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I want to start off by saying that I am NOT a "fan boy" for any firearms manufacturer. I didn't set out to do this review in order to prove how awesome the Mini 30 is. I simply wanted to evaluate it based on the criteria most important to me and see if it was, or wasn't, awesome. I never buy anything based on what some "special forces" tactical guru has to say about it.... or, anyone else for that matter. I own / shoot what works best for ME. I don't own a lot of firearms, but the ones I DO own, I shoot quite regularly. With the exception of a couple of .22's, I don't have any guns I designate as "plinkers.." The guns I own, I train with & shoot around the idea that I may someday have to use these weapons to defend myself. That being the case, I want to be very confident with each one so if that time ever comes, I'll be ready. the three criteria most important to me in regards to my firearms are:
1) reliability - gun has to go "BANG" when I press the trigger.
2) ease of service / repair / tear down - if something should break on one of my guns, I don't want to be at the mercy of a gunsmith. especially if I'm in a situation where one may not be available. I want to be able to replace basic things (firing pin, extractor, trigger group parts, etc.) with my own novice abilities and basic tools. should be able to strip and clean it quickly, without the need for many (or special) tools.
3) accuracy - because I live in an urban environment, I practice shooting at 100 yards and in with my rifle. if you've got the basic mechanics of shooting down and a decent rifle, you'll be able to get good hits inside of 100 yards. If I can put 9 out of 10 rounds into a 10" pie plate @ 100 yards, that's accurate enough for my needs.
So.... on to the Mini 30 review. I own an AR 15 and it does a great job of meeting all 3 of the criteria I mentioned above. but, with all the negative press swirling around the trusty "black rifle," I started thinking it might not be a bad idea to own a rifle that could do similar things but be a bit more "incognito" .... sans the "military" look. If you start thinking along these lines, it won't take you long to start thinking about the Ruger Mini rifles. they look enough like a good ol' huntin' rifle, but have some features that make it a little more desirable as a defense weapon... magazine capacity, semi-auto, etc.
Since I already have a rifle chambered in .223 / 5.56, I decided on the Mini 30. I was up for hours at night reading.... drove my Girlfriend crazy. but I wanted to see what was being said about these rifles. as it turned out (from my research..) the comments were about 60/40 against the Mini 30. But, as I said, I don't take other people's word for it (most of the time..) and I decided to see for myself.
One of the biggest pluses for me regarding the Mini 30 was that it shoots the 7.62x39 round. not only was the steel cased surplus stuff selling for like $6 a box, you could actually FIND it!!! seems all the local gun shops have a good stock of it. Now there were a fair number of Mini owners who warned against the use of the steel ammo.... "the hard primers are rough on firing pins" or "the steel cases wear out extractors".... I figured I'd see for myself. But, if the steel ammo was in fact, unreliable, that would be a pretty big detractor for me. Brass ammo chambered in 7.62x39 didn't seem easy to find and it was not cheap. anyway... onward and upward.
after some selling & trading & negotiations, I finally ended up with a 581 series Mini 30. synthetic stock with stainless receiver and barrel. the previous owner had installed the stabilizer on the barrel which I had read good things about. that was a plus. I had the factory 5 round magazine, as well as two aftermarket 10 round mags and two factory 20 round ma.... I mean, REBUILD kits. okay, they are 20 round mags, but modified to only accept 10 rounds, of course. I also was able to round up about 600 rounds of ammo which ended up being a combination of Tulammo, Wolf Black Box, Wolf Military Classic, Silver Bear and I also got some PPU brass cased rounds to try as well. I wanted to try as many different brands as possible to test the results. I will share those with you later.
I got the rifle out of jail after work and promptly hurried home to check it out. after a couple quick Youtube tutorials on how to disassemble it, I took it apart and check out the guts. nothing like my AR, but didn't expect it to be. one thing I learned is that there are some parts that can't be serviced by a novice. firing pin replacement, in particular, requires a qualified gunsmith. most even recommend the gun go back to Ruger!!!! fail.... not cool. but, I'll save judgement until after all my criteria have been tested at the range.
okay.... RANGE DAY! found myself a nice bench at the local range and set up a target at 50 yards to get warmed up. decided I'd start off with the aftermarket 10 round mags and see how they worked. started loading rounds into the magazine and found that they didn't seem to go in easily, or smoothly. kind of binding up.... maybe just because they are new? anyway, time to shoot. magazine inserted into the rifle smooth and easy, now just chamber a round and lets do this! pulled back on the charging handle and released it...... it locked up with the bullet only a short distance into the chamber. huh? pulled the charging handle (bolt handle?) back and let it go forward.... no luck. third time was a charm, though. round now chambered. rile on bag, crosshairs on target, smooth trigger press.... BANG!!! great... except the NEXT round in the magazine didn't chamber, either. this happened six times in a row. the last four rounds fed okay, however. tried the second aftermarket magazine with the same result. bummer. but, I had been warned that Minis only like factory magazines. guess I just proved that to myself. factory mags aren't super easy to find and they are expensive, so already a drawback. grabbed the 5 round factory magazine. rounds popped in smooth as silk!! okay, now were getting somewhere. insert magazine, release charging handle..... round chambers without hesitation. awesome! fired all 5 rounds without issue. tried the 20 round mags with the same result. lesson learned. if you require reliability, stick with the Ruger factory magazines. the aftermarket ones might be modified to function better, but so far, epic fail on the aftermarket mags!
okay, so now on to my ammo test. I fired 60 rounds of each of the above mentioned ammo. here is what happened:
Tulammo - 4 FTF's in 60 rounds. all 4 rounds fired on the second try.
