[EdinKali]

Massaging my handloads a bit more I am now able to get 1/2" groups at 100 yds. until the barrel starts to heat up. I am starting to wonder if getting the barrel/receiver cryo'd would help.

I went down to the 300yd metal silhouettes and can now take down pigs(coyote or small to medium dog size) with ease. Can't complain about that kinda accuracy from a mini.

 

[cajungeo]

Wow! If your getting 1/2" groups, I'd leave it alone. Are you shooting 3 shot or 5 shot groups, and is that an average, or now and then, measured center to center?

 

[EdinKali]

With 27.5 grains of H335 I seem to be able to get 4 shot groups that looked like a box(all 4 shots touching each other as one big hole about 1/2"x1/2" in size, I didn't measure center to center) before the barrel would start to heat up. The 5th shot always seemed to be within a half inch of the tight group but low and to the right. If I continued to shoot while the barrel was warming up I would get a 20 shot group of about 2" center to center.

With 28.0 grains I was only able to get 3 shot groups that were tight(looked like a small triangular hole about 1/2" from edge to edge) before the barrel would heat up probably due to the hotter load. The 4th shot would be low and to the right about 1/2" from the 3 shot group and the 5th shot would be about another 1/2" from shot #4. A 10 shot group would average about 2" center to center. So it looks like POI from cold to hot is about 2" with the handloads.

Just for kicks I tried some Wolf(hollow point) and some russian surplus(hollow point) while I was at the 300 yd silhouettes. Wolf, 10 rounds fired zero hits. It was really inconsistent. Russian surplus, 10 rounds fired 5 hits. Better than I expected. With the handloads after a couple sighting shots to guage overshoot, it was pretty much a one shot one kill affair. Rangemaster came over to find out what I was shooting to knock down so many pigs in so short a time(10 pigs in about 20 seconds) and was very surprised to see that I was shooting a mini-30 due to what he has heard about their poor accuracy.

Good ammo seems to be the trick for these rifles whether it is decent OEM stuff like Winchester and PMC or handloads. OF course there is a certain joy of loading it yourself.

 

[PPosey]

WOW what all have you done to that MINI 30 to get those groups,,,,,,,,,,,,???????

I am thinking about trading my MINI 14's "have 2" for 30's,,,,,,,,,

 

[EdinKali]

I swapped out the factory wood stock for a Ramline synthetic camo stock and I added a muzzle break as well as a heavy duty recoil spring(most folks like to use the smaller gas bushing method instead of the heavier spring to reduce felt recoil and keep the brass within 12-15ft.).

The scope is a cheap 4x40 Tasco(made in Taiwan I think).

And that's about it aside from the handloaded ammo.

 

[Peepsite]

I have been wanting to get a Mini 14 or 30, was holding out for the Mini 30 and finally snagged one. I found a 189 series Ranch model. I am very excited about your range report and can't wait to get mine out there and shoot it.

You were loading 27.5 gr of H335, with what bullet, brass, and primer? I have heard the Russian Bear shoots well in the Thirty and is really cheap, $88 for 960 rds. Is that what you were using? And, did you have a scope?

Does anyone have any other tips on making the Mini 30 more precision. I've read all the threads on this board on the Mini 14. Do they apply to the Thirty as well? Bedding, flash supressor, trigger work, etc? I know I need to get my hot hands on it and shoot it first, but I'm just so excited about the prospect. Thanks for any tips, Stan in Southern New Mexico

 

[EdinKali]

Peepsite: I was using Hornandy V-max bullets(Graf and sons) with Lapua brass and Winchester large rifle primers. As cajungeo has pointed out before, each rifle is different and you should start out with a light load like 27 grains and work upwards to prevent damage to your rifle and find out what works best for your rifle. Personally I wouldn't go over 28.5 grains as the case is pretty full at that point and the accuracy was worse than the lighter loads as well.

The russian ammo I was shooting was russian surplus(about $15 for a battle pack, 120rds) that I picked up from a local gun shop. Outer wrapper is devoid of any markings/writing and smaller 20 round boxes within the package are marked in English "Center-fire ammunition non-corrosive CAL7.62x39 HP L.C.B. 123 grain ball
Made to hunting specifications Made in Russia 20pcs."

As for bedding the stock, if you get a ramline synthetic stock you may not have to bed it. Mine was so tight it barely fit so no need to bed it. A muzzle break will help out and will keep the muzzle climb down quite a bit. POI will be about 1.2-2 ft lower at 100 yds.

My trigger is back to stock now, I had a lighter secondary sear spring in there for a while which made the final trigger pull nice and light but a buddy of mine inadvertently double tapped with that trigger while at the range(never happened to me but I sqeeze the trigger differently) so I put the stock spring back in.
My trigger seems to break pretty clean from the factory so I don't think the heavier pull is affecting my groups much.

My scope is a Tasco 4x40 that I had lying in my spare parts box.
It has some nicks and scratches on it but the optics are really clear and it has held up to the 30's recoil so far(about 1000 rounds) so I can't complain. A couple of Butler Creek flip up scope covers make it look tough.

 

[Peepsite]

EdinKali, Thanks for all the info. I sure can't wait to get my hands on mine and get out to the range. Stan

 

[cajungeo]

Peepsite, Edin has posted a picture of his 30 in the Gallery.

 

[Satan2655]

Peepsite - to answer your question:

Originally posted by Peepsite
Does anyone have any other tips on making the Mini 30 more precision. I've read all the threads on this board on the Mini 14. Do they apply to the Thirty as well? Bedding, flash supressor, trigger work, etc? I know I need to get my hot hands on it and shoot it first, but I'm just so excited about the prospect.

Yes - all the accurizing fixes also apply to the Mini-30. These rifles are virtually identical other than chambering and very slightly different part sizes. If you buy a Double Brake, make sure you get the one for Mini-30! The barrel is bigger, obviously.

Also, Mike Knifong has a different gas bushing kit for the Mini-30 because the gas port hole is milled to a different depth.