Ruger mini 30 questions

[Drkside45]

I'm thinking of buying a mini 30 from another board member,But this is one gun I'm not familiar with at all.It looks nice,I know it uses 7.62x39 cartrages,but thats about it. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot. Doc.

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[The Quiet Man]

Spend some time at www.perfectunion.com and you'll learn a lot about the Mini platform from people who actually own and shoot them.

 

[Unka-Boo]

Meh....

I have yet to see someone who bought one keep one.

Mags are problematic, and IIRC they have a .308 bore with some " free space" in front of the chamber to allow the .310 bullet to swage down...( I'm going off of fuzzy memory here...correct me if I'm wrong guys..)

For the same money, you could have an AK or SKS that was designed for the round and have mags that work.

 

[Humpyslayer]

They seem cool on paper but aren't very reliable

 

[Browncoat]

Hey Doc,
I've never owned or even shot one, and like the other posters have only heard about problems (reliability, accuracy). However, last fall while I was working at one of my gun clubs' "Hunters' Sight In" events I spotted for a guy who had one of these guns. He had a scope on it, was using a 5-round magazine and quality American made ammo. He proceeded to shoot a 4 or 5 shot sub-moa group (.75" @ 100 yds.) then stated he was done and ready to go hunting. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself. It was the best shooting I saw all day. I can't say that this gun I saw was reliable, but it sure was accurate.

 

[9mmMike]

Have shot a Mini-30 a few times and didn't have any reliability issues with the gun, but if we used the hi cap mags, we had problems with feeding right away. I have a Mini-14 that has been worked on by Gun Doc from Pefect Union, and will shoot MOA groups all day long and with quality ammo, will hold these groups out to 250 yds. Bed it, scope it, trigger job, and chop and put some weight on the end of the barrel and they shoot really well. I'm not sure if the Mini-30 has the same poor barrel contour that the 14 has.

 

[rusobr2]

doc-- i owned one a few years back, and tried to load up some aftmkt mags in the 20's -the first 5 shots were in 3" group at 100 yrds -for the next 5 shots the group went to 6-7"--i had my son try it and same results--there is a reason these guns come with only 5 rnd mags-they get to HOT -now i'v read where the newer style has an improved barrel-but i'll stick to my old sks-i already know what it will do--4" groups allday at 100-125-and thats with old eyes,and old hands.
steven

 

[rsmccsman]

I first owned a mini 30 in the early 1990s. Loved the gun, problem was other than the 5 round factory magazine, Ruger wouldn't sell their factory high capacity magazines to the public and all the aftermarket mags were inconsistent in their reliability. I ended up selling it and buying an AK and an SKS for reliability. You can't go wrong with their reliability, no doubt about that. However I recently found out Ruger started selling their 20 round factory magazines for the Mini 30 so I went out and got another one, love it. I am thinking of setting it up with a forward mounted scout scope. With the factory magazines you should not have reliability problems, and as far as accuracy it should shoot as good as the average shooter is capable of unless you are an extreme marksman in need of a custom job to wring out the utmost accuracy. If you want you can get that done to your mini at Accuracy Systems inc. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Drkside45]

Thanks for all the input and advice.I have done some research of my own also.I've decided to pass on the mini 30 for now.I also have a couple sks's,and one ak.all are very fun,accurate,reliable,and inexspensive to shoot.Thanks again!!