"Pre-580" Ruger Mini-14
The Good Ol’ Days Were Awful
Fate makes for strange events, including pairing
the prized Navajo rug and my new Mini-14.
I will remember the day for the rest of my life. It was Christmas morning, and all the presents were opened, or so I thought. In a grand gesture, my lovely wife swooped another hidden box out and handed it to me. In puzzlement, I opened it. Money was tight — we had two children to feed and the mice had to go next door for breadcrumbs! Okay, it wasn’t quite this bad but we had little in the way of extra folding money. So, it was a complete surprise when I unwrapped a shiny Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle.
My wife laughed at my bewilderment as she explained her new job at the Sturm Ruger plant allowed her to purchase firearms from a factory seconds list at a significantly reduced rate. She knew I enjoyed coyote hunting, so the Ruger Mini-14 in .223 Remington seemed a natural choice.
As long as it didn’t move, the prairie dog was in no danger
of being hit by Alan’s “Original” Mini-14. As Alan discovered,
the guns were notoriously inaccurate.
Hollywood Calling
My prior exposure to the Ruger Mini-14 was limited to reruns of the TV series The A-Team. In case you have forgotten, when the chips were down, the heroes of the A-Team broke out their Mini-14s with wire-folding stocks and taught the bad guys a lesson. If you also recall, they rarely hit anyone but succeeded in flipping Jeep CJs over regularly. Little did I realize it wasn’t the PG rating of the show preventing anyone from being shot. The dishonor fell on the Mini-14.
The Mini-14 became the focal point of my coyote hunting trips. As luck would have it, no coyotes appeared while the gun was clenched in my camouflaged hands. Okay, fine, I knew where a prairie dog town was! In eager anticipation, I pulled up and gently closed my truck door so as not to alert the little rodents. Taking careful aim, I squeezed the trigger. The boom was deafening; a clod of dirt flew into the air and the prairie dog stared back at me in mocking puzzlement. The incident repeated the entire day as I burned through an expensive box of ammo. It was apparent as long as the prairie dogs didn’t move, they were in no danger of being hit!
I started second-thinking myself. Maybe I was expecting too much. After all, the Mini-14 is a combat rifle developed to have the same feel and features as the M1 Garand and the M14 but with the new smaller 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. Ruger hoped the U.S. Army would adopt it, but the M16 was already firmly entrenched. However, other governments and police agencies adopted the rifle.
As a military-grade rifle, it was expected to be reliable above all else and meet or beat Mil-Spec accuracy standards. While it seems a little crazy, 4 to 5 MOA was the standard for the M1 Garand, the M14 and the M16. Such poor accuracy appeared to be a standard anyone should be able to exceed with a bit of work.
Much of the inaccuracy of the original Mini-14 — along with
poor workmanship — is due to chaotic whip from the lighter
Garand-type action, exacerbated by the higher-velocity 5.56 cartridge.
Seeing The Miss Better
Round two occurred after I had mounted a Tasco 4X scope on top of the rifle. Before wasting more ammo, I adjusted the scope for a perfect hundred-yard zero. I attempted to see where it was grouping on a paper target. Shot after shot sent more dirt clods skyward. I kept moving closer to the target until I finally hit it, then sent a few more shots at the same spot, expecting a lovely group. As I shot again and again, I realized why the A-Team never hurt anyone! The Mini-14 didn’t group and barely made a pattern. I couldn’t get two shots any closer than 5″ apart at 25 yards!
Session after session ended the same. While the Mini-14 was a hoot to shoot, the only way I could hit the broad side of a barn was to be standing inside it! Since my wife had worked hard to buy me the gun, I carefully tucked it into the back of the safe and only took it out when I had forgotten how inaccurate it was.
After about 20 years of frustration later, I decided to get to the bottom of the issue. By then, Al Gore’s Internet was loaded with shared gun knowledge. It didn’t take me long to discover I wasn’t the only person with a Mini-14 who couldn’t shoot a repeatable group. Fellow Mini-14 lovers estimated roughly 50% of the older Mini-14s to be stinkers regarding accuracy and I had drawn the short straw.
