More accurate factory Mini-14

[Ghost in the Machine Gun]

Just picked up a copy of Peterson's "Rifle Shooter" mag. for Jan/Feb 2007 and the cover article is about the "new and improved" Ranch rifle. This is not the Target model I found out about last month this is just the standard rifle. According to the article due to tighter manufacturing tolerances the mini is now more accurate than ever.

The new rifle is called the 580 series and it appears that the reason for past accuracy problems were due to sloppy manufacturing processes. With the retooling of the mini-14 manufacturing equipment and the use CNC machining the rifle has become a bit tighter on tolerances. It appears that most of the efforts by the engineers centered around the gas system (duh!). According to the author all they did was "tweak" the rifle a bit.

Now for the good stuff. At a 115 yard range (to lengthy to say why 115 yrd.) the rifle did shoot some MOA groups right out of the box. The Hornedy 75 grain BTHP avg group size was 1 7/8 and so was the Winchester 62 gr FMJ (white box I assume). The worst group was the Winchester 55 gr (which is most of what Iv'e got) at 4 inches. All other bullets grouped at an average of 2 3/4 inches as my best guess. If this is true then I am going out tomorrow and try and find one. Let you kow what happens.

[5legion]

Wow, the 580 huh? Those sound pretty cool :D ! I'm just messing with you Ghost ... Peterson's is just a year behind the power curve on that news. You'll love the 580, and indeed, most of us that own older Minis and a 580 agree that the 580 is a superior product "out of the box". I think the real deal is that it has taken the gun writers over a year to figure this out!

Regards,

5L

[Ghost in the Machine Gun]

What is so embarrassing about this is that I bought a 581 series mini-30 about 6 months ago but for some reason the 580 didn't stick in this thick skull. My recollection was that last year it was the 530 series or something and the 580 was new.

When I was in Wally World yesterday they had a blued 580 for $541. I payed almost $600 for the stainless mini-30 so is that a good price for the blued mini-14? I have had 5 and each time I hope that this one will shoot. So far I have been disappointed every time. Thanks for the correction.

[5legion]

I think that is a decent price for a new one, it's hard to beat the big W. I really like my 580. I'd say it probably will need a Gundoc trigger job, but other than that I'd have no problem owning a stock 580. It is the best Mini yet IMO. Check out the review on gunblast.com .

5L

[cajungeo]

The members that have them have made similar remarks about their new 580 Mini's.

[ECVMatt]

I just picked up my 580 after reading the same article. I am very impressed with it so far. I have not had a chance to shoot at paper yet, it was too windy, but just shooting steel plates it kicked butt. 200 yard 8" plates were a no brainer and 300 yard plates were pretty easy to hit as well.

The new mini is much better and I am very pleased with it. Hope you enjoy yours.

Matt

[Ghost in the Machine Gun]

Well I went to Wally world and picked up a 580 tonight. I was told that I would have come one day earlier I could have gotten it for $542 rather than the new price of $559. Now why did he have to tell me that? He also told me that his store was one of those selected to discontinue gun sales. I hate that.

I put a 4X simmon 8 Point scope on it and plan to shoot it tomorrow (if the weather holds). I have Winchester 55 gr white box, 55 gr Federal red box, 62 grain M855 and some Radaway SS109. I also have some wolf and South African military 55 grain. I also have one box of the Winchester 45 gr varmint loads and a couple of boxes of Sierra 52 gr match that I reloaded myself.

This is my 5th Mini and I sure hope it shoots. I really like the rifle otherwise I would not have given it that many chances. I will let you know the results.

[Ghost in the Machine Gun]

I took the "580" out today to see how it would shoot. Results were inconclusive. I took too many different brands of .223 with not enough daylight to evaluate each. I can say with a lot of certainty that the 580 is much more accurate than the 188 series. Although not great the groups ranged from about 4 inches to a bit less than 2 inches.

The rifle would definitely benefit from a trigger job and some better glass. The worst group was the Wolf (which the 188 series likes!) and the best group was the Winchester white box from wally world. I had one 5 shot group with the Winchester that would have been less than 1 MOA except for a flyer!.

I plan to mount a better scope and polish the trigger a bit to see if I can improve the groups. I can reload so if there is any favorite powder/bullet combo that works for any of the readers please share it with me and I will give it a try.

[stevekaw]

Try the 62-69 gr. stuff...my 580-series seems to like bullets heavier than 55 gr.