Price Check: Ruger Mini 14

[Mainehunter]

My brother-in-law calls up and said he has on hold a Ruger Mini 14, Ranch SS in 243 for $750. He's big into coyote hunting and wants to switch over from bolt action to semi-auto. I really don't know much about them but I do know they are not that accurate as the bolt action or are they? Is the price reasonable? Thankx!

Mainehunter

[GonnePhishin]

Depends on what make of bolt action. However, as long as he's not looking for a 1 inch accuracy at 100 yards, it'll do the job. typically one can expect anywhere from 2-5 inches accuracy at 100 yards, depending on the ammo and barrel. If its the real skinny pencil type barrel that Ruger used until 2002-3? (someone correct me if its wrong), it will start stringing wide after the barrel heats up.
A lot of people turn their nose up at them and call them junk, but IMO its a good, reliable machine.

$750 is not unreasonable (depending on the year, however). New ones have been selling for $1200-$1300 in some cases on GB.

[Blaine]

243? Must be 223.......The new ones around here are going for twice that....

[Mainehunter]

243? Must be 223.......The new ones around here are going for twice that....

Ooops my bad! Yep! it's in 223

[2ndovc]

Sold one NIB two weeks ago for $1300! Got another $325 for spare magazines!


jb

[dracothered]

If the barrel gets thicker towards the gas block then it is a 500 series serial number which means it is the better Mini-14. Ruger redid tho tooling on the Mini-14 a while back which included a heavier barrel which addressed the barrel whipping issue as it heated up. This in turn improved its accuracy and brought it up to what it should have been when it was first made. The price is a good price and he should be happy with it.

[Mainehunter]

Thanks for the feed back gentlemen! I really don't know what year it was built and it looks like that determines the price. I checked on line and they are all over the place. One thing for sure, if the accuracy is not less than 1.5 MOA he's not going to be pleased.

Mainehunter

[sore shoulder]

Then most likely he is not going to be pleased. 2 MOA is an accurate mini IME.

[olyinaz]

Yep, he needs to look elsewhere if he's looking for better than 1.5 MOA. I like Minis, but they're not MOA guns.

Oly

[Streetstar]

Then most likely he is not going to be pleased. 2 MOA is an accurate mini IME.

If it is one of the newer 500 series minis mentioned above, it should be able to do that.

[handirifle]

The mini 14 Target is capable of sub MOA, I know i own one, but it is awkward and unwieldy as a defense weapon.

If it's the older mini's 3-4" will be the norm, and the newer ones will usually be 2-3" but some are better, depending on ammo.

If he wants 1.5" or better all the time, he's buying the wrong rifle, sorry. Reliability wise, I think it will outdo the AR's but the AR's are more accurate.

I saw a gun show once where a guy used a spray lube and ran several thousand rounds through an AR without a single hick up though.

[OldWin]

I've owned three different ones over the years (none now ) and none would do 1.5moa. That said, they were all the older ones but would shoot well if kept cool. They are super reliable with minimal maintenance and stone-drag tough though. My .02

[sore shoulder]

.

I saw a gun show once where a guy used a spray lube and ran several thousand rounds through an AR without a single hick up though.

Most of the reliability claims against the AR15/M4 are pure myth, as well as the claim that AK's don't malfunction. I've seen an entire company go through 1k rounds in a couple days on ranges without doing maintenance and few if any malfunctions. I've seen this several times. I have no doubt they could go several times that. I've seen m4's do ammo dumps of thousands of rounds to get rid of surplus blanks which is the dirtiest thing you can run, few malfunctions and the amount of carbon buildup was just stupid.

[MrMurphy]

What sore shoulder said.

Mini's tolerate total abuse (AK levels of stupidity) a little better than an AR but they're definitely not more reliable.

Various agencies that issued Mini's for whatever reason, if sending officers to training schools sometimes have had to bring spare guns as under prolonged shooting, the Minis will malfunction or have parts breakage. What's a five minute parts swap (with commonly available parts) for an AR is a trip to Ruger for a Mini.


For the listed purpose, the Mini will certainly be reliable, and reasonably accurate, but not more accurate than either a bolt gun or an AR. They're handy, easy to use, and tolerate lack of maintenance reasonably well, so they're popular.

The price, given the current insanity, is about average.

[BigSky56]

Mainehunter your BIL can send the rifle to accuracy systems inc for a tune up. A mini can be tuned up just like a m14 can, whats the difference between a m14 and a xm21 if it has a good barrel, a bedding and trigger job. get a syn stock and do a trigger job, the bind where the forearm locks onto the barrel has to be relieved and the action bedded. the vertical stringing in a mini is because of the forearm binding. my old mini was capable of .5 " groups with LC match ammo and 1.5" with ball ammo. There are quite a few ADC techs fed & state that use modified minis up to med range and m14's for long range predation shooting. A 223 has to much drift in a wind to give a DRT kill at long distance. danny

[Mainehunter]

Talked to my brother-in-law and passed on the info that I received here. He said Thanks! Anyway he's still hasn't made a decision. He hunts with a custom Savage bolt action in 250 Savage and loves it. What he wants to do is still use the Savage for the longer shots 200 yards or so but use a semi-auto like the Ruger mini 14 for the close up's. He said a lot of guys he hunts with are going this route. Also when he calls them or uses bait to bring them in closer the action gets pretty fast so the semi-auto would fit the bill, just can't do it fast enough with a bolt action.

