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Practically Shooting

A Pair Of Ruger Mini 14 Tactical's


billt

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I picked these 2 up a couple of days ago. Both are the newer Tactical Mini 14 Models, one in Stainless, and one in blue. Both are identical except for finish. The blued model has a slightly longer over all length.

I have a NRA Edition Mini 14 I got a couple years ago when they came out. It has the Hogue Overmolded stock with the gold NRA Medallion set in the pistol grip. Both of these have the standard synthetic stock. The Ruger Mini's are some of the most pure "fun guns" out there. The blued model came without scope rings and 2, 20 round magazines. The Stainless model came with rings and one 20 round magazine. I'm planning on not scoping them, and running them with iron sights. The sights supplied are adjustable, large aperture, front protected blade type.

These newer models have the thicker barrels, along with Ruger's improved method of attaching the gas block that is supposed to help eliminate tweaking and stress in the barrel itself. This caused a lot of the older models to walk all over the target as the barrel heated up from a lot of continuous rapid fire. The newer models are much more stable, and more accurate in that regard. The guns are typical Ruger and built like a tank, and the actions cycle nice and smooth. I've handloaded a ton of .223 / 5.56 MM so I'm anxious to get them to the range next week. The weather is finally starting to break here. It was just 63 degrees this morning. It's time to get out and shoot after a long, hot Summer!

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Looks like you've been having some serious fun helping the economy!

Quote:

These newer models have the thicker barrels, along with Ruger's improved method of attaching the gas block that is supposed to help eliminate tweaking and stress in the barrel itself.

I hadn't heard that Ruger changed the gas block. Do you know where the changes are documented?

Wayne

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Part of the problem with older Mini 14 rifles was in the gas block, along with the way it was attached to the rifle. If you disassemble the rifle and inspect the face of the slide block and the rear of the gas block assembly, you may find that the face of the slide block strikes one side or the other of the gas block, rather than making a uniform and symmetrical imprint. This asymmetrical contact causes fliers.

This is the area that was improved. These improvements were part of an extensive retooling operation the entire Mini 14 assembly went through in 2006-2007. Also added during this time were thicker barrels to help prevent opening of groups as the barrel heated up. The result was improved accuracy over the older Mini 14 rifles.

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Sweet - those look nice. I bought the lowest cost wood/blue option a couple months back and I think I posted before, no accuracy problems here. Some old timers can't get past the reputation of the early models, which is pretty sad.

Off topic (sorta) I bought Ruger stock not so far back when it was under $20. The company is a pretty good USA success story.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had both of them out yesterday. This was shot at 100 yards, (both rifles) 16 rounds each with the factory iron sights and my 59 year old eyes. 2 different handloads were used. The first was a 55 Gr. WW FMJBT over 25.0 Gr. of AA 2230-C. The second load was a 55 Gr. Lake City FMJBT over 25.7 Gr. of H-335. I fired equal amounts of each load in both rifles, 33 rounds total. I think I loaded an extra round in the Stainless Model, I can't remember.

I never touched the sight adjustment on either gun. Both were shot as they came from the box. No adjustment was necessary. Both guns functioned flawlessly with not one single FTF or FTE. The 25.7 Gr. load of H-335 was substantially hotter. Brass was ejected about 20 feet to the right, and 5 feet to the rear. The 25.0 Gr. loading of AA 2230-C was slightly less, but functioned both rifles just as well. The wind was around 7 to 15 MPH and the temp was right around 70 to 75 degrees.

All in all I'm very pleased. With a good scope and mounts, and match grade ammunition, these guns could easily be capable of much better. I had no trouble ringing 12" steel plates at 200 yards with either gun with the factory sights. All total I put around 160 rounds downrange with each rifle. All the 20 round Ruger factory magazines supplied with both rifles performed flawlessly as well. The mags are a little trickier to remove than an AR-15 magazine, but once you get the hang of it they're not bad at all. You have to get in the habit of rocking them forward, then pull them back and out. They then come out very easily. Overall it was a good day, and there were no issues with either gun. After a good cleaning and lubrication these actions are really slick. If anyone is still hung up on the inaccuracy of the Ruger Mini 14, you might want to reconsider. These guns are quite a bit more accurate than the older models.

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At 100 yards with unaided sighting, that is awesome. Considering the front sight blots out the entire target!!

What I did that really helped, was to "line up" vertically along side the target with the front sight on a white background. Then "walk" the sight picture over to center on the black bull. It was really the only way you can get a good vertical sight picture. This also helped when shooting the 12" steel gongs at 200 yards, which were black in color also.

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