[Big Al 1]

I have been lurking here for awhile and have seen several references to modifications by ASI in Colorado but I have not seen any reports on the results of their work. What kind of comments do any of you have on their work/accuracy.
Two of us have had our Mini 14s reworked by ASI ( .900 barrels/trigger job/muzzel brake/scope mounts). I am still shooting in the barrel, so I'm not ready to comment but, my friend's mini has been sent back once for some problem with chamber machining and he has now sent it back a second time for general in-accuracy (4" at 100yds). He has tried some different handloads plus Blackhills ammo. I'm hopeful that mine will do better, I'll reserve judgement until I get a chance to get another 100 rounds through it.

 

[cajungeo]

Welcome to the forum Big Al 1. Sorry to hear about your friends bad luck. I'm curious about what you meant by Chamber machining problem?

my friend's mini has been sent back once for some problem with chamber machining and he has now sent it back a second time for general in-accuracy (4" at 100yds). He has tried some different handloads plus Blackhills ammo.

I know that the Mini has a loose A2 chamber, while the match chambers have a tighter chamber, and is less forgiving on case dimension, and bullet seating. Asi warrentees accuracy when using their recommended factory ammo, but carefully made handloads should shoot better. Keep us posted.

Have you "big barrel boys" had any problems with yours?

 

[Big Al 1]

The chamber machining problem he described to me was, grooves in the chamber which caused extraction problems. ASI fixed that problem saying that they had a defective tool used on his rifle. Apparantly, the grooves alowed the cases to fire-form in to the grooves and not eject. anyway, they fixed that problem, but it is back at ASI now due to general in-accuracy. He says they will probably re-barrel it.
Just got my scope rings yesterday, so will probably get mine back out to the range this week to finnish up my fire-clean routine for about another 100 rounds and see what I get.

I had a Houge stock on when I sent my Mini in to ASI but they recommended a Ramline as a tighter fit so I had them change it.
I would prefer the Houge as it feels better and fits my gorilla arm length better, so after reading here of the good results some of you have had bedding the Houge, I'll probably try that after I get some baseline to make sure I'm not the one screwing up the accuracy (I'm a pistol and shotgun shooter so this benchrest stuff is a little new).

 

[BigGunBill]

I hope your rifle shoots a little better than your friend's Mini (sorry to hear about it). It seems odd to me that the sticky (poorly machined) chamber and poor accuracy problems were not detected by ASI prior to shipping, especially with the .900" heavy barrel.
Did your rifles come with accuracy guarantees eveon though you did not have them bedded?
Hopefully this is not another ARS type horror story (they guaranteed accuracy too).
There was another post on my post for heavy barrel feedback with good results from ARS on two rifles.
Somebody has to post results on a Clark Custom Guns conversion. It is the only one we haven't read about yet.
C. Barry, have you done a range report yet on your ASI gun?

BigGunBill

 

[cajungeo]

Hey Big Al. It sounds like their first fix was to ream the chamber to a larger size to rid the grooves, but don't know for shure. One thing I do know is a larger chamber is what our std mini's have. Loose chamber poorer accuracy. This is the first negative thing I have heard of for ASI. I'm shure they will make it right with your friend, because they care about their rep. I guess out of thousands of jobs, a mistake can slip thru.

Hey BigGunBill. If you enter "Clark" in your search screen, no less than 130 threads will come up. Some members are long gone, but their comments remain, in our archives. They are easy to scan as your Key word's will come up in RED. I would help ya, but I spend an average of 2 hrs a day answering posts, and researching ans. on the mini-14, and 10/22 forum. So I would encourage everyone to do the prelemenary search to help me, and satan out. Thanks guys.

 

[cbarry]

Hi gang. Still have yet to get out to the rifle range. Went for indoor pistols (Ruger GP-100 6" stainless & a Security-Six 3" Stainless, both in .357) last weekend. Hoped for some sun this weekend but it is foggy 40's in my neighborhood so far and I don't think it will be different tomorrow. Prefer to have a little sun to burn off some the ambient moisture...

To give some feedback on quality, visually the work looks excellent. The chamber machining appears very clean with nearly invisible cut marks--of course, this does not indicate accurate machining but rather a lack of "defective" tooling. I just received Mike Knifong's gas port and recoil buffer, so I will install those today and will be ready for more acceptable weather conditions at United Sportsmen in Concord, CA.

Honestly, I don't expect that I will be getting great results during break-in with the Russian barnaul ammo I purchased from Midway, but I will also pick up some American to baseline with once I get 200 or so through the barrel. If I initially see 2-2.5" groups I will be happy...I'm sure that I will see 1-1.5" with match and handloads.

 

[AF FAL]

Actually your extraction issues were the result of a defective chamber reamer, basically there was slight imperfection in the way the blades were cut and it cuased "chatter" which made the grooves in the chamber. Actually your barrel was not the only one that had problems, it was unfortunate, but a few others did get through as well, it was a very busy time of year to say the least, all the other customers have had their barrels fixed.

