FlatLand Flyer

Well I am thinking about buying this gun.

My local range has a used Mini 30 for sale with what looks like a basic scope and four 20 round magazines for $900.

So I did a little research and found that the mini 14 seems to be preferred because Ruger themselves made more accessories for it and the 223 ammo is less expensive. I won't be hunting with it. Maybe the occasional varmint and general plinking.

Cabella's sells them new for $699 (wood stock).

What I want is a semi-auto rifle that has or can have a 20 round or higher magazine capacity. It seems like this gun is what I am looking for and I like the feel of it.

Does anybody have opinions on this gun or a better alternative. I don't want and can't afford an AR-15.

Fire

the mini's have a pretty bad rep, that said, I also know a bunch of people that like theirs- the main ding against them lately is that the magazines are much pricier than the AR, its not as accurate as the AR, and while we are at it you CAN get an ar for around six hundred, if you buy a lower and then shop around for the upper- now I myself do not like the AR, so I do not have one,( I went AK instead) and the dominance of the AR makes it hard to hear about some of the other platforms over its roar... that said, some of my friends have had luck with the Kel Tec SU-16 - it takes AR mags and is not an ar variant, and is cheaper than the mini 14 by quite a bit........ and they can be had in a folding easy to pack variant.....

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Slims

They are great ranch guns...cheap, portable, and 'good enough' for coyotes, etc.

The price you mentioned seems awfully high to me. I bought a stainless mini-14 some years ago for about 500 dollars. I wouldn't recommend spending more on one.

They typically hold 3-5 inches at a hundred yards, and due to their design the point of impact will typically wander a couple inches as the barrel heats up. If that isn't a concern and the price is right (not the offer you mentioned) then go for it. Beware that extra (reliable) magazines for the Mini-14 are very expensive, vs. $15 or so for extra AR-15 mags.

They are less than ideal for competition or military-type use.

For 900 dollars you can get a pretty nice AR-15.

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SSJTWIZTA

i was thinking about buying a ruger mini-14, too. i passed, seeing how im looking for a pistol or shotgun at the moment and money is tight.


can someone clear this up for me.

mini 14 vs mini-30....what are the differences?

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Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
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Fire

mini 30 is chambered in 7.62x39 - hence, its 30 caliber..... not so popular as the 5.56 mini 14, as it was aimed at the "needs a ranch rifle for varmits with 4 or 2 legs " market, and then all those really cheap, reliable, and did I mention cheap, SKS's flooded the market, and pretty much became the whole freaking worlds truck gun, and for the upscale market wanting a detachable mag, there were the almost as cheap AK clones, which while still more expensive than the SKS, were still way cheaper than the mini-30....... the mini 14 STARTED cheaper than an AR, but that has since went away, and coupled with the fact that it is less than accurate, and that factory 20+ round mags are at least 50 bucks ( and 10- 15, maybe 20 bucks for an AR) both of them are sort of considered a bad choice/ unreasonably expensive for what they are, unless you stumble across a particularly great one, or just happen to love the way they handle.........

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Mood the more as our might lessens

SSJTWIZTA

thanks for clearing that up.

looks like im staying away.

__________________
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

Fire

I feel that I should say that I love ruger and have a number of their products, its just that the mini- series has had a conspiracy of circumstances to make it just not a good value these days... back in the 80's when the mini 14 was cheap and used ones were between 2 and 3 hundred, hell yeah, but once that went away and mags above 5 rounds went away or went through the roof, well, that makes it not so great all of a sudden....

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Mood the more as our might lessens

The_Dunedan

The mini series blows. Period. Slims was lucky enough to get one that didn't puke on every 10th round and would place all shots in a pie-plate at 100 yards. Save the money, buy a Saiga in .223. Reliable, usually much more accurate, and with hi-cap magazines that actually -work-. We've -never- had a Mini-14 or Mini-30 come through our shop that wasn't an unreliable, inaccurate, mag-limited turd. Most would fire 8-10 rounds before hiccuping, usually from magazine issues, and a .223 rifle that costs more than an SKS should at least be somewhat more accurate than an SKS.

