Accurizing a Mini 14

[Hotshot12]

I have a mini 14 that I have had for a while and never really thought about its accuracy, but I wanted to try to put it in the arsenal for shooting pigs. Is there anything I can do or add that will bring its accuracy in.

 

[Angered_Kabar]

It's probably not going to be an easy thing, but you could do some research on bedding M14 actions. Maybe there's even a step by step guide to doing it on a mini 14.

 

[pvtsnowball82]

-retorque gas block screws to 30 in-lbs; while you're at it, even out the gap on both sides of the gas block between the upper and lower halves.
-some suggest polishing the op rod channel in the stock, as well as polishing all the contact surfaces on the op rod handle and bolt, and even inside the op rod where the recoil spring resides.
-i installed wilson combat's 1911 shok buffs one each on the gas tube and the rearward end of the recoil spring guide rod. some companies make mini-14-specific shock buffers, but I've found Wilson's 1911 buffers to be the best.
-If you really want to get into it, you could try bedding the action and free-floating the gas block, or bedding the gas block, etc. etc. ad nauseum. I haven't done any bedding or free floating.
-several companies produce barrel struts that clamp to the mini barrel in a couple places and are supposed to limit barrel whip. I haven't tried any of these.

I personally have retorqued the gas block screws and installed buffers on my 16.5" mini-14 tactical. it shoots around 2 moa with hornady 55gr vmax. I wouldn't expect too much more accuracy from this platform. If you're looking for really good accuracy from a semi-auto 5.56 platform, go with an AR.

There is much more info and how-to on the Perfect Union forums. They have an entire section dedicated to minis.

 

[hangtree]

a muzzle break helped mine some

 

[Mikewood]

I would start with a new match grade barrel.
But honestly you can get what you want more assuredly by going to an AR.

 

[LJH]

Sure I own more ARs than minis but heck I enjoy the mini so much more.

As to my accuracy improvements the re-torqued gas block helps.
Cut and crown the barrel helps.
Bedding helps.
Polishing the rod did nothing for me.
But even in factory form with open sights it is plenty accurate for pigs out to 100 yards.

 

[Texasjack]

First let me say that the mini-14 is a terrific rifle. Is it accurate enough to shoot hogs? Absolutely! Can you compete at target shooting at 300 yards? Probably not.

The barrel has been a problem and the newer minis have a heavier barrel to try to fix that. The rifle was never designed to solidly mount good optics.

If you google "accurizing a mini-14", you'll find some companies that do that kind of work and if you look at what they are doing, you'll see the types of things that they modify. I've seen one at a shooting range and the owner told me he spent more on accurizing than he did on the rifle itself.

The Mini is a very reliable tool for putting rounds down range. Let the AR people think what they want to think, the Mini is more reliable than any AR I've ever seen.

 

[Acesn8's]

I've heard they do good work,it's just that my pockets aren't deep enough.


Rifle Accuracy Systems Inc Custom Accurate Rifles Barrel Conversions Ruger Mini Remington 700 7400 750 AR10 AR15

 

[codygjohnson]

Chopping my Mini 30s barrel to 13" and putting a good crown on it brought in group sizes considerably. Also replacing the terrible sights on the older ranch models helps. Mine sports an Aimpoint CompM3 in a Ruger 30mm ring.

 

[LJH]

I've heard they do good work,it's just that my pockets aren't deep enough.


Rifle Accuracy Systems Inc Custom Accurate Rifles Barrel Conversions Ruger Mini Remington 700 7400 750 AR10 AR15

They do good work, and yes they are high $$$.
About any good smith could do the same work for the same price.

 

[40Arpent]

the Mini is more reliable than any AR I've ever seen.

I have owned 3 Mini 14's, early and late models, all factory and non-molested. I like the Mini a lot, and hunt hogs with it on a pretty regular basis. It is one of my favorite "truck guns" for ranch work. That being said, when ridden hard (the only way to really test reliability), there is just absolutely no truth to the Mini 14 being more reliable than the AR15 platform. Do you really think the Mini could hang with the AR15 in the testing that the military currently puts prospective weapons through? Not a chance.

 

[TheDan]

Sell it and buy an AR

I kidd... As others have said, your best bet is installing one of the newer barrels. Ruger's newer Mini barrels are better than they used to be. More than likely it's already "accurate enough" to hunt with out to 150yrds. You planning on shooting further?

 

[shortround]

It is hard to break a Mini-14, but the accuracy between early and late generations are light years apart.

IMHO it is not worth the money to mess with them to improve accuracy.

My '82 still shoots inside 2 inches at 100 yards.

Be well.

 

[M. Sage]

The Mini is a very reliable tool for putting rounds down range. Let the AR people think what they want to think, the Mini is more reliable than any AR I've ever seen.

I'm an AK guy and have to say... no.

I've seen a handful of ARs choke at the run and gun matches I like. 100% of the Minis I've seen show up have failed to make it through a match without malfunctioning. Every. Single. One.

My friends an I came up with a nickname for the Rugers... Jam-o-Matic. It's what we've seen them do far more regularly than AR rifles.

 

[Texasjack]

Stand behind the firing line at any gun range on a Saturday morning and watch the kiddies with their black rifles trying to clear jams! Must we go back to the rice paddies to discuss how your beloved M-16 did in Vietnam? The Mini-14 suffered because Bill Ruger didn't want the gov't "assault rifle" antis including his rifle on their list - a naive and bad decision on his part.

 

[Termitehunter]

Barrels are the key to accurizing Mini 14s because of the quote "harmonics" and "barrel whip". Even Ruger's own accurized Mini 14s address this. I have heard that allot of people have had good luck with items like this.

The Original Barrel Strut for Mini-14s

 

[40Arpent]

Stand behind the firing line at any gun range on a Saturday morning and watch the kiddies with their black rifles trying to clear jams! Must we go back to the rice paddies to discuss how your beloved M-16 did in Vietnam? The Mini-14 suffered because Bill Ruger didn't want the gov't "assault rifle" antis including his rifle on their list - a naive and bad decision on his part.

Back to Vietnam, before proper training on the AR's manual of arms and proper maintenance, long before proper propellants were used? Look, nobody can truthfully say that the AR platform is perfect, but to think that a Mini-14 can run side by side, much less ahead of, a quality AR15 just proves one's ignorance. "Kiddies" at the range doesn't mean shit. Like Sage said, watch what happens in when a mini is run hard against an AR. I have a feeling though that I am wasting my breath. LOL

 

[pvtsnowball82]

Yes, let's not continue the age-old mini vs AR argument. Both are reliable and have their purposes. (And by the way I own one of each and love both of them) Nuff said.

 

[LJH]

As pvtsnowball said, both are reliable. Yes my AR will make tiny little groups and rarely malfunctions. My mini is not capable of tiny groups, yet I am able to snap shoot the mini much more accurately than the AR. To me this is better for a running hog. If you dont know, the pigs dont care what gun the bullet came from.

So back to the OP

I have a mini 14 that I have had for a while and never really thought about its accuracy, but I wanted to try to put it in the arsenal for shooting pigs. Is there anything I can do or add that will bring its accuracy in.

Well if you are stand hunting, perhaps a different gun would be better.
If you are walking about, dump the optics and learn to use the sights. As you will most likely flush hogs into a run. Thats where I have found outstanding success with the mini. For me it is a shoulders well and aims quite naturally.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Wait, I thought the age-old argument was AK vs AR, lol......