He's been after me for years to start hunting coyotes with him and he said "if I don't grab the Ruger mini then you should". I see myself hunting yotes in a year or two but I don't think it will be with a Ruger Mini or any of the AR's. I just can't seem to warm up to them and I don't know why.

Mainehunter

[J35]

Talked to my brother-in-law and passed on the info that I received here. He said Thanks! Anyway he's still hasn't made a decision. He hunts with a custom Savage bolt action in 250 Savage and loves it. What he wants to do is still use the Savage for the longer shots 200 yards or so but use a semi-auto like the Ruger mini 14 for the close up's. He said a lot of guys he hunts with are going this route. Also when he calls them or uses bait to bring them in closer the action gets pretty fast so the semi-auto would fit the bill, just can't do it fast enough with a bolt action.

He's been after me for years to start hunting coyotes with him and he said "if I don't grab the Ruger mini then you should". I see myself hunting yotes in a year or two but I don't think it will be with a Ruger Mini or any of the AR's. I just can't seem to warm up to them and I don't know why.

Mainehunter

Its actually the noise and movement from working the bolt that spoils the set up when multiple's are close .

My wife got me a Mini in 1984 as a anniversary gift, in 1990 i sent it to Accuracy Rifle systems for the works.

--J

[Mainehunter]

Talked to my brother-in-law and passed on the info that I received here. He said Thanks! Anyway he's still hasn't made a decision. He hunts with a custom Savage bolt action in 250 Savage and loves it. What he wants to do is still use the Savage for the longer shots 200 yards or so but use a semi-auto like the Ruger mini 14 for the close up's. He said a lot of guys he hunts with are going this route. Also when he calls them or uses bait to bring them in closer the action gets pretty fast so the semi-auto would fit the bill, just can't do it fast enough with a bolt action.

He's been after me for years to start hunting coyotes with him and he said "if I don't grab the Ruger mini then you should". I see myself hunting yotes in a year or two but I don't think it will be with a Ruger Mini or any of the AR's. I just can't seem to warm up to them and I don't know why.

Mainehunter

Its actually the noise and movement from working the bolt that spoils the set up when multiple's are close .

My wife got me a Mini in 1984 as a anniversary gift, in 1990 i sent it to Accuracy Rifle systems for the works.

--J

You're probably right about that. He did look into the ARS for the custom job but for the price it's about the same as getting an AR.

Mainehunter

[MrMurphy]

Just remind him that the world speed record for a bolt action was set by a British army instructor using a Lee-Enfield with iron sights, and he fired 37 rounds in one minute, aimed, at 200m+ targets, ie he didn't just crank off the rounds, they were aimed fire.


That's 3.5 reloads in there too....


Bolts can be run quick. Just takes practice and not having a huge scope in the way.

[Mainehunter]

Just remind him that the world speed record for a bolt action was set by a British army instructor using a Lee-Enfield with iron sights, and he fired 37 rounds in one minute, aimed, at 200m+ targets, ie he didn't just crank off the rounds, they were aimed fire.


That's 3.5 reloads in there too....


Bolts can be run quick. Just takes practice and not having a huge scope in the way.

I truly believe that but he's trying to find another excuse to buy another gun which isn't so bad. It turns out the first three SN# is 186 so I'm guessing it's the older version. After looking at them I could go with the Ranch model in a wood stock if I had too. Also come to realize I have stashed nearly 3000+ 223 military cases that was given to me for nothing. Hmmmm

Mainehunter

[Mainehunter]

So I get this frantic phone call from my BIL earlier today saying the gun dealer left him a message needing to know if he's going to buy it other wise someone else is interested in it. Of course my BIL is begging me to come with him to look at it so we met up some time latter. After an hour or so he still couldn't make up his #@%#$ mind At this point you can tell the gun dealer is getting annoyed and so am I. After another half hour of this I couldn't take it anymore so I bought it! He put some money down but I did the paper work and brought it home. My BIL nearly lost it when the gun dealer said he was out of 223 ammo thinking were going straight to the range and test it out. It was quite comical to see him squirm when I said it'll be at least a couple of days for me to assemble some loads to try out. Brass, powder and primers I have but dies I don't. I know someone who loads for the 223 but don't know if he's around so the wait maybe longer for my BIL

Mainehunter

[sore shoulder]

My BIL nearly lost it when the gun dealer said he was out of 223 ammo...

Heh heh, best part.

Tell him there's plenty on Armslist for $1 a round. Heh heh.

[JcJ78]

Good buy. I sold my 181- choate/ultimak folder in January for $900 via armslist. It was a high price before Sandy Hook, and kinda low after, but I didn't change it because I felt like i'd be price gouging on the blood of little kids, and I couldnt stand to do it. I saw em sewll for a lot more, but I was still doubling my money since '99, so I was happy with it. Still had some pics, but they were too wide