The age of the Mini-14 is over. Do not buy one.

For the last 10 years or so, Mini-14s have been the “buy” of the day on gun.deals about 7 days a week. This was not because they were selling a ton of them. It was because they were making a ton of them. Between Nov 2021 and Dec 2022 Ruger produced over 170,000 Mini-14s. This is staggering. That is about 15,000 a month, or about 3,000 per week. 3,000 Mini-14s a week is an insane production pace. <br><br>Even at this record production pace, Mini-14s were selling out. The nature of the Mini-14 is that it is meant to be a civilian version of the M14/M1A. It is meant to shoot .308(7.62x51) from an 18.5 inch barrel. The problem is, in this configuration, they are unreliable and inaccurate. Even a brief look at the historical data on the issue shows that the first 1/3rd production of Mini-14s were totally junk. There is a reason the gun earned the nickname “Mini-60%”. The first batches were magazine feed only.<br><br>The Mini-14’s action is based on the M1 Garand. If you are unfamiliar, the M1 Garand rifle is a design that is over 80 years old. To function properly, it needs a specific style of ammo, and it needs to be mag fed. In the old days, the Mini-14 worked fine with 150 grain M2 ball ammunition. It was 100% reliable and pretty accurate. It was not without issue though. It had a loose gas port. The gas port was so loose that the rifle actually started to run more reliably with the flash suppressor loosened. The issue with this was that the Mini-14 was originally meant for .308. In .308, the rifle was not nearly as reliable. .308 tended to be 147 grain, and the lighter rounds would not reliably cycle the rifle. <br><br>In the late 80’s the reputation of the Mini-14 had taken a big hit. The Mini-14 would not compete well with the new AK47s being imported from Europe. In the early 90’s the Mini-14’s accuracy had become notoriously bad. For this reason, Ruger completely redesigned the Mini-14 gas system in the early 90’s. It was a disaster. The new rifle was even more unreliable than before. They were supposed to have been totally redesigned, but in reality they were 100% the same rifle with a somewhat smaller gas port. The reality is that the Mini-14 was a very fragile rifle. <br><br>Many people do not know this, but the Mini-14 would not function with reloads. At least, not without getting a custom barrel. Nor did it function with many commercial loads. The Mini-14 only ran correctly on US M2 Ball ammunition. The Mini-14’s reliability was very sensitive to the case dimensions of the 30-06 rifle cartridge. This was widely known. If you used commercial or reloads, 6.5 would jam almost once a mag.<br><br>In the mid 90’s Ruger tried to address the commercial ammunition issue by lengthening the Mini-14’s gas system. The gas system was very short. It was too short to allow for the use of commercial ammunition. Commercial ammunition tends to be more powerful than US M2 ball. In the early 90’s, the gas system was 4.25 inches long. In the late 90’s, the gas system was lengthened to 5.5 inches. <br><br>Even with a 5.5 inch gas system, the Mini-14 had a reputation for unreliability. People who bought them but did not know any better would try to run them with commercial ammunition. Commercial ammunition was “hotter” than M2 ball, so it tended to blow out the extractor, break the extractor rod, and/or cause excessive wear on the gas system.<br><br>In the mid 2000’s, the AK47 ban started to sunset. This was widely covered in the media. The media mistakenly referred to the AK47 as an assault rifle. While the AK is not an assault rifle, the media called it that. The public became confused, and then started to demand an assault rifle ban. The 94 ban was passed after Waco. In this ban, any detachable mag fed semi-auto with 2 or more features was banned. This was applied retroactively to Mini-14s. <br><br>After the 94 ban, Ruger was faced with a terrible situation. The Mini-14, which had a reputation for being very unreliable, was also now somewhat neutered. Worse than that, their production capacity was now capped because they were not allowed to produce any new detachable mag Mini-14s. This meant that their supply would be rapidly drying up. In the mid 2000’s, Ruger decided to produce 1,000 Mini-14s with a fixed 5 round magazine. This was a throwback to the older Mini-14 models that had a fixed internal tubular magazine that could hold 8 rounds of .223. These rifles were for the commercial market, not LE/Military. This was done to skirt the 94 ban.<br><br>The fixed mag models were called the “Target” models. They came with a 22 inch stainless barrel, and a 5 round fixed mag. These models were meant to go head to head with the M1 Garand CMP program. The M1 Garand CMP program was selling millions of M1 Garands. They were being sold for $120 USD. The US Government was selling them at cost. At least they were until the Obama administration started raising the prices. <br><br>These Mini-14 “Target” models were meant to be civilian versions of the M14. They were meant for commercial sales. They were made from 2005 to 2008. Ruger produced 70,000 of them. These models are not reliable. They have a 18 inch stainless barrel, a 5.5 inch gas system, and they are meant to shoot .308(7.62x51). These models tend to be inaccurate and unreliable. If you run commercial loads, you will experience constant extractor failures. Because these models were “target” models, they had 1:10 twists and 22 inch barrels. This tended to reduce the issues with commercial loads. If you run US M2 Ball, the issues are significantly reduced.<br><br>In 2007, Ruger got smart. They saw that the AR15 boom was in full swing, and they tried to capitalize on it. They introduced the Mini-14 in 6.8spc. The 6.8spc is based on the .30 Remington case. It is essentially a 270 Win with a 30 cal bullet. It is a great cartridge. Unfortunately, it is kind of a niche cartridge. At the same time that the 6.8spc was released, 300 Blackout was released. The 300 Blackout was an easier cartridge to produce. The 6.8spc required a 4 groove barrel with a 1:11 twist. 300 Blackout required a 2 groove barrel with a 1:8 twist. The 300 Blackout could be made in the same plant that produced 5.56x45 ammunition. The 6.8spc could not. <br><br>In the early 2000’s, 5.56x45 was not really popular. It was popular with the military, but not popular with civilians. This would not really change for about 15 years. In the early 2000’s, the .223/5.56x45 ammo that was widely available was mostly “tactical” ammunition. Most of it was 50-55 grain. Mini-14s were not very good at running tactical ammunition. They would jam or blow up. <br><br>In the early 2000’s, commercial ammunition was mostly 55-60 grain. The grain on commercial ammunition was lighter than the grain on US M2 ball. The commercial ammunition was also more sensitive to the case length of the ammunition. Mini-14s would often jam on commercial rounds because the case length was too long. In order to function properly, the Mini-14 needed a very specific type of ammunition. <br><br>In 2007, Ruger introduced a new gas system. The 5.5 inch gas system was replaced with a 6.75 inch gas system. This lengthened gas system made the rifle more reliable. The 2007 rifles were also made with a slightly heavier extractor claw. <br><br>Even with the heavier extractor claw and 6.75 inch gas system, the 2007 and up Mini-14s were only reliable on M2 Ball ammo. If you ran commercial ammunition or reloads, you would get jams. Because commercial loads were very sensitive to case length, and because of the heavier bullet grain, commercial loads tended to run slower. Slower loads tended to jam more. If you ran commercial loads, you could expect to jam 1-2 times a mag. <br><br>In 2015, Ruger lengthened the gas system to 8.5 inches. This was done to try to accommodate commercial ammunition. The 2015 rifles are heavily modified. They have a heavier extractor claw, a 1:16 twist barrel, and an 8.5 inch gas system. This reduces the jams on commercial ammunition, but does not eliminate them. <br><br>In 2019, Ruger introduced the Mini-14 “Small Frame” models. These models were made for .223/5.56x45, 6.5 Grendel, and 300 Blackout. The “Small Frame” Mini-14s are smaller and lighter