Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Reviews

by **Trapdoorbob** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:13 pm

The Ruger is only a 200 yard gun at best. I just put a 2-7 Leupold on mine. IMO, 4.5x is too much for close action shots. The gun isn't capable of taking advantage of 14x. Check out Midway's blemished scopes. I can't find the blemish on mine ;-)

by **lewcheese** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:58 pm

just took my mini-14 tactical out with federal 55gr fmjbt without hiccup. shot good groups at 75 yards. cant wait to put my remington jhp through it at the range. nice shooting rifle and versatile.

by **redhawk** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:18 pm

killed my very first deer with this gun. it is a nice gun and for some reason at that age i felt soooo attached to it i would ask my dad to only hunt with it. it was a sad day wen my grandpa made me step up to a .243. i use t every once in a while just because it is a challenge because of the small bullet on my first deer my dad couldnt even find the entry point of the bullet on the deer

by **kerstingm** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:46 pm

I ended up going with a Konus 4.5-16x40mm model 7280. Awesome scope I can't wait to get it out to see what it will reach out and touch. Even if my Target Mini won't do everything I want it to do I still have one hell of a scope that I can always upgrade my rifle.

by **HankthePatriot** » Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:33 pm

I am trying to decide on the choice between the mini 14 and the mini 30. The additional stopping power of the mini 30 is obvious, but beyond this would be such questions such as: Difference in cost and availability of the .223 versus 7.62 Nato; reliability; ease and fun of shooting; reliability etc. Any comments out there from anyone???

by **Trapdoorbob** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:31 am

I suppose it depends on the primary use. The 30 would be better for deer hunting, especially if there is any brush. My 14 is only a 200 yd gun, I doubt if either is a long range rifle. If plinking is the primary use, cheaper ammo is attractive ;-)

by **sigtaz** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:04 pm

HankthePatriot

the Mini 30 is very fussy about ammo and the surplus that is so cheap (the main reason I bought this rifle) doesn't work well about 1 in 4 ftf if I had known this I would have opted for an AK to stick with this Caliber. I cant speak to the surplus ammo for the Mini 14 but given this problem with the 30 I wouldn't do it again. I have however purchased some Hornady SST ammo to hunt with and can't wait to check it out at the range to see how it handles this ammo.

by **Trapdoorbob** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:53 pm

I have shot some Wolf in my 14. No problems, but it isn't quite surlpus grade ammo.

by **DoubletapMag** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 1:22 am

It's a fact that the mini is good out way past 200 yards, once I got my rangefinder I started going around ranging kill shots and one was a shot on a coyote my old man killed at a range of 400 yards. I have put 3 shots in a area the size of a nickel at one-hundred yards with two almost touching, the fourth and fifth shots were low and to the left several inches, ammo was 55 grain WWB BTSP's my brother and I went through and handpicked the rounds with best looking bullet's. The rifle was the first model year of the ranch rifle with pre-ban feature's like a barrel cooler and M60 like flash supressor the scope was a Simmon's 4-12 power scope with a BDC designed just for those rifle's. The main problem with the mini's is the same one that the HK91's have which is a harmonic's problem compounded when the barrel heats up after just a few shots. On top of that I believe the at least our mini if not many are just finicky, shooting differently from day to day. The nickel size group I mentioned shooting earlier was the best the rifle has probably ever shot, and hasn't been replicated even with the much more expensive Hornady ammo that's shot out of it these day's, I suspect that the last time we shot it we warped the barrell or stripped out some rifling as it had 50 rounds rapid fired out of it. Congrats to the guy with the Mini Target Model the hogue overmold stock make's the thing look smexy and if your any kind of sharpshooter you'll be able to verify my claims for yourself as the new mini's especially the Target are supposed to be very accurate. Either way the AR guy's on this forum are gonna call BS, but it's not.

by **DepDoug** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:21 pm

Sent my Ranch Rifle to the factory to correct for failure to eject every 30 rounds or so. Factory changed the breech without charge. Test fired 200 rounds to check the factory's work. Functions flawlessly now.