ID a Mini 14 & Scope mounting

Just bought a mini 14 stainless/wood stock rifle. Is this a Ranch model, or just called a mini14? The serial number is 1827---- . It does not have the scope ring lugs but looks as if someone drilled and tapped 4 holes in left receiver plate for some kind of mount. Is their a side scope mount available for this rifle? I would like to mount my red dot scope on it. Went on Ruger's web sight but their info is pretty generic and I couldn't find my series serial number. I have shot a few clips thru it and it seems to be printing 2" groups at fifty yards, which is good I understand for a mini. Anyway if anyone has any info I would appreciate it esp scope mount info. This ones a keeper! Thank you.

If it is a ranch, it would have the ruger scope lugs cut into it. It would also say Mini 14 Ranch Rifle .223 at the rear of the receiver near the stock. I don't know about the holes you speak of, but you can get some scope mounts that would work for your rifle. Check Cabelas.
Jules

I concur with the point already made regarding that your rifle sounds like it is not a Ranch model or else it would have the scope mount milled into the top of the receiver. However, I believe that the non-ranch models are drilled and tapped for a side mount scope mount.

I would recommend the 2 web sites liked belong for great Ruger Mini-14 information.

www.rugerforum.org
www.perfectunion.com

Good luck and enjoy your mini.

What you have sounds like an "original" mini 14. They all have side mounts for the scopes, which look slightly offcenter from the rest of the rifle. The reason for this side mount is that the original mini's ejected shells at a very steep vertical angle. The ranch rifles eject the shells at a very flat horizontal angle. If the scope was mounted directly center of the rifle, the brass usually hit the side of the scope. If you know someone that has a ranch rifle, the original will be slightly longer and will have the mounts that others mentioned. In my experience, my father's original mini-14 shoots MUCH better than all of my friends mini 14 ranch rifles. They did not start printing "ranch rifle" on the receivers until 2000, but ranch rifles were made before 2000, just not marked on the receivers. As far as I know and have read, ranch rifle seriel numbers start with 187 or higher. Here is a link on ruger's website to look at these seriels and see the years, etc. Hope this helps. http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/PS-Ser...story-RI.html#

P.S. I did a quick search on different scope mounts and came across this. http://www.gunaccessories.com/Milita...uger/index.asp . I don't know that these are the best prices but will give you some model numbers and ideas for mounts that might work for your rifle.

Thanks for all the replies and info. Am looking into a replacement handgard/pic rail system and use a red dot scope. Thanks to all again!

You're welcome for the information, glad that it could help. I don't have any experience with some of the new handguard rail systems, but they seem pretty sharp and might work well for some people's needs. Best of luck to you, and let us know how it goes and we'd love to see pics if you mod it out.