Wolf Black Box - 2 FTF's in 60 rounds. both fired on the second try.
WPA Military Classic - 1 FTF in 60 rounds. fired on the second try.
Silver Bear - 0 FTF's
PPU Brass ammo - 0 FTF's
throughout the ammo test process, there were multiple times that the bolt would not go forward and put a round in battery when released. this only occurred with the steel ammo. never experienced with the brass ammo. so, the claims about the unreliability of steel cased ammo seem to have merit. I proved that to myself.
Accuracy was what I expected based on this rifle's intended purpose. this was never designed to be a "Marksman" type rifle. they call it a "Ranch Rifle" for a reason.... but, based on my accuracy needs as listed above, it did just fine. I did take my target out to 200 yards at the end of the day and was able to get all my shots on paper. but the groups were by no means, tight. I'm a decent marksman, but I've got definite room for improvement, so I'll say it was part this rifle's reputation for not being the most accurate and part my own errors. that being said, if I had to take a small / medium sized game animal @ 200 yards, it could definitely be done. since the range only goes out to 200 yards, I can't speak to what this rifle would do at greater distances. but, neither the rifle, nor the round, are know for long range accuracy. I believe I also proved that to myself.
Conclusions: Based on my criteria for my firearms, the Mini 30 falls short in a couple of categories. number one, it didn't prove itself to be ultra reliable. some of that was the fault of the ammo / aftermarket mags I suppose, but some of the mechanical issues may be the rifle. If I'm forced to shoot brass ammo to make the gun reliable, then I lose the advantage of being able to shoot / store up a lot of inexpensive ammo. second, no aftermarket options for magazines! I've heard that some people have good luck with aftermarket magazines, but my experience was TERRIBLE! since the Ruger magazines are upwards of $50 (if you can find any..) that's a definite drawback. third, there are common mechanical parts that must be replaced by a professional gunsmith, or by the FACTORY! no bueno.
to sum it all up, would I trust my life to my Mini 30? the short answer is, no. perhaps as I were to become more familiar with the rifle, I may learn to overcome some of my own objections. but, as I type this, I'm already considering whether or not it's a rifle I'm going to keep. I really wanted to LOVE IT! it's a great looking rifle and I've always wanted one. maybe a couple more range trips are in order before I decide to find it a new home....
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1) reliability - gun has to go "BANG" when I press the trigger.
2) ease of service / repair / tear down - if something should break on one of my guns, I don't want to be at the mercy of a gunsmith. especially if I'm in a situation where one may not be available. I want to be able to replace basic things (firing pin, extractor, trigger group parts, etc.) with my own novice abilities and basic tools. should be able to strip and clean it quickly, without the need for many (or special) tools.
3) accuracy - because I live in an urban environment, I practice shooting at 100 yards and in with my rifle. if you've got the basic mechanics of shooting down and a decent rifle, you'll be able to get good hits inside of 100 yards. If I can put 9 out of 10 rounds into a 10" pie plate @ 100 yards, that's accurate enough for my needs.
So.... on to the Mini 30 review. I own an AR 15 and it does a great job of meeting all 3 of the criteria I mentioned above. but, with all the negative press swirling around the trusty "black rifle," I started thinking it might not be a bad idea to own a rifle that could do similar things but be a bit more "incognito" .... sans the "military" look. If you start thinking along these lines, it won't take you long to start thinking about the Ruger Mini rifles. they look enough like a good ol' huntin' rifle, but have some features that make it a little more desirable as a defense weapon... magazine capacity, semi-auto, etc.
Since I already have a rifle chambered in .223 / 5.56, I decided on the Mini 30. I was up for hours at night reading.... drove my Girlfriend crazy. but I wanted to see what was being said about these rifles. as it turned out (from my research..) the comments were about 60/40 against the Mini 30. But, as I said, I don't take other people's word for it (most of the time..) and I decided to see for myself.
