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5K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  Ruger 
#1 ·
i looked around before i bought it, read in this forum and others , alot of wrong info out there. first off im from a long line of deer hunters here in maine i have 30 30s 3006s and others. this mini 30 fills a hole in my line up of rifle choices very well. first use good ammo, brass cased boxer primed , all i hear is it jams it sticks its not accurate i hate it ! so someone asks what ammo you useing? "well im useing steel cased cheep stuff its a 762x39 aint it" then others who dont own one, or just want to keep myths going couse they have nothing better to do say things ive found wrong. this rifle is a great gun its light -easy to clean real easy to strip down just pop the trigger guard. as far as accurate it shoots very well, when rested on somthing at 100 yards im happy its not the cloverleaf my 06 leaves but with open sights 2 -21/2'' groups are great . but my 06 rifles will out shoot eny ar or the like (known fact ) so if you want real accuracy get a bolt if you want a real semi auto that is reliable buy a mini

use good ammo- sellier bellot - winchester-and such
use only -ruger mags period if you think you need a thirty round mag well. a 20 is good
clean your gun
dont put a $40.00 scope on it and go on a forum and say the gun s---s
oh steel cased doesnt just have harder primers or just deeper primerd they are barden primed a diferent type, actually a usa product back before ww1and they are hard for a reason and we stoped useing it for a reason
read our owners manual
dont shoot 20 rounds in 20 sec and say the groups open up eny rifle will
i could go on about some of the things these simpleminded people have written but its time for me to fly
 
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#2 ·
I took my Mini-30 hunting several times last year. Took the scope off after the first hunt, found I like the iron sights better. Plenty of power for our small deer, and plenty accurate where 100 yards is a rare shot.

Here in NC, hunting with dogs is allowed on public lands and they run around loose. Plus there's lots of meth cookers and pot patches in the woods. It's nice to have a semi-auto that I can stick a 20 round magazine in I needed.
 
#3 ·
Northern maine - You got it right, the mini 30 was originally marketed as a hunting rifle, not an AK-47 substitute. With good quality ammo it will keep up and keep shooting long after a remington 7400 or browning bar (sporting) has stopped shooting! Good quality ammo is available for $12 a box or less which is still cheaper than factory 30-30. My stainless Mini 30 is my hell-weather woods deer gun. I can also plink cheaply with yugo brass cased surplus. When you use the mini 30 appropriately and understand its limitations, it runs flawlessly. It may not be quite as good as an M1-A, or garand, but its optics friendly, cost alot less and wieghs at least 2.5 lbs. less.
 
#4 ·
It's a great hunting bush gun and plenty accurate enough to take down a deer out to 200m.
Ammo is a hell of a lot more expensive here than in the States but then I didn't buy it to shoot tin cans with, that's what my 10/22 or mini 14 ( with steel cased ammo ) is for.
Once it's sighted in I only need to fire a couple of rounds every now and again to make sure it's still pointing in the right direction :)
Got a 3-14 scope on top and 3X is great for the bush and can wind up the power if I see something a bit further away.
Loving my one :)
 
#7 ·
yes its true there is happyness with this rifle , took it to camp a few weeks ago shot about 25 rounds in two days measured out 50 yards and 100 it snowed and was pretty my wife shot the 10 22 and iv lost a gun , she loves it im still getting used to the ghost ring sights iv never had them and will get used to them like mr nascar its going to be my hell weather gun i was useing my old savage 30 30 340c for rainy days but its just to hard on the old girl so the ss with plastic stock will be great and like bug hunter its nice out in the middle of nowhere to have a 20 rounder to ward off eny evil ,kiwi the 10 22 is a cool plinker an i hope 22lr are cheap there you are pdog might have to pick your brain about the beding thing someday not becouse its not accurate but every little bit helps dont want to put a scope on it couse of the rain and snow open sights wont fail but the ghost ring is challenging me ill learn and i do want to try silver bear i know what i said before but so meny people have said it works great edmond we are talkin toys it should be fun
 
#9 ·
The Mini 30 is like a semi auto 30-30. Whats not to like about that. The ballistics are similar and I have killed lots of deer and a couple elk with a 30-30. i would think the 7.62x 39 loaded with the proper heavy bullet would make a great venison getter.
 
#10 ·
Yes Northern Maine, .22 rounds are cheap here especially since they started importing those loosely packed 555 round boxes from Winchester etc...

Hi Jeff, the most common projectile weight here is 123 to 125gr but I would like to try some heavier ones. has anyone tried anything heavier than that ? I figured maybe 135 to 140gr could be good for a laugh. Mind you 125gr still take deer at 200m no problem.
 
#11 ·
right much ditto nascar, the M30 was designed as a bush deer gun and despite some problems that have been noted it does this well and can do double duty as a shtf gun.
I own a 189 series and had to do some tweaking but I stuck w/it and glad I did.
now 20 round mag dumps are no problem at all and benched I'm knocking at mao all day and a good day I've got moa a few times.
the most troublesome problem I had was that scope rings or just the front one I had to file the stationary hook to bring the scope into alignment Ruger should have caught this in QC as well as the too high front site post.
YMMV but Ruger CS has been good to send me parts for every Ruger I own (M30 & 3 pistols)
 
#16 ·
is that slug a jhp or a fbsp?
and what dia?
I do not consider the Remmy and Winny 123gr sp adequate for large deer past about 75-100 yds unless full-on profile standing shot presents. I've had 2 Win 123gr sp come apart upon start of expansion apparently. the jacket popped off. both deer (large dry does) were one shot and down at around 75-90yds and one had both jacket and core in the body cavity. the other the shed jacket stuck in the ribs the core exited the broadside shotclipped some of the mass of veins above the pump and damaged lungs, hit a rib entering but just the core slipped between ribs outbound.
filled my doe tags w/my M30, some of the best deer meet I've eaten the herd had been feeding around a farm corn field, pumpkin patch and apple orchard, fat! oh man. I rendered it down for lard to make biscuits with. and BP slug and wad lube.
 
