I've been by here quite a few times and have read most of the posts going WAY back in trying to glean all the knowledge that I can.
I have two Mini 14's myself along with a few other Mil type weapons. I have just laid away
a 1982 model mini and had this BRIGHT idea.
Since the rifle is an old one I figure I can do what I want with it. In fact, it is the very fact that this rifle can be heavily modified that I chose it. I see it with a foider, bayo, and flash supressor. It'll be up to the Feds to prove it wasn't this way when I bought it.
I have plenty of experience with Ranch Rifles
but none in this configuration. Any problems with the 182#### series that you know of?
I may try to find a barrel in the 1-9 twist so as to standardize all of my .223 ammo into 63 grain. I'm hoping that I can buy one from a company like Clark who does after market upgrades. As long as there is not a compatability issue this should work.
I am both torn and tortured by the Mini-14. It is a love hate relationship. I love the basic Mini platform, but despise the fact that the half-assed firm Ruger has the design as their very own to screw up.
It's basic form and function are superb, but aftermarket mags SUCK, and the accuracy is an after thought in this rifle. As I said before, this is a carbine, not a true rifle, and if one remembers that the Mini is a M-1 knockoff and NOT an AR knock off, the lack of accuracy doesn't sting as badly, but still doesn't make one puff up with pride either. Hell, my $70 SKS are more accurate than this thing! And Ruger has the NERVE calls themselves an "Arms company"?
That being said, I DO wish a STANDARD mil type barrel was available for this thing. Not an expensive H BAR version, but rather, an improved, slightly thicker barrel whose harmonics were capable of accurate fire, not match grade fire. Something along the lines of a standard AR-15 barrel would make this the PERFECT .223 in my judgement and would silence 99% of the Mini's critics. Do you think I could have a barrel made along those lines by a barrel manufacturer like Douglas or Shilen?
Hell, I wrote AND called Ruger Inc. to tell them just how STUPID I thought their marketing strategies were. If companies like
Clark, Conn. Precision, ARS, and others can charge $400-700 in UPGRADING a $400-700 factory rifle, couldn't Ruger go on and spend the extra $50 each to put a servicable barrel on the damned thing and raise the price by $150 or so? This coupled with the fact that no serviceable 10 round mags are readily available tells me that Ruger is a company with no direction and destined to slowly wither on the vine. (Do you HEAR ME RUGER? You %@#!!& idiots!!!)
For that matter, I think that if an after market company made SERVICEABLE mil type barrels that were not H-Bars, but rather slip
in replacement units designed as they should have been in the first place (Hear me Ruger?)
someone could make some money.
I don't want one of those funny looking "contour" type barrels on my rifle unless I can affix the standard add ons like flash supressors and the like. Think I could thread the last half inch of such a barrel? Ditto for those new "slip on exterior barrel sleeves" that are heated up and put on. BTW, do you have any experience with these? If they weren't right at the end of the barrel and interfering with my requirement for a flash supressor and/or bayo lug, then they might be the answer.
Ruger stumbled onto a good design for a rifle action but are a failure as a company where quality is concerned. I don't even know how they can put their name on a weapon's system like the Mini, I know I wouldn't. I mean look at it like this, would SAVAGE, a company renowned for economical accuracy place their name on the Mini? I seriously doubt it. They've (Savage) shown that their number one concern as a company is quality, as evidenced by their purchace of the Canadian manufacturing plant that markets their .22 rifle under the Savage name. Quality at a great price, and a far better value than the 10/22.
