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New Mini 14 owner

3K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  RJF 
#1 ·
Picked it up last night, haven't even fired it yet. I hear this is the place to be for all things Mini 14.

 
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#2 ·
This is "the" place for Mini info. I am a fairly new member here and most of these guys are real helpful.

I really like my Mini 30 and I have come a long way of making a so so shooter to one that is real nice after reading and implementing some mods to my year 2000 Mini.

I see you're from NY. I am too. My Mini is my SHTF NY go to as well as deer gun and range fun gun. Can't really have a good AR legally and AK's are out of the question. I hate Cuomo and his SAFE Act. What a knucklehead.

Welcome. Some good folks here.

Russ P
 
#4 ·
First range outing this morning. Not too good. I was trying to use a butterfly rest and evaluate some ammo. I think it restricted movement of the slide and I had a jam on shot seven. Could not pull the slide back by hand. Put an abrupt halt to the range trip. Came home and cleared the jam w/o incident.

Learned several things just by firing 6 shots.

Have to use a different rest.

Factory irons are pretty crude. Was tough to get a repeatable hold. I was using the 6:00 method with a 3" orange target at 50 yards.

I really need to scope the gun if I want to evaluate ammo. Don't have one sitting around but will likely pull one off another gun just to do ammo eval then go back to iron sights once I find a load it likes.

May have to go with an Accu Strut (or equivalent) sooner as opposed to later. Group for the 6 shots fired before the jam was about 1.5" with a distinct vertical string up and to the right.

I have some work to do.
 
#5 ·
Welcome Flashhole
With a new rifle I like to run a plastic brush down the barrel with Brasso on it to take some of the rough out. The Mini's are kind of rough brand new as you will see if you read some more posts on this forum.

Use good quality ammo (brass, no steel) until you have around 200 rounds through the gun and by then you will see a big difference in how the rifle performs. Also take a bore snake (the correct size) or cleaning rod with you to pull through every few rounds until the gun loosens up to clear the chamber.

Have fun with it. Ask COSteve about any mods. He has a rifle just like yours and it's a honey.

kwg
 
#6 ·
Thanks,

Just transferred the scope from my 45-70 Guide Gun to the Mini. Been wanting to pull that scope of for a while and go back to the Fire Sights. Now the Mini sports a Burris FF II 2-7 x 33 with a range compensating reticle.

I hear ya on the "rough" part. I picked up on that real quick. I roll my own and have lots of ammo on hand. Putting a few rounds down the barrel before doing any serious ammo eval sounds like a good plan.

I have the proper size Bore Snake. I love those things, have one for every gun I own.
 
#7 ·
Flash, Welcome to the forum from Central VA.

Just got my 583 Tactical this week (have yet to fire it, though).

I agree with your assessment regarding the sights. I will be purchasing Tech Sights to replace the rear sight.

Sorry to hear of your cycling problems. It may have indeed been the rest.

You probably don't need an Accustrut for accuracy improvement - the tapered barrels don't gain much (if any) improvement. It was the older skinny (pencil) barrels that really benefited from it. About the only significant measurable improvement would be better heat dissipation - something that can be easily helped with a Choate hand guard (about $15).

One very possible reason for the stringing may be the gas block. The gaps between the upper and lower parts of the gas block should be the same on each side, with all screws evenly torqued in a cross-pattern. The gaps on mine were distinctly uneven, and that will throw off accuracy.

Another possibility is the rear sight working loose - something a number of folks have experienced. The first round ("cold shot") POI often differs from the rest for any number of reasons (initial barrel fouling and "seating" of the receiver to the stock, for example).

All said, though, even with your problems, your six shots indicate an MOA of about 3.0. Minis can be made to get to close to 1 MOA, but that often takes hand-loading of ammo tuned to the specific rifle, reduced-size gas bushing, trigger work, and bedding of the stock.

Check your op-rod guide (the metal channel in the stock) to see if your op-rod is scraping against it. It shouldn't...

You may want to invest in some Wilson 1911 buffers (they're inexpensive) for the front and back of the op-rod. They reduce the metal-to-metal slamming of the op-rod during cycling. Your scope or red-dot will thank you for it - particularly the forward-slamming.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
#8 ·
Thanks,

I'm already in sponge mode absorbing info related to accurizing the Mini. This is a lot different from my bolt guns all of which I got to shoot amazingly good with my handloads. The Mini is just the kind of fun project I needed. Real glad I found this forum.
 
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#10 ·
I second checking the gas block gaps as well as running a few hundred rounds to break in and smooth up everything.

When I zero'd my irons I just used an old ammo box and towel in a prone position... The rear did come loose and I painted the inner sides with a jb epoxy, sanded it down and hand fit it before loctiting the screw... Hasn't budged since and works very well... But I moved onto some cheap glass and that also seems to be working well.

