![]() ![]() I figured the obvious trial would be at the range. My test rifle didn't appear to be different than any other Mini-14 I'd ever handled, at least on the outside. This basic procedure has been followed for all the major component parts in the Mini-14, with the end result being tighter tolerances and more uniformity part to part and finished-gun to gun. The speed in the manufacturing process is also greatly increased. Each fixture holds a part with such aptitude that multiple machining operations can be performed without removing the part from the fixture, thus greatly reducing tolerance accumulations and providing more consistency in the parts. With the new tooling and new CNC processes, multiple fixtures are mounted to a machine pallet. Some are referring to the new rifle as the "580," referring to the three-digit-series number that appears ahead of the serial number. It appears they may have reached that happy medium between accuracy, reliability, handiness and cost effectiveness in their new and improved Mini-14. Chatter about the accuracy issues of the Mini-14 has never gone unnoticed by the company, and the engineers have worked long and hard to alleviate the issues. The distinguished popularity of the Mini-14 has continued to excel, and the bosses at Sturm, Ruger and Company have wished to honor its status by producing the highest-quality firearm possible at a reasonable price. The ones that weren't caught, however, might now be causing their owners accuracy headaches. Such problems were typically noticed by the factory prior to final shipment and fixed. The sight was previously machine-pressed into the barrel, a process that can actually bend the barrel slightly. The gas-block faces can also be honed to provide a more even match between the surfaces of the upper and lower pieces, causing a more homogeneous amount of pressure on the barrel.Īnother possible flyer-causing culprit in the manufacture of the Mini-14 is the method used to fix the front sight to the rifle. Many gunsmiths have corrected the problem by removing the gas block, which can be deceivingly tricky, and carefully and evenly removing a small amount of metal from its face, thus creating a more even match with the slide block. At times, the face of the gas block may not be perfectly flat or symmetrical and causes imbalance in its contact with the slide block. ![]() When the slide block works forward, its face comes into contact with the gas block. Held together by four screws, the gas block has an upper and lower piece. Much concentration has been focused on the Mini's gas block, which is located at the forward side of the fore-end. In all, the M-14 was obviously a combat rifle, and the Mini-14 was really designed as a sporting rifle. The Mini-14's gas system was modified from the M-14 and works much more simply, making the smaller rifle quite suited to the smaller cartridge, i.e.308 Winchester to. My dad, Skeeter Skelton, accompanied Ruger executives into South and Central America in the 1970s demonstrating the Mini-14 to government officials.) (Ruger has produced fully automatic versions of the Mini-14 and sold a boatload of them to various governments around the world for both military and police applications. Ruger and his engineers designed the Mini-14 to closely resemble a scaled-down version of the M-14 battle rifle, sans the full-auto switch, at least for the civilian version. T gun.There apparently were a number of potential causes for these rather loose groups. When I’m at the range, people always come up to me to ask, “Isn’t that the gun from the A-Team?” Or, “Hey, it’s the Mr. Although I could mount a scope, I choose to run the iron sights and can hit a torso-sized target at 100 yards fairly easily.įor me, the vintage Mini-14 is more of a conversation piece and a fun gun for my vault. After 1,000 rounds, I’ve had very few jams or malfunctions – usually ammo related. The old school action chugs back and forth, and you can hear and feel it as you shoot. Shooting the Mini-14 is fun and it has character. I then had the rifle I wanted since I was a kid. Within a few minutes, I had my side folding stock installed. Since my side folding stock was stainless, I decided to buy a stainless steel 580 series Ruger Mini-14 with a black synthetic stock. If the barrel tapers - bigger where it meets the stock - it’s a 580 series. The easiest way to distinguish them is to look at the barrel where it meets the stock. These newer Mini-14s are called 580 series rifles. ![]() The heavier tapered barrel on a 580 series Ruger Mini-14. ![]()
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