[ULVER]

I have a Mini-14 made in 1990, series 185. I was told the barrel twist is 1-in-7 by Ruger, although the gal on the phone wasn't from the tech dept. Does this sound right? If so, what grain weights, will work best for me. From lightest to heaviest.

I know that the .223 & 5.56 are not exactly the same. Can I fire 5.56 through a Mini-14 with no probs? I wanted to buy some of the Lake City M193 5.56! Good choice? I'm stashing it...

Wolf: I know it stinks, is dirty, and has a few other issues. I was given 1000 rounds with the gun. Shoot or not to shoot? I'm thinking the truth is in the middle on this ammo.

ALL answers/ opinions appreciated!

 

[bushwack]

ULVER===Your Mini-14 may very well be a 1in7 twist. Use a patched cleaning rod & measure how far you have to push the rod down the barrel to make one turn of the rod. If it's 7" then you have a 1in7 or if it's 9" then you have a 1in9 twist. Normally a 223 caliber with a 1in7 twist shoots heavier rounds the best but we're taking about a Mini so all bets are off. You may want to buy a little of everything & hope your's shoots the cheap stuff the best. Mini-14's have the same chamber as an M-16A2 so you can feed it just about anything. If you shoot the Russian ammo with steel cases remember they use some kind of laquor to prevent rust on the cases. Some people have had problems with the laquor fouling in their chambers. Keep it clean.

Good shooting
Bushwack

 

[cajungeo]

Welcome to the forum ULVER. Bushwack has given you some good advice. In theory your faster turn rate should handle the heaver bullets better than a slower turn barrel, but the mini has a somewhat thin flimsy barrel, which may offset this. You just have to experiment with only a box or so of many different rds, as each mini is different. Once you find the ammo you are happy with, then you can do some tuning to tighten your group size in half or even more. There is a lot of info on "how to"in this forum. A handy tool is the search button in your upper control panel. Type in key words, and all related posts will come up with your key words, in Red.

Yes the Mini is chambered to shoot commercial .223 or mil spec 5.56mm ammo

My personal pref. is I try to stay away from Berdian primed, and use Boxer primed ammo, as the Berd. prim. is harder to fire, and you may get some misfires once in a while. The lake city is boxer primed and has a good rep.

If you already have 1,000 rds, that only shoot so-so, use it to plink with, and have some fun. You will be surprised how fast it will go in your mini.

 

[Ivanimal]

I dont and wont shoot russian steel cased ammo in my mini.I reload so I wont have to. many of the guys I plink with have had good experience with theirs.
I have fired more rounds through mine than all of theirs combined with one broken firing pin in 20 plus years. the best advice I can give to any semi auto owner is dont overheat the barrel no matter what ammo you use.

I have a 185 series in my hands right now that for sure has a 1-9 twist and it is a factory rifle. it eats 55-62 grain lead with decent accuracy.


I have had good luck with lake city ammo, their cases are some of the best for consistantcy and reloadability.:usa: