Mini-30

[gander215]

Thinking of picking one of these up. What do you guys have to say about them. Looking for all coments good, bad or indifferent. I want to have something different at the range to play with, and also something I can eradicate hogs with, and take deer with if I go to a state where I am able to do so. I do like the Mini-14's, but I want a Mini-30 for the above reasons. Thanks ahead of time for all your imput. -BB

[Pa.Bill]

Thinking of picking one of these up. What do you guys have to say about them. Looking for all coments good, bad or indifferent. I want to have something different at the range to play with, and also something I can eradicate hogs with, and take deer with if I go to a state where I am able to do so. I do like the Mini-14's, but I want a Mini-30 for the above reasons. Thanks ahead of time for all your imput. -BB

I've been loking that them myself.
Hope your post gets some feed back.
I'm heading for the Harrisburg gun show tomorrow and I know there will be a few tables selling them.

~BEST~
Bill------------------------------->

[Tomcat088]

One of my friends has a mini-30 and he loves it. I've only shot it a few times and it seemed to have about the accuracy of most mini 14 ranch rifles. My father has an old Mini 14 before they started making the ranch rifle, and I believe that his mini 14 is a little more accurate than my buddies Mini-30. The mini 30 would be a great hog gun, and if you already like the mini 14, then you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The recoil is a little more, not any different than any rifle that weighs about the same (same size etc) that you go form .223 to .308. I'm sure the rifle could also take a deer if you weren't trying to push the distances too far. I think if you like the mini-14, and know kind of what to expect in terms of accuracy and everything, sure, go for it. The mini-14's and Mini-30's are dang reliable, I've never ever had my father's jam or misfeed, and he said that as long as he's owned it (28 or 29 years now) he's never had is act up.

[MTechnik]

The recoil is a little more, not any different than any rifle that weighs about the same (same size etc) that you go form .223 to .308.

I thought the mini-30 was 7.62x39, not 7.62x51, no?

[Tomcat088]

Oh hell, lol, I wasn't paying attention to what I posted, was in a bit of a hurry and distracted. I meant to put a .30 caliber bullet, not .308. Yes, you are correct Mtechnik, it is chambered in 7.62x39. I just thought about it, and I think the other day I heard something about they also make a Mini 6.8, which is chambered in 6.8 spc. I've never seen one and haven't looked into it so I'm not sure, but yes, you're right it's 7.62x39.

[billt]

A couple of months back I purchased a new Ruger NRA Edition Mini 14. I'll freely admit it took a lot of soul searching on my part for me to buy this rifle. I have always liked the looks, feel, and the function of the Ruger Mini series of rifles, but I just HATED the total inaccuracy most of them were known to have. I finally gave into temptation on this model because of the stories of better accuracy I was reading on forums like this one, and because of the value it presented. It comes with the nice Hogue Overmolded stock and ships with 2, 20 round Ruger Factory Magazines. These mags go for around $50.00 a pop when you can find them, and the Hogue stock sells for right around $75.00. That's $175.00 in aftermarket extras right there. Another thing I liked about it was the shorter barrel, (16.5"), and the fact the barrel was much thicker right around where it connects to the gas block. I mounted a Bushnell Trophy 3-9X 40MM on it, and it fit the Ruger rings that were shipped with the rifle perfectly. I checked with a set of points, and both rings lined up perfectly, and the front objective lens was just high enough for the front lens cap to fit. As you can see from the photos, accuracy wasn't stellar, (target was at 100 yards), but better than a lot of Ruger Mini's I've come across. Function was perfect, and it didn't eject the brass into the next county. Instead dropping them about 10 feet to the right, and about 3 feet behind me. The cases weren't deformed in any way. Overall I'm happy with the gun, and I hope Ruger makes these features a standard catalog item next year. With the dangerous political climate that is looming ahead, I'm buying as many semi auto's, and Hi-Cap mags. as I possibly can. If that a$$hole Obama gets in, many of these rifles may very well become nothing more than a dream. Lousy bastard! Bill T.

[DougX]

I bought mine a couple years ago used and I like it alot. I have a ss ranch. I cut the barrel to 16.5 inches and put a scout rail on it with a 2x scope.Handles fast and is reasonable accurate. Better than an AK.

[HSMaxim]

Looking at that target pic, the Rugers look to have come a long way as far as accuracy since my series 180.