Help needed

[ussniper]

hello all. I'm new to this forum. Usually im an ar fan and have gone ar crazy(8) all together. Then I came across this forum and started reading all of your interesting stuff on the mini 14. Well lo and behold, ran into a gent at the local gun shop and bought a mini 14 synthetic stock in ss for 200 bucks. Now before I came here I probebly wouldnt have bout a mini, have had friends that have had them and they werent all that accurate, but then decided to try one myself.......Ok Im hooked. Now to my question, what can I do to this rifle to bring out its full potential? All info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again....USsniper

[rugerdaddy]

Boy, ussniper, you came to the right place! These guys are nuts about bringing their minis to their "Full Potential", and they love to tell you about it. I'm no expert, but I got my mini 14 recently and also have gone whako about improving it. (Jesus, don't tell my wife what it's costing!) I shipped mine to Gundoc at Great West
Gunsmithing: http://www.greatwestgunsmithing.com/

but, you can do a lot to your rifle yourself. The consensus is that bedding your rifle is the single best thing you can do to improve accuracy. After that, I think shortening the barrel and adding a muzzle brake are right up there for better groups Then, a trigger job will help you shoot better, and reduced gas port bushings or an adjustable gas block will reduce recoil and shorten the distance your rifle throws brass.

Here I am, the mini novice, giving advice. But, I'm sure the more knowledgeable guys will opine here shortly to help you in more detail- and maybe to tell me where I'm wrong! They like to do that, too. :)

[timlt]

Well Ussniper, that's a pretty broad question, but I'd say start by reading some of the tips and tricks section content. Search for threads here using the search feature, include terms like "accurization", etc. I think a broad way to answer your question is to say there are two types of things you can do to bring out your accuracy:

1. External factors that you can do, without having to modify the gun directly. For instance: Get the best quality sight (scope or red dot) you can for the type of shooting you want to do. Use good quality ammo, for practice and plinking consider Remington UMC 55gr FMJ ammo (usually around $5.50 a box) or American Federal Eagle 50gr, 55gr, or 62gr (similar price). For accuracy testing, hunting, or competitions, try Black Hills ammo in whatever weight you find works best in your rifle. Or to really bring out your accuracy, consider getting into handloading. A third external thing to do, besides getting a good optic and using good ammo, is to make sure your shooting technique is sound. There are plenty of books plus free Internet articles you can find on shooting technique.

2. Modifications to the Mini. If you try the above things, and find that you still want to increase the accuracy potential of your Mini, then you might consider any of the following modifications. I would recommend that you consider doing them one at a time, with the simpler and less expensive ones first if possible, to see if each mod gives you the accuracy you want, then you can just stop at that point. There's no point getting a ton of mods if you only need one or two to make the rifle shoot well.

* Something to stabilize your barrel. This is a biggie; you'll likely find that you will NEED to do one of the following in order to make your rifle a really accurate shooter, to get your groups below 2" at 100 yards.

- Get a vendor solution for a barrel stabilizer for the Mini-14. See Clark Custom Guns website, or Accuracy Systems Inc. These are more expensive, though.
- Get a tuning device, such as the Biathlon stabilizer. A quick search through the current threads will provide the link to this thing; it costs about $65 and you can mount yourself.
- Get a muzzle brake, flash hider, compensator, etc., to add some mass at the end of your barrel. Most Mini owners have found that having one of these on your barrel will tighten groups and reduce fliers quite a bit. Some of these you can add yourself, or you can have a smith thread your barrel and add one.
- One of the new stabilizer bar options that you can add on yourself, such as the Accustrut (soon available at www.accustrut.com).

* Trigger job. Contact Gundoc (www.greatwestgunsmithing.com) about his $50 trigger job. Most folks will tell you this is the best, and it'll help you both enjoy shooting more, and control your shots more precisely.

* Other mods. I'd say the first 2 above are the most critical, but each of these others can add varying degrees of value depending on your gun.
- Bed the action. Helps tighten up the action and reduces fliers. Gundoc can do this for you too, around $50. Or you can do yourself, see tips and tricks.
- Cryogenic treatment for your barrel. Some folks swear by this, and it usually only costs around $40. Supposedly it enhances your accuracy a bit.
- Change the barrel. Some people go to a bull target barrel for the Mini, Accuracy Systems Inc can do this for you, or a number of other smiths can. But it makes your Mini very heavy, and it'll cost at least $300 to $400.

[BFD45Medic]

One of the other barrel stabilizer options you can consider is the Har-Bar. Contact rogcous@sbcglobal.net for more details, or go to http://www.rogco.biz/homeforpage2click.html for his website. I would also recommend that you use factory magazines for reliable feeding. There are some aftermarket mags that work as well, but you can hardly ever go wrong with factory mags. Check out www.gunbroker.com for those, or for any other mini 14 parts. Check out the sub forum called Magazine Talk for additional info on mags, and the Accurizing sub forum for alot of good tips. One other thing, there's alot of info from some educated and experienced shooters on this board, so search postings for any questions you have and you may be pleasantly surprised. Safe shooting, Peace Out.

[ussniper]

Thanks for all the great tips. Ill be contacting gun doc today. It seems like this will become addicting. Also BFD45Medic so far i've got a couple of factory 20's and 10's. But they are getting scarce

[countrysmith]

. Well lo and behold, ran into a gent at the local gun shop and bought a mini 14 synthetic stock in ss for 200 bucks. USsniper

i wish i lived in the USA, you cant get a used mini for under 500.00 in Canada
if you are looking to do some mods threw the mail i might be able to help you out. i have been making mini's accurate for years

[rugerdaddy]

What kind of problems would one have shipping a firearm to Canada? I think some of us south of the border might be afraid it would be confiscated by the Canadian government when it gets there! What are the gun laws in Canada? Do they change from province to province, or are they uniform throughout the country (unlike here)?