Mini-14 Ranch Rifle
Series 196 - Stn/Syn
8 various rounds were tested through the rifle to find a "ideal" load, and it was finally decided that all tests would be done using handloaded 50g V-Max boat tails over 26.0g of IMR 4895 for 3150fps. All groups were 3 or 4-shot @ 100m using a mechanical rest at an indoor federal government facility. Rifle was equipped with a Pentax 6-24x AO for the process.
The barrel was broken in using a standard 100 round "shoot-clean" method.
Initial groups on the unmodified rifle averaged 3.5 to 8"+ with numerous flyers and erratic groupings. Some flyers failed to print on the 12"x12 target, indicating that they were at least 6"+ from point of aim. No distinct shot pattern was evident, and cold barrel POI varied by as much as 6" from hot barrel POI.
The best group recorded from the stock rifle was 3.51".
(NOTE: Ruger, I hope you are reading this, because the stock Mini-14 IS NOT CAPABLE OF CONSISTIENT of 2" groups at 50m regardless of what you claim. And this is even from a machine rest. This firearm was tested under virtually ideal, controlled conditions, and the fact is, it is the most innacurate rifle we have ever tested in this facility. Your butt should be called to the carpet for this Bill Ruger.)
The first modification was a complete bedding of the rifle - action, slide channel, everything - if it could be filled with Accraglas Green, it was. Even under the slide channel.
After firing approximately 50 rounds to allow the bedding and rifle to settle, shots of record were fired, and an immediate and noticable improvement was observed. Groups shrank to an average of 2.3", but most importantly, the flyers were completely eliminated. Cold vs. hot barrel POI also improved dramatically, and was now within 1".
Bedding the rifle had a dramatic effect on accuracy, and is the first improvement a Mini-14 owner should make.
Next, the gas bushing was replaced. The gas bushing swap did not have a noticable effect on accuracy, but recoil was significantly reduced, and case ejection was cut from 45'+ to about 8-10'. It should be noted that the muzzle velocity increased from an average of 3150fps to about 3186fps. Group sizes remaind in the 2.3-2.5" range.
Next, the gas blocks were again removed, and this time lapped, evenly spaced and gapped, and set screws were tightened to an even 18.5 in-lbs all around. The gas block modification had a moderate effect on group size, shrinking the average down to about 2.0".
After hearing of the positive results with them, the next modification was the installation of a muzzle brk / flash hider combo (delta, I think...). The test firing tends to back up this claim...group sizes shrank into the 1.75" range, and the side benefit of reduced muzzle flip allowed the target to remain visible through the shot.
Even though these tests were done using a machine rest, the stock trigger came in at 7.1lbs. So, the trigger group was stoned to reduce second stage by about half...to about 3.75lbs. From the rest this had no effect on group size, but for normal shooting, the reduced trigger pull would be a huge improvment over the heavy, notchy stock trigger pull.
Because the Mini-14 has such a thin low-mass barrel, it was theorized that by shortening its length we would be able to stiffen it out, and thus reduce the vibrations/harmonics at the muzzle. The final modification came in the form of shortening the barrel in small increments...1/4" at a time....cutting, recrowning, and then test firing. This process took considerable time.
Little change in group size was observed until we got the barrel to about 17.25 inches, and it was at that point things started to get interesting. After removing 1.25 inches of barrel and recrowning the groups immediately shrank by about 1/2" and were now regularly approaching the MOA range.
(NOTE: The muzzle brake was removed entirely during the barrel shortening process.)
It was at this point we began doing some real shooting with the gun. We tested first at 100m and had all groups fired for record under 1.5" with the best being 1.15".
![Image]()
We then backed out to 200m. As you can see, the results are darned impressive for a Mini...a 1.30" 4 shot group.
![Image]()
There you have it...that's where I'm at with my Mini-14 project gun right now. Considering that in the beginning the thing wouldn't hit a basketball at 100m, I don't think I'll be complaining about how it shoots now. I plan to keep tinkering with the Mini to see if I can improve on the results, but all things considered, I am more than pleased.
It should be noted that in all the firing I have done so far with this rifle, I have yet to experience a single jam, malfunction, failure to feed or cycle, or any other form of problem. None.
