is it a newer or older model ?

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

Serial numbers prefix 580 or higher are preferred for better accuracy. These have the tapered barrel.
I have a new Mini Thirty Tactical with bull barrel and it'll shoot one MOA at 50 yards with irons.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[gerhard1]

My mini-14 looks like this.

Good rifle except that the rear sight tends to loosen under recoil.

 

[EKing]

I've never actually grouped mine at 100 so can't say if it is MOA accurate or not. Do you shoot at TCGC? If so, I can meet you there and let you shoot my newer model and see for yourself.

 

[Hangfire]

I've never actually grouped mine at 100 so can't say if it is MOA accurate or not. Do you shoot at TCGC? If so, I can meet you there and let you shoot my newer model and see for yourself.

Thank you for the offer @EKing and I may take you up it later on......what is the furthest you've fired your Mini 14 and what sort of group did you get ?

 

[BrandonM]

The new models with the heavy / tapered barrels are usually around 2 MOA as an average, if I remember correctly. It’s about the same as a basic AR setup.

 

[CharlieWH2O]

I have a 90s Ruger Ranch Rifle I keep zeroed at 300 m. 3” groups have never been a problem at that range although I don’t really have it for that.

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

TFBs accuracy report; https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/?s=mini+14

 

[EKing]

Thank you for the offer @EKing and I may take you up it later on......what is the furthest you've fired your Mini 14 and what sort of group did you get ?

I really can't say, just never tried for groups with it. I bought it when I first got into guns and really loved the M-14 style action and magazines. Heard from "experts" and know-it-alls how inaccurate they were but I didn't care about that so I just shot it close or at steel.

Still love that gun and will never sell it.

 

[TedKennedy]

580 series Minis are gtg. I’ve managed to make hits a 500 yds consistently at RNGs with mine. It’s lots of fun to smoke targets while the “Mini-14s aren’t accurate” guys look on. The factory sights suck big time, however, and I have a Leupold AR Mark 1-4 scope on mine. (the small, 180 dollar one) My rifle has been abused, submerged, dropped, dragged and just ain’t really pretty anymore- but I love it. Drawbacks: Only genuine Ruger mags are worth a crap, all others are junk.