I have located a used mini 14 LE (with bayonet lug and flash hider) guy don't know how old. said it is in perfect condition. wood stock, 18.5 in barrel, blue. does this gun have the 'pencil barrel' or one of the newer heavier barrel? anything I should look for before I go inspect this gun? tks to all. also, were the newer 'ranch rifles' the only ones to get the 'heavy barrels? again, my thanks.
the 580+ series ranch rifles are the only ones to get the medium contour barrel.
the mini 14 GB (that's the correct designation by the way) that you are looking at
it will have the flash hider and bayonet lug on a "pencil" barrel
it will also have NO scope mount scallops on it. the front sight is winged type similar to what is on the 580 series guns, integral to the bayonet lug instead of the standard for that time blade sight on the end of the barrel.
inspection of the rifle should be the same as any other mini - look for rust, look for extractor wear, make sure the chamber looks good, and the bore is shiny and pit free.
if you can get the first digits of the serial number you can check it's age against the master list found on this site (use the search feature and you'll dig it up)
MOST of these GB rifles were armory rack guns - many only sat in prison armories waiting for SHTF prison riots that never came. consequently, many of them were in almost unused condition when they were sold as surplus.
the guns that were issued to police officers as patrol rifles can be a little more rough around the edges - but usually they are mechanically fit for duty, with only finish wear and stock scratches and dings as issues.
It's hard to actually ruin a mini - you pretty much have to intentionally abuse it to get it to stop working right.
I have Mini 14 GB of 185 series vintage, so it was produced somewhere between 1987 and 1990.
stock, it was a decent shooter maybe a 2.5 MOA gun- it is said by some that the Mini 14 GB guns were better out of the box shooters than the standard mini 14 models of the same time, something to do with the flash hider and bayonet lug mounted to the barrel improving harmonics slightly. 2.5 MOA for a stock 185 series mini is actually pretty good - when 3MOA was the norm, and pie plate groups were not uncommon... this was the time period that earned the mini its (incorrect) reputation of being "inaccurate"
with a modified accustrut (to clear the bayo lug), trigger work, re torqued gas block, TROY MCS chassis, and a 1911 pistol buffer on the op rod.
it is now a "better than decent" but not a MOA gun... maybe a 1.5 MOA gun, I'll put it up against a cheap AR any day and still score well... I'll pop man sized targets in the COM at 300 every time all day... which is good enough for me.
The only problems I came up against is - it's hard to mount modern optics on a "non ranch" mini 14
(hence the troy mcs chassis)
basically - what you have there in a mini 14 GB is the "Yankee's AK" (tough hard to break, goes boom every time, not the most accurate but still very useable) rifle chambered in an american caliber.
hope this helps