Whenever things like this happen, it is rare, Carl is always more than willing to make things right. He doesn't take his rep lightly, both he and his son Chris (yes it's a father and son business) work very hard to make sure they keep the good name they have in the business, and to keep their customer base happy and shooting.

I am sorry that I don't remember your name, nor your friends, but I do rememeber the issues with the chamber and the accuracy. I have known Carl since I was stationed in Aurora over a year ago, he has become a great friend, and started helping out at the shop regularly in my off duty time back in Feb/Mar. I am sorry your friend had the issues with the rifle that he did, we always hate to see these things happen, and I hope everything was fixed to his liking.

 

[xman]

I was going to send my Mini-14 to have it accurized by ASI but after talking to a few folks on here and other websites I decided that I would buya bolt action rifle instead of spending over $700 to accurize my rifle for only a sub moa guarantee.

I became concerned with ASI after reading their website (http://ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/about_the_barrels.html) and it appeared to me that they did not know what kind of barrels they were selling. They promote the broach cut barrel as the best and denounced the single point cut barrel as being of inferior quality. I did my homework and found out that Douglass barrels are broach cut and Krieger barrels are single point cut and both are sold by ASI as their best grade barrels. Do you see the contradiction? If you know your rifle barrels, you would know that Krieger barrels are anything but inferior. http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/faq.php

They are considered to be one of the best rifle barrels in the world and a lot of precision shooters now use Krieger barrels for competition. Furthermore, Fulton-Armory uses Krieger barrels on their AR type rifles and guarantee a 1/2" moa or less with a Krieger barrel. See http://www.fulton-armory.com/Barrels.htm

I was surprised that a company like ASI that sells barrels as part of their Mini-14 upgrade had no knowledge on the product they sell to the consumer and that was evident on their website. This is one major reason why I decided not to send my Mini-14 . I did e-mail them about my concerns so they can correct their mistakes. I hope they will update their website and have their accurized Mini-14 rifles tested by Gun-Tests or some other gun magazine. When they get a positive review, I will send my Mini-14 for them to accurize.

 

[2 gun]

I became concerned with ASI after reading their website (http://ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/about_the_barrels.html) and it appeared to me that they did not know what kind of barrels they were selling.

I believe they know what kind of barrels they are selling but because they price there barrel shroud thing so high they then have to raise the price of there barrels to justify it(or why buy a shroud thing when you can buy a barrel.) then there is the high side if they try to sell a Barrel for over 600 you can buy a hole 24 inch AR15 for around there that will walk the dog on a mini.

 

[Squirrelsaurus Rex]

Originally posted by xman@Aug 18 2003, 08:48 AM
I hope they will have their accurized Mini-14 rifles tested by Gun-Tests magazine.

I used to have a (rather expensive) subscription to Gun-Tests. It seemed like a lot to pay for a magazine written by a bunch of guys that don't know what they're doing. Like re-assembling a gun with parts backwards or upside down and then telling people not to buy it because it doesn't work. <_<

Thanks, but I'll look for information elsewhere.

 

[xman]

Originally posted by 2 gun@Aug 18 2003, 08:58 AM

I believe they know what kind of barrels they are selling but because they price there barrel shroud thing so high they then have to raise the price of there barrels to justify it(or why buy a shroud thing when you can buy a barrel.) then there is the high side if they try to sell a Barrel for over 600 you can buy a hole 24 inch AR15 for around there that will walk the dog on a mini.

You did not understand what I said in my previous post and it had nothing to do with price. ASI did not know that Krieger barrels were SINGLE POINT CUT and thought they were BROACHED CUT. A search on the web will give you a lot of information on barrel making methods like button, broached and single point cut. ASI does use high quality barrels but on their website they talked about the virtues of broached cut barrels and demeaned single point cut barrels. They sell both types of barrels and unknowingly had demeaned the Krieger barrel. This may have been an oversight but I would have expected a company like ASI to do their homework on the barrels they sell to the consumer. It stopped me from sending my Mini-14 to them and I used the upgrade money to buy a Savage rifle instead. I still would like to have my Mini-14 upgraded and ASI would be my first choice but I'll wait to see an article on their accurizing process and would like to see their guns tested for accuracy. If they can get a positive review from a gun magazine whether it be Gun-Tests or some other magazine then ASI will corner the upgrade maket on the Mini-14 and Mini-30.

By the way, I sent an e-mail to ASI and they now show that the Krieger barrel is single point cut but have not changed their webpage that demeans the single point cut method. See http://ruger-mini-14-firearms.com/about_th...he_barrels.html

 

[xman]

Originally posted by Squirrelsaurus Rex+Aug 18 2003, 10:10 AM-->

QUOTE (Squirrelsaurus Rex @ Aug 18 2003, 10:10 AM)

<!--QuoteBegin-xman

@Aug 18 2003, 08:48 AM I hope they will have their accurized Mini-14 rifles tested by Gun-Tests magazine.

