Ruger Mini 30

**joeyj** · June 23rd, 2013, 05:40 PM

any down side to these? I got enough ammo to last me at my age.

**EB85** · June 23rd, 2013, 05:53 PM

I was seriously looking at one a few months back but it was snagged before I was able to. About the biggest gripe some people had is that ammo with hard primers may give it fits. Sometimes a FTF or even rumors of broken firing pins but those seemed to be rare. But otherwise, from what I gathered, they were as tough as a 14.

**Doomtrooper** · June 23rd, 2013, 05:58 PM

You lucky dog, you. Thats on my gun wanted list. Is it the stainless or blued version? What kind of stock?

**raxar** · June 23rd, 2013, 06:33 PM

one big issue with these is IIRC the bores are .308 diameter, which is fine for american ammo using .308 bullets, but it's an issue if you're using russian ammo with .311 diameter bullets

**ROCK-IT3** · June 23rd, 2013, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by raxar

one big issue with these is IIRC the bores are .308 diameter, which is fine for american ammo using .308 bullets, but it's an issue if you're using russian ammo with .311 diameter bullets

According to what I can find online, first production Mini 30's have a .308-.309 bore, but in 1990 Ruger began producing them with a .310-.311 bore. According to a reply from Ruger to this same question, either bore size will handle factory production ammo with .311 diameter bullets.

You could e-mail Ruger with the serial number, or slug the bore, in order to find the exact bore size.

This quote is something I found on Rugerforum.net:

Thank you for using the Ruger On-Line Customer Support Request Form.

This e-mail is in response to your question or comment of 03/23/2009
Request No: 27XXX

Comment / question:

Can you tell me the bore dimensions for my rifle?
Is it .308 or .310 or .311

Thanks
Jim

Response:
The first production Mini-30 had a bore size of .308-.309, after several years of production; the .310-.311 bore size was manufactured in 1990 on the Mini-30. With factory ammunition, it is ok to shoot the .310-.311 ammunition through the first production .308-.309 bores. Your gun has a bore size of .310-.311.

**ByAnyMeans** · June 24th, 2013, 01:27 PM

The only issue I have heard (besides the hard primers) is the prior lack of high capacity magazines and now that they are available it's the price of the magazine people gripe about. This may just be because the alternative is an AK-47 with ten dollar steel magazines which warps the perspective.