New to me Mini-14

[mikep]

I’ve had my eye on a Mini-14 for a while and this one came along for the right price. It is from 1991 and has the pencil thin barrel. It was definitely not a safe queen and shows some wear. My guess is thst it was truly used as a ranch rifle.
shot it last week with the Nikon scope it came with and was getting about 2” groups at 40 yds from a bench with range ammo. Off hand i was hitting center mass on a half sized silhouette which is fine by me. I put a Trueshot barrel strut on it and will shoot it again later this week to see if that helps with accuracy. No big deal if it doesn’t, i like the look of it. I will also try some 62 grain ammo since it has a 1:7 twist.
It is a real fun gun to shoot and even as is would be accurate enough for me.
Well, that’s my new toy. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

 

[Belt Fed]

Nice, they are fun guns to shoot.

 

[KillerFord1977]

Congrats on the new rifle.

I think of the TV show “The A Team”when I was younger every time a Mini 14 is mentioned:

 

[Belt Fed]

I think of the TV show “The A Team

Except those guys couldn't hit nothing with them

 

[KillerFord1977]

Except those guys couldn't hit nothing with them

Right !! Beginning of the Politically correct TV gun culture .

They fired 1000 rounds and episode and didnt kill

 

[HansGruber]

I’ve had a couple.

My problem is that despite handloads, etc, I could never find one that would do better than 4-6” at 100 yards…and the pencil barrels would string terribly after 3-4 rounds.

Funnily enough. I had a Mini-30 briefly that outshot every Mini-14 I’d had…

 

[Elfego Baca]

I had a Mini-14 before they were fitted with rings.
Replaced it with a Mini-30.
I sold that one too.
It was the better rifle!

 

[Belt Fed]

Right !! Beginning of the Politically correct TV gun culture .

They fired 1000 rounds and episode and didnt kill

But they managed to always turn a jeep or truck over shooting at them. I stopped watching it after the second or third episode when all 4 of them and 4 or 5 bad guys were standing about 20 yards from each other and they fired for five minutes, none ever reloaded and nobody got hit.

 

[Belt Fed]

Funnily enough. I had a Mini-30 briefly that outshot every Mini-14 I’d had…

Mine is the opposite the mini 30 is horrible and the others are not too bad, not great but not bad. but one is full auto so it's not going to be perfect on that setting.

 

[mikep]

Congrats on the new rifle.

I think of the TV show “The A Team”when I was younger every time a Mini 14 is mentioned:View attachment 37112

 

[Annihilator]

What's with the cylinder tube under the barrel, never saw or owned a Mini 14 with that like that, just wondering?

 

[mikep]

What's with the cylinder tube under the barrel, never saw or owned a Mini 14 with that like that, just wondering?

That is a barrel strut from Trueshot. It is supposed to help with the accuracy issues with the pencil barrel mini’s. Cuts down on barrel whip and dissipates heat. we’ll see how it works.

 

[papa]

I bought a mini 14 in early 1980. I guess I was one of a few lucky ones who didn't have issues with a mini. In fact I made head shots on groundhogs at 100 yards with mine several times. I never used anything but 55 gr. boolliits either.

 

[Annihilator]

That is a barrel strut from Trueshot. It is supposed to help with the accuracy issues with the pencil barrel mini’s. Cuts down on barrel whip and dissipates heat. we’ll see how it works.

Kinda if figured it was something like that or a place to attach a bi-pod