I try to slam Bill Ruger and his rip off company whenever I get a chance and feel his retirement as head of the firm will either fix the dog known as Sturm Ruger, or should be seen as a sign that the end is near. In fact, Ruger has VERY little in the Semi-auto rifle Market that isn't matched or surpassed by other arms companies. His Mini action is good, his 10/22 is a good design, but his semi-auto carbines are little more than rechambered M-1's at a more expensive price,IMO. But if Bill Ruger's leaving bodes well or ill for the firm, I don't care. I mean, after you buy his Mini his company is of NO use to you. All of your aftermarket needs and other issues that his company SHOULD be attending to are ignored and other companies have stepped into the void and are making a fortune by doing so. Entire companies like Bushmaster have sprang up to fill voids that bloated cow like companies in the Ruger vein have chosen not to be "bothered" with. It's inaccurate. It's BEEN inaccurate for 30 years. FIX it Ruger!
Is this a company of dinosaurs or WHAT? Most firms realize that the art of customer satisfaction and responsiveness is the key to their future. How can they be faring today? With the internet and weapons forums almost always recommending folks NOT buy a mini, but to purchase the far less refined AK, or other weapons platform, how many can Mini's can Ruger be selling? Ruger needs a complete reorg top to bottom, and a man with half a brain could grow the company NOT by adding new product lines and gimmicks, but by perfecting the excellent basic platforms like the Mini that they already own. I mean for GOD's Sake, any search of Mini issues on the net tells you that mag availability and Mini innaccuracy are the TWO issues that have plagued this system since day one. They have always known it and have chosen to not only NOT respond to the customer, but actively ignore them instead. What pukes!
In 30 years of the Mini the BIG upgrade has been:
A) Polymer stocks
B) Stainless Steel
C) Integral Scope mounts on the Ranch Rifle.
WHICH of these issues is IMPORTANT? None!!!!
The "need" for polymer stocks was chosen as an issue, while the top two issues (mags and accuracy) have been not only overlooked but NEVER once addressed.
If a guy is willing to spend $700 on a K mini
THEN turn around and drop even more than the initial purchase price on scopes, stocks, trigger jobs, and barrel jobs why would Ruger NOT take advantage of that? They could offer an improved model, upgrade their rather poor name, please the customer, and GROW their profits and business at the same time. Who's in charge at this dog company?
Look at Savage, and Remington which do the EXACT same thing with their bolt action rifles. They offer basic starter models, upgrades, package guns, and everything in between. Hello!!!! Ruger!!! Pull your head out!!!
Oh, well.....I've complained enough and as I've said the mini both tortures and teases.
It reminds me of a beautiful women who could have been prom queen but instead becomes a ragged barfly. Her once good name is leered at, her virtue besmirched, no one wants to be seen with her around their friends, but will secretly have their "way" with her when nobody's around. The mini is like an ugly chick with a good body. Lotsa fun when you're alone in the dark, but not one you'd take out in public.
You know...Ruger's crappy website doesn't even give you a forum to write his senile old butt at. I guess they puposely left this feature out as they've had enough butt chewing over the Mini. 30 years and they STILL haven't fixed it? I hope they go bankrupt qand the factory burns down tonight!
A pox on their houses! I personally think that Bill Ruger signed a secret agreement with the Chinese not to EVER make a more accurate rifle than The Communists could make for $23.
Ok, that's my rant. I'm regaining my normal color. My veins are no longer throbbing and my eyes are no longer bulging. I've wiped most of the foamy spit off of the keyboard as well.
I've got a friend that is a machinist and has been for 50 years. You think I could machine an AR barrel onto my mini? I'm about ready to try. You see, I've disregarded my own advice and forgotten that the Mini is a M-1 type weapon. It's that damned .223 cartridge, I tell ya.! I KNOW I can do something MORE with it. If Ruger had only chambered the Mini in .30 I'd be able to sleep at night and I'd know the names of my kids out in the living room. As it is I'm spending every spare moment looking for a cheap fix to my Mini addiction for accuracy.
Hey, didn't you send a couple off for upgrades? How'd they work out? I will be firing Milsurp, so match grade is of little concern to me.
Do you have an e-mail addy for Ruger that I could send a copy of this flame job to? Hell, I'd even volunteeer to go run their dog of a company for about 3 days in order to get their crap together if they'd just ackowledge that they are aware that they are selling a half a**ed product.