I also second the Wilson combat 1911 buffers but only on the rear.(Reciever side) at least to start.

In the end RJF pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Oh!... And do only one mod at a time!
 
#12 ·
Welcome aboard, your going to like tweaking your gun with mods,

Here is my Mini 14 #583 with a few upgrades,
1)Accu-strut
2)new gas bushing
3)1911 buffers front and back
4)Red Dot scope
5)Tech sight
6)1in. nylon sling
7)slip on muzzle brake
8)red paint on front sight pin
9)DIY trigger job from Gundoc video

 
#16 ·
All great stuff, 223Mini!

Here's my #583 Mini-14 Tactical (have had it all of four days, now).

Sits in my 1980-crirca Choate wooden folder, has the broken hand guard from trying to remove it for cleaning first time around, and a UTG 3-9X32 AO CQB scope which is surprisingly pretty good, and looks fair on it. The scope will go over to my older 181-GB Mini, sitting in an ATI stock for "comfortable" work (last pic) and the Tactical will be my go-to gun for wandering about the farm or riding in my Explorer if things start to get bad, with my TRS-25 to help.:) Just wanted to see how the Tactical looks with the scope.

For now...

.
 

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#18 ·
Nope. Too friggin' hot today. Not to mention, my better half doesn't know about this addition to the arsenal, so it and my older 181 can never be seen next to one another - at least for a while...She can discern different stocks, but I doubt she would make the distiction between the 181-GB and the Tactical. She hasn't seen the black synthetic that came with this one. THAT would get her attention...

So for the nonce, the 181 stays at the house and the 583 lives in the climate-controlled part of the garage (my "Toybox") - my original intent anyway to have something more than a .22 handy 400 feet from the house. Until I feel she'll accept my splurging, they'll be like Clark Kent and Superman. I haven't even fired it and already feel much more secure in the barn/garage area knowing something with more stout is available.

BTW, I used my SiteLite to roughly zero in the irons and UTG scope at 25 yards (inside the garage). It'll get me on paper at 50 yards. This is temporary, of course, since the UTG scope will find its way back to the 181GB and the red-dot TRS-25 presently on the 181 will find its way to the Tactical. Just thought it would be good to have the scope more or less zeroed until such time as I do that...
 
#21 ·
That won't work and even if it does, I got it for the barn/workshop area- always hated the prospect of having to go tto the house to get some reasonable firepower...

But eventually, I'll need to break the news to her. Maybe...

She does like my (old) Mini, but our USGI M1 Carbine is her present assigned weapon for SHTF. Perhaps in six months or so I'll introduce her to he 583 formally. It will eventually happen! She's a damn good shot, likely better than me!

She loves to shoot, but heat, med challenges, arthritic pain, mowing duties and horse chores pretty much keep us occupied. During those few opportune moments when we're not doing all of that, we have to ensure it isn't during horse meals or one hour before horse meals (the horses really don't care for gunfire and won't eat).

But my trigger finger is gettin' itchy - both for the Tactical and for the Savage Axis II XP in .223 I bought last year and STILL haven't fired or zeroed.:angry: Perhaps in the next week or so I'll fix that...I've got a LOT of PMC Bronze begging to be fired.!:)

Hate to hi-jack Flash's post, so perhaps I'll reserve further posts to my 583 Tactical Coming Home thread...

Or not,,,:)

Flash, you've got a fine carbine. Welcome to the club!
 
#24 ·
RJF- when you break the news, give her the 181, tell her it's just like the m1 carbine but now you two get to share bullets!
She is quite familiar with it - more rounds down range than with the M1 Carbine. Probably a better off-hand shot than I with it, too...

Why delay the inevitable? Just suck it up and start begging for forgiveness.
In a while. Agree, better to ask forgiveness than permission. It just hasn't settled in for her that we really are financially sound. Frivolousness just wasn't part of her previous experience, and SHTF scenarios are quite above that level. Yet...

She loves shooting, it's just that it is either too hot, or she is in so much pain from the arthritis that it is rarely fun for her.

Sucks getting old, but generally beats the alternative...
 
#25 ·
This mornings outing with the Mini was much better than yesterday. Instead of going to the range I set up on the property and used the sliding board landing on the swing set as a bench and fired several rounds to get the scope dialed in.

The top most shot is walking the scope down.

Then I had a nice cluster of 4.

With 3 shots remaining I went to teak it to the left and turned the turret knob the wrong way, that's the shot to the right.

Last two shots were right on the money.

Nikon Monarch 1200 Laser Range Finder said the distance was 64 yards.

I'm really liking this thing. Now that it's dialed in its time to shoot it.

 
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