It became the gun I loved and hated. As a fan of the M1 Garand and the Springfield Armory M1A, I loved the lines of the Mini-14. I loved to work the action and watch the bolt rotate like its big brothers. I loved the cheap, readily available ammo with low recoil. I even thought about buying the folding stock I had seen so many times in the A-Team episodes! But I hated I could not reliably hit a target unless it was big and close.
These same things bothered the engineers at Ruger and caused them to redesign the Mini-14. The new model (post-580 serial number) fixed the inaccuracy issues. At the same time, it caused the value of the pre-580 version to plummet to heart-breaking levels.
So, what was I to do? It was a beautiful gift, but it grated my nerves every time I pulled it out of the gun safe. I finally asked my wife if she would mind if I sold it. She laughed it off as it was mine to do with what I wanted.
Fans of the M1 Garand (top) quickly recognize
the direct heritage found in the Mini-14.
Unlike its grandfather, the Mini-14 uses box magazines with
5- to 30-round capacity. The poorly made trigger on older
guns requires a competent gunsmith to resolve.
Navajo Blanket Bingo
During one of the gun-buying frenzies, I took it to a gun show, hoping to get a reasonable price for it. As I walked around the show, I spotted something unexpected: a large Navajo Yei-Bi-Chei rug was hanging behind one of the dealers. I have a modest collection of Navajo rugs, and this one was gorgeous. I estimated the value to be $1,500. I asked the dealer how much he was asking for the rug. I held my breath and asked him if he wanted to trade the rug for a Ruger Mini-14. He was shocked to receive such an offer and I was shocked when he handed me the rug. We parted ways. My wife was not shocked, she just laughed all the more as I rolled the rug out before her.
Flash forward a decade. We moved back out to the wildness of Arizona. Mountain lions frequent our backyard. Coyotes, foxes and bobcats come in for the water we provide for wildlife. Jackrabbits taunt me as I drive to work, so a .223/5.56 rifle makes sense. I still love the looks of the Mini-14. I still love to rack the action to hear the sound. Did I want to risk having my heart broken again? Of course!
Unlike my first meetup, this time, my rifle was not a factory second! It is new, slick, and has the classic look, feel and sound of a Mini-14. While my previous rifle was blued, the new rifle is low-maintenance stainless steel, and I chose to stay with traditional wood furniture. I feel the Ranch Mini-14 is the best choice for me. If I want to add a red dot, reflex sight, or scope, the rifle has everything required from integrated scope mounts and rings to a Picatinny rail for more options.
he action of the Mini-14 (left) is clearly a clone of the
M1 Garand but scaled down significantly to operate with
the much smaller 5.56 NATO cartridge.
Mount Up
To put it through its paces, I mounted a 3-9 scope on it and went out to the range. The juniper and pinon hills resounded with the echoes of 5.56x45mm NATO gunfire. Targets burned away as fast as I could pull the trigger (I had bought a 20-round magazine). After pretending I was Templeton “Faceman” Peck — okay, maybe I was closer to “Howling Mad” Murdock — with imaginary Jeep CJs flipping over as the bad guys ran in terror, I got down to the business of seeing how well the gun would shoot.
Admittedly, it’s not a Seekins Precision gas gun, and it’s not meant to be. It’s a SHTF rifle designed to work in all conditions, just like its older brothers. I got better than 2-MOA at a hundred yards with careful trigger control and scope. Most groups approached 1.5″, making it a good minute-of-coyote (or mountain lion) gun short enough to ride easily in my Jeep as I explored the mountains and deserts. Friends claim I can shrink the groups even more with judicious gunsmithing.
I will find a good reflex sight and ditch the scope as my budget allows. I may even co-witness the sight with the combat-style rear ring sight and front blade with the correct sight and mounting. I am in no hurry as we are still in our honeymoon phase, and I just like gazing at her naked classic lines. I am sure John “Hannibal” Smith would understand, and I pity the fool who disagrees!