One of the biggest pluses for me regarding the Mini 30 was that it shoots the 7.62x39 round. not only was the steel cased surplus stuff selling for like $6 a box, you could actually FIND it!!! seems all the local gun shops have a good stock of it. Now there were a fair number of Mini owners who warned against the use of the steel ammo.... "the hard primers are rough on firing pins" or "the steel cases wear out extractors".... I figured I'd see for myself. But, if the steel ammo was in fact, unreliable, that would be a pretty big detractor for me. Brass ammo chambered in 7.62x39 didn't seem easy to find and it was not cheap. anyway... onward and upward.
after some selling & trading & negotiations, I finally ended up with a 581 series Mini 30. synthetic stock with stainless receiver and barrel. the previous owner had installed the stabilizer on the barrel which I had read good things about. that was a plus. I had the factory 5 round magazine, as well as two aftermarket 10 round mags and two factory 20 round ma.... I mean, REBUILD kits. okay, they are 20 round mags, but modified to only accept 10 rounds, of course. I also was able to round up about 600 rounds of ammo which ended up being a combination of Tulammo, Wolf Black Box, Wolf Military Classic, Silver Bear and I also got some PPU brass cased rounds to try as well. I wanted to try as many different brands as possible to test the results. I will share those with you later.
I got the rifle out of jail after work and promptly hurried home to check it out. after a couple quick Youtube tutorials on how to disassemble it, I took it apart and check out the guts. nothing like my AR, but didn't expect it to be. one thing I learned is that there are some parts that can't be serviced by a novice. firing pin replacement, in particular, requires a qualified gunsmith. most even recommend the gun go back to Ruger!!!! fail.... not cool. but, I'll save judgement until after all my criteria have been tested at the range.
okay.... RANGE DAY! found myself a nice bench at the local range and set up a target at 50 yards to get warmed up. decided I'd start off with the aftermarket 10 round mags and see how they worked. started loading rounds into the magazine and found that they didn't seem to go in easily, or smoothly. kind of binding up.... maybe just because they are new? anyway, time to shoot. magazine inserted into the rifle smooth and easy, now just chamber a round and lets do this! pulled back on the charging handle and released it...... it locked up with the bullet only a short distance into the chamber. huh? pulled the charging handle (bolt handle?) back and let it go forward.... no luck. third time was a charm, though. round now chambered. rile on bag, crosshairs on target, smooth trigger press.... BANG!!! great... except the NEXT round in the magazine didn't chamber, either. this happened six times in a row. the last four rounds fed okay, however. tried the second aftermarket magazine with the same result. bummer. but, I had been warned that Minis only like factory magazines. guess I just proved that to myself. factory mags aren't super easy to find and they are expensive, so already a drawback. grabbed the 5 round factory magazine. rounds popped in smooth as silk!! okay, now were getting somewhere. insert magazine, release charging handle..... round chambers without hesitation. awesome! fired all 5 rounds without issue. tried the 20 round mags with the same result. lesson learned. if you require reliability, stick with the Ruger factory magazines. the aftermarket ones might be modified to function better, but so far, epic fail on the aftermarket mags!
okay, so now on to my ammo test. I fired 60 rounds of each of the above mentioned ammo. here is what happened:
Tulammo - 4 FTF's in 60 rounds. all 4 rounds fired on the second try.
Wolf Black Box - 2 FTF's in 60 rounds. both fired on the second try.
WPA Military Classic - 1 FTF in 60 rounds. fired on the second try.
Silver Bear - 0 FTF's
PPU Brass ammo - 0 FTF's
throughout the ammo test process, there were multiple times that the bolt would not go forward and put a round in battery when released. this only occurred with the steel ammo. never experienced with the brass ammo. so, the claims about the unreliability of steel cased ammo seem to have merit. I proved that to myself.
Accuracy was what I expected based on this rifle's intended purpose. this was never designed to be a "Marksman" type rifle. they call it a "Ranch Rifle" for a reason.... but, based on my accuracy needs as listed above, it did just fine. I did take my target out to 200 yards at the end of the day and was able to get all my shots on paper. but the groups were by no means, tight. I'm a decent marksman, but I've got definite room for improvement, so I'll say it was part this rifle's reputation for not being the most accurate and part my own errors. that being said, if I had to take a small / medium sized game animal @ 200 yards, it could definitely be done. since the range only goes out to 200 yards, I can't speak to what this rifle would do at greater distances. but, neither the rifle, nor the round, are know for long range accuracy. I believe I also proved that to myself.
Conclusions: Based on my criteria for my firearms, the Mini 30 falls short in a couple of categories. number one, it didn't prove itself to be ultra reliable. some of that was the fault of the ammo / aftermarket mags I suppose, but some of the mechanical issues may be the rifle. If I'm forced to shoot brass ammo to make the gun reliable, then I lose the advantage of being able to shoot / store up a lot of inexpensive ammo. second, no aftermarket options for magazines! I've heard that some people have good luck with aftermarket magazines, but my experience was TERRIBLE! since the Ruger magazines are upwards of $50 (if you can find any..) that's a definite drawback. third, there are common mechanical parts that must be replaced by a professional gunsmith, or by the FACTORY! no bueno.
to sum it all up, would I trust my life to my Mini 30? the short answer is, no. perhaps as I were to become more familiar with the rifle, I may learn to overcome some of my own objections. but, as I type this, I'm already considering whether or not it's a rifle I'm going to keep. I really wanted to LOVE IT! it's a great looking rifle and I've always wanted one. maybe a couple more range trips are in order before I decide to find it a new home....
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