Ar-15 vs. Mini 14

[The B]

Still wide fringe at best

 

[Misterbill]

Funny, I've had three ARs now, ranging from "crap" to "good" milspec. I've shot all of them without a single cleaning (lube only) for THOUSANDS of rounds without a single problem. I mean NOT ONE, EVER.

No FTFs (except bad primers) no stove-pipes, no double-feeds, no nothing.

I can imagine in the middle of a firefight firing many hundreds of rounds on full-auto in a nasty, dusty environment this might be an issue.

For those of us shooting for recreation? Not even kinda. And my ARs, (ALL of them) shot with iron sights within 1 MOA at 200 yards out of the box. Show me a mini that does that and I'll show you Santa Claus.

Minis are great plinking rifles. They're even good for coyotes where 2-3 inches doesn't matter at 150 yards. Anywhere CLOSE to precision they are not. Not without some substantial upgrades.

 

[Stomper]

Agreed... had a mini, looked "cool" and shot reliably, but man the shot groups were "less than stellar". All seven of my AR's (ranging from Colt, Armalite, Del-Ton, & Stag Arms barrels)... I'll shoot you square in the eye with irons @ 100 meters with any of them, and never a single malfunction.

 

[Flopsweat]

My mini can shoot 556 or 223 steel or brass is that true of all AR 15s ? Also are they that interchangeable with all the many different types out there nowdays?
I shot an M16 in the Army in the 80s so I know nothing about todays ARs. Back then my M16 was a JAMOMATIC for sure but it was also a wore out P.O.S..

A rifle chambered in 5.56 can shoot 5.56 or .223 safely. It is not recommended that you shoot 5.56 in a rifle chambered for .223. Speaking specifically of ARs, most I've seen are 5.56 but some are .223, some are Wylde, and some are one of many other calibers. So yeah, typically they will shoot either one.

ARs are now built by many different manufacturers and range in quality. All but the worst will shoot steel cased ammo just fine. Most I've shot will eat whatever you feed them. I have a friend who mixed up every different kind of cheap, dirty, strong and weak ammo he could find into a half dozen mags and ran them all through his favorite AR. Not very scientific, but it never missed a beat. Fun to watch too, since it seemed like the report was different for each round.

The M16 was well refined by the '80s and would run just fine if properly maintained. On the other hand, I would expect a wore out POS to run like a wore out POS. That's also why I don't jog much anymore.

 

[PotshotJim]

I have both and they both work fine. If you have to pick one or the other, get the one that you shoot better with. Ford truck or Chevy? It's up to the end user.
And ALWAYS wear hearing protection when you are practicing.

 

[Stomper]

A rifle chambered in 5.56 can shoot 5.56 or .223 safely. It is not recommended that you shoot 5.56 in a rifle chambered for .223. Speaking specifically of ARs, most I've seen are 5.56 but some are .223, some are Wylde, and some are one of many other calibers. So yeah, typically they will shoot either one.

ARs are now built by many different manufacturers and range in quality. All but the worst will shoot steel cased ammo just fine. Most I've shot will eat whatever you feed them. I have a friend who mixed up every different kind of cheap, dirty, strong and weak ammo he could find into a half dozen mags and ran them all through his favorite AR. Not very scientific, but it never missed a beat. Fun to watch too, since it seemed like the report was different for each round.

The M16 was well refined by the '80s and would run just fine if properly maintained. On the other hand, I would expect a wore out POS to run like a wore out POS. That's also why I don't jog much anymore.

I have a Colt AR15A2 HBAR that says .223 on the receiver roll-stamp, but is marked 5.56 NATO on the barrel.

I have also run all sorts of .223, 5.56 JHP, HP, JSP, brass and lacquered steel cases through my kits w/o issues.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

Beautiful man, just beautiful! I know just how you feel

 

[BoonDocks36]

^^^

I would raise my hand to second this comment, but I am too tired to do so... It has been a rough day today, you see, I got up out of Bed and.....

philip
Oh, that Is All I did, but I did it Very Well......

Meh. I forgot the reason I was posting. I have been following this thread, waiting for "Chevy versus Ford"... With that, and a few smile posts, Is This Thread, Officially done in ?????

I'm a PTR91 kind of guy my self, don't let the tired old man fool you.... When push comes to shove, I revert back to VietNam thinking: "I can do anything, for fifteen Minutes, & if you tell me Two Hours ~is~ 15 Minutes, I'll believe you"

 

[U201491]

I have a Colt AR15A2 HBAR that says .223 on the receiver roll-stamp, but is marked 5.56 NATO on the barrel.

I have also run all sorts of .223, 5.56 JHP, HP, JSP, brass and lacquered steel cases through my kits w/o issues.

It'll digest anything.

 

[U201491]

I have both and they both work fine. If you have to pick one or the other, get the one that you shoot better with. Ford truck or Chevy? It's up to the end user.
And ALWAYS wear hearing protection when you are practicing.

Especially with the Mini
Best with anything. I am an example of not wearing them. Deaf as it gets without H. Aids.

 

[U201491]

When someone asks if I'm happy about accuracy of any rifle I pull the target, hold it up to my chest and say "nope, no problem". Of course It's cool to shoot a tiny group, if you are a competetive target shooter or varmit hunter, but in most other cases a 3" or 4" group will still get the "job" done.