I have two Mini 14's myself along with a few other Mil type weapons. I have just laid away
a 1982 model mini and had this BRIGHT idea.
Since the rifle is an old one I figure I can do what I want with it. In fact, it is the very fact that this rifle can be heavily modified that I chose it. I see it with a foider, bayo, and flash supressor. It'll be up to the Feds to prove it wasn't this way when I bought it.
I have plenty of experience with Ranch Rifles
but none in this configuration. Any problems with the 182#### series that you know of?
I may try to find a barrel in the 1-9 twist so as to standardize all of my .223 ammo into 63 grain. I'm hoping that I can buy one from a company like Clark who does after market upgrades. As long as there is not a compatability issue this should work.
I am both torn and tortured by the Mini-14. It is a love hate relationship. I love the basic Mini platform, but despise the fact that the half-assed firm Ruger has the design as their very own to screw up.
It's basic form and function are superb, but aftermarket mags SUCK, and the accuracy is an after thought in this rifle. As I said before, this is a carbine, not a true rifle, and if one remembers that the Mini is a M-1 knockoff and NOT an AR knock off, the lack of accuracy doesn't sting as badly, but still doesn't make one puff up with pride either. Hell, my $70 SKS are more accurate than this thing! And Ruger has the NERVE calls themselves an "Arms company"?
That being said, I DO wish a STANDARD mil type barrel was available for this thing. Not an expensive H BAR version, but rather, an improved, slightly thicker barrel whose harmonics were capable of accurate fire, not match grade fire. Something along the lines of a standard AR-15 barrel would make this the PERFECT .223 in my judgement and would silence 99% of the Mini's critics. Do you think I could have a barrel made along those lines by a barrel manufacturer like Douglas or Shilen?
Hell, I wrote AND called Ruger Inc. to tell them just how STUPID I thought their marketing strategies were. If companies like
Clark, Conn. Precision, ARS, and others can charge $400-700 in UPGRADING a $400-700 factory rifle, couldn't Ruger go on and spend the extra $50 each to put a servicable barrel on the damned thing and raise the price by $150 or so? This coupled with the fact that no serviceable 10 round mags are readily available tells me that Ruger is a company with no direction and destined to slowly wither on the vine. (Do you HEAR ME RUGER? You %@#!!& idiots!!!)
For that matter, I think that if an after market company made SERVICEABLE mil type barrels that were not H-Bars, but rather slip
in replacement units designed as they should have been in the first place (Hear me Ruger?)
someone could make some money.
I don't want one of those funny looking "contour" type barrels on my rifle unless I can affix the standard add ons like flash supressors and the like. Think I could thread the last half inch of such a barrel? Ditto for those new "slip on exterior barrel sleeves" that are heated up and put on. BTW, do you have any experience with these? If they weren't right at the end of the barrel and interfering with my requirement for a flash supressor and/or bayo lug, then they might be the answer.
Ruger stumbled onto a good design for a rifle action but are a failure as a company where quality is concerned. I don't even know how they can put their name on a weapon's system like the Mini, I know I wouldn't. I mean look at it like this, would SAVAGE, a company renowned for economical accuracy place their name on the Mini? I seriously doubt it. They've (Savage) shown that their number one concern as a company is quality, as evidenced by their purchace of the Canadian manufacturing plant that markets their .22 rifle under the Savage name. Quality at a great price, and a far better value than the 10/22.
I try to slam Bill Ruger and his rip off company whenever I get a chance and feel his retirement as head of the firm will either fix the dog known as Sturm Ruger, or should be seen as a sign that the end is near. In fact, Ruger has VERY little in the Semi-auto rifle Market that isn't matched or surpassed by other arms companies. His Mini action is good, his 10/22 is a good design, but his semi-auto carbines are little more than rechambered M-1's at a more expensive price,IMO. But if Bill Ruger's leaving bodes well or ill for the firm, I don't care. I mean, after you buy his Mini his company is of NO use to you. All of your aftermarket needs and other issues that his company SHOULD be attending to are ignored and other companies have stepped into the void and are making a fortune by doing so. Entire companies like Bushmaster have sprang up to fill voids that bloated cow like companies in the Ruger vein have chosen not to be "bothered" with. It's inaccurate. It's BEEN inaccurate for 30 years. FIX it Ruger!
