Yikes. I can' t believe I am wading into this muddy old pond, but here goes. I have many years of actual front line experience with both the Mini 14 and the AR, in law enforcement and the military. There is no way that the AR will ever take the place of the Mini 14 for me, due to experience and common sense. Seventeen years of daily use with the Mini 14 tells me that this thing is practically unstoppable, and when it does malf due to magazine or ammo issues, it is quick and easy to get it back up and running, due to the open architecture of the receiver. It is very hard to break a Mini 14, and I defy anyone to prove otherwise. The Mini 14 is accurate enough to hit a torso size target at 200 yards right out of the box. It is not, and never will be a target rifle, so let's get that out of the way. Yes it can be upgraded, but for most of us in the real world, it works as is.
The AR suffers from what I call the "Three Fatal Flaws". They are: #1, a totally enclosed receiver. #2, the locking extension of the barrel. #3, FRAGILITY. The AR requires an enclosed receiver because if dirt gets into it, it stops working. Please, don't waste my time or yours arguing this point. Many good American GIs are dead from this unarguable fact, and even the most ardent AR fans will tell you the same. For crying out loud, it has a button on the side, to make it work when it gets dirty. There is no excuse for this in a rifle that has to work under the very worst scenarios imaginable. This enclosed receiver makes clearing a FTE jam almost impossible under normal range conditions, let alone when the lead is coming at you. The barrel extension is a nightmare, period. EVERY GI will tell you that cleaning this piece of s**t is almost impossible on a nice sunny day. I was a military armorer for a couple of years, and it requires special tools, and a lot of patience to fully clean this area of the weapon. Again, there is no excuse for this. If a foreign object gets in there at the wrong time, you are humped, period. This is the weakest weapon design I have ever seen. The Ruger 10-22 is more rugged than the AR. I have personally seen one separated into two pieces due to a bad landing during fire and maneuver exercises. Luckily, it was a training situation. The buffer tube extension is a disaster just waiting to happen. The AR is one of the best semi auto target rifles in the world, there is no question of that, and it is very reliable under ideal conditions. We still have the AR in military service because of money invested, along with budget and logistic concerns, not because it is the best tool for the job. The Mini 14 is, in it's current iteration, also not suited for full on military service, but I would take it every time over the AR if I were called into combat. We can argue about this until the 12th planet returns, and probably will. If you are a die hard fan of the AR, then go with whatever blows your skirt up. I don't really care what happens at Gunsite. I have watched both of these weapons perform in the REAL world, and any truly objective analysis of this comparison will ALWAYS fall in favor of the Mini 14. I have seen many copies of this weapon with over a million rounds downrange at the California Correctional Training Center, that have never had a parts failure (stainless GB). If you are a combat veteran who has never had an issue with your M-16 or M4, then you have been very lucky. Quite a few others were not, and are no longer around to argue the point. Your mileage may vary.