Ran the Mini 14 at the 3 Gun yesterday!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Last Friday I went to the OVGC Range to sight in my AR and try to get my Mini 14 to run with my Tapco Mags which I have had problems with.

The wind was blowing 40+mph and it was starting to rain so I just shot dirt clods and gongs at 50-300 yards and got it closer. a paper target would not have stood up against the wind.

The Mini 14 has held it's zero for years now, and I found out that simply NOT loading 30 rounds in the mags allowed them to run perfectly. I hit a 2x3' gong at 200 yards 15 times in a row off hand and found that all 5 mags worked perfectly. So I figured it out all by myself!

So yesterday I brought the Mini 14 to the 3 Gun Shoot at the Winchester Canyon Gun Club Santa Barbara and fired against a dozen AR's.

I shot the first 2/3's of the rifle course offhand and was clean all the way up thru the first 18 shots and then my support arm was starting to get really tired and I missed a few so I dropped down and supported off a barrier for the last few targets. I ended up with 30 shots for 22 necessary hits. All my misses were at the last 5 targets and that wasn't the gun,,, it was me getting wore out.

Lots of questions about the gun afterwards as many there had never heard of a Mini 14/30?

Also shot my Mossberg 500 and Glock 21 SF and shot everything pretty good I placed in the upper 1/3 of the group.

It was a good day with friends and the weather was beautiful !!!

Here's a pic of the gun with the Tapco mag in it.

Randy

[BajaJames83]

Nice. I love my mini 30 but steer clear of tapco mags it's worth the extra coin to pony up the ruger mags.

[Skip_Dog]

Nice. Glade you can get a little bit of "Normal" back in your life.

[smoothy8500]

It was a good day with friends and the weather was beautiful !!!

Nothing like a match to reinforce the benefits of friends and sportsmanship! Sounds like a great time.

[stormvet]

Good job and nice rifle, ever since my days in the military I’ve only run 28 rounds in a 30 round mag. Always seems to work for me no matter the rifle platform.

[Garand Hunter]

I bought a Mini 30 186 series in 1987 from Bud Seigle in Oakland and put a cheapie Tasco 4 power scope on it and it has always shot tight for me and my daughter who 2 years ago informed me that is now " My Gun " she has taken two bambis with it. Fussing over these rifles is amazing, mine works great just as yours does. Glad you had a great day at the range.

Psalm 1

[Creampuff]

I bought a Mini 30 186 series in 1987 from Bud Seigle in Oakland and put a cheapie Tasco 4 power scope on it and it has always shot tight for me and my daughter who 2 years ago informed me that is now " My Gun " she has taken two bambis with it. Fussing over these rifles is amazing, mine works great just as yours does. Glad you had a great day at the range.

Psalm 1

Siegels!!
I miss that place. I think one time going in there I saw one of the Cal QB's working behind the counter. Mike Pawlawski?

Back on topic, I can see why people are not familiar with the Mini30 because you don't see them around as much, but I am surprised they don't know the Mini14. The AR has it's Lego's aspect where you build to your liking. But the Mini14 is still just plain fun to shoot.

[k1dude]

Do you store your mags fully loaded? I've never had a mag not perform with 30 rounds if you store them loaded to capacity.

I've only had problems with new mags that have never been loaded to capacity and sat for awhile. With new mags that have never sat loaded, I usually load to 28 rounds.

Where I shoot 3-gun, there's a few old timers that still use Mini-14's. I don't know why I call them old timers, I'm just as old.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I will leave my Steel mags loaded, but not the poly ones as the feed lips definitely get distorted.

Magpul mags have a clip that goes on the loaded mag and pushes the rounds down off the feed lips. The Tapcos don't have that so no, I won't be keeping them loaded.

I ran into the same malfunction with my PCC .40 Glock 22 round mags leaving them loaded. Top rounds always malfunctioned, Stopped leaving them loaded as well. I have some 15 and 10 round G35 mags that I have left loaded for years and they function perfectly, even in the PCC.

But all is good as they run right now and I shot a full mag 28 rounds) thru all 5 of mine to prove them out.

Randy

[imarangemaster]

Nice job!

I have been shooting/owning Mini-14s since 1982. My current poly stocked 581 Stainless loves my Tapco 30s. I have had zero issues with them. I have about 16 or 17 of them... While I have factory Ruger 20s and 30s (which do run perfectly), my Tapcos are my go to mags. No rust, and way lighter. (By the way, their original Tapco mags were lousy. The Gen II with newer polymer and steel reinforcement around the front rock.

Here is some info on the Tapcos, including a guy with an AC556full auto Ruger that uses the Tapco Gen IIs exclusively:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znJCdgFfhbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js_gs9hMpPc

https://www.perfectunion.com/vb/ruger-mini-14-mini-30/100355-my-review-tapco-gen-2-30rd-mags.html

[jarhead714]

Not a huge fan of the rifle, but I am a huge fan of dudes who get down with older, simpler rifles and show all the mall ninjas what for.

[imarangemaster]

Not a huge fan of the rifle, but I am a huge fan of dudes who get down with older, simpler rifles and show all the mall ninjas what for.

LOL! That's great! I'm 68, so I guess I'm and Old dude! I started shooting the AR platform in the Military in the early 1970s, and the Mini-14 and M1 Carbine as LEO in the 80s and 90s.

I respect the AR platform, and have a decent, yet inexpensive KISS carbine build M4gery. It is a good military arm. Personally, though, I rather shoot my 75 year old M1 Carbine (like my dad fought with on Iwo Jima) or my Mini-14. They are just more fun to shoot. Also, I really like them (M1 carbine and Mini-14) as home defense carbines. Also, I tend to snap[ shoot either better than the AR.

[imarangemaster]

Old dude guns...

[jarhead714]

Anybody that gets out there and starts movin’ and groovin’ with iron sights is a good to go. I refuse to buy any optic for my rifles until my eyes require it. There’s never anything to worry about with good irons.

[DrewN]

Funny after all these years that Choate is still the only one with an upper handguard worth a damn.