Seems to me too much emphasis is placed on group size, every doofus out there wants to be a sniper.

I was brought up to conserve ammo. I love precision and it drives me nuts when I do not know precisely where that shot will hit.
It is what won me the team shooter awards in the corps, and the addiction just gets worse by the year. Must be the toolmaker blood in me. When chasing Jacks as a kid, most folks aimed at the rabbit. I aimed at the rabbits eyeball.
:gun18:
I just can't stand a loose "shooter"
I would hate to think of the hrs I have spent lapping bores, floating, bedding, making sulphur casts of chambers, custom building dies to match the rifle, weighing and spinning bullets and cases...... It gets into your blood.
Used to worship P.O Ackley, and eventually went over to Elmer Keith's thinking. But Accuracy has always stuck.

 

[U201491]

I really should add a Mini 14 to the collection.
But the modularity and spare parts alone point toward the AR.
Heck, the AR is winning in my book against the AK..and Im an AK guy.

If you can, Get one of the SR556 Rugers The E model does not have the chromed bore and chamber, and
Put a Geisle SSA-E trigger in it.
You won't be disapointed and the E model is cost friendly. You build on as you want. The accuracy is unmatched.
A clean running piston system and adjustable to any loading. Put on a smith Vortex flash hider and there is zero muzzle flash.
I was skeptical when I first got one, but not for more than 2 min.

 

[trainsktg]

I have a Colt AR15A2 HBAR that says .223 on the receiver roll-stamp, but is marked 5.56 NATO on the barrel.

Your rifle is a 5.56 then; the upper determines the caliber.

Keith

 

[Flopsweat]

If you can, Get one of the SR556 Rugers The E model does not have the chromed bore and chamber, and
Put a Geisle SSA-E trigger in it.
You won't be disapointed and the E model is cost friendly. You build on as you want. The accuracy is unmatched.
A clean running piston system and adjustable to any loading. Put on a smith Vortex flash hider and there is zero muzzle flash.
I was skeptical when I first got one, but not for more than 2 min.

+1 on the Geissele trigger (pronounced "GUYS-lee"). I have the SSA and the SSA-E. Both are fantastic triggers. I was pleasantly surprised at the immediate increase in accuracy with the first one that I installed. All of that talk about slowly bringing the trigger back without disturbing the sights makes a lot more sense when you have a trigger that will actually let you do that. Plus if you watch their Youtube video and then use the included dummy pin properly, the swap takes less than 10 minutes.

 

[U201491]

+1 on the Geissele trigger (pronounced "GUYS-lee"). I have the SSA and the SSA-E. Both are fantastic triggers. I was pleasantly surprised at the immediate increase in accuracy with the first one that I installed. All of that talk about slowly bringing the trigger back without disturbing the sights makes a lot more sense when you have a trigger that will actually let you do that. Plus if you watch their Youtube video and then use the included dummy pin properly, the swap takes less than 10 minutes.

 

[jbett98]

Slightly off topic, but its really fun watching some of these guys trying to sight in their rifles with their buddies:

First shot. "You were three inches high, one inch to the right"

Adjusts scope.

Second shot. "You were two inches low, two inches to the left."

Adjusts scope.

Third shot. "You were one inch high, four inches to the left."

Two hours and many rounds of ammo later and they are no closer to being 'sighted in' than they were when they started. (Nor do I ever add my $0.02 worth to this process unless asked.)

Keith

I watched a guy try to sight in an ArmaLite 180 with a factory scope for over a half hour.
I kept hearing his spotter calling out "high 2" and right 3", over & over.
He would adjust the scope and fire off a couple more rounds. "high 2" & right 3"
I finally couldn't stand to watch anymore and walked over to them.
He hadn't removed the dust caps, and was just spinning them back and forth.
I asked him if I could give it a try, a couple of clicks here and a couple of clicks there and bingo it was in the center ring.

 

[Stomper]

Your rifle is a 5.56 then; the upper determines the caliber.

Keith

Yessir, it does!

 

[Barachiah]

Mini 14's are neato, but they take proprietary magazines, and generally only like Ruger mags. I had one that I got for a song, and was going to stock up for it. Then I researched mags for it. At the time they were going for $50 a piece, making it $500 for a basic load out of mags for the gun. No thanks, could buy another AR for that price and use the stack of mags I already have. Neat gun if that's your thing, but I like parts availability and interchange ability a lot more.

 

[TacticalMark]

A well lubed quality AR15 will run flawless for thousands of rounds. AR for the win

 

[jbuck]

For me. I settled on a mini30 and couldn't be happier. I use a rifle for work and never have time for ear protection. So that pretty much rules the 223/5.56 out. Tried it once and decided I would be losing significant hearing if I kept it up. So I tried the 300blk and it was ok, but still wasn't quite right. I then tried a ruger mini30 and it was perfect. Had enough power for effective kills, and was relitively quite.
I have a ranch model with a 1.5-5 Leupold and have never shot a group at 100yds with it so I don't know how accurate it is. I do know that it is accurate enough to hit everything I point it at.