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Hello and Happy New Year to All!
I was off yesterday 1/1/20 and was prowling around the house looking for some entertainment. This most usually means reorganizing the old gun safe. During my cleaning I pulled out my 583- series Mini 30. Because of moves and general life disruptions I have not let it out into the light of day for almost 4 years. Well, New Year's Day was the day I rediscovered the Mini 30 heavy barrel. I refuse to refer to it as "tactical" even though that's the Ruger branding. Back before the move from far north WA I took it to the range almost every weekend. It was a hoot to shoot. I had even discovered some Rooskie ammo that would reliably cycle through it - Silver Bear. Always have loved the look and feel of the MIni reminding me of my salad days and the M1 Garand and the M14. My wife has her own AK so 7.62x.39 is in abundance. After these years in the safe the poor thing sounded really dry when cycled. I stripped it down to its most basic and took some time cleaning and greasing it. Ran a rod through the barrel, still sparking clean of course, and applied some Hoppe's and some fresh oil. Reassembled it and then it sounded correct and worked smoothly as I recalled. Couldn't get to the Range so I spent way too much time watching youtube vids about the rifle. Opinions don't seem to have changed much about the rifle in the last 4 odd years. Youtubers either love it or hate it with not many in between. It always performed well for me and was able to hit the 300yd gong on our Range up North with satisfying regularity - this with iron sights too. I did recall I was going to install a new Wolffe hammer spring back then so I ordered one from Midway yesterday. Now I gotta find a friend with a drill press! If you have done this spring change in a Mini you know the drill. At the end of yesterday I had completely rediscovered the Mini 30. I still like it. Now looking forward to a trip to the range. Thanks for listening.
I was off yesterday 1/1/20 and was prowling around the house looking for some entertainment. This most usually means reorganizing the old gun safe. During my cleaning I pulled out my 583- series Mini 30. Because of moves and general life disruptions I have not let it out into the light of day for almost 4 years. Well, New Year's Day was the day I rediscovered the Mini 30 heavy barrel. I refuse to refer to it as "tactical" even though that's the Ruger branding. Back before the move from far north WA I took it to the range almost every weekend. It was a hoot to shoot. I had even discovered some Rooskie ammo that would reliably cycle through it - Silver Bear. Always have loved the look and feel of the MIni reminding me of my salad days and the M1 Garand and the M14. My wife has her own AK so 7.62x.39 is in abundance. After these years in the safe the poor thing sounded really dry when cycled. I stripped it down to its most basic and took some time cleaning and greasing it. Ran a rod through the barrel, still sparking clean of course, and applied some Hoppe's and some fresh oil. Reassembled it and then it sounded correct and worked smoothly as I recalled. Couldn't get to the Range so I spent way too much time watching youtube vids about the rifle. Opinions don't seem to have changed much about the rifle in the last 4 odd years. Youtubers either love it or hate it with not many in between. It always performed well for me and was able to hit the 300yd gong on our Range up North with satisfying regularity - this with iron sights too. I did recall I was going to install a new Wolffe hammer spring back then so I ordered one from Midway yesterday. Now I gotta find a friend with a drill press! If you have done this spring change in a Mini you know the drill. At the end of yesterday I had completely rediscovered the Mini 30. I still like it. Now looking forward to a trip to the range. Thanks for listening.