Mini 14

Got one.  Haven't shot it yet.  Looking forward to some testing soon.  Been fondling it for two nights and the wife asked if I were going to bring it to bed.  LOL.  I have missed owning this gun.  Hope it shoots decent.

Had a cheap 4X simmons that came with a gun I bought a long time ago.  I am a Leupold guy all the way but have mounted it using the rings that came with the gun,  The bases are milled into the receiver.  Will give this a go for the time being.  Not trying to make this a MOA gun or a long range tack driver.  Want a solid reliable, formidable little gun that's not scary looking here in NYS where AR's are demonized.  Want to carry it in the truck and hunting without 2nd looks by the dooshes that have no clue about guns.

Ordered several 10 round mags to use at the range since that's the limit here in the great state of Andrew Cuomo.  Grabbed a sheet load of American Eagle and Tula ammo to play with.  The American Eagle is brass and reloadable.

Gun comes with (2) 5 rds mags which are great for 99% of what this gun would do.  10 rounders for the range for plinking.  Anything else not legal here in NYS.  Whatever.  Nice gun never the less.

It's a wood stock, blue barrel.  

Danno,

You hit the nail on the head.  2/3 of NYS, or more, live in 5% of the land mass.  Most of NYS is not liberal on a county by county analysis.  Sucks because NYS is a great state when in comes to hunting, fishing, farming, lakes, mountains and over-all outdoor recreation and good conservative country folk.  Yet the asphault laden, skyscraper, over populated anthill of NYC runs the state completely.  COMPLETELY.  Millions of people, sheeple living in high rises.  Many dependent on a check 1st Thursday of the month.  The rest of the cityots blinded by metropolitan life and worried about nothing but Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Liberal pundants and how soft their couch is.  They have litter boxes for their dogs because it takes 1/2 hour to get down 30 floors to walk their dog and then they have to $hit on the sidewalk. Sucks alot to be them.  Sucks even more that these folks control this state.  You can't drive 1/4 mile around here without signs in anyones yard reading "TrumP"..."Ban the SAFE ACT"..."Impeach Cuomo"...you would think that we live in Texas around here.......for hundreds of country mile.  HUNDREDS!!  BUT...NYC rules the roost.  Dumbasses.

I am sure Chicago and the great state of Illinois knows this pain.  Hillary is supposed to walop Trump here but we are all still going to vote....even if it's for nothing.

Hey this is a Mini-14 thread!!!  I guess that this dialog might have a slight reason why I got one!  LOL.

Hoping the swing states will bail us out!  Peace

Shot the Mini today just to get in on paper.  Fixed 4X scope, Simmons, that I had layoing around.  A garbage scope that I don't even know where it came from.  Got on paper at 25 yds and made some large adjustments and went to 100 yds.

The Tula 55 FMJ's suck big time.  5" group at 100 yds.  The American Eagle made a 2" 100 Yd group.  All cheapo ammo.  I tried 1 group at 200 yds with the American eagle and put 3 out of 5 shots inside a 4" square but the other 2 were nowhere to be found.

I think for close range encounters this is a great rifle.  For longer ranges may have to get a barrel strut and play with other rounds and/or handloads.

Very preliminary.  Oh...the trigger is incredibly terrible.  Like squeezinga  sponge.  Can deal with that later.

I keep reminding myself why I bought this firearm.  Here in NYS the AR-15 is illegal in it's intended form.  Yeah, there are versions that have come out to be NYS compliant but let's face it, this state is a huge anti-gun state.  When the S.A.F.E. Act was passed in the dark of the night by Cuomo, it basically made any "assault" rifle illegal.  If you owned one, you had to register it to keep it legally.  From what I have heard, very few were registered.  So, guys that decided to not comply now have to leave them in the closet or buried in a wall incase they may need them one day.

As much as I dispise this stupid law, I am not about to become a felon by skirting it.  Therefore, the Mini-14 becomes a hands-down choice to have a semi-auto .223 in a rugged, reliable platform that has proven itself for 40 yrs or so.  It's a gun I can put in the truck, hunt with and possess that will never get a funny look from someone else or law enforcement.  I can actually have it with me and USE it.  Additionally, this rifle is capable of so much more then the way it comes from the factory.  The biggest thing that you can't work around legally is magazine capacity.  However, 3 or 4 ten rds mags at the ready should cover 99% of any situation you may find yourself in.  If things got very bad and law and order went out the window, this little gun could blossom into much more with what is.  In the mean time, I have this gun and I can use it.

Accuracy is important, but secondary I guess.  For a log poke, the .243 or 7mm Mag gets the call.  For the coyote running Mach 2 at 75 yds, 10 rds from the mini would be a better choice at 2-3 MOA at 100 yds.

I will still try and boost the accuracy on this a little by feeding it some better ammo, maybe try a strut and absolutley addressing that trigger.  However, we will not be doing anything that requires a ton of money because it really does all I REALLY want right out of the box off of Walmart's shelf.

If I could say that the barrel is solidly locked up with the receeiver, I think many of the "fixes" or enhancements would be worth a shot.  I am not yet familiar with how the barrel is attached to the receiver.  If it's not a solid hook up, I doubt that the resonators or ammo will help much.  

My friend has one of these he bought a few years ago and it was a real sprayer.  He got one of them barrel struts and can shoot 1 1/2 - 2" at 100 yds with cheap ammo and a little better with handloads.  Not bad and a noticable improvement without too much effort.  Makes me thinks that the barrel is not solid with the receiver but what do I know?  Maybe Hank knows a little something from all the smithing he has done.

Long story short on the Promags.  They sent me 6 more that they "tested" 1st.  5 out of 6 had the same issues.  Been 2 weeks of a long drawn out process of them checking all their processes, parts and inventory.  Still no mags back and I sent the second batch back too.  Sucks.  They are bad at getting back to you as well.  

So the Mini-14 has been to the range 4 times.  It's a 2-3" gun at 100 yds with almost everything except the steel TULA FMJ stuff.  5.47 a box of 20 at Wally world.  The American Eagle FMJ's have been the most consistent.  Biggest disappointment is at 200 yds which is a stretch for a close quarter chainsaw.  I cannot keep more than 3 shots on a 8 x 11 1/2 sheet of paper with anything.  Will put 3 shots inside a 4 inch square (barely) and 2 shots will be nowhere to be found.

I keep reminding myself what this gun is for and it's not to kill woodchucks at 300-400 yds.  I have that covered will with other guns.  BUT, it's perplexing why a 2-3" gun at 100 yds isn't at least a 4-6" gun at 200 yds.  What could happen between 100-200 to cause total group failure in a rifle?

A friend installed a $70 barrel strut on his and it helped quite a but.  Anyone have any experience here with the Mini and the barrel strut?  

In over 100 rds so far, performance of the gun has been flawless.  It inhales and exhales everything.  That's what I remember from the one I owned 30 years ago....I don't think it ever malfunctioned in several 1000 rounds.  Like I said, this is basically a short range chainsaw so the reliability is more improtant that shooting a knat off a chipmucks arse.