I used to have a (rather expensive) subscription to Gun-Tests. It seemed like a lot to pay for a magazine written by a bunch of guys that don't know what they're doing. Like re-assembling a gun with parts backwards or upside down and then telling people not to buy it because it doesn't work. <_< Thanks, but I'll look for information elsewhere. [/b][/quote] I am a current subscriber to Gun-Tests magzine and have enjoyed their articles. I don't always agree with them but they are the only magazine that I know of that has no advertising(reason why they are expensive) and can say what they want. They are not beholding to any advertising contract like some other gun magzaines that talk about how great and wonderful a certain gun is when we all know that the gun is a piece of garbage. If you know of a better source of information please let us know.

 

[Squirrelsaurus Rex]

Don't get mad. I wasn't criticizing you, I was just giving my opinion of the magazine. I understand all the virtues of having no advertising and being able to be objective in testing something. That's why I subscribed to it. But I still found their articles to be both misleading as well as informative. I noticed many instances when they belittled a product for one reason or another when there were other factors that might change the story entirely. They don't bother to point these things out in order to be 'objective', but rather let their own personal feelings about it dictate the final result. (Did you see how they trashed the Mini-14 a while back, rather than taking one or two paragraphs to explain how simple it is to make it a great rifle? The article made it sound like it's nothing more than an overpriced baseball bat.) Such things can be misleading for people new to the shooting sports, who often don't realize other factors may be involved if they aren't explained to them. But, since I can think for myself, I didn't let that bother me. Then I started to see them screwing up when testing things and having to be corrected by letters from the manufacturers of the products they test. Of course, this happens after they publish erroneous information in their magazine, too late for some people who may not see the correction later. The straw that broke the camel's back (for me, anyway) was when they put that gun back together wrong and reported that it wouldn't work. I couldn't keep paying $50/year for that level of competency, so I let my subscription expire. No, I don't know of a better source of testing. But I know they're not it. I agree that there's a lot of good information in their magazine. But there's also too much misleading information for my taste. If it's worth it to you, great! I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm just saying that it's not worth it to me.

 

[WAH]

Hey Big AL 1,
I had ASI do my Mini 14 a .750 barrel trigger job and pin bedding and all the work is first class.
I'm working up some loads now, so far I have one load with Varget and Wincester
55 grain psp 5 shots 3/4" a 100 of a bench.
My kids live in Coloado and I went to ASI's shop and picked up my rifle,very nice guys to deal with. I'm very happy with their work.Well back to the loading bench. Walt

 

[cajungeo]

I read gun reports in mags when I get the chance. Some I agree with some I don't. I put more stock in what people say that have gone thru it like WAH's report. We have had several such reports concerning ASI's work. By in large they seem to do quality work. As far as being too high, I guess its up to the individual wheather he can afford it or not, and the alternatives. For my personal use I must take the low cost road, at least till I win that powerball. $85 million!

 

[AF FAL]

XMAN-

I checked the page on our site that you were referring to, you should be happy to know the page is being completely removed as I write this, I checked the page and noticed a couple terms being used interchangeably and a couple of other things as well. It may take a week or two to see it gone from the site since it has to go to our web company, but rest assured it will be gone altogether.

 

[Carl Emmite]

:usa: Dear gentlemen, We do and have known the difference between single point and broach cut barrels. The page about our barrels was taken from Olympic Arms when we were using there barrels exclusively. This paragraph can be seen in their catalog. Of course they are going to talk up there barrels. We failed to have our web site upgraded in time when we added other barrel suppliers. We know Krieger is a fine barrel or we would not be selling it as our PREMIUM barrel! If you are concerned with our knowledge about barrels we can send you the name and phone numbers of tons of satisfied customers. We do Guarantee 1" or better @ 100 yards with factory ammo. But this does not mean that they are not capable of much better accuracy. Heck, most of our customers are happy to report groups under a half inch. As far as AR 15s/10s go, we also specialize in customizing them and we will guarantee 1/2 MOA or better with our premium barrels. When comparing us to our competitors we go far and above to put our customers on a pedestal and treat them like we would like to be treated, just as we state in our opening statement on our home page OUR CUSTOMER IS OUR BUSINESS. Thank you Carl Emmite Jr. President of ASI Phone:1-303-755-3530 Email: [email protected]

 

[cajungeo]

Thanks Carl, and AF ASI for clearing this up for us.

 

[Greg_in_Oscoda]

I've been thinking about getting a mini rebarreled and have called and written both the Texas Place and the good (my opinion because of service , and I'm just a potential customer) shop in Colorado.
I not only had my e-mails returned promptly by Dillon in Colorado but he recently called me at my shop to ask if I had any further questions. I have yet to hear from that other place.
Guess whom will get the job when it comes time Now to get caught up in here so I can send the mini to Dillon in Colorado !

Greg

 

[Pdaddy]

Whos Dillon :blink: is that someone at ASI

I love ASI, they have high standard on theire work and are very kind and service minded. I would never have a secound thought to send my mine there if i were to change to a big ass barrel

Hale the all mighty ASI... they are the Mini MASTERS :usa:


hehehehe

Marcus "The Swede"