A Newly Improved Mini-14

Two weeks ago, I tried to convince you of the appeal of the classic Ruger Mini-14 Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR). I also introduced you to my Mini-14, which, at the time of that post, was just a pile of parts. This week, I’m going to introduce you to my assembled Mini-14, and break down what distinguishes the rifle from more commonly found MSRs, namely the AR15 and Kalashnikov pattern MSR.

So what is the deal with this picture?

Why did I strip this rifle out of its aftermarket stock almost as soon as I got it home? The answer is quite simple: the stock it came in was terribly ugly.

The picture does not quite do it justice, but that truly looked terrible on the rifle. I did not even pause long enough to take a picture of the assembled rifle when I got it home. In fact, I am a little surprised I did not damage the rifle with how fast I tore it from its unflattering garb.

Obviously, I needed a stock to shoot the rifle effectively. At first, what I really wanted to do was return the rifle to a nice, wooden stock. Two things deterred me from that. The first was price. The wood stock I wanted was beautiful, but was very expensive. The second were the aftermarket parts that had been added to the barrel. The first part was the M16A2 styled flash suppressor/compensator that had been properly secured to the end of the barrel. It also was acting as the front sight post. The next part that had been affixed to the barrel, was this god awful barrel shroud that wobbled all over. Upon further investigation, I determined that the previous owner had only secured it with three of the four screws that were supposed to “secure” this piece of frivolity to the barrel. I took that off and threw it away. I finished off my tear-down of the rifle by cleaning it thoroughly and lovingly, but not in some sort of weird way. Now that rifle was good and clean, and devoid of extraneous crap, it was time to pick a durable, affordable stock.

I briefly toyed with trying to build something like this:

For the Sci-Fi nerds in the audience, you may recognize that as the Morita assault rifle from the Starship Troopers movies. While this would have most definitely been a cool toy, that is not what my Ruger Mini-14 is about. So I ended up settling for something more practical, and definitely less nerdy:

A simple green Hogue overmolded stock. I picked green because I didn’t yet have any green firearms, but I do wear a lot of greens, grays, and tans. Guy has to match his stuff, ya know?

Anyway, so I finished, and ended up with this:

Now that the rifle was complete, it was time to take it to the range.

So how does the Ruger Mini-14 stack up against the AR15 and AK MSRs? Bottom line up front, just fine. The rifle fires the same 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington as the AR15, so the recoil is very light. It also has a bolt hold open device like the AR15, which the AK does not have, which helps with reloads. The straight stock, rather than a pistol grip like both the AR and the AK have, is not much of a hindrance, if any at all. Mechanics-wise, the rifle stacks up relatively favorable except for one thing, and we will get to that later in a second.

If you spend any time on the internet researching Mini-14s, you will undoubtedly come across accusations that they are not accurate, and that they suffer from drastic widening of the groups, especially in older models (like mine) when the thin barrel heats up. While this is probably true, I did not notice any drastic difference in shooting clay pigeons or similar sized targets at 25 yards. Admittedly, this is not exactly Carlos Hathcock ranges or skills, but for the average Joe, who probably won’t be shooting his rifle to such extent as to horribly throw off the accuracy. Keep in mind that we were shooting in the West Texas heat, and the barrel heated up just sitting in the back of my truck and we didn’t notice much of a difference between any of the rifles we shot, including the Mini-14. Even so, I have heard tell that this issue has been mostly resolved in the newer model rifles that have a thicker contoured barrel.

Now that we’ve discussed the number one “complaint” against the Mini-14, lets move on to what I consider the bigger issue at hand: reloads. In any situation where you might be up against a literal clock, as you would  in practical shooting competitions, or a figurative clock, as you would in a situation where you are defending home or self against a predator on two legs or four, reloading quickly is critical. So watch this video:

The time taken to reload the Mini-14 is obviously longer than that of both the AR and the AK. I attribute this to three factors. First is that this is my first time shooting and trying to reload the Mini-14 on the clock. The second is that the $40 magazines do not drop free, requiring the user to pull them out after they have hit the magazine paddle. Finally, even though the Mini-14 uses a magazine paddle, similar to the AK, rather than a magazine release button, like an AR, it is much more difficult to perform that cool little trick where you reload your AK with the new magazine. Watch the Mini-14 reload and look for those three things:

Notice how I have to pull the spent magazine out, and then bobble the new magazine when I insert the fresh magazine into the rifle? Compare that the the AR15 and AK, where I am much more comfortable with the controls:

To be honest, that is my only real gripe about the rifle. Truthfully, this isn’t that big of a deal, unless you intend to turn your Mini-14 into a Grandmaster level practical shooter. The demonstrated reloads were “Speed” reloads and in the interest of speed, I allowed the magazines to fall to the ground and made no effort to retain them. Most times, you are going to want to retain your magazines anyway, and the Mini-14 controls are built for that methodology. I was also standing up completely straight, not something you would really do in a defensive situation.

So, in the end, two questions remain: Am I done modifying the rifle? No. I would like to put an optic on the rifle, specifically a red dot sight, and that will require some additional mounting hardware. Second, would I, given the choice between the two, choose this rifle over an AR15? Again the answer is no. This is not because it is a poor choice, or that I am dissatisfied with the rifle in any way. The reality is that while the Mini-14 is an extremely viable alternative MSR, the AR15 is cheaper to maintain and accessorize than the Mini-14 is, and if the second question is predicated on me having only one MSR, I would choose the AR15 over the Mini-14.

In the end, you have to choose to decide if the Mini-14, or any firearm, fits into your particular lifestyle. I’m just here to help you make that choice.

Signing off,

-Spencer