Mini-14 vs AR 15. A video paying tribute to restricted states from AZ.

[MajorSideburns]

So, because a couple 3rd world countries or random police forces used Mini-14's at one time in history, they're obviously better than AR's? And all the top militaries of the world are wrong? How many of those 3rd world countries or random police forces still use Mini-14's?

It simply means they aren't nearly as good as the AR. Since you ignore my military question, lets focus on civilian use. Tell me again how many top competitors compete with Mini's and AK's? With competitors, they will use anything that will give them the edge in speed, reliability, and accuracy/precision. They ALL use AR's.

I'm unsure how you are defining "top militaries" but in my mind I think of that as the militaries which are able to physically defeat and dominate the armed forces of most other nations so I'd just like to point out that the top militaries of the world are not defined by their service rifles. What makes the militaries the best in the world is their air and naval power, missile technology, and nuclear weapons. If service rifles was the defining metric of a top military then a country with the largest population of riflemen like China or India would be the "top military" of the world. America was the "top military" in the world after WW2 and we had the big boy M-14 as our service rifle until the AR came along in the 1960s and the weapon was chosen more for the cartridge than the design in my opinion. If the Ruger Mini-14 had been developed in the 1950s and presented as competition to the M16 would the US Army have picked it instead due to the familiarity of the system compared to the M-14? I don't know but it seems plausible.

[acaligunner]

^
I believe the M16 / then AR, would have been picked over the mini 14, for probably the same reason why today’s pistols are picked, because it was a more modern design at that time.

I believe it was one of the 1st to have a plastic hand guard, modern 5.56 ammo, and was lightweight.

In my early days I never liked the AR ~ because gangbangers pointed and shot at me - almost killed me .

My brother would tell me of the time, he volunteered to check the outside of his camp ( after a firefight ) and how the M16 saved him when a NVA soldier jumped out of a spider hole and engaged my brother with a Russian AK-47 at very close range. He liked the M16 because it saved him in that encounter and the Russian AK-47 failed his NVA user.

I think we have come a long way with the versatility of the M16 / AR because it can be configured for many task. I don’t know if the Mini 14 could be used in the same way.

[Garbcollector]

Why i haven't bought a mini yet I don't know

[smle-man]

I'm unsure how you are defining "top militaries" but in my mind I think of that as the militaries which are able to physically defeat and dominate the armed forces of most other nations so I'd just like to point out that the top militaries of the world are not defined by their service rifles. What makes the militaries the best in the world is their air and naval power, missile technology, and nuclear weapons. If service rifles was the defining metric of a top military then a country with the largest population of riflemen like China or India would be the "top military" of the world. America was the "top military" in the world after WW2 and we had the big boy M-14 as our service rifle until the AR came along in the 1960s and the weapon was chosen more for the cartridge than the design in my opinion. If the Ruger Mini-14 had been developed in the 1950s and presented as competition to the M16 would the US Army have picked it instead due to the familiarity of the system compared to the M-14? I don't know but it seems plausible.

The Winchester Light Rifle .224 was similar in concept but not technically the same as the Mini 14. The Army rejected it in favor of the AR15. The AR success was inevitable but that success doesn't make the Mini 14 inferior for general civilian use, it just has a different set of use criteria.

[sigstroker]

The gas system is suck for a military gun. The piston arrangement is upside-down compared to other piston setups. If you don't clean it after you shoot it, it tends to carbon freeze. I am very lazy and never cleaned my mini. Or no often enough anyway, plus I didn't like the idea of cleaning from the muzzle end so I avoided it. One day, sure enough, it was frozen up. I used a mallet on the charging handle to free it up. I didn't know about the freezing-up tendency back then.

[wilit]

I've owned an AR and currently own a Mini-14. I wasn't a huge fan of the AR. It shot well and aftermarket support is probably the best of any firearm platform in the world. I just really hated cleaning it. The DI system just made cleaning it a chore. The Mini-14's biggest Achilles heel is the magazine. The rock-in mag sucks. You have to align the front of the mag with a tiny pin to seat it correctly. Also aftermarket magazines are a shot in the dark if they're going to work correctly or not. I have two John Masen mags, one works flawlessly 90% of the time, the other has 1-3 jams 100% of the time.

[acaligunner]

^
There use to be a SoCal shop that sold 40 round magazines for the mini 14 that worked fine. That was a long time ago, and I moved the mini out of state.