I hope that some of you might be able to gain some useful information out of this.
Series 196 - Stn/Syn
8 various rounds were tested through the rifle to find a "ideal" load, and it was finally decided that all tests would be done using handloaded 50g V-Max boat tails over 26.0g of IMR 4895 for 3150fps. All groups were 3 or 4-shot @ 100m using a mechanical rest at an indoor federal government facility. Rifle was equipped with a Pentax 6-24x AO for the process.
The barrel was broken in using a standard 100 round "shoot-clean" method.
Initial groups on the unmodified rifle averaged 3.5 to 8"+ with numerous flyers and erratic groupings. Some flyers failed to print on the 12"x12 target, indicating that they were at least 6"+ from point of aim. No distinct shot pattern was evident, and cold barrel POI varied by as much as 6" from hot barrel POI.
The best group recorded from the stock rifle was 3.51".
(NOTE: Ruger, I hope you are reading this, because the stock Mini-14 IS NOT CAPABLE OF CONSISTIENT of 2" groups at 50m regardless of what you claim. And this is even from a machine rest. This firearm was tested under virtually ideal, controlled conditions, and the fact is, it is the most innacurate rifle we have ever tested in this facility. Your butt should be called to the carpet for this Bill Ruger.)
The first modification was a complete bedding of the rifle - action, slide channel, everything - if it could be filled with Accraglas Green, it was. Even under the slide channel.
After firing approximately 50 rounds to allow the bedding and rifle to settle, shots of record were fired, and an immediate and noticable improvement was observed. Groups shrank to an average of 2.3", but most importantly, the flyers were completely eliminated. Cold vs. hot barrel POI also improved dramatically, and was now within 1".
Bedding the rifle had a dramatic effect on accuracy, and is the first improvement a Mini-14 owner should make.
Next, the gas bushing was replaced. The gas bushing swap did not have a noticable effect on accuracy, but recoil was significantly reduced, and case ejection was cut from 45'+ to about 8-10'. It should be noted that the muzzle velocity increased from an average of 3150fps to about 3186fps. Group sizes remaind in the 2.3-2.5" range.
Next, the gas blocks were again removed, and this time lapped, evenly spaced and gapped, and set screws were tightened to an even 18.5 in-lbs all around. The gas block modification had a moderate effect on group size, shrinking the average down to about 2.0".
After hearing of the positive results with them, the next modification was the installation of a muzzle brk / flash hider combo (delta, I think...). The test firing tends to back up this claim...group sizes shrank into the 1.75" range, and the side benefit of reduced muzzle flip allowed the target to remain visible through the shot.
Even though these tests were done using a machine rest, the stock trigger came in at 7.1lbs. So, the trigger group was stoned to reduce second stage by about half...to about 3.75lbs. From the rest this had no effect on group size, but for normal shooting, the reduced trigger pull would be a huge improvment over the heavy, notchy stock trigger pull.
Because the Mini-14 has such a thin low-mass barrel, it was theorized that by shortening its length we would be able to stiffen it out, and thus reduce the vibrations/harmonics at the muzzle. The final modification came in the form of shortening the barrel in small increments...1/4" at a time....cutting, recrowning, and then test firing. This process took considerable time.
Little change in group size was observed until we got the barrel to about 17.25 inches, and it was at that point things started to get interesting. After removing 1.25 inches of barrel and recrowning the groups immediately shrank by about 1/2" and were now regularly approaching the MOA range.
(NOTE: The muzzle brake was removed entirely during the barrel shortening process.)
It was at this point we began doing some real shooting with the gun. We tested first at 100m and had all groups fired for record under 1.5" with the best being 1.15".
We then backed out to 200m. As you can see, the results are darned impressive for a Mini...a 1.30" 4 shot group.
There you have it...that's where I'm at with my Mini-14 project gun right now. Considering that in the beginning the thing wouldn't hit a basketball at 100m, I don't think I'll be complaining about how it shoots now. I plan to keep tinkering with the Mini to see if I can improve on the results, but all things considered, I am more than pleased.
It should be noted that in all the firing I have done so far with this rifle, I have yet to experience a single jam, malfunction, failure to feed or cycle, or any other form of problem. None.
I hope that some of you might be able to gain some useful information out of this.