Is this a company of dinosaurs or WHAT? Most firms realize that the art of customer satisfaction and responsiveness is the key to their future. How can they be faring today? With the internet and weapons forums almost always recommending folks NOT buy a mini, but to purchase the far less refined AK, or other weapons platform, how many can Mini's can Ruger be selling? Ruger needs a complete reorg top to bottom, and a man with half a brain could grow the company NOT by adding new product lines and gimmicks, but by perfecting the excellent basic platforms like the Mini that they already own. I mean for GOD's Sake, any search of Mini issues on the net tells you that mag availability and Mini innaccuracy are the TWO issues that have plagued this system since day one. They have always known it and have chosen to not only NOT respond to the customer, but actively ignore them instead. What pukes!
In 30 years of the Mini the BIG upgrade has been:
A) Polymer stocks
B) Stainless Steel
C) Integral Scope mounts on the Ranch Rifle.
WHICH of these issues is IMPORTANT? None!!!!
The "need" for polymer stocks was chosen as an issue, while the top two issues (mags and accuracy) have been not only overlooked but NEVER once addressed.
If a guy is willing to spend $700 on a K mini
THEN turn around and drop even more than the initial purchase price on scopes, stocks, trigger jobs, and barrel jobs why would Ruger NOT take advantage of that? They could offer an improved model, upgrade their rather poor name, please the customer, and GROW their profits and business at the same time. Who's in charge at this dog company?
Look at Savage, and Remington which do the EXACT same thing with their bolt action rifles. They offer basic starter models, upgrades, package guns, and everything in between. Hello!!!! Ruger!!! Pull your head out!!!
Oh, well.....I've complained enough and as I've said the mini both tortures and teases.
It reminds me of a beautiful women who could have been prom queen but instead becomes a ragged barfly. Her once good name is leered at, her virtue besmirched, no one wants to be seen with her around their friends, but will secretly have their "way" with her when nobody's around. The mini is like an ugly chick with a good body. Lotsa fun when you're alone in the dark, but not one you'd take out in public.
You know...Ruger's crappy website doesn't even give you a forum to write his senile old butt at. I guess they puposely left this feature out as they've had enough butt chewing over the Mini. 30 years and they STILL haven't fixed it? I hope they go bankrupt qand the factory burns down tonight!
A pox on their houses! I personally think that Bill Ruger signed a secret agreement with the Chinese not to EVER make a more accurate rifle than The Communists could make for $23.
Ok, that's my rant. I'm regaining my normal color. My veins are no longer throbbing and my eyes are no longer bulging. I've wiped most of the foamy spit off of the keyboard as well.
I've got a friend that is a machinist and has been for 50 years. You think I could machine an AR barrel onto my mini? I'm about ready to try. You see, I've disregarded my own advice and forgotten that the Mini is a M-1 type weapon. It's that damned .223 cartridge, I tell ya.! I KNOW I can do something MORE with it. If Ruger had only chambered the Mini in .30 I'd be able to sleep at night and I'd know the names of my kids out in the living room. As it is I'm spending every spare moment looking for a cheap fix to my Mini addiction for accuracy.
Hey, didn't you send a couple off for upgrades? How'd they work out? I will be firing Milsurp, so match grade is of little concern to me.
Do you have an e-mail addy for Ruger that I could send a copy of this flame job to? Hell, I'd even volunteeer to go run their dog of a company for about 3 days in order to get their crap together if they'd just ackowledge that they are aware that they are selling a half a**ed product.