I've been thinking about buying a Ruger Mini-14 or Mini-Thirty and need some input on what caliber to select. What caliber do you Dogs prefer, .223 Rem or 7.62x39mm?

I didn't know they made it in 7.62x39...

They are also offering it in a 6.8 now. Part of caliber selection will depend on how you plan on using it. I know I'll catch a lot of disagreement for this but I prefer the .223. I know there are stopping power issues but those can be resolved with Black Hills 77gr Match ammo, 75gr Hornady TAP ammo or Cor-Bon DPX ammo.

They refer to it as a "Mini-Thirty".

Yup! I've changed the post to indicate that.

I have several AR's, as well as a number of AK's and SKS's,so I'm familiar with both calibers. What's the intended purpose? Both are a solid self defense round and will do the job. If you plan on hunting deer with it go x39. Yote and smaller..I'd go .223. If it's going to be more of a gravel pit gun to plink with and you do not reload, I'd go x39 just because of the cost of ammo. A case (1K rounds) of .223 reloads goes for 380 up here at the gun show. You can still get Wolf or Golden Tiger cases of x39 for about $225.

Buy an AK if you want 7.62X39. Rugers will work, but last time I checked, the bore was .308 and not .311 like the wolf and com bloc ammo. Function and accuracy may be impaired by this unless you want to buy the expensive remington ammo.

For this caliber: Buy a Bulgarian AK and feed it from good circle 10 mags.

They are scrambling to get 308s in the sand box. Less likely to stand up once hit (unlike 223).

Whittakers has excellent prices on 308 ar-10s or whatever you decide to get. Ship to your FFL.

http://www.whittakerguns.com/

Thanks Dig,

I'll be using it as a plinker and for home defense. I've checked out the ammo prices and they are as you have indicated.

If anyone has experience with either the Mini-14 or the Mini-Thirty, I'd sure like to hear your thoughts on the performance of the rifle.

Personally, I've owned THREE Mini-14s over the years. Two standard, and one Ranch Rifle. All three of them sucked. They had bad triggers (one weighed in at over 25 gritty pounds), bad sights, the groups wandered around as the barrels heated up, for some repairs you HAVE to send them the rifle (they won't sell you parts), on the Ranch Rifle the Ruger scope mounts would NOT stay tight without LocTite, I couldn't find good mags for less than $75 apiece to save my soul (although I hear this has changed recently, and Ruger is now selling 20-rd. mags to the public)...

I could go on and on. I sold my last one several years ago, and will not own another.

Other people have had better luck than I, so to each his own... but if I was going to spend the money on a Mini-30, I would just go ahead and buy an AK-47 instead. And NOT a WASR.


I really tried to give the Mini-14 an honest chance. I like the concept of the rifle. But it just never worked out. [censored] you, A-TEAM!!!

While I much prefer the 7.62 x 39 to the .223 as a caliber, in the Ruger I'd go with the Mini-14 in .223. I have seen one Mini-30 that shot well, but for that caliber I prefer the AK-47 or one of its variants. The cheap Russian ammo funtions well in those. .223 ammo is available or it used to be. Don't expect hair splitting accuracy. Mini-14s typically shoot 2" to 4" groups at 100 m. A few do better. I have 3 of them, and only my heavy barrel one will shoot under 2". The action is very reliable and accuracy is good enough for a self-defense weapon.

I own a MINI-30. I have scoped it and can shoot sub MOA at 150 yards. It is accurate and fun to shoot. The rifle is basically designed after the M14 so if you are used to that type of action then you are good. There are a lot of people out there that will tell you they are crap.....it all depends on the rifle and how much care and time you spend with it. I have shot over 2000 rounds with mine and it is as good and accurate as the day I bought it.

One thing that drives me nuts about the mini-30 is the lack of QUALITY high cap mags. They are very hard to find and if you do they are expensive as crap. I have a bunch of low count mags due to the fact that I hunt with this rifle; and yea I have taken many clean harvests with it.

The one Mini-30 I am familiar with only fired hand loads with .308" bullets, and it also was sub-MOA. It was amazingly accurate. But for some reason, the owner, a good friend and fellow shooter, was reluctant to shoot the Russian .311" bullets in his. He also had a hard time getting quality high capacity magazines for it. My gun dealer tells me that the newer Mini-30s function just fine with the cheap Russian ammo. I love the action on the Mini-14s and Mini-30s. It is stone reliable, more so than the AR-15. But none of my Rugers is as accurate as either of my AR-15s. I like the Mini-30, and love the caliber. If they truly do shoot the cheap 7.62 x 39 ammo well and you can find decent magazines for it, I'd prefer it to my .223s. For now, I'm sticking with my Yugoslavian AK-47 for that caliber.