As for Ruger, their anti-2A activities prior to 2005 (Such as Bill Ruger's vocal support of the Assault Weapons Ban, voluntary neutering of their weapons and magazines), their horrid business practices (Forcing dealers to purchase 14 Ruger products which -don't- sell in order to be allowed to purchase a single unit of a weapon which -will- sell, but for 1/3 the price of single unit of th 14 unsaleable guns aforementioned), and their absolutely horrid treatment of dealers and consumers over the SR-9 and LCP catastrophies, is enough to steer me clear. I'd suggest you all do the same, and I'd suggest that if you truly insist upon trying out their polymer-frame LCR, that you pull the trigger with a loooooooooong string. Given that the SR-9 and LCP were both "drop guns," I wouldn't be at all surprised if the LCR was prone to blowing your hand off: self-destructing revolvers and "drop-firing" semi-autos have been absent from the American firearms market for about the same span of time, after all.


Edited To Add: There's actually a pool going in the shop: How long will it take Ruger to rcall the LCR, and how long will it take them to actuall bother issuing the call-tags to ship the weapons back? My bet is on six months and nine months, respectively.

FlatLand Flyer

Thanks for all the replies. I have already decided against the purchase. Not because of the gun, but the price of ammo. I had no idea it would $.40 or so per bullet. Fuck that. Wouldn't be able to shoot it very often at that price, and I hear Obama wants that to be even higher.

If you can't tell, I am not a rifle aficionado. Is there a rifle out there that is reliable, accurate, semi-auto, and has high capacity (20+) that is maybe $500 or so? Somewhere in that ballpark figure.

SSJTWIZTA

if you want something cheap to shoot, sure. a .22 rifle.

if your looking for something in a larger caliber, im sure you could buy a nice used rifle for about that price, maybe cheaper.

__________________
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me.
-Pastor Martin Niemoller

KirStang

I think an AK might fit your description:

Pre-Obama the 7.62x39 was about ~$6.00 for 20 rounds (compare AR at ~$8-9)
30 Round Capacity in converted magazine.
Legendary AK reliability..(provided the darn thing works--some companies build crap AKs [Try to avoid Century Arms, If possible])
For less than $500 there are tons of WASR AKs asking anywhere between $350-600
Only issue is 'accuracy' but you should be getting 2-3 MOA at 100 yards, good enough for most practical purposes.

dickdoc

I've got both Mini-14's and a Mini-30. I've never had a feeding problen with any 14, but the 30 does occasionally fail, usually because of mag feeding problem, always with the larger (non-factory) clips. That said, I would recommend the 14. It is much easier to keep clean then an AR, and several hundred cheaper the a Bushmaster, and at least $400cheaper then a Colt.

Both .223 and 7.62x39 are $.45+/round, now, at gunshow today. It is what it is.

Fire

If you can find an SKS model M or D, go for it- paid about 425 for mine, it is a factory modded SKS that takes AK mags, and is quite reliable- or go with an AK as mentioned above- or , you can go with a plain jane SKS and get tapco 20 round mags for it- a compromise, as you may have probs with feeding, but most report the tapcos as reliable, and if not, you still have the factory 10 rounder that will work with stripper clips (almost as fast as a mag change.......

__________________
Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens

Coastey

The newer generation Mini 14s are suppose to be more accurate than previous versions and also have a higher price tag. I have two older Mini's, a blue and a stainless and am satisfied with what I use them for. They aren't tack drivers, and they aren't as battle proven as AR's, but they're great plinkers and fine for defending your property.

cajun_elf

not a bad gun but there are better, I would look for a AK clone, or a AR-15, my two big gripes on the mini were 1. not really accurate and 2. the magazines were very expensive and not the best design.

Strange Famous

Well, what do you want to shoot?

7 ton seems pretty expensive for a gun. I reckon you could get a gun capable of killing the thing that you're hunting cheaper than that. Neverthless, you must know what you want.

You talk about an AR15 which I believe is a rifle, and you want a semi automatic.

Now, the best gun manufacturer to use would be IMI, as they make/design the best quality guns in the world.

I found a website (I wont advertise the link but PM me if you want it) where you can get this weapon for 9 ton... thats the same price as the "mini 14" but you would get the best quality gun made of that style.

The exact model is called:

Galil 'Golani' 223 Side Folder

Apparently its illegal in CT, NY, NY, CA, and MA - so hopefully you dont live there.

if you want something cheaper I found on the same site you could get an AK47 for 5 1/2 ton, which is also a semi automatic rifle.

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for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

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Plan9

Hahaha, StrangeFamous and his IMI boner.

God, I missed this place.

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skinnymofo

i went with the ak 74 myself over the ar (5.45x39)
ammo is roughly 125-175 per 1080rds
however finding extra mags for it is a bitch and the surplus ammo is corosive so got to be on top of cleaning

MSD