Quote:
Originally Posted by pwd72s
I have a stainless mini 14...it doesn't group like a bolt action rifle, but groups quite well. With a scope, easy to get 1 1/2" inch groups with fmj ammo at 100 yards. Jeff? Maybe I just got a good one? It's no youngster, purchased back in the 70's. Not for sale, BTW...
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Ruger used to buy barrels from a number of vendors. Quality was all over the map. They finally started making their own barrels in-house sometime in the '80's or '90's (I really can't remember when) and quality became far more consistant, and of a much higher level all around. We noticed a real difference, particularly in their #1's, which are very, very sensitive to poor barrels and poor tolerances. The M77's improved as well, but they didn't have as far to go.
The Mini-14 has historically been the most inconsistant of the lot. Some early ones shoot like a house-a-fire, but they are rarer than hen's teeth. Hold onto that one - you got very, very lucky... Most early Mini-14's were lucky to group under 3"- 4" at 100 yards. Any that did better were no fault of Ruger's.
The new ones will typically halve the group size of the old ones. On the average, they won't shoot as well as that one in a thousand old one, but this also means that the one "really good" new one you might stumble accross will be a real tack-driver. Just don't count on it.
It's important to emphasize that the Mini-14 did not benefit as much as the #1, or even the M77, when Ruger brought barrel making in-house. It had other, more deeply rooted problems, that even the best barrel made could not overcome. Stories are legion of folks that rebarreled these things to no avail and finally gave up. The root cause was some inherent problems in the manufacturing methods used to produce the actions; Ruger completely re-tooled Mini-14 production about 4-5 years ago to address this. So, while in the past there was a very slim chance you could luck into one where all of the tolerances stacked up the right way (and wind up with one like yours), the average accuracy of the rifle has gone up dramatically today. And the chances of getting a real dog are all but eliminated. Hell, I had one once that literally would not stay on the bottom of a coffee can at 100 yards, no matter what I did. Those days are gone.