#17 ·
i have not shot enything yet but sellier and bellot. iv read that they are a little under powerd im trying to find some federal sp around here but it looks like im going to have to buy it on line im limitted to factory. im learning as much as i can becouse it looks like loading your own is a fun hobby . about 2 years ago i was hunting and it was very windy and going to rain soon (i like to walk hunt at those times) had the 3030 bolt becouse of the iron sights for the rain and close brush, i stoped at a point in the old grown up in logging rd and stood there quietly the wind at my face and out in front of me a @ 150-160 pound 6 pointer troted out twards me at about 60' feet , first we both froze made eye contact and we both did what we were sopposed to do he ran and i brought up my gun i fired to soon without getting my irons perfect and mist i quikly jacked that bolt for another try i had anther shot but i used that 1/2 a second to reload. deer are far and few between up there but they are good sized but thats why i bought a mini.
 
#20 ·
I think Wolf makes the 150 gr. load. I'm thinking the much heavier bullet in the stubby x39 case is going to cut velocity back to 1800 to 1900 fps. This is fine for 100 yds and less, but rainbow trajectory much farther than that. Also, under 2000 fps, expansion of bullets is much less. I would be interested to find out if anyone here has successful hunting experience with this heavy load, and how it work out.
 
#24 ·
personally I think the 16" barreled minis look pretty boss,

but honestly IMHO, for serious work - intermediate calibers like x39 and 5.56 need all the velocity they can eek out to do the job... weather the target be man or beast.

if it costs a 1/2" of accuracy to get a little more on target effect - so be it :) (the short barreled minis are best known to be more accurate out of the box than their 18" barreled brethren - it's a harmonics thing.)

I've thought about having my 14's barrel cut down, but I just don't want to lose the FPS...

either way,

unless you get one used that was horribly abused (caveat empetor), or a new lemon out of the box (which Ruger WILL make right) I see no reason someone wouldn't be happy with their mini.

If it shoots minute of bad guy or minute of coyote/deer. its fine

there was someone recently claiming consistent hits on basketball sized targets with a mini30 out of the box over Irons at 300 yards. that is phenomenally good for a mini - and a damn good marksman to boot (the mini's sights are pretty chunky... at 100 they pretty much cover the target)

Mine will do a cold bore, first shot, off hand into a 14"x14" steel plate at 200 pretty easy... but I'm using 9x glass, I hold at the top edge of the plate and center punch it every time.
 
#25 ·
use good ammo- sellier bellot - winchester-and such
use only -ruger mags period if you think you need a thirty round mag well. a 20 is good
clean your gun
dont put a $40.00 scope on it and go on a forum and say the gun s---s
oh steel cased doesnt just have harder primers or just deeper primerd they are barden primed a diferent type, actually a usa product back before ww1and they are hard for a reason and we stoped useing it for a reason
read our owners manual
dont shoot 20 rounds in 20 sec and say the groups open up eny rifle will
i could go on about some of the things these simpleminded people have written but its time for me to fly
This should be a sticky about proper use of Mini 30s! Finally someone figures it out.

Congrats on the new rifle. :) I was more impressed with my new model Mini 14 than I thought I would be. Accuracy wise it keeps up with Ar15s in the $600-$1000 price range. You are also correct about the way BS information spreads in forums. Funny isn't it?
 
#26 ·
mini 30 tactical rocks just got mine last month ordered 15 20 round mags and 3 5 rounders and 2000 rounds of brass case boxer primed to keep it happy and runnin smooth (i did 40 + hours reading on it reviews pros and joes alike me before deciding) i got a mod rod commin dont know if i need it or not im sure it will definatly help with heat as far as groups this is my first mini a 581 series came from factory jan 17 (i got to pick between 3 serial #s Anyway i put 400 rounds cheap brass stuff through it at 150 yards (irons) and keepin them in a soft ball size circle thats pretty much right straight untill i had to fill some of the mags back up. first 50 75 rounds had a few failures to cycle then she ran like a brick ****house. ive read they need breakin in and i intend to do so as soon as snow lets up as well as the cold weather. to heck with the ars (except rugers) lol JK i love this mini
 
#27 ·
i went out today after the storms passed and shot my 30 tactical.. so fun. Nice groups at 50 and 100 yards. No problems with the golden bear.

I had to smirk a little when the guy with the AR and fancy red dot almost got kicked off because his rounds kept going into the ground on the 50 yard range.. I know i know.. he had issues but it still made me think "moa gun eh?" It was all tricked out.. multi color magpul all over it.. Here I am with all factory but a wilson buffer, not even bedded the stock yet (comes in tuesday), and I'm on the bulls. This guy has sunk some cash and.. yeah.. well..
 
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